IntelliPeak Ice Question(s)

[FL Knifemaker]

I got my Slash last night and also picked up an Ice charger. I've been running nitro for a long time and this new charger has me challenged to say the least :roll:

I figured out how to use the automatic function........after about an hour of reading and trial and error.

My Question is.......could someone give me the proper parameters for a "custom" charge setting?? I'm using Venom 7.2v, 5000 mah NiMh packs.

Maybe one for a fast charge and one for a trickle?? :-?

Peak, impulse, reflex, max charge capacity, peak delay, cycle delay, trickle current, etc., etc., all has me totally confused. My goal is to educate myself with this thing before I start blowing up expensive LiPo pacs :lol: I'm going to spend more time reading but at this point I would be GLAD to go with the settings that one of you PROS suggets "thumbsup"

 

[Cake Eater]

Well, for me, I would charge it around 7.5amps(about 45min) if you want to charge it on a fast charge. But I like to charge my packs at 1amp for every 1000mah, so 5amps would be good(about 1 hour). As for a slow, better battery life charge, I would probably do 2amps to 2.5amps(about 2.5 to 2 hours), or even less.I was told years ago that the faster you charge the pack the more punch the battery will have for the first little bit. And the slower the charge the more runtime you can get.

Keep it at the factory peak sens. of 5mv/c, but if it peaks early and the battery isn't warm, adjust that up to 6 or 7.
Ive always had the charge set on normal.

I haven't gone much further into the Ice charger than that.

You bought yourself a nice charger. And you're doing the right thing by reading up on it...

 

[FL Knifemaker]

Thank you!! I'm going to try setting up a custom charge cycle today. I also need to pick up a power supply so I don't have to work in the driveway, under the hood of my Jeep

 

[zaner123]

That's just about what I do with my batteries, only that I have 18th scale packs that use smaller cells. Smaller cells = less amperage.

Either way I would reccomend something around 1C charging. More is fine, but if you like to be safe then just stick with 1C. (1C is 1 x the capacity of the pack(5000 mAh x 1 = 5 amps)).

The reflex and impulse charge modes do nothing. It has been proven. They are only included in the charger as an extra selling point.

Peak delay should be set low for most packs.. unless you know it's an old POS. If you had a long peak delay problems could arise when trying to recharge an already fully charged pack. Forcing extra amps into a pack creates excessive heat and wear to the battery. I have my peak delays set at like 1 or 2 minutes...

Depending on how long you want to spend cycling your batteries, a longer cycle delay would most likely be better. Something like 10 minutes should be good, so they cool down enough to just be warm.

Top off charge should be set at around C/5, or whatever you were charging at/5. So if your normal charge rate is 6 amps, top-off charge rate should be like 1.2 amps.

Lipo packs are more simple to charge because not many options are left open to change... you Never need to discharge a lipo, so just plug it in and hit GO basically.

Nearly every lipo is designed to be charge at 1C (which is the max allowed charge rate on the ICE for Lipos), but if you decide to charge slower.. for whatever reason... fine. You can't really hurt it. With high capacity, multiple cell, lipos it would probably be a good idea for you to invest in a balancer... I have heard great things about the Astroflight Blinky Balancer.


The "Automatic" Function works.. but it's weird. I wouldn't reccomend using it anymore. Hopefully you understand what I've been saying enough to figure out what you need to set your charger at.

Any more questions just ask.

Good luck!

 

[FL Knifemaker]

Thanks zaner!

I have a "1C" type charge set up in my #2 memory. I need to go through all the other parameters and make sure they are correct. The more I read and learn here, the more I realize it's not all THAT complicated as far as programming, it's just knowing what the right number are that needs to be entered!!