I'm new to this hobby and just competed buying, and building all my initial equipment, superstar trainer, os 46ax,jr6102 (helicopter version, the trainer is just for the hell of it, I want a helo). My question is on the battery life of the transmitter, I read all the tx's directions and gave it an initial charge of 22 hours just like the manual says to do (initial charge 20-24 hours), when the charge was complete the tx said the voltage was 11.6 volts and the bar graph was maxed out. I had it on for maby 5 min that day just checking out how the surfaces worked on the superstar along with a little curious scrolling through the computer menus. A day later (today) I turned it on and the tx was at 10.5 volts and in about 2 minutes it was down to 10.2 volts and the bar graph is at 3/4 (total time about 10min). It seems to me at this rate I'm not going to be at the field very long, any ideas about whats up with this thing? Also, when I charged it along with the rx battery, the rx led on the charger was dim and the tx led was bright, is this normal, does it have to do with there differant charging rates? Everything is new, and all of this is on the initial charge. Also, does anyone have a 46 ax on a super star, if so could you comment on it? What prop do you use, is there a prop I should use initially to slow it down some?
P.S.(I have made contact with a guy from a local club and I plan on attending their next meeting.) Thanks everyone!!

Don't get overly worried about the TX batteries. The voltage drop vs time is not linear. The voltage drops off really fast at first, then levels out for a very long time, going down very very slowly, then it falls off a cliff all at once. What you described is pretty normal.

I don't know about your charger, I've seen different LED behaviour for different chargers. It could be differnet brightness just because the TX is a higher voltage than the RX. Personally, I wouldn't worry about that one.

There are a lot of threads on here about .46 size engines and props for them. If you have the ground clearance, an 11x5 is generally a good prop for a trainer with that engine. The large diameter moves a lot of air, giving it lots of thrust and provides good breaking when you dive or idle down, while the low pitch keeps the airspeed down.

I have found that the batteries will loose voltage over the course of a day or so whether you use them or not. I usually charge the night before.

The drop from 10.2 to 9.6 is MUCH longer than the drop from fresh peaked to 10.2. When it hts 9.8 you should be thinking about recharging instead of flying. When it hits 9.6 don't take off as the drop from there to dead flat can be abrupt.

Yep. The batteries will lose some charge just sitting. I'm guessing that if you had charged the pack to 11.6 and left it sit, 24 hours later it would have been about 10.6.

Definitely overnight charge all your batteries the night before you go to the field. (Put them on the charger at about 7:00 pm, not midnight.)
Dennis-

depends on the cell chemistry. nimh batts run a little lower, and have plenty of life left at 9.6v.

I guess I'm being ultra-conservative with my NimH's then... I don't let them get as far down on voltage as the NiCds. (but having 4 times the capacity... I'm still getting more than 3X as many flights per charge. )

I'd always prefer to quit thinking maybe the battery is getting low... than to fly thinking maybe I can get away with it and find out that I couldn't get away with it.[:-]