batt questions
 

Hey all, I'm a newbie at this... I just bought a lxx char-g, it has a 3.0 motor and I'm not sure about the batt... I opened it up and saw a lot of fragile teeny wires, so I closed it again. But it's green, runs for like 4 minutes or so, and doesn't really lose any power before it dies.

Anyway, I'd really like to use rechargeable NIMH batteries in the controller. I'm mostly wondering about charging the car with these batteries. Does that handy little light actually tell me when the car is charged, or does it run on a timer? When the light goes off, will the car continue to charge?

I'm sure people have experience with this, and any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

The light on the controller is set on a timer. The car charges for 45 seconds, and then the light goes off. It won't tell you if the car is fully charged. Once the light goes off, the car stops charging unless you remove it from the charged, and then re-attach it. Modifications can be done to the controller such as replacing the 45 sec timer with a 90 sec timer, or just rewiring the controller so it gives out a constant charge. Doing the latter, however, will make the charge light on the controller null and void and it WILL NOT stop charging while the car is in the charger, so you have to time it yourself.

that handy light tells u wen to stop charging. it will continue but with nicad's(batteries in LXX, bits, microsizers) an ovecharge can prove deleterious to your battery.

ok, cool. Has anyone experimented with what amount of time is actually best for your battery? Is it actually 45 seconds? How about 55 or a minute, or more...?

Still wondering about rechargeable controller batts ;)

Thanks

44-46 seconds atcually...but whose counting...?

on all 4 cars ive owned ive found that if you let it charge through 2 or 3 cycles it gets 10min runtimes easily.

also after 45secs it stops charging. so if you put it on charging and get distracted it wont blow up after an hour. you can see this by running the drive while charging and after the light goes out.

is 2 or 3 times too long, would that be deleterious to my batt? lol... 10 mins run time sounds goooood

i'd recommend two charges max if you're still running the stock 1 NiCd battery. if you converted to a NiMH or a dual cell NiCd, then you'll need at least two charges to fully charge it.

do the stock NiCd's have a "memory" like if you charge them again when its not dead and you lose battery life? How about hte upgrade to NiMH? is it harmful to half charge a NiMH?

they should be kept full at all times and be cycled every month or so. but im sure it happens enough when you let it sit overnight so no dont run it all the way down and charge it.

plus these batteries cost 3$ so if it dies after 3 months its worth it.

lol i wont use big words in this one...lol

but if you put ur bit on the charger when it still has a good amount of energy left(about 5 times) you will lose charging time because the battery will stor that amount of time in its "memory"

The Lxx cars come with an 80mah NIMH