Discharging Batteries

direwolf · Mar 9, 2006

Hey all

I'm kinda new to the scene so I'm looking around for tips and what not.

I read somewhere that battery packs should be discharged before they are re-charged. Is this correct?

If yes, what is the best way to do it?

jayt · Mar 9, 2006

You will get a lot of different answers to that question. All I can do is tell you what I do with my NiMH cells. I will recharge them several times each race day, the pack does not need to be discharged completely before each charge; I let the boat do the discharging. When I get home from the pond I discharge them to 0.9 volts per cell (or 5.4 volts for a 6-cell pack, etc.). If the pack sits unused for a month then I will cycle it by charging and discharging it once. Never dead-short a NiMh pack; that worked well for NiCds but is not recommended for HiMH cells.

I use either my AstroFlight 110D charger to discharge, or a dedicated CamLight discharger.

.

AlanN · Mar 9, 2006

What Jay said...but to add...

Set your discharge on a low rate (I usually dis at .2 amp).

That keeps the cells level for recharging.....sounds funny.... sorry cold meds.

Andrewg · Mar 9, 2006

Jay is always on the money - by trial and error I have come to the same practice as Jay describes

Cycling occassionally is essential to keeping your packs performing to their full potential