Ripmax 2500 and Tornado 3700mAh Nimh GETS VERY HOT!!!

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

There is absolutely no reason why this should get this hot, It says it charges at 3.5Ah, Is this not incredibly high?

 

These packs are/were pretty expensive and we used them in our RC cars.

 

This got hot enough to even shrink and rip the heat shrink around it. 

 

It was on the AC power supply.

 

I can't see something generating this heat, even getting a CE sticker, producing so much heat.

 

Does anyone else have one of these?

 

It has spent all it's time in a box, it has been used three times in a few years so there is little to no chance it has burnt out or anything. 

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

In the instructions, it claims to have a thermal cut off, not sure what kind of cutoff that is? It was too hot to hold

[Jonathan Lewzey]

just try charging at a lower rate. if they've not been used for a while, they may need some cycling to get back into an operational state and you can charge them at higher rates. try 1A for starters, might take a long time, but you're asking far less of your batteries and charger

 

not sure about thermal cutoff, my old triton charger needed a temperature probe for that which was an optional extra

Edited By Jonathan Lewzey on 27/06/2010 11:18:28

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

This is my point, it is a fixed charge rate of fast (3.5mah) or trickle (130mah), we have never charged a battery at this much amps, never more than 2 amps, I am wondering if it is designed to be used with large cooling fans for RC car races where you need to charge a battery as quick as possible, but not really needed becausehe isn't going to be using it that much :s 

 

There is a cooling fan shaped hole on the bottom but no cooling fan, it is rather strange 

[John Privett]

To avoid further confusion,  it fast charges at 3.5A and trickle charges at 130mA.  Not Ah or mAh please - that's capacity, not current!

 

Are you saying it's the battery that's getting hot, or the charger?   If the battery is a 3700mAh battery then 3.5A is less than a 1C charge rate which ought to be OK - as long as the charger is behaving.  I wonder if the charger is having difficulty detecting the voltage drop when the battery is fully charged and is continuing to charge after it should have stopped?  How long does it charge for, and how soon does it start getting hot?

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

It takes about an hour to charge, it says 3.5Ah and 130mAh on the charger, don't know why though. Don't know when it gets hot, It could be the hot weather I suppose

[Jonathan Lewzey]

haven't you got a better charger that charges at something higher than 130mA and lower than 3.5A?  if not, get one, they're not too expensive for the cheaper models and can be used for loads more stuff.

 

 

 

 

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

The point is, this is virtually brand new, and it is wasted money :s we do have other chargers, I was just wondering why it got so hot.

 

We could probably sell it then, If it is normal operation, to someone who does racing.

[John Privett]

Posted by Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage on 27/06/2010 13:07:30:

... it says 3.5Ah and 130mAh on the charger, don't know why though.

 

 

I would hope it doesn't,  because that's just plain wrong and confusing.  If it does then Ripmax need a "talking to."

 

I'm still not clear though whether it's the battery or the charger that you're complaining about getting hot. 

 

Looking at the manual for what I think is the charger, it  looks to be a little "old school" in design and very inflexible in its capabilities.  I'd be inclined to look for something a little more modern and capable.

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

http://www.pythonmotorsports.com/fg/electronics/propeakcharger.html

 

That is the spec of it, it says 3.5Ah.

 

It looks like there is an up market version under the name pro-peak varipulse 2500 with variable current.

 

This charger was bought no more than a year ago and I think it is quite modern.

 

These batteries would be charged on our other ripmax charger at no more than 2 amps and they would never ever get hot. Maybe it would be a good charger to use at a race, but when at home, charge them at a low current to prolong their life.