KNOWING YOUR BATTERY PACK(for Nitro planes)

Most of us put our confidence in what the label says in a battery pack. When we used to have the standard 500mah pack and later on got a 650mah pack,we falsely conclude that we have a better pack. To compound the problem, modern chargers will indicate how much capacity it has injected into the pack while charging. Another confidence booster. But there is no way actually that a charger can record how much your battery pack absorbed. What is then the best way to evaluate a battery pack? Well, many modellers do not really appreciate the discharge feature of newer chargers. This feature can give us a better evaluation of a battery pack. This is the procedure:


1. Fully charge the pack with the charger which has delta peak feature.
2. Discharge the pack at a known rate till the voltage has reached 4x1.1=4.4V.
3.Record the time elapsed.
4. The discharge rate x time elapse=true usable capacity of the pack.

Example:

You have a650 mah pack and after fully charging it, you discharged it at 650 ma. It lasted an hour before falling to the 4.4V threshold. It has a 650MAH useful capacity. Now,supposed it lasted only 30minutes, then the useful capacity is half or 325 mah.