Ford Fiesta standard model,newbie charging

[coretex]

Hello. My first post here

I just bought the Ford Fiesta original. I have not been into RC so this is my only car. I don't have anything else than what was out of the box. I use the included charger, "Charger, A/C overnight wall, 200 mAh (7.2 volt, NiMH) ."

I charged the included "Series 1 Power Cell, 1200mAh (NiMH, 6-C flat, 7.2V, 2/3A)" battery for 6 hours. After charging, the car only ran for 6-7 minutes, which was a huge dissapointment.

Then I bought a second battery, a "Supercharge 1600 Ni-MH 7,2V" and a #3064 parallell battery connection.

I then charged both batteries using the same parallell connection (both batteries attached to charger). It then charged for 12 hours.

After this, the car still ran for 6-7 minutes before it went down to almost nothing.

What do I do wrong? Or is 6-7 minutes an OK result?

[Double G]

Depends on how hard you run. Stock my Mustang would run 15 minutes on the included battery. If you are going to be in this hobby for a while you need to get a decent charger that will charge them quickly and fully.
Also, I it is recommended you have the same batteries matched together when using the parallel or series adapter.

[ksb51rl]

And NEVER charge NiMH packs in parallel or in series. You will quickly destroy them.

[coretex]

are you saying that i do it incorrectly? the solution was accepted at my local RC store so now I'm confused...

[ksb51rl]

If the wall charger is a delta-peak detecting charger then yes that is an incorrect way to charge them. Try charging one at a time and post your results.

[Jimmie Neutron]

Do you have a way to check the voltage of the pack once you take it off the "wall wort" charger?
Also, does the pack feel warm to the touch when you are done using it or charging it?

As recommended here previously, I would not use or charge the two different batteries together with the parallel adapter.
Using two like batteries in parallel is safe, but unless the charger is specifically designed to charge two NiMh batteries at the same time this is far from a safe practice and you could have an exploding NiMh on your hands.

[coretex]

yes I have a voltmeter. What should the results say after charging? 7,2Volts for both batteries?

ksb51rl, I don't think the charger included is a "delta-peak detecting charger". I don't know much about this stuff, but after some googling it seems that only more expensive chargers support this.

[coretex]

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[Jimmie Neutron]

They should be more toward 9-9.6v fully charged.
7.2v is a nominal voltage for the pack.


It is possible that your charger or battery is defective.
Both of mine where straight out of the box.

[coretex]

I wonder if I could try getting better batteries? I see on forums that people use 5000mAh batteries. Will these fit in the Ford Fiesta?

[coretex]

after parallel charging for 5 hours today, I noticed the 1200mAh was a bit hot. The voltmeter says it is 7,3V. The 1600mAh one is still very cold. It shows 7,5V.

[ksb51rl]

after parallel charging for 5 hours today, I noticed the 1200mAh was a bit hot. The voltmeter says it is 7,3V. The 1600mAh one is still very cold. It shows 7,5V.

A hot 6-cell at 7.3V has one dead cell. A decent NiMH will read 1.4 to 1.5 volts per cell fully charged.

[Double G]

I wonder if I could try getting better batteries? I see on forums that people use 5000mAh batteries. Will these fit in the Ford Fiesta?

Nope. They are physically too big.

[Double G]

I wonder if I could try getting better batteries? I see on forums that people use 5000mAh batteries. Will these fit in the Ford Fiesta?

Nope. They are physically too big.