RE: battery charger for smartech skylark
gmozavala,
There are many types of battery chargers out there. Depends on how much you want to spend, or how fancy you want it.
I am using the supplied wall charger, and am a Comp Engineer. The magic number is:
If your wall charger specifies say 500ma, then just divide your battery capacity over 500ma.
My setup is:
750ma battery 7 cell AAA pack
500ma wall charger (9v radioshack ac adapter with the modified connector)
So 750ma/500ma = 1.5 hours of charging.
That will do you very well.
Some assumptions must be made however:
1. The voltage rating of the WALL ADAPTER/CHARGER really should match the total voltage on the battery pack. (or must be slightly higher by 1 or 2 volts, no higher. and certainly not lower.)
2. you've drained your pack to the point where the heli will no longer spin fast, but not dead. dead is bad for nimh.
I often wait for the batteries to cool after a run (probably 10 minutes after a flight) before charging them. Just buy a few packs and you'll be WELL off. Don't settle for one battery pack, trust me, I've been there and it s**ks.
Good luck
-Dan