Just a little update for those who read my first post.... Finally went solo with the Superstar, love this plane it files very well. Experienced guys at the local club took it off and trimmed it out correctly for me, the trim wasn't off by much, and then gave me the sticks.... I asked about landing and the guy helping me out told me to let the engine die to calculate (he was using a timer) the flight length for one tank of fuel. I did, it ran about 20 minutes at half throttle, and then he told me to land the plane... I landed dead stick (he was standing beside me and giving pointers about the landing) with no problem. Next flight I took off myself... and so it begins

now for the question part... I only get to fly every other weekend, I had already asked a question about the batteries being charged and memory and what not and the advice given was great... The guys at the club suggested a battery cycler, and recommended I get a volt meter to check the voltage... I ordered those from Tower Hobbies today. There was a guy who had gotten a new volt meter from one of the other guys at the club, and when I was packing up I let him hook it up to my receiver battery pack so he could see how it worked and because I was curious about the state of my batteries.... It was an analog reader and everyone kept saying "If it is in the green its good to go" my pack was just outside the green area. I had only made two flights and it wasn’t anything fancy, there was some wind so I used more throttle adjustments than I usually would. Also because of the wind I got really nervous on the first flight and landed after about 7 minutes of flight. The second flight was much less windy so I stayed up for about 15 min. Is it normal for this amount of flying to drain the battery to a level that a volt meter would show that it is not a good idea to fly any more, Should the battery packs be changed, and if so what kind of battery packs should I use? Are there any numbers on the packs that I need to match up if I do have to replace them?

I also plan to ask the guys at the local club next time I go these same questions since they love helping out us rookies, any advice from the RC Universe will be greatly appreciated.

What happens with newly solo'ed pilots is that your stick control, usually trying to compensate for every single movement the plane makes, takes it's toll on batteries because the servo's are always, constantly, working to match your inputs. This is perfectly normal, and you will usually 'grow' out of that as you gain experience and confidence.

What I was told one day, by my instructor, was to just leave the sticks alone and let the plane fly from left to right or right to left without making any minor.... MINOR... adjustments. Of course, serious change requirements must be dealth with on the spot, (for instance, if it starts a serious dive, don't leave it, correct it..., or a serious bank to the left.. fix it). But just leave the sticks alone for a few seconds and watch the plane. What will happen, in most cases, is that it will almost self correct without the need for your input from the transmitter. Eventually, you will get the feeling and you will see what little input it actually takes to fly straight and level.

This is, of course, after you take off and do your basic trim adjustments for 'hands off' straight and level flight.. at that throttle setting. Remember, a change in throttle setting will change your trim. More throttle and you will climb. Less and you will descend. So, set the throttle, say at 1/2 to 3/4, whatever your normal airspeed is for flight, trim it out, then just take your fingers off of the sticks and see if it flys straight and level. If so, then you're all set to do the test above. If not, trim it till it is ready, then try the test above.

Servo's will definitely drain the batteries in short order if you are constantly on them. The more experience and confidence you get, the longer the batteries will last. But, don't get rid of that voltmeter... Oh, not just a voltmeter, but a loading voltmeter or an expanded scale volt meter. A regular voltmeter will tell you 'Yup, there's voltage there' but a loaded or an expanded voltmeter will tell you how the battery reacts under the standard load of a receiver and servo's. If analog, and it's in the green, you're all set. If it's not in the green, then do yourself a favor and hit it with a field charger (sirius field charger is a great choice, by the way, as are Tritons, ICE, and many others, depending on your needs). Charge the battery. Don't take a chance. More crashes have happened by marginal batteries where the pilot says, "Well, I have one more flight in that battery".

By the way, congrats on your solo. Enjoy the hobby as we all do!!

DS.

I could'nt resist hacking this one up

Your batteries may actually get a little stronger after a couple of cycles as well. Don't give up on them yet. Congrats on the flight.

G'day Mate,
A lot will depend on the capacity off the batteries, if you have 600Mah, & 5 or 6 servos, it won't last long, but if you have 1100Mah, it will last almost twice as long, with the same number of servos, & the same style of flying.
More capacity in battery= more flight time, for the same setup!
You didn't mention the battery capacity, but I bet you didn't charge the pack for 16 hours with your wall charger, & then discharge & charge again, I always do this procedure 3 times with a new pack, & they almost always come up from around 70% on the first discharge, to about 98% on the 3rd or 4th.
That is why a cycler is a good investment!