Lacrosse BC-900 Alpha Power Battery Charger

[byebye]

Originally Posted by shuter

HE HE You made me smile. I am currently forming some new batteries on a MH-C9000 using the break in function. It takes about 36 hours!!!! Glad it only has to be done once.

Would you consider taking a new set of batteries and forming/conditioning them and then charging them at a rate between .5C and 1C only and alternating them with your other race batteries to evaluate comparative power/punch? I would love to hear what you think of the results. If you are using them at least once every two weeks do not deep discharge them. Just charge, let them rest a half hour to stabilize and use. Race them them as many times as you want for up to three months and let us know the results.

I would consider doing this. I'm thinking that this time I'm going to start keeping a log.

I need to get a decent labeler as well. Without getting too off topic here I'm also going to start lebeling the batteries individually, not by set. Then match them up and keep that in the log.

It does seem like overkill but why not? All the data is there. The one thing I was really really afraid of at the 12hour race in Germany was a dead set of batteries or one or two low capacity batteries in the mix.

-Byebye

[rharris]

Originally Posted by byebye

Will I be OK if I wire up 3v from my pitbox?

I don't see why not. The output on the adapter says 3v at 4amps. As long as you have 4amps (or more ) from your power supply...

[shuter]

Originally Posted by rharris

byebye - If you want to use the BC-900 at the track, use the "Charge" mode. Set the rate at 1000. The charge will take around 30 min or less. Carry it around for bit in the pit box. Use it to test the volt output on your cells after you take them off the 15min charger.

shutter - volts = more punch. Read BatteryUniversity.com BU48. Awesome site for info by the way... thanks.

I read thru a ton of stuff out on that site. I'm glad I picked up this charger, it does things I didn't know I needed to do.

Here's the simple outline:

1. Deep cycle nickel-cadmium every 1 to 2 months and nickel-metal-hydride every 3 months. Discharge and recharge on the BC-900 should do the trick.
2. Do not discharge the battery before each recharge. This puts undue stress on the battery.
3. Charge your cells at whatever rate gives you the highest volts.
4. When the capacity drops below 20%, toss them in the trash.

Side bar... Ever wonder why people say IC3's have more punch? Test them. They come out of the charger hot at 1.53 Ten min later, they will be 1.46.

My $0.02... if you don't have a BC-900, or a MH-c9000, buy one. Just knowing what your cells are doing is a big eye opener. It's cheaper then a discharge tray, a charge tray, and an ICE ( a really cool charger by the way), and they are allot simpler to use. Less stuff in the pit box too.

And like spoon said... it's fun to tinker with this stuff.

I had read BU48 about zapping but didn't make the connection about V=punch. I think you are right! Nice catch. However, there are other factors. Example: Battery A tops off at 1.5V, battery B tops off at 1.4V. Battery A has high internal resistence preventing maximum V flow rate, battery B has more punch. Will overall battery health may play a big part in attaining maximum power/punch? Maybe....Maybe not. It's going to be a lot of fun finding out now that we have the tools.

[shuter]

Originally Posted by byebye

I would consider doing this. I'm thinking that this time I'm going to start keeping a log.

I need to get a decent labeler as well. Without getting too off topic here I'm also going to start lebeling the batteries individually, not by set. Then match them up and keep that in the log.

It does seem like overkill but why not? All the data is there. The one thing I was really really afraid of at the 12hour race in Germany was a dead set of batteries or one or two low capacity batteries in the mix.

-Byebye

Me to on the log. Can't wait to hear the results.

[rharris]

Originally Posted by shuter

Would you consider taking a new set of batteries and forming/conditioning them and then charging them at a rate between .5C and 1C only and alternating them with your other race batteries to evaluate comparative power/punch?

Dude, I'm all over that. For selfish reasons, naturaly. I love the IC3, but it keeps letting me down. Nothing is worse then finding a dead cell 5min before your heat.

I'm pickiing up 3 new sets of intelects, 3 new sets of PN 800's, and 3 new sets of IC3's. I'll be monitoring volts and mah off the charger. For real world, I'll be running the time trial tracks and posting my best times on the HFAY site.

I'll let you know.

[rharris]

Originally Posted by byebye

Will I be okay if I wire up 3v from my pitbox?

You're going to hate this.... the MH-C9000 power adapter has a 12v output. It would be a strait hookup to a 12v/2amp power supply.

chalk one up for the C9000.

[byebye]

Hey I've been using my charger and one thing I have a complaint about is after the batts are charged and I get the "FULL" indication it doesn't read out capacity in mah??????????????????????????????????????????????? ??????

So if I don't check it just before it's full(which varies) I won't know the actual capacity of the battery at that charge?

Any input?

-Byebye

[Spoon]

I think you can hit the "display" button and it should tell you the capacity. It will only give you the real capacity if you do a discharge, refresh or test though. It need to drain the battery before it knows how much charge was put it it. Display should toggle through voltage, capacity and time.

[GrfxDan]

Originally Posted by Spoon

I think you can hit the "display" button and it should tell you the capacity. It will only give you the real capacity if you do a discharge, refresh or test though. It need to drain the battery before it knows how much charge was put it it. Display should toggle through voltage, capacity and time.

Actually, if you hit the display button after fully charging the batteries it will only show the mAh that it's currently charging at (trickle charge). To find out the batteries full capacity you have to perform the test. None of the other modes will display the mAh capacity of the batteries, only the final voltage.

[byebye]

Originally Posted by Spoon

I think you can hit the "display" button and it should tell you the capacity. It will only give you the real capacity if you do a discharge, refresh or test though. It need to drain the battery before it knows how much charge was put it it. Display should toggle through voltage, capacity and time.

Okay it does on the refresh test. But not after a normal charge.

I guess what I'll have to do is the refresh test for each battery then log that info and match the batts up accordingly.

So far though of the FRY's electronics batteries, Best Power, and Sanyos, only the sanyos have exceeded their rated capacity.

Fry's800mah=500-600mah
Best power 1000mah=600-700mah
Sanyos(over 1 year old)900mah=800-1100mah

The Best power are the cheapest at $1 per battery shipped while the Sanyo's were $2.50 each purchased in store at a shop in Stuttgart, Germany.

Between this evening and Sunday's Enduro at Stafford I'll be discharging and rechargin batteries and logging the capacities.

-Byebye

[shuter]

Fry's800mah=500-600mah
Best power 1000mah=600-700mah
Sanyos(over 1 year old)900mah=800-1100mah

byebey - Wow! Your batteries vary wildly. Did you get those values after running the batteries through a conditioning cycle?

I have been running all of my used battery sets through the conditioning cycle or at least a refresh cycle and then logging the mAh and Volts for each battery which is now numbered. I'm not sure if the mAh value displayed will end up meaning anything since it is not the batteries true capacity but I'll keep a record of it for now. After conditioning I discharge and record the true mAh capacity of each battery, recharge and record the mAh and Volts again.

My Intellects that are over a year old and were initially charged on a Duracel 30 min charger run from a low of 682mAh to a high of 772mAh and average about 725 mAh. The final Voltage runs from a low of 1.41 to 1.46 with one anomoly rating of 1.19 Volt. (it's now in the trash can)

My Intellect battery sets that are about 6 months old and were conditioned before use on a MH-C801D charger and have always been charged at 700mAh. The true capacities run from 730mAh to 779mAh with an average of 755mAh. Final voltage runs from 1.43 to 1.45. Average 1.44 Voltage is especially consistant here.

I also have some Kodak 700 mAh battery sets that are about 6 months old, they were conditioned before use and have always been charged at 700mAh.
The true capacity ranges from a low of 693mAh to a high of 721mAh with an average of about 710mAh. Final voltages run from1.44 to 1.49 with an average of 1.46 Volts. Pretty impressive. Especially since they were only a dollar each. Interesting to note that they are a little shorter. I had to bend the battery contacts on my cars a little to assure good contact.

I'll be getting some new intellect sets to test as soon as the Shop has them back in stock. I can hardly wait.

[GrfxDan]

Has anyone else had issues with their Lacrosse BC-900 not working? I got mine less than a month ago and it worked great for a couple weeks. Now when I put batteries in to be charged it acts like everything's fine initially but then it stops charging (ma goes down to 0) and just stays like that. I thought at first that it was the set of batteries but I've tried several sets and they all do the same thing whether I put in batteries that are completely dead or completely charged. I've let a set sit in there for about 3 hours this morning (at 700ma charging) and they don't get charged. The display shows it charging at 700ma for about a minute then it drops to 0 and never does anything else. The batteries stay cold - never even feel slightly lukewarm. I'm guessing my charger just quit on me. Anyone have any other ideas?

Oh yeah, it does the same thing when there are no batteries in it. Never shows "null" and never shows "FULL" whether there are batteries in the slot or not. I got a dud, right?

[rharris]

Originally Posted by GrfxDan

Now when I put batteries in to be charged it acts like everything's fine initially but then it stops charging (ma goes down to 0) and just stays like that.

I bought two, one works great, the other one did the exact same thing (ma goes to 0).

It's got a one year warranty. I sent the bad one back and am waiting for the new one.

[GrfxDan]

Originally Posted by rharris

I bought two, one works great, the other one did the exact same thing (ma goes to 0).

It's got a one year warranty. I sent the bad one back and am waiting for the new one.

I wonder what percentage of them are defective like this. What's to say that it wouldn't do the same thing after the 1 year warranty has expired? I wonder if I should I try getting a refund instead and get another charger?

[MINIz guy11]

My mah is going down to 0 sometimes too. Ive been using mine for a few months now and thought it wasnt a problem. I would just take then out and plug it in again and itll charge perfectly fine. Doesnt happen all the time though.