Need 2/3A ideas

[donn_]

I just got a good price on 20 Elite 1500 2/3A NiMH cells. I've never owned one of these critters, so I'm looking for ideas on what to do with 'em.

Any clever suggestions?

 

[LumenHound]

18 of them, 6 long by 3 wide, would make up a nice pack that would fit into a tri-bored 3D Mag. You could run a 64458 on it when Jimmy's PhD-D1 regulator becomes available.

 

[LuxLuthor]

I just got a good price on 20 Elite 1500 2/3A NiMH cells. I've never owned one of these critters, so I'm looking for ideas on what to do with 'em.

Any clever suggestions?

You could use them as fishing sinker weights.
You could hacksaw through one just to see how it looks inside.
You could build a small log cabin box.
You could roll them around, have contests to see who can get closest to a wall without touching.
You could microwave one.
You could find various conductive metals to dead short them (careful materials may get hot).
If you have a sensitive scale, you could weigh them and see how they compare with each other...even before and after charging.
You could intentionally try to overcharge them.
You could throw them at cans, squirrels, even irritating people.
You could see how far they would travel with one of those wrist-rocket slingshots.
You could put one in a glass of water and add salt.
You could make one into a keychain trinket.
You could paint them various colors.
You could bury one and check on it annually.
You could mail them to people with no explanation.
You could leave one as a tip at a restaurant.
You could glue them together and make a hat or wreath.
I could go on for hours.

 

[donn_]

Bored tonight, eh?

Pity.

Thanks for your contribution, Lux.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Not bored at all. Watching a movie and doing other odds and ends while surfing.

A Pity? Still no sense of humor? :kiss:

Happy New Year! :thumbsup:

 

[VegasF6]

You could use them as fishing sinker weights.
You could hacksaw through one just to see how it looks inside.
You could build a small log cabin box.
You could roll them around, have contests to see who can get closest to a wall without touching.
You could microwave one.
You could find various conductive metals to dead short them (careful materials may get hot).
If you have a sensitive scale, you could weigh them and see how they compare with each other...even before and after charging.
You could intentionally try to overcharge them.
You could throw them at cans, squirrels, even irritating people.
You could see how far they would travel with one of those wrist-rocket slingshots.
You could put one in a glass of water and add salt.
You could make one into a keychain trinket.
You could paint them various colors.
You could bury one and check on it annually.
You could mail them to people with no explanation.
You could leave one as a tip at a restaurant.
You could glue them together and make a hat or wreath.
I could go on for hours.

Lux, if you could please put an X next to the ideas that you have already tried, then I could cross them off of my to do list. Just for the sake of the board I mean.

 

[Icebreak]

My experience with 2/3 A is that they seem to be able to run high current applications very well. They like to be used. They can get temperamental when not used and fail.

6 2/3 A series will run WA1111, ROPs and other Hotwires that need 7.2 Vf. I show how to put together a 3C Mag like this in the beginning of the ROP sticky.

10 2/3 A series runs a WA1166. 11 if you let them rest a day.

I'm using 4 2/3 A series in the Dorcy 220 rechargeable. This is alternative to a 4 cell NiCaD stick.

 

[Justin Case]

Build some NiMH-based SureFire B90 batteries for the 8AX/8NX. The trick is that you need to make a ground connection that goes from the bottom of the battery to the top terminal and which surrounds the top button.

 

[LumenHound]

Lux, if you could please put an X next to the ideas that you have already tried, then I could cross them off of my to do list. Just for the sake of the board I mean.

:laughing:

 

[LuxLuthor]

Lux, if you could please put an X next to the ideas that you have already tried, then I could cross them off of my to do list. Just for the sake of the board I mean.

I don't think Donn enjoys my levity or I would.

My experience with 2/3 A is that they seem to be able to run high current applications very well. They like to be used. They can get temperamental when not used and fail.

That is true, but Elite brand are much better than the previous IB ones. Proper screening and conditioning has resulted in no failures over the last 15 months.

When I order in lots of hundreds from CBP, first thing I do is check all voltages on arrival. Any that are under 1.0V, I put in a separate "low arrival" pile. If under 0.7V, they go in reject/dead pile (for replacement).

Then I use auto setting on my Hyperion 1210i and thin neodymium magnet wafers to connect up to 25 in series, and charge them. Most always takes 1450-1500mA. I check voltages afterwards, and pick out any that have notably lower voltage into "charged lower" pile.

Then I let the rest of that batch sit for 24-48 hrs, and check voltage again...also picking out any with varying voltage from main group. Then I discharge remaining main group @ 8A, rest for an hour, then do a 15 hour timed 100mA condition charge.

Rest, and do another discharge, followed by auto mode charge on Hyperion. Check voltages after done, and again at 24 hours...picking out any outside the main group. I have other ways of working with selected out cells, and can get most (but not all) to work well.

Any that are not up to my standards, go back to CBP who cheerfully replaces them. Because this process takes a while, I'm sure most people don't do all these steps. I started doing it after having about a 50% pack failure rate of 1 or more cells that were sent to me by Mad MaxaBeam who used to make packs up until a couple years ago (actually, his nephew made them).

There is still no guarantee how long the cells will last, but I have only ever heard from one person that reported a pack I made early on had a dead cell after a few weeks, which I replaced. I then added more of those conditioning steps, and no problems since then. I have some of my own Elite cell packs that I have been using for 2 years, and even a few of older CBP brand of NiMH cells that still work well.

You have to set up a tickler system to keep track of your NiCad/NiMH batteries, or they will all go dead (except Eneloops). I keep a spreadsheet of all my packs (which are numbered), including Larry 14K (24xSubC), Acro X990, MaxaBeam, XeRay & other HIDs, and other boxes/batches of other NiMH cells to keep track of proper charge dates.

I like using the auto mode on the Hyperion 1210i, because it does measurements and changes charging current every minute. No batch of new arrival cells seems to charge at exactly the same rates when I watch it for a while. It mostly starts out low (0.1A), then usually climbs up in increments of 0.1A per minute, going up to about 0.8 or 0.9A as a maximum charge rate, but there is variation up and down as charge progresses, and different behavior based on state of charge.

 

[Mr Happy]

...then do a 15 hour timed 100mA condition charge

Out of curiosity, why do you not do the timed conditioning charge first, rather than later?

 

[LuxLuthor]

Out of curiosity, why do you not do the timed conditioning charge first, rather than later?

First, I did the full "auto" mode charge with Hyperion and discharge. I then do the timed "forming" charge because I wanted it to be done on new cells as a part of my screening out of substandard cells...and have a limited amount of time from receipt of cells to pack making/delivery.

Once pack is made, there are a couple other charge/discharge steps I go through to verify pack performance, including using in 64623 (or 64458 for larger packs).

For my own personal use packs, I do a forming charge once or twice a year. Some of this is from conversations with Mike @ CBP, others from RC Group members, some from Silverfox, others from reading various places. There seems to be no hard and absolute rule...but that's the answer to your question.

 

[donn_]

I don't think Donn enjoys my levity or I would.

Please don't let that determine what you post. We just watch different things on TV.

You subsequent posts have be far more enlightening.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Please don't let that determine what you post. We just watch different things on TV.

You subsequent posts have be far more enlightening.

Yeah, but all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

 

[Mr Happy]

There seems to be no hard and absolute rule...but that's the answer to your question.

I see. My thinking was along the lines that the "forming" charge is a good first step to prepare brand new cells for subsequent charging and testing, and therefore I wondered about the logic of doing the forming charge secondary to doing the "auto" charge as the first step. But perhaps you want a sensitive test to weed out weak cells at the beginning, and the forming charge might mask such differences...?

In any case, if you have a system that works that's what counts. I was merely curious about the reasoning behind it.

 

[Icebreak]

Mr. Happy, that's close to the way I was reading it also.

LuxLuther -

Ah. Good to know. I have CBP1150, IB1200 and IB1400...no Elites.

Out of sheer luck combined with hardheadedness I've learned to do some similar things that you do. I've never returned one. I didn't think about doing the initial tests but now I will. A Hyperion 1210i would be a good device to purchase. Sometimes it gets a little complicated moving the different cells into different piles depending on how well they are reacting. I get all happy when I get a group of 2/3 A to charge to 1.50-1.52 V.

When a few of them don't seem to want to cooperate at all I name them names I don't like much like Zoe or Durf. I assemble them in front of the chargers and then I ask them one by one if they are ready to get their minds right. Earlier this evening Durf bowed up a little and said to me, "Nah, calling it your job don't make it right, Boss."

Any cell that back sasses me spends a night in the box.

 

[LuxLuthor]

But perhaps you want a sensitive test to weed out weak cells at the beginning, and the forming charge might mask such differences...?

Main reason is the Auto mode is quicker. For packs, I want the best cells responding to a typical charger in a uniform manner to be those requiring the least attention, and that remain the closest matched up front. Having to wait 15 hrs for what may be a crappy cell didn't seem like the most efficient strategy.

Secondarily, my concern with these high current output cells is that they are different from typical NiMH cells in many ways. They are like beasts of burden...built to be punished and abused. I wasn't sure they even had the typical NiMH response to forming charges...so it became a secondary step early on....then repetition became the step-father of habitualization.

LuxLuther -

Ah. Good to know. I have CBP1150, IB1200 and IB1400...no Elites.

Out of sheer luck combined with hardheadedness I've learned to do some similar things that you do. I've never returned one. I didn't think about doing the initial tests but now I will. A Hyperion 1210i would be a good device to purchase. Sometimes it gets a little complicated moving the different cells into different piles depending on how well they are reacting. I get all happy when I get a group of 2/3 A to charge to 1.50-1.52 V.

When a few of them don't seem to want to cooperate at all I name them names I don't like much like Zoe or Durf. I assemble them in front of the chargers and then I ask them one by one if they are ready to get their minds right. Earlier this evening Durf bowed up a little and said to me, "Nah, calling it your job don't make it right, Boss."

Any cell that back sasses me spends a night in the box.

Although I like the idea, I think I am happy that I have not yet gotten to the point of personalizing my batteries with names and personalities...let alone talking to them! :wave: If I think one is a real trouble maker, it may just go into the circular file...but CBP replacement obviates most of the draconian measures.