NiMH Batteries - Why wont my battery charge?

[@NBA_sNmJ]

this is exactly the information i needed to know. i was going nuts, not understanding why the battery won't hold a charge. thank you!!!

[@drapetomaniac1]

Followed your advice and it worked! Saved me from buying 4 new battery packs.

[@alexandres8846]

To balance nimh battery packs, a circuit with two 1n4007 diodes in series plus a resistance of 1 to 10 ohms is used.The voltage drop in each diode is 0.7 volt x 2 is 1.4 volts.The resistance limits the intensity of the balancing current. Being soldered to all Ni cells this increases the life and performance of the battery pack.

[@thejimshep2503]

Is there a shelf version of this? Could you fabricate some and sell them to me?

[@ethanfox5727]

I found an old 5000 NiMH in my closet, I believe its about 2-3 years old. I got it to charge a little bit and got about 2-3 minutes of use before it died extremely fast. does this have hope? and do I just need to re charge it a ton of times? or is this battery dead?

[@thevgang6658]

What about if my battery is just showing ready when I plug it in

[@averymccombe]

I just bought a Traxxas power cell 500 MAH ID battery off Amazon and I have a Traxxas ID EZ pack and it’s not letting me charge the battery. It starts to charge then like two minutes later it stops and goes to 3A can’t figure out what it means and can’t get the battery to charge

[@Therealphillipsphamily]

Thank you. Very simple and even more helpful.

[@anibalbabilonia1867]

I had that experience before with them batteries! But then like you said I charged them a few times, and I felt the battery was hot to the touch. That’s when I knew they where fully charged! Thank you for the tutorial!😎👍

[@twrcrew8852]

that's... actually.. horrible advice.. NO battery likes heat. that said, warmth (not "heat") is an indicator of electron transfer in a meaningful volume through the sheets in the cell.

[@GregScratchley]

Awesome! I wondered if they could be brought back after a long break...

[@Nelsea7190]

i didnt chage my 2 traxxas batteries for 2 months and they apparently went dormant. need to give them coffee/a charge to wake them up...

[@alperen554]

I bought airsoft gun 3 years ago and didnt use it for 1.5 years yesterday i wanted to use it and fully charged NiMh battery on simple charger, and took it after seeing green light on it, but when i put it into gun it just worked for 2-3 times of shooting and stopped working. So should i put it back into charger and leave it for few hours, try again, and do the same circle untill it starts working properly ?

[@chrisdickson5686]

I have vintage rc 7.2 volt batteries how to I know if they are good. They ate warm to the touch when charger. But, how do I k ow how much life is left in them.

[@mikemuzzell5167]

Exactly what I was looking for battery info thank you

[@igortodorovic6463]

I don't know anything about these batteries or charging methods. I have a standard outlet charger that came with my airsoft rifles that use Nimh batteries. The batteries won't charge at all. When plugged in the charger light is just green and the batteries are dead when plugged into the rifles. Any way of fixing this? I got them used with the airsoft rifles

[@brandoncannon1071]

What does it mean if the battery gets so hot you can’t touch it I have I have four of these batteries and I’ve never had this problem until today. When I went to go take it off the charger it literally burnt my fingers. Does this mean the battery is bad?

[@landmanron]

this is informative can you post a similar video for charging nicd batteries? specifically those who have been not used for a few years? I have an issue where my charger says the batteries are charged but the mah reading is only a fraction of the stated rating. (for example, it is rated at 3k mah but when done the charger says it charged it to 300 mah) thanks.

[@asb1619]

How about mentioning the prognosis if the battery charged is hot but offers no run time?

[@blake4418]

When I put my battery on the charger the charger doesn’t show a battery connected is there any way to fix that

[@rcgeneration824]

Hi, after only one charge and run of my nimh venom 4200 battery, I tried charging it on my venom pro 4 charger, and it won't charge. It reads: "connection break" is my new battery completely dead?!

[@doubledog5894]

I can’t get my charger to work for NiMh batteries - HELP! I have the Spektrum S155 and it works great for LiPOs but no luck with NiMH. I’ve noticed that it won’t allow the ‘Start’ charging function until a balance lead is plugged in when charging my LiPOs. However my NiMh batteries just have the one pin or Tamiya connectors (I have 2 different NiMH batteries for two different RC cars) but the NiMh batteries have no balance lead so my charger won’t enable the ‘Start’ charging function. Any idea how to get this to work on the Spektrum S155? Thanks.

[@angelisone]

Are yours a 7.2V or 8.4V NiMh with a Tamiya's plug? If it is, I think it's over 2.7 years old. Meaning the battery will no longer hold the charge. You will read using a DMM to read the voltage but the current is not up to par. Or you have to mod your cable with B7 to B3 (Tamiya's connector). You would need an ATG's pin extractor tool.

[@doubledog5894]

@@angelisone They’re NHX Muscle Packs - 9.6v, 8 cell NiMh flat packs with Tamiya plugs - brand new. I just ordered them on eBay. I can charge on my Ultra Tower UP4AC but on my Spektrum S155 it’s no bueno.

[@horizontal120]

can i ask ... i am looking to buy rechargeable batterys for my Bluetooth headphones it uses AAA batterys 3x ... can i use NiMH 1.2 V or li-on that is 1.5V is this going to cause problems ?? the voltage difference ?? ( the original discrimination seas they come whit Battery Cell Type ‎NiCAD )

[@oikiakaeidi]

I already completed the process of changing until the nimh packet gets hot but it only played for 5 minutes and not at full speed as a brand new battery. In addition, when i charged the battery after the run it was charging at 2Amps for about 1hour and a half, it got warm as you said but the next day it was like i never charged it. BTW please let me know about this question... I've got 1/10 4×4 RC 7,2v NiMH 3Ah battery and a brushed system 15T motor and I was thinking about a brushless combo 3000KV and an ESC 50Amps. But I need your opinion, would brushless combo run faster than brushed 15T on NiMH 7,2volts 3Ah or not???

[@HalloweenFreak31]

I have a God awful fear of battery explosion and house catching fire. 😖😫 How safe are these nimh batteries and can I just use a regular plug in adapter??

[@fat_pigeon]

NiMH is quite safe. When abused, they generally just get warm, and at worst may leak electrolyte. It's Li-ion batteries that you should worry about. I'm not sure what you mean by a "plug in adapter".

[@jasonurban3597]

Awesome video

[@MistaNimbus]

My power cell id battery won’t register on my charger. It hasn’t been used in over 8 months

[@jacksonchin5599]

Good info. May I know the best battery got RGT EX 86100 crawler?

[@carlotai4635]

If I am charging a 2,200mah Nimh at 0.2amp (C/10) should it still get warm even at that “Slow charge rate” please ?

[@grindfreakmike5754]

0.2 amp rate is so low of a charge rate i dont believe its even possible, and if so it would never make the battery pack even warm. now if your charging at a 2 amp rate then yes the battery could get hot if charged to much, a little warm is normal, not hot.

[@carlotai4635]

@@grindfreakmike5754 no def charging at 0.2amp it’s what it says on pack 0.2amp for 14hrs

[@thesecretsquirrel5935]

Ive run my discharge/ charge cycle on my battery charger, the battery is 4200 7.2 V. should my charger read somewhere near 4200 when its finished ? sorry for the dumb questions but i'm totally new to understanding this. I just remember buying a pretty expensive model race car years back, stuck it the garage due to a new job and it sat there ever since in its box.

[@joelsterling3735]

Yep. A brand new battery will hold 4200mah if it says 4200mah on the label. After a while it will slowly hold less and less mah. For instance 4000mah then 3800mah etc.

[@bentz6666]

I have a 7.2v 5000 mAh NiMH that sat for approximately 5 years. It gets warm and I have a charger that doesn't auto-shutoff. The charger is a brick-style transformer and it gets hot AF while trying to charge the NiMH. I guess I'll keep trying... how do we re-activate them once they go dormant if we let NiMH sit too long? This Hobby Wholesale store looks awesome, I wish we had stores like this out by us!

[@skylimits691]

hello I purchased 2 NiMH battery AAA 1.2v 850 mAb , I found one of them that accepts electric charging and the other is dead and does not accept any charging. What should I do?

[@ronaldkarp4035]

flash it with the good battery. With a bit of charge in the dead one, the charger should pick up and run with it.

[@cadenplays3513]

I have 2 8.4V 3000 MAH battery, I have a charger that has always worked with these batteries but for both of them when I plug them in the charger stays on red for ready and never sends a charge

[@jimb5837]

I have 2 nimh traxxas ID batteries that have only been used about 2 times. They sat for over a year and are completely dead. The traxxas ID charger won’t recognize them and attempt to charge. Is there anything I can do other than toss them?

[@joeyedwards6248]

im in the same boat!!!

[@kylermatwie3748]

I have the same issue

[@ronf7468]

Take them to the shop they may have a better battery 🔋 charger

[@xtopis]

I have the same issue

[@ssgeek4515]

You can kickstand any cell battery with giving it 12v car power voltage for a few seconds nut don't hold it there. Brought nmh 3 2v 18560 to life with feeding 12v to each cell for 10 seconds get warm but it's done well.

[@fat_pigeon]

Seriously? Are you *trying* to burn your house down?

[@hostilexiii5138]

He's right you know

[@cadenplays3513]

@@fat_pigeon if you know what your doing it isn’t that stupid it worked for me

[@dareenahmedessam3340]

My NIMH got too hot to touch when charging , is that normal ? although the charger haven't completely charged them yet by showing green indicator instead of red !! please help ASAP

[@codymcgowen5579]

Mine too gets really hot to where it worries me, what model do you have?

[@dareenahmedessam3340]

@@codymcgowen5579 hello , It's NIMH GP 2700 , Have any idea about them ? and yes i am too worried and ain't let them got too hot , i monitor them and when i just feel them got warm i unplug them

[@codymcgowen5579]

@@dareenahmedessam3340 they do get warm to the touch, that’s supposed to happen. If they get hot it tends to mean it’s at its peak power, your charger has a peak power sensor that shuts off when it senses your battery getting warm. And if it gets hot it can be caused by a “false peak” meaning the battery got too hot and the charger read incorrectly. Just let it cool and plug it back in. You can also get a fan to blow on it to help.

[@ahmedessam1520]

@@codymcgowen5579 so if my batteries got too hot to touch that doesn't mean they are broken or dead batteries and can't work anymore? Should I buy a new charger or?

[@codymcgowen5579]

@@ahmedessam1520 i was unlucky and mine came with a bad battery. And mine was getting really hot like had to stick it In my ac unit to even touch it. But if it becomes too hot to touch its likely a bad battery

[@rc79studio70]

Hello. I have a truck that runs 7.2 nickel metal hydride. Is safe for my trucks electronic components reciever and stuff to replace the battery with 7.4 lipo. Does it work. Thanks friend

[@fat_pigeon]

Only if the LiPo has a protection circuit internally.

[@willdoesbjj0514]

But I don’t think my charger will charge unless I press start then it senses and shuts off what do I do

[@lildude1445]

So i need to leave my battery charging all day till i fill heat or put a break between the charging session?

[@jerryd5981]

You need to charge it as many times as necessary to feel heat, but you do need to monitor it. If the battery false peaks there's no way to know if it did so 5 minutes into the charge or 3 hours into the charge, unless you are monitoring it or checking on it regularly. When asked if a battery is charged, many people respond with, "well, it was on the charger for 3 days." Again, it may have been on the for three days, but may have only been charging for a short time.

[@landonbufkin9966]

Hi this video helped me understand why my nimh battery does not work anymore They are from my dads old txt-1 but it broke and he never had the time to fix it and the batteries have not been charged in 15 years and i was wondering if you had any advice because i really want to get this beast back on it’s wheels.

[@xismxist]

Having a TXT-1 myself ;) i had some old GP3300 7.2v packs and those doesnt like gettin charged anymore.... the ac/dc swallows charger beeps and says its done just after a few min, so i have to restart the charging over and over again, after a few times it will charge....a tips is to charge at low mah, for example 0.3 amps (300 mah) for a 3000 mah pack, this may take 12-13 hours

[@baderalbuloushi8369]

Why when i charged my nimh 5000mah 7.2v battery on a 5A it only charged to 1430 and got hot and stopped? I put the battery in the freezer for sometime to cool and i will try 3.5a and see if it will complete the hour or i have to charge with less Next will be charging my 3000mah same type on a 3A

[@angeldoom4207]

Charge it let it cool in a room or basement not freezer and then run it shortly till dead and charge it again and repeat till it’s better if you have an advanced charger set it to cycle charge and let it run it’s course do like 4-5 cycles at 4.5A for the 5000mah 7 cell and 2-2.5A for the 3000mah battery and let them cycle and watch the run times get a bit longer and the mah count go up higher and higher while cycling it

[@zack9692]

What voltage should a 5 cell 6v pack be stored at?

[@angeldoom4207]

Charge them up fully then if you want to keep them going without having them go dormer i recommend charging them every 3 weeks to a month ish just to stop them from getting really low and having to be cycled multiple times

[@therabbitsquadrabbitteam9598]

So I bought 6200 NIMH rc battery and my charger is 250 MA output charger. Battery says 14hr at 500Ma . Does that mean I charge mine for 28 hrs since I have a 250Ma output charger??

[@therabbitsquadrabbitteam9598]

I have charged over night for 12 hrs before and my battery only last a couple minutes and died.

[@ronf7468]

Read the instructions 3x so you remember Or lookup tutorials

[@eriksvsirocco]

Would NiMH be a viable option for solar applications

[@eriksvsirocco]

?

[@chimplove2006]

@@eriksvsirocco nope, they just arent capacity dense enough and would be massive and also cant charge fast.

[@michaelinzitari]

Yes this would be perfect. Just like a Toyota Prius uses NIMH. Solar panels are like trickle chargers with their low output.

[@astroblemeRC]

Thanks for this vid, I will go with these for my next RC vehicle as I am an absolute professional at wrecking Lipo’s.

[@bryandoesntlikeschool123]

What if the charger isnt working

[@robertobassi1843]

Molto interessante sicuramente ed utile..io ho iniziato da poco e le batterie che uso sono le LIPO, devo sempre controllare il voltaggio e ti chiedo quali delle due è meglio usare. Grazie

[@nicholaspetre1]

How are NiMH batteries supposed to stored on the shelf?! Now one ever mentions this anywhere. Should we store them fully charged, half charged or fully discharged?

[@jerryd5981]

Typically you charge them up before you put them away, remove them from the vehicle or charger (i.e. unplug them to avoid parasitic drain), and leave them on the shelf away from severe temperatures or temperature changes. They will lose their charge marginally over time as they sit, and will go dormant if they sit for a prolonged period of time - for example, several months - so they will need to be charged and possibly reconditioned when you go to use them again. As stated in the video, be sure the batteries are warm when the charger says they are finished, otherwise the may not be fully charged or perform to their full potential. To ensure they get warm it may be necessary to charge the battery multiple times. Technically, if a person wanted to keep them functioning well and was motivated to stay on top of things, one could/should top them up each month if they are sitting unused, though most of us rarely do. Hope that clarifies.

[@dgdink]

@@jerryd5981 You should leave the battery completely empty

[@annamarconetto1648]

ok so which is it? charge up and store or run them down and store?

[@jerryd5981]

@@annamarconetto1648 We advise individuals to charge them up before leaving them on the shelf for extended periods of time. They don't have a memory to the extent of NiCd , so there's not a lot of issue there. They do, however, lose their charge at a very slow rate while sitting and do go dormant over long periods of inactivity. If your battery is starting at 8 or 9v when you put it away, you start from a better place when you go to use it again. Some chargers are programmed to not recognize batteries below a certain voltage (I'm looking at you Traxxas...), so if you put it away for an extended period of time at an already reduced voltage you may have additional challenges. It's also important to ensure the batteries are ALWAYS unplugged from your vehicle and/or charger when not in use, even if those items have an on/off switch. In the end, do what works best for you, as there is no clear wrong or right answer for the general/occasional hobbyist.

[@willdoesbjj0514]

Ya my batteries were sat for a year they definitely went dormant because my charger keeps saying charged yet there not

[@zebra5591]

Yeah mine sat for at least 2. Charger says its done but only have 4 volts. Time to pound some life into this thing

[@jytechnology310]

good video! we are nimh battery manufacturer!

[@adamskigarage64]

Thanks 👍

[@mitchvelasco8748]

Hello sir😊 i need your help🙏 aum... can i charge Ni-MH batteries with Li-ion charger? Thaaank you🥰

[@fat_pigeon]

No. They require different charge termination logic.

[@PipeandTamper]

Do NiHM batteries need to be discharged before recharging them?

[@tsnow6844]

No

[@ronf7468]

If they don’t fully charge and have low performance, you cycle the battery 2-5 ish times Fully charged, use, or discharge , let cool, repeat .

[@alexandres8846]

only 1 volt per cell or damaged battery reverse current cells.

[@freedomgamer172]

My battery is notcharging it's just becoming so hot while charging

[@uberblitzkrieg]

Thanks for the video. I am trying to charge two 3000mah batteries but the charger just blinks flashing red when I plug the batteries in and it doesn’t even looks like is charging at all. I checked the fuse and it seems to be fine. Got any tips on how to get the charger working?

[@alexandruiftene5861]

Same problem here. Any luck ?

[@jonlock7150]

Same issue any luck?

[@stevoteo8180]

same here

[@adamwalcott_official]

Why won't my brand new Spektrum S155 smart G2 charger recognize that my crappy NiMH battery is empty? The NiMH battery is only a month old and came with the rc car I just bought. I installed the newest firmware on the charger, so everything is up to date. I charged the battery with the 200mA charger a couple days ago, used up the battery today and wanted to try charging it on the smart charger for the first time. But when I plug in my NiMH battery and dial in all the settings, it reads the empty battery as having 90% charged, and only charges for 6 or 7 minutes. Funny thing is, it'll charge maybe a couple hundred mAh before stopping, but I can repeat this process multiple times. The battery reads full (99%), but will still charge again and again (for roughly 6-10 minutes - around 200-300mAh). What's up with this? Do I just repeat this process until the total mAh put into the battery (over multiple charging cycles) reaches the 1800 mAh rating on the battery? The 5000mAh 2S LiPo charges great and works great in the car too, but this backup NiMH is confusing me. Edit: so the battery was charging as I was writing this, and the 3rd time I charged it, it read 99% for the 47 minutes that it took to reach 1400 mAh capacity charged (in addition to the previous two charging cycles) before I stopped the charging manually. It didn't shut off automatically after 6-10 minutes like it did the previous 2 or 3 cycles.

[@MrFasuloMusic]

THANK YOU!

[@supercommando440]

My Venom Pro2 says "Battery Check Low Voltage" when I try to charge a 5000mah 7.2V NIMH 6 cell batt. The manual says "Voltage in one cell in the pack is too low to charge safely.Please check the voltages of each cell". HOW do I check voltages of each cell? Yeah the battery has sat around for a year, unused. There's nothing that can be done to tell this charge to fix this? These NIMH's are lame... and the charger is pretty lame if it can't do anything for this. 1 cell goes to low and the entire pack is worthless? Seriously?

[@fat_pigeon]

Is the charger in the appropriate mode? That message makes sense for Li-ion batteries, but not for NiMH.

[@csnocke5]

Great shop I wish you were near vt

[@ARMY_RUGS]

Thank you .

[@sr29_]

my charger cant detect the battery pls help

[@timbenham516]

I don't know what kind of charger you're using or what kind of battery your charging if it's a advanced charger and your charging lipo's sometimes whenever you run lipos down to low the charger will not recognize a battery. so I will switch it to nimh and let it charge for about 15 to 30 seconds stop,switch your charger back to lipo and it should recognize it.

[@ronf7468]

Looking now for a lipo battery 🔋 vid by you

[@joelsterling3735]

Finally figured out that if you turn your delta peak way up to 20, you can get an old nimh battery to wake up after several years lol.

[@Rcheavyequipment]

So in case my nimh battary is not full although the charger says so, how many times its need to be recharged and yet not get it damaged? Tx

[@ronf7468]

He said 2-3...to 8 Just full charge , discharge , repeat, only charge when battery 🔋 is cool

[@jamesphillips1175]

I've bought 2 venom batteries that won't charge haven't charged since I bought them, hobbytown just said they didn't know their charger charged it but rc went 10 ft and was dead. Can I jump start it with another battery?

[@jamesphillips1175]

I have charged them 5 to 6 times in a row but they are still cold.

[@jerryd5981]

Unfortunately, jump starting it probably isn't the safest option, though NiMh batteries are a bit less volatile then some other types. You'll need to attempt to verify 2 things, if you can. First, the voltage of the battery. The nominal voltage listed on most NiMh batteries is quite often what we would consider "dead." So if a 7.2v is around 7 or lower, it's effectively dead as far as a charge goes, and the same applies for an 8.4v - 8.5 or less is considered dead. If your batteries are quite a bit lower, for example 4/4.5v, it's quite possible your charger has a threshold and won't even recognize the battery. some chargers, like Traxxas chargers, won't recognize a battery below 4.5(ish)v. In that case you need to find access to a charger that can bring them up, if yours won't. Take it to your local shop, and they can likely pump them up. As we suggested in one of the other comments, check your charger to see if it's working. Check your voltage on the battery before you charge it, then put it on the charger for a short time. Take the battery off and check the voltage again. If it has increased from the initial reading, the charger is working. It's not unheard of that a battery might require several cycles to be reawakened, and that can be impacted by the charger itself. A quicker, more powerful charger will be more likely/capable to wake up the chemistry than an extremely slow charger. And if a charger has been sitting for quite some time, whether at the manufacturer, distributor, or retailer, it may take more to wake them back up. It's one of the unfortunate characteristics of NiMh, but we've seen 3000mAh batteries that are quite dead take upwards of 4000mAh. Keep at it, and if all else fails, take it to your local store to see if they can help.

[@jamesphillips1175]

@@jerryd5981 my venom dual charger just came in so hopefully I can get it to work, like you said traxxas charger even with bypass isn't recognizing the batteries.

[@jamesphillips1175]

@@jerryd5981 thank you

[@jerryd5981]

If you have been attempting to use a Traxxas charger, there are instances where the Venom Traxxas plug/adapter doesn't always make a connection on the Traxxas charger. The flat gold connectors/spades in the Venom Traxxas end need sometimes to be bent up slightly to allow them to make contact. Using an X-acto knife blade or small flathead screwdriver try (carefully) to get under the flat connectors on the black adapter and bent them up slightly. The contacts on the charger end start halfway back on the receptacle, and the Venom adapters don't always make a good connection/contact. Once they've been bent up a little - and it only needs to be a fraction/half of a millimeter - they usually work every time.

[@martinlutherkingjr.5582]

The music is annoying and unnecessary

[@CrazyFunnyCats]

Lipos can sink ships 🚢 Did you hear about the electric ⚡️ vehicles 🚗 that burnt and the whole ship sank You still working there Jerry? Hope so 👍

[@kwacz]

well.... yes and no. Batteries do go dormant when they sit. Yes you may need to charge then a couple times because they may think they are charged and they are not. however, if you have put them on charge 3 times in a row and they are still not charging up fully, then you need to follow this by a few charge and discharge cycles to wake them up. the first couple cycles may not give much capacity, but if they are good they will wake up. if you have to put them on repeated charge over and over again, your charger is not worth a s$%#. Also there are (i have several) chargers that can quickly charge a nimh battery without heating it up. These advanced computerized chargers are what you should be using as heat during charging is not good for the battery. Just because the battery is not heating up doesnt mean it is not full. A good quality charger will throttle back and prevent cell heating unless you are trying to charge at a very high rate they may not get warm while charging (and shouldnt) unless they are older. As they get older they will start heating near end of charge.

[@druscanam]

I brought my friend a 10 year old traxxas bandit that was in like new condition with a 7 cell Nimh and brought him B6 charger with traxxas adapter to go with it. When he tried to charge at a normal rate the voltage jumped up really quickly and said it was charged even thought it wasn't, I then got him to turn off the time limit on the charger and do a discharge/charge cycle @ 0.1A which took a few days completely fixed and restored the battery ri new, and took above 5000mah of charge despite being a 4000mAh pack. Had the exact same thing happen to me with a slash the guy thought the battery was stuffed, just needed to be cycled on trickle charge.

[@Lostprovince2319]

Sucks to see all those venoms knowing they recently went out of business

[@Free__Speech]

NiMH batteries loose 1% charge per day

[@jasonbogdovitz7357]

2 3 4 8 times lol ok

[@jagdishrao2520]

Hello

[@ror-ys3qp]

NiMh are terrible....go Lipo or life.