I dont no if this is the right place for this question but they all have batteries. what happens if I leave my planes on trickle charge for months at a time. they are all NICADS. thanks for any info on this subject

I understand that you can leave a battery on charge indefinitely at a trickle charge rate with no harm to the battery. Of course, a battery will die, eventually, whether charged or not. Mine stay on trickle all of the time, and I have had a few go belly up. Just watch to see that they don't start losing capacity quickly, a voltage check every so often is good practice.[8D]

You will damage the batteries. I would recommend that you put your charger on a timer and every day charge the pack at C/10 for an hour.

know that is two totaly differant opinions

True, I would recommend that you contact Red, the battery guru.
See what he tells you!

I leave mine on ACE trickle chargers year round. I do have a cycler that I move from one to the next every so often. I also flip them to regular charge the night before I go flying. I could be doing this wrong. I am no expert. However I have no trouble getting 5-7 years life from my batteries. I also keep a close watch on them at the field. Checking the voltage every other flight. even a new battery can go bad.

David

I don't see the purpose in leaving a battery on trickle charge for months but I'm no guru. Seems to me you're slow cooking them. Wouldn't it be better to let them discharge to a safe level (each cell 1 volt) and then charge them again? Just keep each cell above 1 volt while you store them. If you are using them every day, discharging them with a cycler or manually is what I'd do. Futaba recommends cycling battery packs in their manual. Charging indefinitly seems like you would over excite the battery and it would lose it's charging capacity sooner. Again, I could be wrong, it just seems like common sense to me. Do what you feel is right.

The other thing is how do you find out your battery is bad when using it for 7 years? Crash your plane? Will checking it under load (250 ma) every flight tell you if it's bad? I have an older battery and I just replaced it. I'm not taking chances. I even marked the old battery "for bench tests only..not running engines". I still want to keep it for setting up planes on my bench.

Joe

DAVEOPAM

I agree with you, I have my chargers with the Ace Trickle Chargers hooked to them. I leave my batteries on there all the time and haven't had a problem yet. I check them at the field with my volt meter and recycle them occasionally. I was just wondering if I was hurting them any. From what I read here, I don't think so. Thank you for all the information from everyone.

Crownvic

I have done "Exactly" as daveopam is doing. Never had an abnormal battery problem.