Battery Cycling
06-18-2003 | 07:50 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: Columbus, OH
Battery Cycling
Just wanted some answers on what the best way is to go about cycling my radio batteries. I have a 40 size trainer and got a futaba skysport 6 as my radio.. what is the best way to go about cycling the rx and tx batteries and how important is it? Will it severly hurt my equipment if I just charge up my batteries before I go out to fly? The Futaba instruction manual doesnt go into much detail on the subject so I'm just wondering how important it is. Thanks for the help...
06-19-2003 | 03:06 AM
#2
Banned
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,923
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: gone,
Battery Cycling
Battery cycling is not as big a deal as some people make it out to be.
Simple battery maintenance of using the system for about 1 to 2 hrs (TX.. the RX will probably be drained before then) followed by overnight charge on at least a monthly basis will keep the batteries in good shape. I've had one set last 10 years with that level of care.
Don't get the batteries too hot by fast charging. Don't drain them below appx 1.1 volts per cell (4.4 v for the RX, 8.8 for the TX) and you shouldn't have battery problems.
Use a ESV (Expanded Scale Voltmeter) to check the RX battery at the end of each flight. Don't test aftert he plane has ben turned off for 5 min... the batteries tend to bounce back and give a false high reading. (unless you use a loaded ESV and keep it on for at least 30 sec before looking at the needle) If the RX reads lower than 4.9v... its time to recharge before flying again.
The Wall-wart charger can be left plugged in and "charging" the typical 600 mah battery packs for a couple of days with no problem. You almost have to try to damage the batterys to harm them with it. The output amperage of the wall-wart drops as the pack charges. Plugging the plane in overnight before heading to the field, even if you just tested the system for 10 min after a full overnight charge... you won't hurt a thing. Don't leave the batteries on the charger all the time... but don't worry too much about accidentally leaving them charging for a couple of days.
Never charge for just a few min and then test the battery voltage... they will test full charged by ESV for several seconds if you had it drained completely then plugged it in the wall wart for 1 min. (You can use this test on a suspect pack... to see if its got a short... but its otherwise useless.)
Simple battery maintenance of using the system for about 1 to 2 hrs (TX.. the RX will probably be drained before then) followed by overnight charge on at least a monthly basis will keep the batteries in good shape. I've had one set last 10 years with that level of care.
Don't get the batteries too hot by fast charging. Don't drain them below appx 1.1 volts per cell (4.4 v for the RX, 8.8 for the TX) and you shouldn't have battery problems.
Use a ESV (Expanded Scale Voltmeter) to check the RX battery at the end of each flight. Don't test aftert he plane has ben turned off for 5 min... the batteries tend to bounce back and give a false high reading. (unless you use a loaded ESV and keep it on for at least 30 sec before looking at the needle) If the RX reads lower than 4.9v... its time to recharge before flying again.
The Wall-wart charger can be left plugged in and "charging" the typical 600 mah battery packs for a couple of days with no problem. You almost have to try to damage the batterys to harm them with it. The output amperage of the wall-wart drops as the pack charges. Plugging the plane in overnight before heading to the field, even if you just tested the system for 10 min after a full overnight charge... you won't hurt a thing. Don't leave the batteries on the charger all the time... but don't worry too much about accidentally leaving them charging for a couple of days.
Never charge for just a few min and then test the battery voltage... they will test full charged by ESV for several seconds if you had it drained completely then plugged it in the wall wart for 1 min. (You can use this test on a suspect pack... to see if its got a short... but its otherwise useless.)
06-19-2003 | 05:53 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From: Columbus, OH
Battery Cycling
Thank you very much for the input that was very helpful... and about what I expected. I'm planning on just sticking with the battery charger that came with the radio which is a very slow charge.. Thanks again for the reply...
