receiver battery draining quicker
07-02-2002, 11:50 AM
#1
receiver battery draining quicker
The battery (1200mah NiMH) in my USTIK 1.20 is going dead quicker than normal. Previously after a charge the voltage would read about 5.30v. I would fly about 4-5 flights at about 10 minutes each and still have a voltage at about 5.10v.
Now after a charge the battery still reads about 5.30v but after 1 flight it has dropped to about 5.00v or less. I thought maybe the pack was going bad so I replaced it with a new 1200mah NiMH. But it does the same thing.
I'm thinking something in plane is draw more juice than it previously did. All linkages and control surfaces are smooth with no binding. Maybe a servo is going bad or my switch has a problem. The plane has 7 servos and I don't have enough spares to swap them all out.
Anyone have any ideas or a test procedure to help determine what is going on? I was thinking of hooking up one of those on board LED voltage watch units and see if any one servo movement makes the voltage dip more the others.
Now after a charge the battery still reads about 5.30v but after 1 flight it has dropped to about 5.00v or less. I thought maybe the pack was going bad so I replaced it with a new 1200mah NiMH. But it does the same thing.
I'm thinking something in plane is draw more juice than it previously did. All linkages and control surfaces are smooth with no binding. Maybe a servo is going bad or my switch has a problem. The plane has 7 servos and I don't have enough spares to swap them all out.
Anyone have any ideas or a test procedure to help determine what is going on? I was thinking of hooking up one of those on board LED voltage watch units and see if any one servo movement makes the voltage dip more the others.
07-02-2002, 02:27 PM
#2
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receiver battery draining quicker
Now after a charge the battery still reads about 5.30v but after 1 flight it has dropped to about 5.00v or less. I thought maybe the pack was going bad so I replaced it with a new 1200mah NiMH. But it does the same thing.
A voltage of 5.1V after some use only indicates that the pack was recently recharged and is still living off the end-of-charge terminal voltage. But given that a NiMH cell's nominal voltage is 1.2V, under load, anything above 4.75V (C/5 loaded) on a 4-cell pack is fine. For sure, 4.8V and above is VERY safe (indicates that you have more than 30% capacity remaining).
If you really want to see how much you are using from your pack after a few flights then place it on your battery cycler. Measure the remaining mAH capacity. What you read is what was left for you to use. Use this knowledge to judge how many flights are possible. All other methods are second best.
07-02-2002, 02:48 PM
#3
receiver battery draining quicker
Thanks for the reply. I guess I am being overly concerned.
I normally do put the plane on my Accucyle (old style) after flying and it typically shows 400 - 700mah remaining. This past weekend it only showed 88mah remaining. But now that I think of it I did load my planes into my truck the night before, normally they are trickle charging overnight and I load them up in the morning right before I leave. Sitting overnight in my truck probably burned off that peak charge.
I normally do put the plane on my Accucyle (old style) after flying and it typically shows 400 - 700mah remaining. This past weekend it only showed 88mah remaining. But now that I think of it I did load my planes into my truck the night before, normally they are trickle charging overnight and I load them up in the morning right before I leave. Sitting overnight in my truck probably burned off that peak charge.
