Definitive 1:6 Battery Thread
 

Ok, using my vast and seemingly endless knowledge :roll: of the Lead-Acid battery thats in the crawler, and seeing your many questions, I have decided to write a short thread about the use and care of the battery.

Disclaimer: Trevor takes no responsibility as to what you do with this information. You can't hold Trevor liable if you get injured or killed or you lose property and stuff. If you do not feel comfortable with charging a Lead Acid, please, consult a person experienced with them.

The Specs:
12V, 4.2 Ah (4200mAh) Sealed, Non-spillable, Lead-Acid Battery

The lowdown:
The Lead-Acid (aka Pb) battery in the Nylint 1:6 has a quite large capacity. The only downside to that is that Lead-Acid batteries have a extremely low energy to weight ratio, which means that to get the high capacity, it has a high weight. Lead-Acid are gear toward starter jobs. They can unload HIGH surges of current when needed, which makes them perfect for those jobs. They were not mean, however to be deep-cycle batteries. That means that if the voltage drops below 10.8v, the battery can be permanatly damaged. This voltage is greatly affected by heat, so if its a hot day, perhaps you may want to recharge sooner. On a whole, Lead-Acid batteries are sensitive to heat, so you want to store your 1:6 in a cool place when you're not tearing up the axles. :-P Charging should be done in a cool place also, charging at high tempatures greatly decreases service life. Lead-Acids are typically forgiving when it comes to charging. If you over charge it slightly, they usually won't explode. They will however, start venting highly explosive gases such as Hydrogen if the voltage reaches over 14.4v. Again, this number is not concrete, it can be affected by many factors, like heat, age, etc. Some hydrogen can be released during normal charging, so please, no smoking, or charging near pilot lights, other heat sources, sparks, etc. A 12v Lead Acid battery will typically be ~13.2v right off the charger, then drop to ~12.6v after a full charge.
Our batteries are sealed, so they can be mounted in any position and still work. I prefer to charge the batteries upright, just incase they decide to vent while charging, they dont dump acid all over the place. I typically use a charge of about 0.1C-0.2C (420mAh-840mAh/.4A-.8A for this batt.) depending on how soon I need it recharged. Both are within safe limits of charging. Again, you can try your own rates, but be very careful and monitor the voltage and be sure it doesn't start doing anything wonky. If you really need to charge it fast, I'd rather get another battery (Lead-Acids are pretty cheap) and charge that at a standard rate instead of risking my house blow up like the Hindenburg. :shock: Something you could do is look at the Nylint charger at see what it charges at. Look for "Output:xx.xxV - xxxmAh" or something like it. You can try and charge at that rate for a guarenteed charge. (Unless somethings defective or whatever)

Quick Facts:
12v 4.2Ah
Min. Voltage 11v (My recomendation)
Charging rate on a non-nylint charger (420mAh-840mAh)
Max Safe voltage: 14.4v (Not concrete remember?)

Best Luck with your battery!
PM me if you notice anything wrong. Post here if you have questions. I'll try my best to answer them. (If someone lets me know the mAh rating on the Nylint charger, I'll post up a charge time)
-Trevor

I am guessing that you don't have a 1:6 Nylint yet, otherwise you might have mentioned the capacitor on the positive lead.

Do you have any idea why it is added to Nylints battery? I have read that others hear bought similar batteries from Radio Shack or a trailer store and I know for a fact that the Radio Shack equivalent (part # 23-289) does not have a capacitor on it. Maybe the guys are adding it, but I doubt it.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/1_.../aao.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/1_.../aap.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/1_.../aaq.sized.jpg

Thats strange.. Typically, capacitors are added to block low frequency signals (basically a high-pass filter). My battery doesnt have one on it.

You sure its not a thick film planar resistor? Those are used to limit current pulses. Strange that mine doesnt have it though. Seems kindof silly to have it on there, but mabye its to limit charge rate or something?

Could you test it with a multimeter and see if it shows a resistance?

Just guessing but....
If its a capacitor, then its kinda redundant because the battery can already supply huge ammounts of current on demand, and I don't see any need for power filtering...
If its a resistor, then that would make slightly more sense. To limit current, if it were a Constant Voltage charger. Or maybe Constant Current. I'm too tired to think. So, if someone wants to plop it on a multimeter, then maybe we can further determine what this thing does. I personally would remove it if I ever had it apart to reduce voltage/current loss, but don't blame me if your Crawler goes ka-blamo.:)
*cough* stickyorfaq *cough* :mrgreen:

Alright, I really don't know if it is a capacitor or what. That is just the first thing that came to mind. :?

Whatever the heck it is... It must not be too important if people are using batteries w/o them. Just my speculation. Now... we need to have some metal parts made. :mrgreen:

Guys it is a resetable fuseable link. It is used to protect the motors and circuites. If the jeep gets bound up so the motor don't turn it heats this thing up and it stops power to the motor. Let it set to cool down and it send power back through it. Kinda like the circuite breakers in your house or on a car. But it is self resetting. Yes it will work without it up but you are chancing on burning up your motors if you really drive it hard under alot of load without it. It talks about it briefly in the instruction booklet.
Gary

Nice find Gary! Just proves once again that the old adage of . . . . "RTFM" rules :lol:

:mrgreen: I don't have a crawler, so no manual. You OTHER guys WITH a manual should have told me. Sheeesh.:flipoff:
Ok, so now we know...
If you get another battery, go buy a fuse or be careful when you start lugging the motor.
-Trevor
sidenote: OooOOH! A sticky!

What about the first charge, is it really necessary to give it an 18hr charge? I didnt think LA batteries would be troubled by this, if the voltage is high enough can I just use it after 6-7 hrs, it was at 13.05 when I got it, and is now at 13.75 after 6hrs at 850ma. Im keen to try this thing out hehe

As far as I know, most batteries benefit from a looong slow first charge.

FWIW, my battery had enough charge on it right out of the box to play for about 10 minutes before I did the initial 18 hour charge. ;)

And a correction to my post up above about the doohickey on the battery lead. Mine DOES have it. I just didnt see it first time around, so they do all have the resettable fusible link.

Nooooo... You should always slooooow charge a battery when you get it. 18 hours is a small sacrifice... You've waited longer before, so why not 18 hours to a good battery? In my experience, properly cared for batteries tend to last a long time. The inital charge of most batteries tends to "shape" the cells, meaning if you improperly charge the cells the first time around, the rest of the life cycle may be limited to that. I like to gently cycle my batteries about 2-3 times when I get them, with a slooow charge. Thats just me, with a low budget... :)

I tried the 18 hour charge, but the Charger's Red light went to green after about 6 hours. I can unplug the charger and plug it back in and the red light turns to green after 30 seconds or so. In the manual it says to charge it that long, but its impossible with the charger they gave me. :roll:

(I left it plugged in for 18 hours. I am going to give it a test during lunch :mrgreen: )

My charger light wwent green in like 1 hour? So is it suposed to stay red till charged or is red discharge and green is charge pm me or e-mail plz want to know?!?

Ya only need to post once, I'll get to your question. My internet was down yesterday, and we have finals that sucketh thy bigeth one.

The red/green light is worth nothing, so just go according to the charge times in the manual, or better yet, get a real Ni-Cd/MH & Pb charger!
Even though it shows green, its still charging I believe.

Will my superbrain 819 charge the battery?

I'm pretty sure thats a Ni-CD/MH charger, which will NOT work with these Lead Acid batteries. Unless your charger says Pb or Lead Acid compatible, it will NOT charge your battery. Please check your charger's instruction manual.

-Trevor

What about cold weather??
 

ok u seema to have the answers to the batt. questions so its about 25-30 deg. here in ky and i take my nylint to work some time to play on off time is it ok to store it in my truck wich sits out side while im at work and it being so cold outside? will thsi damage my battery? u said it was like a atuomobile battery and the cold deosnt damge it? pm or e-mail would be cool!:-P

wouldnt it be easier to run two 6 cell packs in series? and lighter and faster charging?