IMAX-B6AC Settings for m3pi

I just got a new m3pi along with the IMAX-B6AC charger. I installed the batteries, and I am ready to charge them for the first time. I am just trying to satisfy my OCD need not to do anything incredibly stupid the first time out.

I have seem some of the settings discussed, but not quite everything. Following the flow chart on on page 13 of the B6AC manual, I have the first screen set:

NIMH CHARGE Aut
CUR LIMIT 0.9A

Another posting in the forum discussed using the 900mAh rating of the battery/1 hour as the current limit.

My question is the second screen has settings for discharge current and voltage. What should these be set to? How about the 3rd screen setting for cycles?

Are these the only settings required?

Thanks,
Keith

Hello, Keith.

Those settings look fine; all you would need to do at that point is to press and hold the “Start” button to begin charging. You can use the “Inc.” and “Dec.” buttons to go through the different charge/discharge programs the IMAX-B6AC supports. The discharge and cycle program settings are not used when running the charge program.

-Robert

Thanks! It seemed to work out fine. I was surprised that it only took about 35 minutes for a first time charge. It that about normal?

Thanks again,
Keith

I am glad to hear it worked out.

That charge time seems normal for the first time; it is likely that your batteries were not fully discharged. You can check to see if your batteries are fully charged by measuring the voltage across them with a multimeter. Please note that the voltage of fully charged battery will be higher than its nominal voltage. For example, a typical AAA NiMH battery could be up to 1.5V when fully charged.

-Robert

I’m using the same config as it is said in the first post, but what is a bit strange for me is that I’m getting about 6,7V on those 4 cells, is everything ok?:smiley:
What I can see on the screen while charging is:
NiMH 0.9A 6.67V
CHG 022.40 00320

is it ok?
I’m asking because I’m a little bit confused by the voltage, I though it shouldn’t be higher than 6V.

And btw. can I use my m3pi while it is charging? Can I turn it on, program atmega / mbed / wixels etc?

I’m also not sure If it is ok to refresh such threads, it was just very much connected with my issue, I’m sorry if I shouldnt.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Dzedorak,

Hello, Dzedorak.

That voltage seems fine. In general, it is bad practice to use electronics while they are charging, and we do not recommend it with the m3pi.

Regarding your last comment, posting questions to old threads is fine as long as it is concerning similar issues.

- Jeremy

Alright, thank you very much for your answer ! :slight_smile:

So in general what’s the maximum voltage I could see on the screen charging those 4 cells?:stuck_out_tongue:

The charger is going to do what it needs to do to achieve the desired charge rate; I do not know what voltages you might see as it is charging.

- Jeremy

Alright ;]
Thanks for help :slight_smile: