And I figure you guys might could help...actually its a mini stick I got from Bob, great plane, great flyer, but the battery only lasts for one flight (maybe 5 minutes with the .074) then the voltage is in the yellow...now (background ) it sat for a while before I put the .074 in..but it held a charge ok...Raymond went over the plane and we discovered the throttle servo was binding just a bit, we charged it off his car charger but I didnt fly again that day,,later in the week it had pretty much lost its charge and it was a no name pack with deans plugs on it so I changed it out with a hitec 270 mah pack and new switch..charged it up , but it too would drive the voltwatch into the yellow within 2 minutes...so I tried yet another Hitce 270 pak..same thing....I'm thinking all 3 batteries cant be bad, I cant find anything else binding and I fixed the throttle by trimming it....its too small of a plane for a 600 mah battery.....is there a size in between?..say a 350-400mah pak....I even switched out voltwatches and the older one I have isnt quite as sensitve as the newer one is but it still does alot of jumping around when moving the servos.....[&o]...Rog

You may have to use the process of elimination. Disconnect all the servos from your rx and see how long it holds a charge. If it does, then try connecting one servo at a time until you find the one that has a short or some other problem that is draining the pack.

Dave's right. Something is pulling down those batteries. I eliminated the charger since you used mine, so that only leaves one or more of your servos, or the Voltwatch. My Voltwatches do jump around when I wiggle the sticks. I try to make it a point to check the voltwatch after the end of a flight - before shutting the engine down if that's an option.

I pulled out all the servos and they each activated the vw equally......am recharging one pack that I drained with an electric motor,,and will try again with a full charge.....but, I am suspect of the voltwatch itself at this point..anybody know of a bit bigger battery as I asked earlier?....maybe 350mah........Rog

Rog, check your battery watch unit. The pack that came with that model was one I assemblied myself. I generally make my own packs up because of cost but mostly because I know for sure the capacity and how they are made. I have put 7 to 8 flights on that pack without a recharge and upon checking what reserve I had with my Digipace still had a few more flights in it. Yes batteries do go bad but to have several packs act the same way is strange. Do you have a battery cyclier?

Bob Harris

No cycler but it looks like I need to pick up something like that...I would think it would be good for at least 4 flights, but, I figured it was your battery, like I said it sat for a good while before I tried it...digipace?..show me that thing on saturday ok?...Rog

rog, I use the 370mah NiMH packs from radical R/C. They weigh 1oz.

Remember all those flights I put in at your fun fly? They were all on one charge I did at home before the event.

Look at the 8th battery down the list:

Radical RC 370mah NiMH 4-2/3 AAA Cell 4.8V Flat RX Pack

http://radicalrc.secure-mall.com/sho...19&cart=620113

Why bother with rechargeable Rx packs in 1/2 A models?

I hard solder Duracell Ultra AAA's and they last and last and last.

The model is ready to fly at any time with no worries

I even flew half a summer on only 3 cells due to a soldering boo-boo

I dont use nicads unless I fly a model a lot (I hate them)

Rog, I'd suspect the voltwatcher as well. If you have one back check it with a digital voltmenter on the pack at the same time as the VW. It may be that there's a fault in the VW or that it may be sucking too much current for the smaller pack so it's pulling down the voltage. If you've got a voltmeter in parallel that'll double check the reading. Also if you can setup the multimeter to current readings and check how much current the VW is pulling.

If you're after a cycler then there's a lot of options these days. I've recently bought two field chargers for quite cheap that do Nicds, Nimh, lead acid and Lipo's across a wide range of voltages and capacities. It also will discharge/cycle the packs and give you a time reading at the end of the run so you can figure out the MaH capacity with a bit of simple math. It fully takes the place of the previously excellent Digipace or similar.

The second one I got is a Hyperion EOS 5i. It was only $60 at our local trade show. So I'm guessing you can get them online for about the same money. The other one I got is the Triton Jr for a lot more money but it was Canada so we expect that. Still, it was good value for the money given they wide range of capability.

Dave I just ordered a couple of those and a 160 for my racer,,Bruce I have a hobbico tester but it is misplaced at the moment..Bob since I have no way of changing yours, I will bring you back your battery and switch....at the meet...Rog