Hi,

I got my first power panel. I want to solder the battery input leads to the battery terminals for the best connection (as per the directions in the package).

If I do this, how do I charge the battery? Can I charge the battery back through the power panel? Can I attach alligator clips to the battery terminals with the soldered wires and then charge?

Thanks

G'day Mate,

Can I charge the battery back through the power panel?
Yes you can, just plug into the starter sockets.

Can I attach alligator clips to the battery terminals with the soldered wires and then charge?

Yes you can, either way will work, but make sure you have the right charger. A charger for lead acid car batteries has too much output & will cook your gell cell.

Alan is right on the money. Charge through the starter jacks on the front of the panel. That is a straight through connected directely to the battery.

Ken

I used solder to make pigtails from my battery and then solder silver butt connectors to the pigtails so I could remove my battery as needed to clean my battery box or whatever, I charge through my starter plugs as Alan and Ken said, my power panel also has two battery lugs so if needed I can charge with alligator clips. I also purchased an automotive type jump starter and put jacks in it so that I can use with my 12 volt starter, it is a little heavy but comes in handy when you have stalls at the flight line .most of the fellas (including me) at the field made flight boxes out of those roll around two tier plastic tool boxes, they have plenty of storage compartments. I installed my power panel in the bottom tier along with fuel can and battery. they have those pull out handles and wheels and make life a lot easier.

Thanks for the info!

Can I charge my 12v 7am sealed battery with my Hobbico Accu-cycle Elite?

G'day Mate,
The accucycle ellite is not suitable for gell cells. You can buy simple gell cell chargers, at electronics stores, that will do the job properly.

What you need is the battery tender Jr. Which you can find at your local automotive store. It will charge any sealed lead acid / gell cell. It has an output of 800mah so it wont fry your battery. Its almost like a peak charger for your field battery. When the battery is full it will turn off and if it sees the voltage dropping it will charge the battery till its full again. YOu could easily modify the connnectors to a banana plug so you can charge the battery through the power pannel. I keep it plugged in 24/7 so its always ready to take to the field with a fresh battery.
Many people destroyed their field batteries by over charging or they left the battery sit and the voltage has dropped below the safe level of 12V. If it gets too low then its extremly hard to bring it back up.

Hey, Allan. How are ya, buddy? Not much going on here in New Jersey. Temps have been below freezing here all week and the wind has been a bit difficult. So, it's a build week. Working on the Sig Something Extra. I bought a Macs Muffler for the OS 50, should be here tomorrow. Should look pretty neat on the SSE.

Drop me a note when you have a free moment.

Dick.

Just to expand on what Allan posted, lead Acid batteries, ie, car batteries, have a peak voltage at full charge of 13.6 VDc. I believe Gel Cells are pretty similar. The require a 'battery eliminator' type source that is capable of putting out a 13.6 volt charge voltage with enough current to charge the battery in a reasonable time. If you have, for instance, a 20 amp hour battery, well, you need to charge that at one amp for 20 hours... well, given losses, that will actually be around 24 hours at one amp. Do the math.. charge current at voltage for the total length of time from a fully discharged battery to fully charge it. Car type battery chargers work just fine, as do, as I said, battery eliminators available at Radio Shack for instance.

Dick.

G'day Dick, me ole mate,
Sorry Dick, but car chargers, for your typical lead acid battery, will cook your typical gel cell, they charge too fast, usually at about 4 amps, that will cause gasses to accumulate in the battery and they can't vent the gas, after a while you will see the sides of the battery swelled out, & that is the end of your gell cell. That is why you should remove the caps from a lead acid battery when charging.
You need to charge em at about 500 to 800 Ma depending on the size of the gell cell. Slow is better. As Rcfury said, a Battery tender Jr is the ideal charger for your gell cells, I use one for my flight box & my Harley battery.
Hey Dick,
I'm working on my Yak 54, as I type, I will be putting an AR7000 RX in it, Spektrum for ever!!!!!!!!