Has anyone had luck with the Hobbico VoltWatch meter thing? To date, I have never had an issue with my rx batteries running out of juice during an outting. Regardless, I thought I would hook up a VoltWatch just to be safe. The meter tells me that my battery is almost dead after one flight! The VoltWatch will even give me a low battery reading after just playing around with the control surface throws for 10 minutes. This makes me very nervous..

Plane has 1 throttle servo, 2 aileron servos, 1 rudder servo, 1 elevator servo and the standard 4.8 volt battery pack that came with the radio setup.

Should I be concerned about this? Do you think this indicates that I have a serious battery problem? Or do you think the VoltWatch reading is not accurate? I'm not sure what to think because I have never had a problem before...

I should admit that once I left the battery on the charger for way to long - maybe a full week. Perhaps this damaged the battery? I have flown many times since my week long mega charge and still have not had any problems (other than the VoltWatch telling me otherwise)...

I would say get another battery pack. I am using one with a 4.8v pack and mine stays green even while moving the control surfaces. And it stays that way for a couple hours before it indicates a low charge. I say get another pack to be on the safe side. I don't know that much about batteries, but you may have a bad cell in your pack.

You didn't say how big your pack was.... but a new battery pack is cheap insurance. Get at least a 1000 mAh pack this time, you'll notice a difference. You may have to upgrade your charger, but the extra capacity is a good thing.

I've got voltwatches in two planes, and they seem to be spot on.

What kind of charger was the pack left on? The regular wall wort that came with the radio?

Andy

It is a 4 cell pack that was left on the regular wall charger. Thanks for the help!

The only way to check the accuracy of the Voltwatch is to compare it to a known good VOM. Ask someone at the field to hook their VOM up and check it (if you don't have a VOM yourself).

I would recommend what Kmot suggests. I have VoltWatches on all my planes, and they seem very accurate, but any electronic device can malfunction.

I also have them on my planes and they work great, but I had a similar issue.
I did find out that I had one for a 6.0V battery when I was running 4.8V.
Just a thought.

mtomas, you never stated the MAH rating of the battery pack. Not that it matters because it sounds like you have a serious battery problem. I did a review of the Voltwatch at the site listed below. Look under Field Equipment. I have found them to be very accurate and one of them saved my Hawker Sea Fury. The Volt Watch suddenly went into the red after the 3d flight. I packed up and went home. When I tested the battery pack at home I found that 1 cell had gone bad!! Now I buy a new Voltwatch for every plane I build! They are just too good and inexpensive to not have in every plane!
http://webpages.charter.net/rcfu[

You should mention how many and what type of servos you are using and what the mAh of the battery is. For example, I have a typical .40 sized 4 channel model and it runs a battery down in about 4 - 15 minute flights (approximate). I also have a 1/4 scale Fly Baby with heavy duty servos. It wipes out a normal battery pack in 1-2 flights.

The battery voltage also drops under load. If you have a surface binding your battery will run out quicker and show a lower voltage.