not sure if this is the right forum or not but here i go.... i normally charge my gear overnight before flying, but the weather was not good today. so here is my ? ,, is it "ok" to go at it tomorrow or should i put them back on charge? thanks spooner

Always Charge them. Always.

Not worth loosing a plane over.

2 good investments for a R/C pilot. Voltmeter and a Field charger.

Hang on there...

If you're saying that you charged your batt's last night and want to know whether or not you have to recharge them to use tomorrow if you didn't fly today...

If that's the question: whether or not a one-day old charge will still fly you -- then the answer is this: IT BETTER BE OK! If the batt's don't hold enough charge to fly a day later, then they're gonna die on you before you finish a short day's flying even if they were just charged.

NiCds are supposed to lose 1% per day. I have used them for a long time and I don't believe mine lose even that much. But think about it... even if they lost 20% per day, you could probably still fly for an hour and a half a day later and still have a little reserve. (Flight packs are generally 600mAh capacity and consumtion in the plane is generally 150mA.)

If your batterries are healthy, they're fine to use a day later. If you're not sure of their health, test their capacity -- in most clubs there are at least a few people who have the equipment to do that. Also, look at Red Scholefield's site, talk to people about how well their batterries hold up, when they charge them and when they use them... you'll be alot more confident about those batterries and a lot more comfortable flying after you do that. You're going to drive yourself nuts AND ruin your batterries if you insist on recharging them all the time.

Agree with Al Stein,you should buy a ESV tester then you would know what the charge is.

thanks guys for the info. i was afraid of over chargeing everything. seems like i charge to many days and dont want to burn up the batts. the weather here is ok but if i could get my work hours and the sun light to match i could go flying after work. thats what i'm trying to do
thanks again spooner

Use your ESV to time your battery discharge rate. Many ESV's include instructions on how to do this. Simple way: charge for 24hrs., connect ESV, note time, leave on until meter dips into the red, note time. THIS WILL NOT MEAN YOU CAN FLY THIS LONG! It gives you a baseline to work with. After several flying sessions repeat this and note any duration variance. If there is a large variance, do this several times in a row. This will "Cycle" your batteries (primative way but works). If after cycling the batteries they do not come back up to the original reading, replace them. The ESV will save your plane and the field charger will extend your day.

Take it one step further. A ESV is a must I agree but it only shows what your capacity is and that can still get you in trouble. Get one that will put a simulated load on the pack as I lost a plane because the battery went to lunch in the plane as I was putting a load on it but on the ground with just a ESV it showed a good charge.

I don't know of any ESV's currently on the market that don't have the load in them. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The new Hobbico unit has the 6.0v scale as well.

Hi bdtsr, some of us tried to find one that was sold for r/c that didn't have a load built in a few months back,we couldn't find any.
What brand of ESV were you using that didn't have a load GrnBrt?

Mine has a load in it. There were some made awhile back that didn't. I have seen some people use multimeters which do not have a load which only reads surface voltage not the loaded voltage.

I use a Hobbico, does it put a load on the battery??? I have lost the info about it a long time ago and was under the impression that it didn't.

I'd give Hobbico a call, couldn't hurt.

Hi GrnBrt,yes Hobbico is a loaded ESV.