How long do you charge your starter?

[Paul Taylor]

How long do you charge your "hot shot" type starters?

I don't want to over charge my new one. I did not see anything on the package as to how long to charge it.

Thanks

[Jim Pollock]

Paul,

I usually charge my hot shot around 8 hours.  Be sure to run it all they way down before recharging so you don't create a short memory in the battery.

Jim Pollock

[Bill Heher]

Most chargers typically supplied with Ni-cad powered devices are designed to charge at the C/10 rate- meaning that the current output of the charger is roughly 1/10th the rated amp/hr capacity of the battery.
10-12 hrs will give you a pretty full charge, 24 hrs will usually not damage them.

The wall plug type chargers are commonly referred to as "Overnight chargers" , so plug it in in the evening before you plan to fly, and remeber to grab it the next morning before you go to the field!  A fully charger N-starter on the charger at home doesn't work worth a hoot to fire up your engine at the circle- I know from experience!

[Harleyman]

It depends allot on the type of charger and battery.  The larger batteries (higher mah) will need a more time.   

For me, the initial charge was about 14 hours minimum. 
Then when needed, a simple over night charge seems to be fine. 

[john e. holliday]

I have instances of CRS when my Ni-Starter was left on for two or more days.  It is on its third year of use.  Later,  DOC Holliday

[frank carlisle]

Running the ni-starter all the way down is (I think) more important than how long you charge it. I think overnite would be the minimum charge. Them use it till it's dead.

[Harry Rice]

If you have access to the cells, when taking a charge they go cool - when fully charged they start to get warm. It's a chemical thing....endothermic reaction during the charge phase - exothermic after full charge and during discharge. My 8-year old son can charge his r/c battery pack perfectly!!

A few "test runs", noting the time required and off you go!

Cheers and beers


Harry

[Bill Little]

Before a contest I discharge them and put them on overnight.  Seems to work real well.

Bill <><

[Clay Schmidt]

Paul,

The spec for the Hot Shot glow drivers are:

Standard,,,,1500mah battery with a 150mah charger output.

Hot SHot II,,,,5000mah battery with a 500mah charger output.

Assuming the batteries were fully discharged it would take either system 10 hours to fully charge.

These charge rates are fairly low ( SAFE).  Overnight should do it and at these low rates a LITTLE overcharging won't hurt.

The best way to take care of your new battery would be to fully discharge then charge for 10 hours. 

Clay

[Bill Little]

Hi Clay,

We always hook an old glow plug to our new batteries and let the battery discharge before giving them a full charge....  Is there another way to do it??

Thanks
Bill <><

[Bob Reeves]

Hi Clay,

We always hook an old glow plug to our new batteries and let the battery discharge before giving them a full charge....  Is there another way to do it??

Thanks
Bill <><

Ya but it gets kinda involved. A nicd should never be completely discharged (0 volts) You can build a circuit using a comparator to open a set of relay contacts when the voltage gets below 1 volt.

[Clay Schmidt]

 A single nicad cell shouldn't be discharged less than .9v or permanent damage can result.

I've got battery cycling equipment so cycling batteries is easy. Manually loading a cell will work but constant monitoring is a must.

Another bit of info for battery longevity,,,Nicads do benefit from a "break in" period just like our engines do. Three  full charge/discharge cycles at a low rate before  initial use seems to work well.  It's fun & amazing to see how the capacity of a new pack develops during the break in period with a good charger such as a Triton.

Clay

[Steve Scott]

Paul,

I usually charge my hot shot around 8 hours.  Be sure to run it all they way down before recharging so you don't create a short memory in the battery.

Jim Pollock

There has been much debate about the viability of NiCD memory issues.  Most experts say modern NiCD do not suffer from memory issues while others say none of them ever did.

At any rate, running your battery down all the way before charging it might rejunvinate a cell in poor condition but excessive "cycling" of NiCDs will shorten their life.

The wall wart charger which came with the Ni-Starter is usually a maximum of C/10 or 1/10 the capacity of the cell.  Charging a NiCD at this rate is very safe - you could leave it on charge almost indefinitely with little harm to the cell.  Theoretically it would take 10 hours to fully charge a cell at C/10 but because of inefficiencies abound in all cells a full charge is recommended to run 12-14 hours.

It is VERY important to first form a new cell by slow charging (C/10 or lower) for 14-16 hours before use.

Use it at the field and leave it to charge overnight if flying the next day.

I have one of those Great Planes Triton computerized chargers so I can actually measure the capacity of the cell, cycle it up to 10 successive times and automatically terminate the charge when peak voltage has been achieved.  Actually when a NiCD reaches full charge the voltage will drop.  Automatic chargers watch for this drop - that's why they call them delta peak chargers.

Lots of good battery info here:  http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com/welcome.htm

[Arlan McKee]

There has been much debate about the viability of NiCD memory issues.  Most experts say modern NiCD do not suffer from memory issues while others say none of them ever did.

I don't think that there is much debate among people that have cycled their RC batteries for years on a good cycler/charger. I think all would agree with Clay.