new to Bit Char-G's...newbie question about battery life

chikai · #1 10-18-2002, 08:01 PM

I just received my yellow S2000 and my Mobil 1 NSX shell.

This thing is bad ass...and I'm definitely hooked.

So I've charged it up like three times now. But there are times where I'll charge it up...leave to go to work, and when I come back the battery in the car is already dead. Is this normal?

thanks...

chikai

shred · #2 10-18-2002, 08:03 PM

mine usually takes a few hours before it gets bad enough you cant run it that long, weird busisness

tinyrc · #3 10-21-2002, 09:09 PM

chikai, that's completely normal. Always run your car until the motor will no longer spin the wheels when off the ground before storing.

FMZPLAYER1 · #4 12-01-2002, 09:43 PM

The radio receiver slowly uses up the charge in the car's batt, that's what mine does. A 45 second quick charge will run the car for about 5 mins, (if used right away) or if left for an hour or two, that little bit of charge gets used up by the car's radio receiver (which is *always* on)
My car is a bit-clone, an "Atomic Z-car" actually, but the same should be true for just about any other car too.

If you have a digital meter, you can measure the battery (even when the car appears totally discharged)--there should be 0.3V to 0.8V remaining. When I first got my car, it had 0.3V in the batt a good sign, means the batt should be ok, if they go down to 0.00V, that can mean the batt is going bad (internal short may be developing)

If you see random voltage readings , that is normal too, when the batt has only about 0.8v left, the receiver goes into several startup/shutdown cycles. The receiver cuts out, then the batt voltage rises up under no load, untill it is just high enough to trigger the receiver to start working, which drops the voltage again..... It behaves just like a relaxation oscillator.

datamonster · #5 12-01-2002, 10:15 PM

Bit Char-g's use nickel-cadium batteries. These types of batteries are used because they can be charged hundreds of times. the unfortunate side of it is that they lose their charge over a period of time. if you want to prolong the life of your battery, do as tinyrc says and run the battery out before you store your bit.