Optimum
battery pack performance will be obtained by achieving the following…
To
maintain your battery pack performance level at its peak, you’ll avoid
doing the following...
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Overcharging
the battery pack
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As
much important as it is for the battery pack to be warm in
order to deliver to its full capacity, overcharging the
battery pack will lead to pack failure. Overcharging the
battery pack results in much too high cell temperature during
the charging cycle. Overheating the battery pack during
the charging cycle will greatly affect its lifetime and
performance. Overcharging the battery pack can be
prevented by making sure the charger is properly set.
Please see recommended charge settings below... Also,
unless the ambient temperature is really cold, you should not
"wrap" the battery pack in a cloth or rag during the
charging cycle as it'll greatly increase the risk of
overheating the cells. |
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Cycling
the battery pack more than once a day
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Cycling
and/or racing the battery pack more than once a day is not good
(period). Experience shows that battery packs that were
re-ran in the same race day did not keep their performance
level for very long. On a properly
maintained battery pack, the second run IS NOT BETTER ... your chassis setup might be
better ... the track might have more grip ... but one thing is
for sure the battery pack will not deliver more power on the
second run (unless the pack wasn't maintained properly).
The ideal scenario is to run or cycle a battery pack no
more than once week. Resting the battery pack for a
minimum of 3 days between runs or cycles has been tested and
proven itself to be acceptable. |
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Not
cycling the battery pack for an extended period of time
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For
battery packs not dead shorted, not racing nor cycling the pack for an
extended period of time will first affect its runtime then
also its overall performance. I recommend for all packs
to be run or cycled at least once a
month.
Dead shorted battery packs not cycled for more than two (2) months
risk suffering runtime losses as well but voltage and
resistance will not be affected negatively. Before
racing a battery pack that has been rested for a couple of months, it
shall be cycled the week prior to the race in order to
"reset" its capabilities. |
Recommended
charge settings
You've
purchased a high quality battery pack ... make sure it delivers to its
capacity! Charge the battery pack using a high quality charger and
set your charger using the following recommended settings.
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List of recommended
chargers
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If
your charger is not listed here, send me an e-mail and I'll
confirm its compatibility with the IB3800 cells.
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Charge
amperage:
Linear 6A
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Peak
detect voltage:
5mV per cell
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Just
so you get it right ... 5mV = 0,005V ... that means the
recommended peak detect voltage for 4-cell packs is
0,02V and
for 6-cell packs is
0,03V ...
So your Competition Electronic charger should be set at ,02V
for 4-cell packs and ,03V for 6-cell packs. |
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Long
lockout feature: Enabled
for dead shorted packs
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When
enabled, this feature allows the charger to ignore the peak
detect voltage setting for the first 600 seconds of the charge
cycle, it then prevents false peaks from occuring. If
your charger doesn't have this feature (like the Novak
chargers), you can increase the peak detect voltage to 10mV
per cell. It is then important to monitor cell temperature carefully so
it doesn't go well past 140°F. |
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Flex
charging: Disabled
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Re-peak:
Only if battery pack has rested for more than 2 minutes
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Re-peak
detect voltage (if the pack has rested for 2-10 minutes): 2mV per
cell
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Re-peak
the battery pack as late as possible, re-peaking just before your race
is ideal. Example: For 4-cell packs 2mV per cell equals
0,008V. So, visually monitor the battery pack voltage during the
re-peak and manually terminate the re-peak once the voltage
drop back 0,01V. A full re-peak usually take 120-180
seconds. |
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Re-peak
detect voltage (if the pack has rested for more than 10 minutes): 5mV per cell
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Re-peak
the battery pack as late as possible, re-peaking just before your race
is ideal. Example: For 4-cell packs 5mV per cell equals
0,02V. So, if the battery pack has rested for more than
10 minutes after the initial charge, you shall re-peak it
using the same peak detect voltage as the initial
charge. A full re-peak usually take 120-180 seconds. |
Recommended
discharge settings
Once
you're back to your pit, make sure you properly discharge your battery pack. If it is important to keep your motors clean and ready
to go, it is as important to properly discharge your battery pack
as soon as you're back to your pit. A properly discharged battery pack
will run more consistant and will deliver good predictable power on the
next run.
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Discharge
amperage: Linear
35A
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Discharge
cutoff voltage: 0,9V
per cell
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0V
Dead short (AT YOUR OWN
RISK!): Ok,
with the exception of the classes for which runtime is crucial
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Dead
shorting battery packs can be beneficial ONLY if it is done
properly. By storing your battery packs dead shorted,
you can expect increased average voltage and a predictable
power curve. The drawback is that
you'll lose a substantial amount of runtime, if you're not
running an open mod class it is usually no big deal. I recommend
either the Trinity RealTime 2 trays, the Integy
Indi Octane 2 tray or the Integy
Zero-Thirty (any 0V tray will work). You can
safely dead short the battery pack when...
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The battery pack is
still in the
0V tray.
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EACH
cell's voltage is down
in the range of 10mV and less (0 to
0,01V
per cell).
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The battery pack is at
room
temperature (IMPORTANT!).
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