Schokshi,

Yes, most of us will stop flying at 9.5! Not many would put it up again if the Transmitter read 9.0. Receiver battery has half as many cells, so cut those in voltages in half.

About 2 years ago, I finally bit the bullet and bought a Peak Charger, Discharger, Cycler, analyzer. I also bought Nickle-Metal Hydride (NiMH)batteries, which have many more milliamperes for the same size than a Nickle cadmium (NiCd). You can buy good NiMH batteries for less money than original equipment NiCds. And I buy them at my local hobby shop (LHS)!! Mine are 1650 mAh, except for the racers.

If your budget won't let you go that route, use your voltmeter as your guide, pay very careful attention, and take the batteries down to 8.8 volts for transmitter and 4.4 volts for receiver. Try very hard not to take them down below 8.0 V and 4.0 V!!!!!!

Then look at your charger. If you have the older equipment with 500 mAh batteries and 50 mAh charger, charge for 18 hours. You can do this discharging after flying, or in the middle of the week. If you have the newer equipment, you have 600 mAh batteries and a charger which charges the 8-cell battery at 70 mAh ( Not terrible) but charges the 4-cell at 100 mAh (Just not right, that's the charge rate for a 1000 mAh battery.) If you have this charger, try to find a real expert at your club to help you rejuvinate your batteries. Or borrow an old charger from an old f*rt.

After you have done that procedure a couple of times, your batteries may have improved in performance and you can charge with the new charger (faster). As long as you do not leave the receiver battery on for more than 10 or so hours, you will be OK.

It is so much easier with MiMH batteries and a good peak charger, discharger, cycler, analyzer, but the old fashioned approach will work, especially if you still have only one transmitter and one plane.

New batteries, NiCd or NiMH, should always have at least their first charge at 1/10th capacity. That is 1000 mAh battery, 100 mAh. 600 mAh Battery , 60 mAh (50 will do). 2000 mAh battery, 200 mAh. After that, they usually can be charged faster, but I stay below capacity for radio batteries.

There is a lot more can be said, but that should be enough for now.

Good luck,

Ken, AMA 19352