Adding charging jack to Tq3 radio?

[redrover]

I have been thinkin about soldering a battery plug onto the + and - inside the radio where the wires come off of the batteries. Cut a hole in the radio and mount the plug so its accesible, etc.

This way I can simply plug the radio directly onto the battery charger, and not have to remove the batteries and charge them seperately.

Im using an ICE charger, So i can manually set up a battery pack that would match the specs of the AAs in the radio.

Does anyone know of a reason NOT to do this?? It seems like it would work to me, but I thought I would ask because I dont want to fry anything.

I read the TQ3 sticky - and it says something about adding a charging jack but I cant find anything on how it was wired in?

[slobin3d]

Ive done it i just wired it inline between the batts and the board the only thing is that it can charge when the radio is on and that the contacts will always be "hot" and can short if you accidentaly set it against something or anything metal gets in there

[redrover]

Ok
So it will work then - good
I guess I can try to make a cover for the plug so that it cant short out.

I can make sure the radio is off before charging - but what happens if it is on while I am charging?

I guess it would be draining the batteries at the same time it is charging?
Would this do any permanent damage, or just not get a complete charge?
I think I will do it anyways, and just make sure it is off before charging

Thanks

[slobin3d]

mostly it just wont charge, i put my jack at the base of the grip

[redrover]

Great
I think Ill give it a try

I mostly wanted to make sure it wasnt gonna fry the electronics.

This way I can use the ICE, and also not have to remove the batteries in order to charge them.

right now Im using a charger that will do 4 AAs at a time - it takes a while since the TQ3 uses 8

Thanks for your help

[redrover]

Well
I put the charging jack on the radio. I soldered the connections to where the wires come off of the battery connections (right on the back of the box where tha batteries go)
I set up the battery specs in the ICE charger - 8Cell NIMH 2400mah charging/discharging at 2.4A
The batteries are AA size

I guess I fudged something up pretty good though.
I charged them once - it did ok but only charged to 645mah
So i tried to cycle them and see if it couldnt get any more mah but this time it...

EXPLODED

Thats right - it looks like it got really hot and then blew up
It melted the battery tray and cover, and destroyed most of the batteries.
It blew the cover off and scattered the batteries like 5 or 6 feet away.
Im guessing it probably wrecked the radio as well, but I havent looked into it much yet.

Oh well - I guess I get dumass award today.

[slobin3d]

sorry to hear that if you like you can have my radio if you send me shipping

[redrover]

Seriously???
Is it a TQ3?

Youll send me a radio for only the cost of shipping??

Thats is freakin awesome!
You must be joking- right?

If your serious then I except - and thanks alot man!

[slobin3d]

the one that is in the pic it has the charge jack and a proportional 3rd channel i made all works but the 3rd channels moves farther one way then the other but that can be fixed by doing the epa mod

[redrover]

Sweet!
Do you just not need it anymore?

How much do you think shipping would be?
My zip code is 37601

Thanks

[slobin3d]

i only got it to try modding it i use a jr r1 for all my trucks :P i figure 6-8 bucks usps 2-3 day pm for info and such

[redrover]

I have been trying to figure out what I did wrong that caused my problem.

I suspect that the problem was how I was charging the batteries and not the wiring itself.

I guess I was trying to put too many amps to the batteries - because it seems like everyone does not charge their TX batteries at more than 1A.
I was trying to charge at 2.4A because it was a 2400mah battery set.
Also I tried to discharge the set because I was trying to get it at full capacity.

I looked on duratraxes website and thay said
"The IntelliPeak series chargers with the discharge feature should not be used to discharge battery packs that are smaller that Sub-C's."

So I guess it was user error after all?

Maybe I should just go back to charging 4 at a time in the old wall charger?

Does anyone charge their AA sized TX batteries with a ICE charger??
IF so, how do you do it.

Sorry to be a dummy
but I thought I had it figured out - until I blew up the radio.


Oh yeah
slobin3d - what charger do you use with your radio based charging jack?

[slobin3d]

i actually use a hobbico feild charger mkII http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCTZ5&P=ML
for most everything it will charge 2 1-8 cell nicd/mh or lipo packs at once but at only 2 amps, i dont see a problem charging those batts at 2.4 amps other than wearing them out but i wouldnt use it to discarge again :P just leave the radio on until its totaly dead besides with those batts you get way more run time on the radio, then 3-4 packs throught the truck
P.S. I threw a little summin extra in for ya

[slobin3d]

do you have any pics of the former tq3 ?? i like to see melted plasticm lol

[redrover]

Somthin extra huh? Sounds good - I hope

Yeah Ill get some pics up of the melted stuff and the burned up batts tommorow - its about bedtime tonite.

Really - thanks again for the radio hookup

[slobin3d]

nothin huge and no its not new batts lol. they shipped today so it should be there friday saturday at the latest

[redrover]

Thank you sir..
You are tha man

[slobin3d]

on the radio if you look close you can see that its set to 70/30 split that is because of the circut board for the rear steer sits right behind the throttle trigger. if you program your esc with it in this mode it will still work fine and you will still have 50/50 front and back or really close to it. and you will still get full power. just so you know its kind of a differnt setup than most but works well

[redrover]

Hey
I got the radio in the mail today.
I havent got a chance to try it out yet but it looks great.
Im charging some batts right now - then ill see how it does.

Also thanks for the receiver and crystal set..
That is really awesome that you sent the radio, receiver and crystals - all for the cost of shipping!

I dont know what to say but THANK YOU
You really are a great guy for hooking me up - im speechless


here are a couple pics of the old radio where the batteries blew up
I didnt take any before I cut up the battery tray - because it wouldnt fit in the housing anymore, but you can still see how it is melted and warped.









Anyways
Thanks again for the radio and stuff
I really appreciate it!

[slobin3d]

glad you like it. that looks like a wonderful mess hope all it hurt was the radio.