Tamelesstgr
06-17-2014, 10:43 PM
Ok, I bought my son a ProBoat Shockwave 26 brushed version off eBay from a hobby store. Everything was new in the sealed packaging, finally this Spring we had a chance to take it out.
First problem, charge the 7.2V 2400mah NI-MH with the included wall charger, put in the boat, boat goes in the water and barely moves. I thought how hard could this be right? Green battery light was on. Try charging battery again with same result. Call up Horizon hobby, suggest maybe the battery is bad, or that it may need to be discharged and charged over 5-8 cycles to see improvement. Over a weekend I did this and I started to see improvements.
After the boat started gaining speed after the battery cycled, I could only get maybe 30 seconds of full speed (for this boat) and then it would stop in the water and revert back to a slow idle mode where the boat doesn't even come up on plane. Called Horizon again. Battery is getting 8.8V at full charge, somewhere around 7.8V when the idle mode takes over. I have been getting anwhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes and 30 seconds of what I call "fast" run-time out of this boat. Just this evening I had charged the battery but it was off the charger a little while. I threw my voltmeter on it and I read 8.2V, took it out to run and it went 15' out into the water at full speed and then stopped and began to idle. Then I thought to myself, I bet the battery discharged a little bit. I wanted to try taking a fully charged battery off the 2A wall charger and I measured 8.8V. Hooked everything up and got 2 minutes of run time out of the boat.
Now my goal is simple, the speed is plenty fast for my 8yr old son right now (I know, I know, the speed bug will come quickly) but to learn the basics, this is a good platform for us. I would just like longer run times. From my reading I see that I can step up to a 7.2V or 8.4V NI-MH with the ProBoat ESC in this set up. Also going up to 5000mah should increase my run time correct?
I am sure people will tell me to go LIPO, and maybe in time, but I honestly just need to know:
Do I need a better battery charger? (Was thinking of getting a unit that can charge NI-MH and LIPO for future upgrades, other boats/trucks)
Should I go with the 7.2V or 8.4V 5000mah battery?
Thanks,
Ken
First problem, charge the 7.2V 2400mah NI-MH with the included wall charger, put in the boat, boat goes in the water and barely moves. I thought how hard could this be right? Green battery light was on. Try charging battery again with same result. Call up Horizon hobby, suggest maybe the battery is bad, or that it may need to be discharged and charged over 5-8 cycles to see improvement. Over a weekend I did this and I started to see improvements.
After the boat started gaining speed after the battery cycled, I could only get maybe 30 seconds of full speed (for this boat) and then it would stop in the water and revert back to a slow idle mode where the boat doesn't even come up on plane. Called Horizon again. Battery is getting 8.8V at full charge, somewhere around 7.8V when the idle mode takes over. I have been getting anwhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes and 30 seconds of what I call "fast" run-time out of this boat. Just this evening I had charged the battery but it was off the charger a little while. I threw my voltmeter on it and I read 8.2V, took it out to run and it went 15' out into the water at full speed and then stopped and began to idle. Then I thought to myself, I bet the battery discharged a little bit. I wanted to try taking a fully charged battery off the 2A wall charger and I measured 8.8V. Hooked everything up and got 2 minutes of run time out of the boat.
Now my goal is simple, the speed is plenty fast for my 8yr old son right now (I know, I know, the speed bug will come quickly) but to learn the basics, this is a good platform for us. I would just like longer run times. From my reading I see that I can step up to a 7.2V or 8.4V NI-MH with the ProBoat ESC in this set up. Also going up to 5000mah should increase my run time correct?
I am sure people will tell me to go LIPO, and maybe in time, but I honestly just need to know:
Do I need a better battery charger? (Was thinking of getting a unit that can charge NI-MH and LIPO for future upgrades, other boats/trucks)
Should I go with the 7.2V or 8.4V 5000mah battery?
Thanks,
Ken