I was wondering when to charge my Tx and Rx batteries. I have a Futaba 4VF setup (sanyo nicad batteries) and I have a 4.8V 600mah for the Rx and a 9.6V 600mah for the Tx. At what voltage reading should I recharge them (my voltmeter has dummy load)?

I am using the provided wall unit until I get a cycler, it has 50ma output for both Tx and Rx. The batteries say right on the pack to charge at 60ma for 15 hours, but is this from a completely discharged state? (I need some voltage numbers).

I have been just leaving my Tx AND Rx on while I use FMS simulator and when they (the Tx first) croak (i.e. needle on Tx is at or below 10%) and FMS and servos are not reponding I then recharge for 12-14 hours. Is this a bad procedure?

Also, I have a 12v 7.2ma lead acid battery, at what voltage reading should I recharge It? My charger is 600ma.

Thanks for any and all info,
Cheers!

>>I am using the provided wall unit until I get a cycler, it has 50ma output for
both Tx and Rx. The batteries say right on the pack to charge at 60ma for 15
hours, but is this from a completely discharged state?<<

Yes they would be from discharged state and until you get a cycler your method is great.

>>Also, I have a 12v 7.2ma lead acid battery, at what voltage reading should I
recharge It? My charger is 600ma. <<

Lead acids last the longest if kept fully charged and discharged as little as possible. Don't wait until you have used it 5 times, recharge every time you use it. The deeper it is cycled the lower the number of cycles you will get out of it.

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Those who call us empty nesters have never seen MY nest

I'd suggest you check out Red's site at www.rcbatteryclinic.com for some very good advice. There are to many variables to answer in just a few sentences here. Basically, you can use the present units (50 ma. wall warts) and, when you have the time to charge overnight, they will be easier on your batteries than any cycler will. You will not hurt the batteries by leaving them on charge with the wall wart overnight even if you did have nearly a full charge to start with. A cycler might be nice if you have spare cash but is not at all necessary. If you are just starting out, there are probably a lot more efficient places to spend any extra money. Just check out Red's site or radicalrc. com also for good info on maintaining your batteries. Well over half of what you hear at the field and in these forums is often totaly wrong or at least only a half truth. If you had to guess on what subject recieves the most erronious information in these forums it would be batterys and battery care.

Thanks alot for the info larryflew.

One more question, Is it ok to leave my plane Rx on after my Tx is out of juice. I have been letting it just twitch around until its dead, and then I recharge for 15-16 hours.

Hope this is ok until I get a cycler. I have heard the triton is not so great for lithium cells so im waiting until that is better established/corrected, it is my belief that lithium cells are the future in the hobby and elsewhere (i.e. cellphones now are prodominantly Li now and are infinately superior to their nimh counterparts) and Im not interested in spending $130 so that I can spend $130 2 or 3 years from now when Lithium is all the rage (and perfected in the hobby of course).

Thanks again, and thanks in advance for any responses.

Thanks to you too Rodney, you posted 19sec. before me, while I was responding, LOL

:-)

First of all, the Tritons available now have the revision on the software dealing with Lipo's. The problem was with memory settings and even my old Triton (from January) will charge Lipo's in manual mode.
Secondly, no its not alright to leave your reciever on just "twitching" the servos. This is neither good for the servos or your plane and causes unnecessary wear and tear on everything. You will most likely find something failing on you at the worst possible time and gravity is not kind.
If your batteries are NMH don't even worry about discharging them. Charging at a C/10 rate will not harm your batteries if you go over by a couple hours here and there. If your batteries are nicads then just discharge them with a flashlight bulb or automobile bulb (aprox 3-400mA/h drain) until bulb is dim. Completely draining the batteries is not a good practice either...try to leave about 1v/cell. Hope this helps