I have a flight box with a tower power panel. I have always removed the battery to charge it. Is there a way to charge it through the power panel without damaging the panel?

You can charge it directly through the 12 volt plugs that are for you starter. That 12 volt plug for the starter is a direct connection to the battery and doesn't go through the electronics of the power panel. Solder a couple of banana plugs onto your chargers wires and then plug right in.

Hope this helps

Ken

Some power panels have a direct link to the battery without going through the panel circuitry.. maybe through the starter port? The starter port (usually red and black) are normally a direct connect to the battery via the internal connections on the panel. If so, you can probably connect a source of power, battery eliminator, positive to positive, and negative to negative, and charge it that way. If you do it that way, use a battery eliminator with a current meter and watch the current drawn by the battery. As it approaches 13.6 VDc, the current will drop significantly. That's time to disconnect it. Never leave it overnight, though. By the way, A battery eliminator of the 20 amp variety, is available at Radio Shack.

I do like RCKen says. I soldered up a set of banana plugs with just simply 1" of bare (solder tinned) wire sticking out because my charger has alligator clips. I plug them into the starter jacks and clamp onto the wires. Be sure to keep the clamps from touching when you disconnect. Sparky, sparky.

I have mine set up so it gets one hour of charge a day - same as my tx and rx batteries. Seems to keep it ready with no problems. If I'm not expecting to fly for a time I'll pull it off line, as the gel cell seems to hold it's charge better than the NiCads.

Thanks for the advice.

I converted my charger to a deans connector, than ran a short lead from the battery out the side, also with the deans end on it. This way there is no arc, spark or reversed polarity problems.