Switches, Wiring, and Charging a Battery

[TheSynchronizer]

I've got a task ahead of me, but the thought of it is melting my brain, partially because I'm no electrician. My Dklm Metal leo hull has the wonderful ability to charge the battery without the need of removing the battery from the tank. Unfortunately I must do the wiring myself. But then I ran into a mind boggling issue. I want to have a breaker switch that turns off current going to the board switch, solely because you never know when you may accidentally forget that it's still on, next you know I accidentally blow all the fuses. I did several diagrams but I think this one should work. Any savy electricians here that can help a bit to make sure I'm good?
http://sta.sh/02cvggluihsj

Battery to charger, charger to switch, switch to board switch, etc

[jackalope]

What type batteries will you be charging inside your tank? Not lipos I hope, I did this and was quickly warned about lipo battery fires and running the risk of killing my tanks.

However so long as you aren't going to be using lipos then all you need do is wire in a 2nd plug before the tanks main power switch. So you'll have 2 plugs for only 1 battery the other plug will connect to your battery charger. When you flip the main power switch on your tank the current will go to your battery and charge it.

[jarndice]

You might like to bear in mind that RC Tanks sold in the EU with a built in charging point are no longer allowed in the USA and any you might find are after market fits this is because of the chance of an electrical fire especially in tanks fitted with LI-PO's,
So someone beside me thinks that it is not a good idea to charge a battery in an enclosed space such as a Tank hull.
Shaun.

[jackalope]

Shaun, my brand new Jagdtiger came with a built in charger to charge the battery while inside the tank. However I did listen to your and other members warnings about charging inside my tank and I no longer do this. In fact I no longer even keep the batteries in my tanks when not in use, I store them in a small metal box that has a lid that snaps on securely. While I don't think they'll spontaneously explode it only takes a few moments to make sure if they do I won't lose my house.

[TheSynchronizer]

Don't worry I store all my lipos inside a metal can, as for the battery I would be using a 9.6 5000mah venom battery, the after market plugs gonna have to go and I was gonna replace it with a Deans connector. What confuses me here though is the purpose of the second switch. The main board switch provides the connection from the battery to the board, wouldn't I not want that on while charging the battery? That's why I was thinking of plugging the second switch in between that and the charge plug to block the circuit.

[jackalope]

You wouldn't need a 2nd switch just because the main power switch disconnects the battery power from the board, well that's all you need. That's what I did for a while till I switched to all lipo batteries and removed the 2nd plug.

[TheSynchronizer]

I've hit a wall, I attempted my first try, plugged my battery in and immediately it started smoking the wires. So I decided that idea wasn't gonna work. So I just retired it back into my regular slide switch. And then my battery started smoking. I don't understand why. I'm a novice at this, I did one switch that worked perfectly when the stock one broke, but these just cause smoking wires. The only thing I could tell between my working and broken one is that the power cables didn't touch, and on the other the power cables where touching at the switch.

[jackalope]

So you hooked up another plug to the wires feeding toward the switch and the board, made sure the switch was off, plugged the charger to the newly added plug and the wires started smoking? Somethings not right. Did you cross the wires by accident? You did use wiring at least the same size as the power wires already there right?

[TheSynchronizer]

Sorry, I stated that wrong, I ditched the idea of trying to charge the battery while its in the tank the moment the wires where smoking. I tried going back to a single switch and then my battery started smoking. At this point I had to reevaluate my actions. As it turns out, on the single switch the power cables where touching, with the board cables. Granted nothing was plugged in beside my cooling fan which I was gonna use to verify I had a working circuit. Anyways I just finished retiring that and it all works now. I'm gonna give up on the idea of charging while the batteries in solely based on my lack of experience.

On a side note, the battery that was smoking only did so for a second, it's a Nimh 3500 mah battery. My roommate says it was probably plastic burning, is it safe to use again? No visible marks on it or blemishes

[jackalope]

Batteries smoking is never good. If I were you I'd take it and the charger OUTSIDE to see if it'll take a charge without catching fire or exploding. May want to place a metal bowl over the battery whole outside juuuuust to be safe. Also make sure you can unplug the charger FAST if you need to.

If it takes a charge, and doesn't overheat or worse then you should be fine.