Hornet Rc Battery Pack

[whatwhat]

Just wondered if anyone could help me?
My son received a hornet build it yourself rc car for christmas. The battery pack is a Ni cad, but the instructions are very vague. I know that charging for the wrong amount of time can cause damage, but the charger and the instructions seem to say different things!! Any one?? Thanks and merry Christmas

[Buenchico]

>>> I know that charging for the wrong amount of time can cause damage.

I doubt it. There was a time when over-charging a battery could damage it (or even risk a fire in extreme circumstances) but modern chargers are designed to detect when a battery is fully charged and then switch the current off automatically.

[LCDMAN]

BC hit the nail on the head there - depends on the charger. Newer "intelligent" chargers are designed to protect the cells. Ni-Cad packs really need a "bloody good charge" first time round as they do suffer from "memory effect" and their long term capacity can often be defined by this first charge. Give them a good 12-16 hour charge to begin with, charger should have a pre-defined cycle and reduce charging current as appropriate without any damage to cells.

I haven't checked, but I'm guessing you are talking about the typical 7.2V Ni-Cad "powerpack" common in the RC car world. :-)

[bhg481]

NiCd batteries seem to be fairly rare nowadays. If the batteries are NiMH they will not suffer from "memory effect", so it is not as important to fully discharge them before re-charging them, as is the case with NoCds.