ORIGINAL: alan0899
ORIGINAL: agexpert
Cyclers are unnecessary and, IMHO a waste of your money. If you bought your batteries within the last 5 years, don't bother. The quality of newer NiCDs and NiMH are beyond the need.
G'day Mate,
I'm sure you will change your mind, as soon as you have a battery failure, that crashes a plane, that cycling your battery would have prevented. Then you will realise, the importance of knowing the capacity, or lack of capacity, of your battery packs.
They do fail, & if a cycler can warn you of a failing cell, it has paid for itself.
Maybe you have not been flying long enough to have older batteries yet.
THIS is funny stuff.
Alan, your post here reminds me of some of the um.....'experienced' guys at one or more of the 7 fields I frequent regularly. It is no secret that I consider myself a beginner and that I have only been flying for 15 months now....BUT. I will add that I have SOME experience and knowledge, and I try to contribute here in the beginners forum as much as my time allows. I am very interested in helping beginners like myself, save time, money and wasted interest in the ramblings of 'those who can't'.
Cyclers are nothing more than an outdated gadget designed to enrich those who sell them while playing on the fears of those who know no better, like yourself. One who flys model airplanes more often than he/she peruses the latest Tower cataolg knows the difference between an outmoded gadget and a useful tool. Just in case you missed it, that was directed at you and the literally hunderds of tinkerers, worriers and wannabees that work harder at fixing un-broken airplanes than improving their own ability to fly them that I have met.
A 'cycler' in-itself is a waste of money and, more importantly, TIME. There are many CHARGERS on the market which will cycle batteries if so desired by the user. This function is the very definition of a 'useless gadget'. An example of a 'useful tool' would be something like a voltmeter. With a voltmeter, you can actually monitor voltage drop, and therefore, the comparative rate at which you are depleting your pack.
Thank You for you interest in my current level of experience. Although I am a beginner, I have accumulated more than 250 hours of stick-time since last June. I am quite interested in improving my current inadequate skill-set. I believe I have some limited experience and knowledge which may be helpful to those who are interested in listening. I seek LOTS of advice at my fields, in my social circles and among my most trusted flying buddies. Oh yeah, and I fly EVERY SINGLE DAY, except most Sundays.
I have INDEED lost a cell on a NiCD pack and I caught it by PAYING ATTENTION to the voltage drop with the use of a VOLTMETER, AT THE FIELD. I am lucky enough to actually have the NEED to charge my TX and RX packs DAILY. I have almost 270 cycles on my current 1100MAH TX pack. I only use lithiums, now, in most of my planes because I like the weight savings and the larger capacity.
So, in answer to your assertion in the quoted post, NO, I will not change my mind. I know that capacity of my battery packs because I pay attention. It's a rediculous waste if time to 'cycle' batteries and it reduces their useful life.
If you choose to spend your time doing things like cycling batteries and removing unsightly castor build-up from your barely-flown engine, please do it at home so the rest of us may continue to fly without stepping over you.