I bought this charger from tower...

[link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJC38&P=ML]http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJC38&P=ML[/link]

It says to charge overnight. For some reason, it makes me nervous to leave batteries charging without having done it before. How long is too long for this battery?

[link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXSK07&P=M]http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXSK07&P=M[/link]

Just hearing it from you guys will make me feel better. Lots of experience on here, ya know! thanks.

trey

vwtrey,
That battery should be charged for exactly 4 hours, 18 minutes, and 32 seconds. If it goes to 4 hours and 19 minutes your house will blow up, a mud slide will engulf your home, and aliens will come down take all of the cats off of this planet!!!! [X(][X(][X(]



Just kidding of course. You'll be just fine charging that battery overnight. I've done it more times than I can even count. There shouldn't be any problems with it, but if it still makes you nervous just set the batter outside while it charges overnight to ease your mind

Hope this helps

Ken

If you buy a cordless phone ,they will tell you to charge it 15 hours before using...that doenst make you nervous right?..same here, I have that setup and I charge my field battery a few times over the summer for maybe 8 hours max...but the first time I did it overnight...same as your Rx battery it probably only needs an hour or two on the charger, but most of us leave it on overnight....however I ONLY use my battery for my electric starter, not the glow driver or the fuel pump....so I need to charge it up less than a normal setup....Rog

Thats exactly what I'm afraid of Ken! I dont know how I've made it in this hobby, since im scared of most things. Anyway, I stuck it on the garage floor, and will leave it there overnight. It helps to have someone confirm what needs to be done, I appreciate it

trey

Who you tryin ta kid man, there aint no mud in Wyoming! DONT put it on the garage floor man it'll suck radioactive particles up into the floorboards of the car!!!! gaa! newbies!!!gonna be the death of us all...[&:]

I may be stating the obvious but I would not put it on the garage floor if its concrete.

Thanks for bringing that up. I put it on a wooden block, but i was wondering if that rule applied for gelcell batteries too.

If you leave it charging overnight without watching it...well, it could cause rupture in the space/time continuum!

Why dont you do yourself a favor and get a [link=http://batterytender.com/product_info.php?products_id=4&osCsid=ff57177ae7d3 5a353296cf46d17c929d]Battery Tender JR[/link]. Which you can purchace at pep boys or any automotive shop. This will allow you to fire and forget about fear of over charging and or under charging your battery. The battery tender constantly looks at the voltage of your battery, and charges if needed. When you get back from the field just hook it up and walk away. Next time you are going to fly just take your fieldbox and fly. One thing with these gell cells are they are very picky. If you let the battery sit, and it discharges too much you will have a irreversal cell damage. Plus if you leave it on the charger to long and it over charges. Chances your battery wont make it to the next day at the field.

Take a look at the ACE RC Constant Voltage Charger: http://www.acehobby.com/ace/ACE2526.htm

I gladly 2nd the vote for the Deltran Battery Tender. There are two models made - the Battery Tender Plus (which charges @ 1.25Ah) and the Battery Tender Jr (which charges @ 0.7Ah). I did a considerable amount of research on gel cell batteries (which I use in my flight box) and determined the safest charge rate is 1/10C. Since most 12V gel cells are 7Ah, the Battery Tender Jr would fit the bill perfectly.

I got mine for about $27 and modified the leads for banana jacks. When I come home from a flying session I simply plug the Battery Tender Jr into the STARTER jacks on my power panel and leave it there until I'm ready to fly again. This includes leaving it connected over the entire winter.

These microprocessor controlled battery maintenance contraptions were designed to maintain lead acid batteries for classic cars and/or motocycles which don't see regular use throughout the year. Non-use will cause a lead acid cell to sulfate and become unuseable.

I first learned of this while watching the Speed Channel program where the Classic Car guys featured the Deltran products. Click [link=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1401521284382286480&q=%22Batterytender+on+Speed+TV %22+playable%3Atrue]here[/link] for the video link to the segment.

"Take all the cats off the planet?" Really? Please leave it on for a week or so........

Harbour freight has the battery tenders on sale all the time for 9.95.

Works great for me.

Or buy a light timer and plug the charger into that and set it for 10 hours or so.

Guys...
What about all the other batteries he has to charge,shouldn't vwtrey be
thinking about a multi-charger such as a Triton etc. ?

I am saving up to get a charger for everything else now. I like the trition, or the hobbico accucycle elite. Right now, I'm just using the basic charger with a jack for the rx and tx batteries. I just plug it in every friday night. I dont really care for doing it that way, as i dont have a battery tester either. I'll get everything I need, but it will take time.

I charged my field box battery overnight. Everything was fine, but all the hair fell off my dog.

trey

What does he use to keep his alternator from overcharging his car battery and blowing out his car's headlights? Hmmmm? And he parks the car on the concrete too I'd bet.

Question 1: A voltage regulator built into the cars charging system.
Question 2: Placing a standard lead acid battery on concrete for some reason drains the charge. Putting a wooden block under the battery seams to avert this unwanted discharge. While the battery is in the car most people presume our rubber tires to be sufficient insulation between our batteries and the concrete to prevent discharge. This is true unless RCKen's cat thieving aliens come down as they drink battery acid to help keep the hairballs under control.

ahh, christ. This is getting rediculous. I just wanted to know if there was a certain amount of time that was too long.

Ken started it!

Who?? Me??? It wasn't me, I swear. It was Bruce88123 wearing a "RCKen" suit!!! Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket!!

vwtrey,
I do apologize for sort of hijacking your thread. I do hope you did get the answer you were looking for.

Ken

Sorry, we were just having a little fun. []

Yeah, I know, just had to have a little fun back

As Curly used to say: Oh, a wise guy!

We like that.

Yep, you'd better be careful. If you upset Bruce he'll set aside an entire day of the week just to pick on you!!



Ken

vwtrey,

That battery is rated at 4.5 AH (amp hours). The charger charges at 500mah or 1/2 AH (amp hour) per hour. If the battery was stone cold dead, it would take 9 hours to charge it. Gel cells or lead acid batteries do not have the problem of cell polarity reversal if they get too low on a charge. In most instances with these chargers nothing will happen even if you forget it for a few hours. I routinely plug my charger into the starter ports in my field box and let it charge anywhere from 12 to 24 hours and I have experienced no difficulties. If you need further assurance call the tech people at Hobbico and they will give you all the help you need. An Accucycle Elite will not charge this type of battery but the Triton will.

Cheers,
Andy