Maintenance of DS125 battery packs?

[WOODMAN]

I just had to have my DS125 battery packs both serviced, as one of them was giving up and the other was just about as old. Ikelite handled things superbly, as usual, and now I am wondering about all this. I am fairly certain that the bad pack was allowed to get too low in storage, and this shortened it's life. So just how often do you guys charge your units when in storage? And how do you store them, other than releasing the cam lever to allow venting of the battery pack? Woody

 

[BrettF]

All NiHM packs will lose charge when stored. You should always recharge a NiMH battery pack that has been stored, or top off the battery pack from a new strobe. Also, leaving the pack on charge will not hurt it. For new strobes, we charge the packs right before they are attached to a strobe head and boxed.

You can toggle open your strobe battery pack for flight, but most people do not. Shouldn't matter either way.

 

[WOODMAN]

All NiHM packs will lose charge when stored. You should always recharge a NiMH battery pack that has been stored, or top off the battery pack from a new strobe. Also, leaving the pack on charge will not hurt it. For new strobes, we charge the packs right before they are attached to a strobe head and boxed.

I know this, but my question is how long can they stay in storage without charging before damage starts occurring? My packs tend to stay on the shelf for about 6 months between trips, and I am wondering if that was one of the reasons why the one pack went bad? Do I need to haul them out and recharge at about 3 months? Sooner? Thanks for your help. Woody

 

[BrettF]

The packs can stay in storage indefinitely without incurring damage. They only lose capacity, which means you may need to charge them back up 2 or 3 times to get full capacity, before your trip.
It is normal for the pack to lose approx. 2% charge per day. Yes, recharging them every 2-3 months would not hurt. The only word of caution is to not store your battery packs above 86 degrees fahrenheit for extended periods of time, as this can cause battery degradation.

Regards,