mtwister

I have an older all gray ZDZ-80 rv with the older blue box Falkon ignition, and I had a 1500 mah nicad battery in it originally and after the first flight i'd have to recharge it. I replaced it this weekend with a brand new 2500 nicad pak, and after the 2nd flight, my battery checker was giving me the recharge warning. I thought at one point ok, maybe the battery checker is just sensitive, so I flew it again without recharge. About 8 minutes into the flight, it died on me and I crashed in the weeds. The battery was at 3.2 volts. Any ideas?

Mike Dooley/RCS

Most likely you are simply not getting a proper charge into your battery pack. The Ignition will draw approx 600ma at full throttle...We have had a lot of battery issues , but once sorted out, all is well....
Keep me posted.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Slow charge that new battery at .250 amps or 250 ma for at least 15-16 hours. This should be done on all new packs. Discharge it and do it again for some added insurance that it is properly form charged (form = slow).

mtwister

It appears you guys are correct. I have always used just my field charger for my batteries, and it seems that by not doing a long slow charge and occasional discharge, it has weakend my batteries. I bought a nice charger, and went through all my packs, and it now seems I have to replace all but one. I used a brand new 4.8v 1500 mah pack last weekend that I slow charged and discharged twice, just as Joeairport recommended, and after two flights, the batteyr was still ok, but getting low. Normally, after one flight I'd have a low voltage warning. Thanks guys.