Do RC Batteries Go Bad?

Do you own an RC car, and you want to find out about your battery that you are using? Maybe you feel like you are always charging your RC car battery, and you just don’t know what is wrong with it. Well, if you own an RC car, and you are having problems with your battery, the thought has probably crossed your mind about your RC battery going bad. You are not alone in this question, as many people actually want to know if RC batteries go bad.

Because most RC batteries are NiMH batteries, they do go bad after a short period of time. Once a battery goes bad, it will not charge past 80% of its original capacity, or it will begin to swell. 

Although RC batteries do go bad eventually, it is normally not until after the RC car is a couple of years old. 

If you do need to purchase a new RC car battery, you can find them by clicking here. 

Do RC batteries come charged? 

If you have ever purchased a brand new RC car before, then you know that RC car batteries do normally come charged. This is good news as most people just want to open up the package and immediately begin to use their RC car. The downside to this is that even though it will come charged, it may not come fully charged. Depending upon how long it has been sitting on a shelf, or how cold it was when it was transported to you, the battery may be drained some already and will need charged when you first get it. 

This happens more often than you would imagine. Because it happens so often, many people actually think that they have a bad battery straight out of the box, or that the battery they have is defective. This is why you should always charge your RC car battery when you first get it no matter how much you want to play with it. 

How do you charge an RC car battery?

If you just opened your first RC car and you need to charge the battery, you may be a little overwhelmed by all the stuff you need to do. Not all RC car batteries are simply able to be plugged into a wall outlet to charge. Some RC car batteries will have a box that will come with them as well as multiple adapters that will make you wonder which one you need to use. 

The good news is that on the battery itself, in the fine print, it will normally say how many aps you need to charge the battery in order to not damage the battery. The last thing you will want to do is damage the brand new battery. 

If your RC car charger comes with adapters for the battery, you may need to use one of them, but more than likely those adapters will only be needed if you decide to upgrade your battery to a different size or kind of battery. 

How long does it take to charge an RC car battery?

If you were going to charge your RC car battery but you want to leave and do something else while it’s charging you will want to know how long you can be gone. You do not want to leave your battery plugged into the wall for a long period of time as this will overcharge the battery. 

If you have a 4 mAH charger for your battery and you have a 3000 mAH battery it will be charged in about 45 minutes depending upon how dead it was. 

Can I overcharge an RC car battery? 

If you have ever charged an RC car battery before then you know that you do not want to accidentally overcharge it. Well some people are constantly worrying about overcharging their RC car battery, other people do not even think about overcharging their RC car battery and what it can do. 

Because some people don’t think about overcharging their RC car battery they will end up overcharging it and causing problems. If you overcharge your RC car battery it will begin to heat up very quickly and could easily damage the battery or the electronics inthe charger. 

To make sure this never happens you will always want to check on your RC car battery when it is charging to make sure that it is not getting hot. If your RC car battery gets hot when it is charging that means that it is done charging and will need taken off the charger. 

If you do happen to overcharge your RC car battery it will shorten the life of the battery. Although some people swear by charging your RC car battery quickly on a fast charger, this is actually bad for the battery and should be charged using a slow charger only. 

If you happen to leave your LiPo RC car battery on the charge and forget about it, you may wonder if you are going to blow up or ruin the battery. Although it is possible to ruin a LiPo battery by overcharging it, the LiPo battery is more stable than the NiMH battery and will take at least 2-3 days of being left on the charger before a new battery will be required. 

How many times can you charge a LiPo battery?

If you own an RC car that has a LiPo battery, you probably want to know approximately how many times you can charge it before it will stop working. Although this is a tricky subject, on average, a LiPo battery will only charge around 300 full cycles. Although this does not sound like that many, these batteries normally are never all the way empty and therefore a full cycle is not deducted. 

The 300 full cycles is probably closer to 1000 charges. Obviously that number goes up if you charge it every day after only a few minutes of use. On the opposite side though, that number will go down if you actually wait until the battery is fully drained and has no power in it at all. 

Conclusion

Now that you know that RC car batteries can go bad, you know exactly what to look for when they do. You also now know exactly how long you can charge one of your RC car batteries and if you can overcharge your RC car battery.  Since RC car batteries come charged in the box, you will want to charge your RC car before your first use. 

When you charge your RC car, you will obviously want to make sure that you do not accidentally leave it plugged in overnight as this can cause major damage to the battery. One of the best things that you can do for your RC car battery is to make sure that you do not overcharge your battery of your RC car, and that if needed you replace your battery with a more stable one. Lipo Batteries are great, but most RC cars come with NiMH batteries as they are far cheaper to produce.

No matter if your RC car has a LiPo battery, or if it has a NiMH battery, both of them will eventually go bad. Although no one wants to think about their battery of their RC car going bad, this is something that every RC car owner has faced or at one point in their life will.