A conversation with Advanced-battery.com

Re: A conversation with Advanced-battery.com

Stuart Johnson

>Ron, Have your contacted Triton with this information to see what they have to say?

Re: A conversation with Advanced-battery.com

Ron in Drums PA

>Do you know thier web or email address?

I'll send them a copy of this.

Triton Web Site *LINK*

Stuart Johnson

>This respirator is on my list to purchase this year. Please let us know what you find out.


http://www.tritonwoodworking.com/

Re: Triton Web Site

Ron in Drums PA

>Thanks, I'll let you know the results

I measured mine

Bill Howatt

>my Triton's batteries probably have been run 1-2h after last charge. I hooked up a voltmeter and ammeter. The charger measures about 13V no load but when connected to the batteries drops to about 9.5V. The charging current is 450ma.

I would say there is at least a resistor in series with the batteries to limit the current or the charger's voltage would have been pulled closer to the battery voltage. Regardless of what the mechanism is it is always a good idea to take the battery off charge when it is fully charged unless there is fancy circuitry to reduce charging to a trickle.

Be interesting to hear what Triton says.

Bill

Re: A conversation with Advanced-battery.com

Fog Tanner

>There are a few numbers you have to remember when dealing with the ni-cad type battery packs. The typical cells that you will buy have a normal volatage of 1.25, but when fully charged are 1.3-1.32. The other end of that is the dropdead voltage which is 1.1 per cell.

I have spent over 30 years having to deal with ni-cads and then the ni-cad replacements in fly R/C aircraft. In doing that, you had to learn a lot about batteries or build a lot of planes.

The low end is as critical as the high end. When the cell drops below 1.1 volt, you can get polarity reversial and the positive and negative will flip. Since you seldom buy matched sets (and yes they are available for a price), typically one cell will reverse. This will drain the other cells, as they will try and "charge" or feed the cell. Charging occasionally will reverse this, but vary rare. There are some other "shock" treatments, but I have never had them work. So it is best to stop using your pack before it gets to the 5.5 volt level (for your 5 cell). 5.6-5.7 volts, leaning more towards 5.7 would be a safe level.

On the other end, a safe charge rate is a C10, or 500ma in your case. This is good for the 14-16 hour range. The newer cells have a vent in case the charging current is too high. The cell will get hot and open the vent instead of exploding like the used to. While the venting keeps the cell intact, it will also reduce the capacity of the cell resulting in shorter useable time. Another byproduct of too high a charge rate is a thermal runaway, where the internal resistance is lower due to the heat, which in turn demands more current, which creates more heat, which demands more.... and so on. Great fun with the old cells that would detonate...

A charger with a C100 (50ma in your case) can be left on all month with no problems. I have had batteries on "trickle" for over six months during non-flying times. You first have to have the battery charged as the C100 rate will only maintain what you have. The best is to have a charger which will fully charge the battery, moniters the rate (to prevent thermal runaways), and then switches to a trickle rate. I have several of those and they are the only way to go.

Check the batteries you buy, look at their charge rate. If they are rated for a C3 or C1 charge rate, they are industrial batteries and will last a lot longer. I would not charge them at that, still using the C10, but they will last a lot longer than the consumer batteries which only have a C10 rating.

Re: A conversation with Advanced-battery.com

Ron in Drums PA

>Thanks for the info.

Now it seems I need to become a electronics expert to turn wood ;-) It is amazing what you can learn on this site.

I'm still fuzzy on the "C" ratings, I know the lower the number, the faster it can take a charge. The new batteries are a C1. The charger for this unit is just your standard power pack, nothing fancy. No trickle charge or turn off feature. I guess I need to look around for a different charger.

Re: A conversation with Advanced-battery.com

Fog Tanner

>I doubt that woodturning will result in the same need for learning about batteries that R/C airplanes required. A low battery isn't likely to cause a lathe to crash. But, the knowledge does come in handy when you need battery packs. I'm not paying 3M $70(Powervisor)-$250(Airstream) for $6-$30 worth of batteries.

A C1 rating is pretty decent, that should last a while taken care of - at least 5-6 years or longer. The C ratings are what percentage of the total capacity the battery may be charged at. C1 = 100%, C3 = 33%, C10 = 10%, C50 = 5%, C100 = 1%.

I made a trickle attachment for my fixed rate chargers. I used a plastic pill bottle for the case, so I could see the LED. I used a piece of PC board and mounted a dropping resister, LED, and switch. I have several of these charges so I cut the line on one of them and wired the charger into one side the pill bottle. I took the cut piece and threaded it back through a hole into the pill bottle and soldered it to the PC board. When I want trickle mode I just flip the switch and the rate goes from C10 to C100. The LED is to show when it in trickle mode.