Dread Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Hey guys I purchased a vapex 9.6v Minh battery off eBay along with a vapex smart charger. never used the battery on a day out, just used it in the garden a few times to test my gun. However it doesn’t even last a full mag before it dies. I put it on charge and within 5 mins the smart charger is saying it’s finished, but again it doesn’t last a mag. i have tried turning the charger off when it says it’s full and turning it back on again. The charger then goes back to 1 red bar, and then full again in 5 mins. If I do this a few time I can get the battery to last 2 or 3 mags. Do you guys recon it’s a dud battery it charger? Thanks Dread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E21A Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Sounds like a fucked battery, send it back for refund Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobHedley Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 I assume you mean NIHM? NIHM Batteries like NiCad have a 'memory' and will only charge up to that point. From the sounds of it you appear to have a particularly bad one. You can reset this to a degree by discharging the battery completely and trickle charging it from scratch. The best option is to get a car headlamp bulb and solder some wires to it. Connect the battery to it and leave it until the bulb is no longer lit. That way you can see when it is discharged. However in the first instance you could use your Charger to discharge the battery so then you don't have to spend any extra money. If you do this make sure you trickle charge it back up, it will take hours, and you should get majority of the life back in the battery. If that doesn't work then as @E21A said..... its fucked and you need to send it back. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 Well unfortunately I couldn’t return the battery as it was past the return date, so I went ahead and ordered a different branded battery. It arrived today, plugged it into my charger and..... the same thing happens 😕. Surely the charger is faulty? Or have I ordered 2 faulty batteries on the bounce. Is there a way to bypass the smart part of the charger? Or is it not recommend? Thanks Dread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Tackle Posted January 31, 2020 Supporters Share Posted January 31, 2020 Try another charger, maybe a mates got one ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Rogerborg Posted January 31, 2020 Supporters Share Posted January 31, 2020 Nihm is ancient technology. Charging is particularly problematic. Chargers don't know what voltage the battery is supposed to be charged up to, they have to guesstimate that it's full when the battery resistance rises and the charging current drops. Get it wrong and the charger cooks the battery, or stops charging too soon, as it sounds like yours is doing. I'd suspect that your problem is the charger, not the batteries. But buying more nimh tech is just shovelling money down that pit. What I'd suggest you do is to get a SkyRC IMAX B6 charger, or close copy. It won't run you cheap when you include a power adaptor for it, but it should do a good job of sorting out your nimh batteries, then when you buy lithium it'll do them too. Heck, it'll charge your car lead-acid battery if you need it to, or pretty much any other battery you can imagine with some crocodile clip leads and a couple of magnets. Putting money into nimh and dumb "smart" chargers is one of my few airsoft regrets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 Unfortunately it’s just me so can’t borrow a charger. I’d like to go the lipo route but I’m only a beginner so it’s not an option yet as I need to learn all about upgrading, mosfets, re-wiring etc before doing so. Plus I have heard that my guns gearbox is prone to cracking, another reason to keep to Nihm batteries for now. I shall have a look into the skyrc thank you 👍 Thanks Dread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDcase Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 Yep, sounds like a bad charger. As our Roger said, its highly recommend getting a good charger that can handle all types of batteries and take good care of them. This seems to be the best deal I could find with a quick search... https://www.rctoyworld.co.uk/skyrc-imax-b6ac-rapid-digital-li-po-and-nimh-battery-charger-32840-p.asp There are lots of copies around on ebay and the like so be careful with anything cheaper as it may have questionable performance/safety. You'll be able to keep using the NiMh batteries until you can get some Li-Po's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Rogerborg Posted January 31, 2020 Supporters Share Posted January 31, 2020 2 hours ago, Dread said: so it’s not an option yet as I need to learn all about upgrading, mosfets, re-wiring etc before doing so 7.4v lipo will pop right in, no need to change anything. OK, lower voltage than a 9.6v nimh, but it'll push as much or more current. Smaller and lighter than nimh, actually cheaper at places like HobbyKing. I'd encourage you to go lipo as soon as you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 Thank you for linking me, I was struggling to find the right one because all I could see was eBay stuff, which I’m already wary off. going to purchase one now, will update when it arrives. Thanks all Dread 3 minutes ago, Rogerborg said: 7.4v lipo will pop right in, no need to change anything. OK, lower voltage than a 9.6v nimh, but it'll push as much or more current. Smaller and lighter than nimh, actually cheaper at places like HobbyKing. I'd encourage you to go lipo as soon as you can. Thanks for the info. I’m gonna get that charger which handles lipos as well, so I’ll change to 7.4v lipos when I next need a battery 👍 would I still need a mosfet with 7.4v lipos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeywrencher Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 11 hours ago, Dread said: would I still need a mosfet with 7.4v lipos? No Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philby21 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 With 7.4v you'll be fine, it's only when if you try and use 11.1v that you get problems like burning out your trigger or melting your wiring! I run two of my guns on 7.4v with no mosfet and one of those is a TM Sopmod! I have a mosfet in my G36 and run it on 11.1v but that's a looooong way from stock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobHedley Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 I second the B6 Charger. I have one of the originals that can be powered from mains and 12v and it is still going strong. I has to be 10 years old now (Originally got it for RC planes and Helicopters). fantastic solid bit of kit that is worth every penny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philby21 Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 My B6 has charged my batteries for my AEGs, the battery pack for my electric G36 mag, my RC cars, my RC helicopter, my Phantom 1 and I even loaned it to a friend to charge the 6V battery on a vintage tractor - worked a treat! Basically if you can plug it into a B6 then it'll charge it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDcase Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 On our very own classifieds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted February 6, 2020 Author Share Posted February 6, 2020 My charger finally arrived today 😁 Set it up at 1.6a and left it to charge, an hour later and it’s fully charged (battery felt a bit hot though) unfortunately it’s too late to head out into the garden and try it, but I’ll give it a test as soon as I finish work tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philby21 Posted February 6, 2020 Share Posted February 6, 2020 Well that's sounding considerably more optimistic already, looking forward to hearing how you get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted February 7, 2020 Author Share Posted February 7, 2020 So I got to test my gun out this evening and I’m happy to say everything is working as it should (finally) filled my three mags and emptied them without a problem, felt good to see what my gun can do for the first time, now I’m excited to use it next time I go. I also put the battery back on charge to see how much it had used/how much it had left. It had used about 350a to shoot the 3 mags, so I’m guessing I’ll get 12 mags out of the battery before it’s empty, is that about right for a 1600mah battery? Thanks Dread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted February 7, 2020 Share Posted February 7, 2020 You'll get more than 12 mags. A lot more. The typical discharge curve for NiMH still has a sizable voltage drop at the start of the discharge. They normally charge to about 11.5v then drop very quickly to 10v it then levels for most of the discharge to about 9v where it starts to discharge quickly again. The 9.6v is actually the halfway point on the discharge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Rogerborg Posted February 8, 2020 Supporters Share Posted February 8, 2020 On 06/02/2020 at 18:24, Dread said: Set it up at 1.6a and left it to charge, an hour later and it’s fully charged (battery felt a bit hot though) Nihm is prone to that. You want to charge at 1C as it makes it easier for the charger to spot the current drop that indicates charging is complete, but that does put heat into the battery, especially if it was almost fully discharged. Plus, there's always that frisson of the charger not knowing what voltage it's supposed to be charging to (unlike with lipo/life), and the potential for it to run away. The good news is that you've got two batteries now which should hopefully work. I'd swap over at lunch so as not to over-discharge either. Nimh does work fine, but if and when you switch to lipo, you'll find they're smaller, lighter, less haphazard to charge and can provide more power, even at a lower voltage. The nimhs are likely to be relegated to backup or loaner batteries, which is no bad thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Sitting Duck Posted February 8, 2020 Supporters Share Posted February 8, 2020 Just to add one little thing... Dean connectors over Small Tamiya Not sure if this clip is 101% accurate or a 200% genuine legit example but to show or demonstrate 1 or 2 rps gain from Deans Vs Small Tamiya Well this certainly shows the potential difference/improvement... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted February 8, 2020 Author Share Posted February 8, 2020 Well thank you to everyone that has helped me to fault find my problem and giving me a lot of helpful advice along the way. If I could give some advice to anyone that stumbles across this post in the future, then it would be to not bother buying a cheap charger to begin with (even if your funds are scarce, like mine were) and to just wait till you can get a decent one. I have heard about the deans over tamiya, and I will be sure to do this when I start upgrading the gun, but I need to get a few more pieces of kit first. Can’t be running around with my mags in my pockets 😆 Thanks again everyone Dread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Rogerborg Posted February 10, 2020 Supporters Share Posted February 10, 2020 On 08/02/2020 at 20:58, Dread said: If I could give some advice to anyone that stumbles across this post in the future, then it would be to not bother buying a cheap charger to begin with Plenty of us made that mistake in trying to "save" money, you won't be the last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musica Posted February 10, 2020 Share Posted February 10, 2020 35 minutes ago, Rogerborg said: Plenty of us made that mistake in trying to "save" money, you won't be the last. It's the money and intimidation by the numbers and buttons on a fancy charger. The cheap ones that you plug and play with are attractive because they understand how it works. Which is why it will keep happening. All my mates who I have got into airsoft I had to go over and show them how it all hooks up and the menus etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 In all honestly, I just looked up how to use it on YouTube. 5 min video or so and that’s was it, they aren’t complicated at all 👍👍👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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