Battery Full Charge

[kenjisherman1]

How long does it take to fully charge a battery? My RC Tank M1A Abrams charged for two hours and only last about 30 minutes of run time. I just bought it and started to look into RC tank.
Battery Type came with the model: UBpower 3800mAh SC 7.2V

Thank you...

[Evan D]

The chargers I have can charge it in maybe 30-40 minutes.

30 minute run time doesn’t sound like you hit a full charge. I get hours on a 5200 2s lipo…

[kenjisherman1]

ok will charge it a bit longer and see.

[Evan D]

What are you charging it with?

[kenjisherman1]

The charger that game with the

• 2S USB LiPo/Li-ion battery charger

[Evan D]

Probably provides a very low charge current.

[kenjisherman1]

Evan after reading a discussion in the forum topic = "Heng Long's 1/16 scale M1A2 Abrams RTR, Upgrade Edition" I have the same tank model which is the professional. The tank is heavier so the battery consume will be faster 20-25 minutes, especially using the smoke effect that came with it. Advise is to purchase additional batteries and charge ready those. Thank you on your feedback.

[keilau]

How long does it take to fully charge a battery? My RC Tank M1A Abrams charged for two hours and only last about 30 minutes of run time. I just bought it and started to look into RC tank.
Battery Type came with the model: UBpower 3800mAh SC 7.2V

Thank you...

There is no universal answer to your question. The charge time is a function of battery capacity and charge current. A half hour run time indicates that you get a 1000 mAh capacity battery falsely advertised to be 3800 mAh. It is typical unbranded price and performance. Name brand true 3000 mAh NiMH battery costs a lot more and will run 3 to 4 times longer.

There are two recent threads on the first page of RC Tank forum where you can find very helpful information.

[keilau]

The charger that game with the

• 2S USB LiPo/Li-ion battery charger

You cannot use Lithium battery charger to charge NiMH or NiCD battery or vise versa. They have very different charge mechanism.

[RichJohnson]

The stock batteries that come with the tanks are hit and miss on how good they are. I have never gotten a full charge on one when they came with nicads. I have used the lithium Ion batteries in my m5 Stewart. Not in my bigger tanks. One of the LIon batteries was DOA.
graduate to better batteries and look at 7.2 or 8.4volt nickel metal hydride MiMh batteries. Most of my club mates use them for tanks while we use the more advanced batteries in our more extravagant RC vehicles like helicopters planes and drift cars and crawlers etc. the Nimh batteries are extremely safe to use, the charge can be topped off without having to discharge if you want to( though good battery science is to discharge to 1.1v per cell before a charge). But Nimh run fine without doing it just not as long a life. Get a nice smart charger and some 3000-5000 Nimh batteries and you will have more fun. If you want to charge fast you can charge them at higher capacity based on the mfr rating of the battery but I personally don’t reccomend charging higher than the actual capacity just to extend battery life.

[kenjisherman1]

You cannot use Lithium battery charger to charge NiMH or NiCD battery or vise versa. They have very different charge mechanism.

Sorry my bad, what came with my M1 Abrams is Class 2 Power Supply Input: 120VAC 60Hz 12W. Output is 7.2 VDC 400m4

[kenjisherman1]

The stock batteries that come with the tanks are hit and miss on how good they are. I have never gotten a full charge on one when they came with nicads. I have used the lithium Ion batteries in my m5 Stewart. Not in my bigger tanks. One of the LIon batteries was DOA.
graduate to better batteries and look at 7.2 or 8.4volt nickel metal hydride MiMh batteries. Most of my club mates use them for tanks while we use the more advanced batteries in our more extravagant RC vehicles like helicopters planes and drift cars and crawlers etc. the Nimh batteries are extremely safe to use, the charge can be topped off without having to discharge if you want to( though good battery science is to discharge to 1.1v per cell before a charge). But Nimh run fine without doing it just not as long a life. Get a nice smart charger and some 3000-5000 Nimh batteries and you will have more fun. If you want to charge fast you can charge them at higher capacity based on the mfr rating of the battery but I personally don’t reccomend charging higher than the actual capacity just to extend battery life.

Thanks for the info, I will probably get a smart charger that can show status.

[keilau]

Thanks for the info, I will probably get a smart charger that can show status.

Most modern smart charger are for lithium battery, with the specific type programable. I have not seen a smart charger with parameter display for NiMH pack at my local store or e-bay or Amazon for a long time. That's good and bad which means good condition used one can be had from e-bay really cheap. RC tank NiMH pack is made of 6 sub-C cells at 1.2 volts nonimal and 1.4 volts fully charged. The 6 cells are in series to make a 7,2 volts pack. sub-C cell capacity is limited to about 3000 mAh by physics unless overcharged. In the old days when I used NiMH for RC tanks, Venom brand was considered the top rated brand which can still be found at Amazon, but it is on the expensive side.

My former NiMH smart charger is the "Duratrax Piranha Digital Peak Battery Charger". You can find used one on e-bay relatively cheap.
Duratrax Piranha Digital Peak Battery Charger for sale | eBay

Robicon99 likes the flylinktech brand NiMH. He is one of the most experienced tank runner on this forum.

[Evan D]

All my LiPo chargers have NiMh, NiCd and even lead acid...

[keilau]

All my LiPo chargers have NiMh, NiCd and even lead acid...

Mind to share the brand and models? However, smart charger designed for NiMH and NiCd should not be used with lithium batteries.

For my lithium battery, I use a SkyRC iMAX B6 Balance Charger. It has NiMH and NiCd mode too.

[keilau]

duplicated post

[tank_me]

I also use a SkyRC iMAX B6 Balance Charger, but you have to be wary of cheap knockoffs for that particular charger.

Taigen Tanks makes a pretty good little charger from what others say:

https://www.taigentanks.com/collections/batteries-and-chargers/products/imex-x150ad-150w-ac-dc-touch-screen-charger-power-supply

[Evan D]

Here are the chargers I am currently using. The Hota D6 is sold under various names at many sites. It is AC and DC and charges a lot of different types of batteries. I also have five of the Accucell chargers as I have a lot of 8S LiPo batteries. There are many versions of this too and most charge up to 6S LiPo or LiIon, 15S NiCd/ NiMh, etc. There are chargers designed for a specific battery or multiple types of batteries. Depending on what type of battery and what charging speed you buy the proper charger. Plus some only work off household voltage, some of 12 or 24VDC or some can work off both.



The Hota charges two batteries at a time, is AC and DC and charges a lot of types. Amazon.com: HOTA D6 Pro Lipo Charger AC200W DC650W 15A for LiHv Nicd NiMH Lipo Battery with Balance Phone Wireless Charging RC Car Drone Parts : Toys & Games

• Input Voltage AC100-240V /DC 6.5-30V Charge Current: 0.1-15A*2 Charge Power: DC 325W*2 AC200W(support power distribution). Output connector type:XT60
• Compatible with- LiHv/LiPo/LiFe/Lilon/Lixx : 1~6S; NiZn/Nicd/NiMH : 1~16S; Smart Battery : 1~6S; Lead Acid(Pb) : 2~24V; Enelop : 1~16S.

The charger Tank me posted is a good example of a charger that can do a lot. It has good power out for fast charging larger batteries, works off your household voltage or a car battery and can charge most types of batteries.

• Supports 1-6 Cell Lipo/LiFe/LiIon Batteries
• Supports 1-16 Cell NiMh/NiCd Batteries
• Supports 1-12 Cell Pb Batteries (lead acid like a motorcycle battery)

[keilau]

Tenergy sells the B6 charger under their own brand. They have a very useful video on how to use the B6 charger with NiMH or NiCd.

[Evan D]

Most if not all of the chargers with four buttons work excatly the same way...