Charging DX8 transmitter battery
12-23-2011, 01:44 PM
#52
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
Ok having an inbuilt charger is a nice selling point but not very practical. First up in our busy lifestyle who wants to wait 10 hrs to fully charge a battery. I consider 2 hrs long enough especially if you need to recharge over the field for any reason.
A nice option which could have been implemented would be to go into the menu and disable/bypass the internal charger so allowing and external charging source to be used. It least this would give people the option to fast charge the TX battery correctly with peak detect chargers and stop the moans...[&o]
Is this a possible option in firmware or would the hardware design not allow this?
A nice option which could have been implemented would be to go into the menu and disable/bypass the internal charger so allowing and external charging source to be used. It least this would give people the option to fast charge the TX battery correctly with peak detect chargers and stop the moans...[&o]
Is this a possible option in firmware or would the hardware design not allow this?
12-23-2011, 02:35 PM
#53
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
No reason you couldn't make an adapter to use a regular charger. In fact I may do that. I have the lipo batt in mine and if I can go another 8 days, that will be three months since charging and I use it a lot. It's showing 7.4 volts and the recharge voltage is 6.3.
12-23-2011, 06:36 PM
#54
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
ORIGINAL: 3d Marky
Ok having an inbuilt charger is a nice selling point but not very practical. First up in our busy lifestyle who wants to wait 10 hrs to fully charge a battery. I consider 2 hrs long enough especially if you need to recharge over the field for any reason.
A nice option which could have been implemented would be to go into the menu and disable/bypass the internal charger so allowing and external charging source to be used. It least this would give people the option to fast charge the TX battery correctly with peak detect chargers and stop the moans...[&o]
Is this a possible option in firmware or would the hardware design not allow this?
Ok having an inbuilt charger is a nice selling point but not very practical. First up in our busy lifestyle who wants to wait 10 hrs to fully charge a battery. I consider 2 hrs long enough especially if you need to recharge over the field for any reason.
A nice option which could have been implemented would be to go into the menu and disable/bypass the internal charger so allowing and external charging source to be used. It least this would give people the option to fast charge the TX battery correctly with peak detect chargers and stop the moans...[&o]
Is this a possible option in firmware or would the hardware design not allow this?
When I bought my DX8, I immediately ordered the LiPo for it. As was mentioned, it takes months to drop the voltage from 8.5 to 6.4 as it is a 4000mah battery, so it is no inconvenience to put it on charge for 10 hours. You could also put it on charge once a month and it would take even less time to charge. If that is still an inconvenience, do as suggested, and buy a LiPo battery, with the proper size and connector, and pull it out once in a while for a quick charge.
12-24-2011, 04:33 PM
#55
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
Not everyone is a fan of Lipo in transmitters. I for one have had a few bad experiences and now only use them for powering electric models. Life/A123 are by far the best in anything however are not always practical due to their size and capacity limitations.
In the UK our winters are often fairly cold and I know of several peoples issues with Lipo's in cold weather where TX's lost 2/3's of battery power during a flying session. Because of that I stick to what works in any extreme. IE Good quality Nim's (80% charge hold per year) or A123.
In the UK our winters are often fairly cold and I know of several peoples issues with Lipo's in cold weather where TX's lost 2/3's of battery power during a flying session. Because of that I stick to what works in any extreme. IE Good quality Nim's (80% charge hold per year) or A123.
12-24-2011, 04:51 PM
#56
My Feedback: (2)
RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
ORIGINAL: 3d Marky
Not everyone is a fan of Lipo in transmitters. I for one have had a few bad experiences and now only use them for powering electric models. Life/A123 are by far the best in anything however are not always practical due to their size and capacity limitations.
In the UK our winters are often fairly cold and I know of several peoples issues with Lipo's in cold weather where TX's lost 2/3's of battery power during a flying session. Because of that I stick to what works in any extreme. IE Good quality Nim's (80% charge hold per year) or A123.
Not everyone is a fan of Lipo in transmitters. I for one have had a few bad experiences and now only use them for powering electric models. Life/A123 are by far the best in anything however are not always practical due to their size and capacity limitations.
In the UK our winters are often fairly cold and I know of several peoples issues with Lipo's in cold weather where TX's lost 2/3's of battery power during a flying session. Because of that I stick to what works in any extreme. IE Good quality Nim's (80% charge hold per year) or A123.
I fly all year round. It is currently 27 degs F where I live. The forecast for next week is highs of 37 degs F. I have been flying with LiPo Tx batteries for over 4 years. I have had Zero problems with the heat or cold and I never had the voltage of my Tx battery drop to an unacceptable level.
So from personal experience, LiPos have been the best. I am now using LliFe Rx batteries because I do not need an additional voltage regulator, but I never had a problem with LiPo Rx batteries. I fly many electric aircraft with LiPo motor batteries and I have not had a problem in the cold.
I use FMA 10S chargers which adjust the charge rate for cold weather so when the batteries heat up, they do not go overvoltage.
12-24-2011, 04:53 PM
#57
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
I know the lipo's give you more time but the stock battery I use only needs to be charged once a month if I fly 2-3 times a week. I think this is sufficient - for me at least.
Harry
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12-24-2011, 05:10 PM
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
I do however like the energy efficiency of this radio. Some of my past TX's would have only given 2 hrs flying on a 2000ma battery.
I must admit Lipo's have definitely improved immensely in recent times and I certainly don't get as many issues as I used to unless using some of those iffy unknown Chinese brands...
I must admit Lipo's have definitely improved immensely in recent times and I certainly don't get as many issues as I used to unless using some of those iffy unknown Chinese brands...
02-03-2012, 11:34 PM
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
Hi guys! i have a dx8 and doing the first charge i have only limited use on nimh batterys so please be kind to me :P ive done a bit of reading, the 2000mah 4.8V nimh trandsmitter pack should read 5.5-5.6 when fully charged is that corret? when its gets to 4.8V its time to charge it so i set my alarm to that,
Also i use a 6V 2000 mah battery for the receiver empty would be 6v and full charged would be 6.9-7V is that correct? to charge my receiver battery i use a hobby king eco9 set to 0.2 amp in manual mode and stop it when its warm or at 6.9-7V,
Any thoughts?
02-04-2012, 02:01 PM
#60
RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
It will run a long, long time at 4.8V - the first few tenths burn off pretty quickly. Wait for it to get down below 4.5V before charging it.
Andy
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02-16-2012, 03:11 PM
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
Although the manual on page 3 says not to charge over 12 hours,I completely missed this warning. The manual tells you what to do when you first get the Dx8, ie charge it up, but there's not necessarily a warning.. I would suggest a Hang tag on the transmitter advising "NiMh batteries - Read charge notes on Page 3!" I learned the hard way not to treat NiMh like NiCd's which I used to leave on charge for days. Be very careful not to OVERCHARGE... with all the programming conditions, I have to wonder why there's no real indication, like the light going out once they've reached peak, and a beep. Or just shut the charger off after a count down timer detects more that 10 hours. Oh well its just a thought.
Here's what happens when you toast one, I lost one cell, its the one in the picture with the dark band around the center. My first indication was that on power up, I had less than 5 volts, and each time I charged it longer, I had less until I was at 4.4 volts.
I'll pay much more attention with the new NiMh's I put together, while awaiting a LiPo pack which does cause the light to go OUT once peak is reached.
KKKKFL
Here's what happens when you toast one, I lost one cell, its the one in the picture with the dark band around the center. My first indication was that on power up, I had less than 5 volts, and each time I charged it longer, I had less until I was at 4.4 volts.
I'll pay much more attention with the new NiMh's I put together, while awaiting a LiPo pack which does cause the light to go OUT once peak is reached.
KKKKFL
02-16-2012, 06:15 PM
#62
My Feedback: (2)
RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
ORIGINAL: Franco2fly
Although the manual on page 3 says not to charge over 12 hours,I completely missed this warning. The manual tells you what to do when you first get the Dx8, ie charge it up, but there's not necessarily a warning.. I would suggest a Hang tag on the transmitter advising ''NiMh batteries - Read charge notes on Page 3!'' I learned the hard way not to treat NiMh like NiCd's which I used to leave on charge for days. Be very careful not to OVERCHARGE... with all the programming conditions, I have to wonder why there's no real indication, like the light going out once they've reached peak, and a beep. Or just shut the charger off after a count down timer detects more that 10 hours. Oh well its just a thought.
Here's what happens when you toast one, I lost one cell, its the one in the picture with the dark band around the center. My first indication was that on power up, I had less than 5 volts, and each time I charged it longer, I had less until I was at 4.4 volts.
I'll pay much more attention with the new NiMh's I put together, while awaiting a LiPo pack which does cause the light to go OUT once peak is reached.
KKKKFL
Although the manual on page 3 says not to charge over 12 hours,I completely missed this warning. The manual tells you what to do when you first get the Dx8, ie charge it up, but there's not necessarily a warning.. I would suggest a Hang tag on the transmitter advising ''NiMh batteries - Read charge notes on Page 3!'' I learned the hard way not to treat NiMh like NiCd's which I used to leave on charge for days. Be very careful not to OVERCHARGE... with all the programming conditions, I have to wonder why there's no real indication, like the light going out once they've reached peak, and a beep. Or just shut the charger off after a count down timer detects more that 10 hours. Oh well its just a thought.
Here's what happens when you toast one, I lost one cell, its the one in the picture with the dark band around the center. My first indication was that on power up, I had less than 5 volts, and each time I charged it longer, I had less until I was at 4.4 volts.
I'll pay much more attention with the new NiMh's I put together, while awaiting a LiPo pack which does cause the light to go OUT once peak is reached.
KKKKFL
02-17-2012, 04:20 AM
#63
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RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
I'll use LiPo only as an emergency backup. Just after posting this picture, I completed building the Eneloop pack, trimmed the rubber cushion inside the Dx8 Transmitter and installed . So, I'm good to go.
One word of warning, I had left the old Spektrum pack sitting on the bench after stripping off the black plastic covering. The tabs between cells have a small piece of cardboard for insulation( I think its that small piece of paper next to the charger jack). I had not paid much attention to it until the GOODbattery started overheating since the inter-battery tab was shorting out against the good battery's side casing. The Positive nub is very short, not nearly as tall as the on on the Eneloop batteries. Only a good sense of smell save me as the battery itself became too hot to handle bare handed. Whew!!! Be careful.
KKKKFL
One word of warning, I had left the old Spektrum pack sitting on the bench after stripping off the black plastic covering. The tabs between cells have a small piece of cardboard for insulation( I think its that small piece of paper next to the charger jack). I had not paid much attention to it until the GOODbattery started overheating since the inter-battery tab was shorting out against the good battery's side casing. The Positive nub is very short, not nearly as tall as the on on the Eneloop batteries. Only a good sense of smell save me as the battery itself became too hot to handle bare handed. Whew!!! Be careful.
KKKKFL
03-21-2012, 01:47 PM
#64
Senior Member
RE: Charging DX8 transmitter battery
It sure would be nice to see Spectrum offer a DX8 to 12v car adapter. Seems the plug on the DX8 is an uncommon size, and such places as Radio Shack don't carry it.
