Originally Posted by
JollyPopper
Nicad batteries and NiMh batteries can be charged in the plane and there are switches made that allow you to do that, but LiPo, LiIon and LiFe batteries must be taken from the plane to charge, as Steve said, for safety's sake. And you must have a charger that is made for LiPo, LiIon and LiFe batteries to charge them, not the wall wart that comes with the radio.
The only battery type that needs to be removed from the model for charging is what we typically call a "LiPo" which is short for Lithium Polymer, or Lithium Cobalt Oxide. The batteries we usually call "Li-Ion" do not have the same volatile chemistry as the "LiPo" batteries. LiFe/A123 batteries do not need to be removed from the models as they are a different chemistry as well being Lithium Iron Phosphate or LiFePO4 being the chemical name for that chemistry. The do benefit from being balance charged but it's not necessary to remove them for that either and I balance charge all my A123's in the models.