Imax B6 / battery capacity

[caddyshack]

Fast charge is normal associated with the charging of lipo's..as they can go round on the charger for a while when set in balance charge of multiple cells. So fast charge can be used "down the field to eliminate the last 0.02 per cell that can take a while to reach".
But a Ni-Mh doesn't need a fast charge. Charge at 1amp capacity. A new battery needs bedding in so don't go for a 1amp charge straight off.

[TKcommander]

Tankbear did you ever get to the bottom of this? Do you still use the Imax B6?

I have just got one mainly for charging small LiPo batts for a quadcopter but would like to charge my tank batteries if I can.

Have 1 1700mAH NiCd and two 3000mAH NiMH batts, I could do with some recommended settings if anyone could advise.

Sorry to be such a noob! Thought this would be the easy bit but hey!

[ALPHA]

I use this puppy for my NICDs and NIHDs

I don't care for "smart chargers" made for that kind of batteries ...reason being they aren't that smart... most cut off at two hours.. which in general isn't enough to charge your battery unless it was charged before with a stock drip charger...which should be around 5 hours..depending on the output of the charger

What's ironic about those "smart" chargers is that they will never give your battery the proper charge.. because they are set to cut off in two hours... which will never be enough.. for in the case with NICDs and sometimes NIHDs you are supposed to discharge the battery before recharging them

I do have an IMAX... smart charger ... this one is "smart" ... but it is only for Lipos


It will tell you if a battery cell is dead... tell you if the battery itself is no good...does pretty much everything the big one does..without the complications

The worst chargers are the dual purpose... don't like those very much... they run very HOT.... and are prone to burn out... they will also toast batteries and shorten their lives

ALPHA

[TKcommander]

Charge time cut off can be adjusted above 2 hours on the B6. As can the capacity limits. I just need some recommended settings to help me on my way.

[Tankbear]

Tankbear did you ever get to the bottom of this? Do you still use the Imax B6?

I have just got one mainly for charging small LiPo batts for a quadcopter but would like to charge my tank batteries if I can.

Have 1 1700mAH NiCd and two 3000mAH NiMH batts, I could do with some recommended settings if anyone could advise.

Sorry to be such a noob! Thought this would be the easy bit but hey!

I sort of got to bottom of the issue the unit was faulty. Anyway got a replacement which works a lot better, still cuts off a bit early but close enough.

To be honest I don't use it much now to charge NiCd & MiMH batteries as I use LiPo batteries in my tanks.

As for settings I generally set charge current to 1A for all my NiCd MiMh batteries which works for me just takes a while. I don't bother with the discharge cycle first I tend to just let the battery run flat then charge it.

Ian.

[ALPHA]

Charge time cut off can be adjusted above 2 hours on the B6. As can the capacity limits. I just need some recommended settings to help me on my way.

Hello TK
time setting is dependent on the output...I just looked it up... that's one of those dual battery chargers

I don't like those... they will kill a lipo in a matter of months...not to mention cause them to pop and catch fire...they use those at the airsoft fields here....I never ever go to have them charge my batteries...I've seen nmhd litterally sweat and leak

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.... but I did part time tech work on airsoft guns .. and learned what works and what didn't...a lot of Rc outlets pimp those things...but in general don't really stand behind it

Most of the guys I dealt with have no problem with the set up I posted above ... one guy bought six of those single function lipo chargers.. put them on a power strip...he never had one lipo burn or puff on him...

ALPHA

[TKcommander]

I sort of got to bottom of the issue the unit was faulty. Anyway got a replacement which works a lot better, still cuts off a bit early but close enough.

To be honest I don't use it much now to charge NiCd & MiMH batteries as I use LiPo batteries in my tanks.

As for settings I generally set charge current to 1A for all my NiCd MiMh batteries which works for me just takes a while. I don't bother with the discharge cycle first I tend to just let the battery run flat then charge it.

Ian.

Thanks for your reply, do you have any advice on the delta peak settings? I am inclined to use the default settings unless you can advise otherwise, I see from this thread that you did play with those.

For your LiPo batteries do you still use this charger? If so how how do you find it? From what I read about it some find it good but most like ALPHA has stated find it a bad buy!!

[Tankbear]

On the replaced unit I left the delta peak settings at default.

And yes still use this charger with my LiPo batteries had no issues in the last few years using it. Only damaged LiPo I've ever had came from over discharging it by leaving in a tank turned on so nothing to do with the charger. And I've still got six working LiPo batteries so has worked fine for me.

Ian

[TKcommander]

Thank you for your replies.

My initial frustration with how to use the IMAX turned out to be a problem with the power supply not putting out enough amps to power it correctly but once I resolved that my initial results seem similar to yours!