Battery temperature

[Mattus]

Since I upgraded my motor my packs have been coming off the car seriously
hot, ie. too hot to hold! Is this normal? Should I stop running the car when
it begins to slow down to stop this happening? How hot are you guys' packs?

Matt

[Rick Russell]

In article <b6pk5t$ks6$1@titan.btinternet.com>,
Mattus <nospam@here.please> wrote:
> Since I upgraded my motor my packs have been coming off the car seriously
> hot, ie. too hot to hold! Is this normal? Should I stop running the car when
> it begins to slow down to stop this happening? How hot are you guys' packs?

It could be normal. Heat is caused by current draw. If the packs are
getting hot, then the current draw has gone up. Make sure your car is
rolling smoothly, and that there are no drive-train problems, busted
bearings, etc.

Of course, a hotter motor will draw more current. Do the packs give
you smooth power for 5 full minutes? Do they charge up normally after
a complete cool-down?

If so, then the heat is probably unavoidable, unless you want to
change your gearing and bring the current draw down a bit.

Rick R.

[mykrowyre]

> Since I upgraded my motor my packs have been coming off the car seriously
> hot, ie. too hot to hold! Is this normal? Should I stop running the car
when

Did you also change your gearing for the new motor? If the motor is comming
off the track too hot to touch, you need to gear it down some. Usually if
the battery is hot, the motor is hotter. Avoiding "punching" the trigger
will help this too... but you should be able to hold your finger on the hot
motor for 3 to 5 seconds without burning yourself. Sometimes this means you
need to either gear down in the summer, drive smoother, turn up the current
limiter, or get wacky and chill the motor before your run.

Also, if you're running a mod motor and just bashing, it's a good idea to
try not to run the pack all the way down. Also, let the motor cool off
between runs. A hot motor is an inefficient motor.

-tom

[JR0023]

I'm sure someone will correct me on this, but my experience is that "if it
doesn't melt the shrink wrap, it's not too hot". I know heat can damage the
batteries, and if they're "too hot to hold", then maybe you've got a more
serious problem. However, my batteries are always hot when I remove them.
John R.