I'm looking for the part that talks about batteries. I bought a triton 2 charger after talking to the guy who run the battery clinic, now I've got a bunch of battery questions and can't find the battery area. Where is it? I must be stupid.

It's actually above the list of forums that has this one in the list. There is a list above this list in other words. Way up top.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_84/tt.htm

All forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> Batteries & Chargers

I still can't find it but thanks for the direct link. It must be because it's not in "airplane" or "my forums" and I always click on those.

This thread is in the RC Airplanes list of forums. The RC Airplanes list of forums is in the All Forums list of forums.

When you want to know where you are, just look up or down the page for the Post Reply box. The one on this pages shows: Post Reply All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> Beginners

If you are in the Batteries&Chargers and looked at the PostReply lines, you'd see:

All Forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> Batteries & Chargers

If you look at the entire list of forums it's about #6 from the top of the list.

Southern tip of Manhatten

Sorry - couldn't resist

You should have tried harder.

Jeez, I always thought it was the part of old Charleston that sticks out in the bay toward Ft. Sumter.

Think of what we wouldn't learn if we didn't read these threads.

Heck, I thought a Battery was a group of 6 artillery cannons!!!!!!

Ken

Wow, the battery area is brutal. I found the place to go now but the first thing I pull up is some guy putting together what looks to be an old computer power supply and turning it into somekind of battery gadget. Way over my head. I just want some answers on plugging chargers and 12V batteries together. Maybe I should just ask the questions in this forum. I leave for flight school in about 2 !/2 weeks and gotta get at least enough knowledge on how to charge my reciever pack I just bought. 6 Volt 2000mah off a triton 2 charger with no hookups. AR7000 receiver with JR ST126MG servos.

The Plane shots are what I'm flying at flight school. The twist battery pack is what I need help with.

Even though you guys are talking about cannons and Plymouth Rock and stuff.

OK, this is a beginner forum. What questions?

But right off the bat, there will only be two 12V batteries that can be involved.

One is the battery that feeds the Triton. The Triton is sold to be connected to a 12V power sourse. Hook it up to your car battery. That's the idea. And the big line with the alligator clips does that job.
Another 12v can be a flight box battery or the battery in some of the engine starter setups. Some of them are 12v lead batteries. Some have a cluster of 1.2V NiCds that often are 14.4V in total. The triton will do lead batteries. The booklet gives a rundown on that. But basically how you use a triton is fairly simple.

With any charger, you need a connector that hooks to the charger. The Triton uses bananna clips on the connector to the Triton. The other end has to be a clip specific to the battery, or for the wiring harness of the airplane, or for the item (engine starter with self contained battery). Hook all that up and the Triton takes a couple of button pushes to work.

Basically you press the button that's for selecting the kind of battery you want to charge and you do just that.
Then you have to dial that round button to the appropriate amperage for the battery. This takes some understanding. Look in the booklet, it's a page worth of words to get across.
Then you push that dial like it was a button.
And after awhile the Triton beeps at you and you unplug it all.


Didn't see any questions, so ask away..................

Thanks da Rock,

Is there a way I can hook it up via the power panel with banana plugs also and can I charge my transmitter at the same time I charge the reciever pack? Also how long will it take for my 12v battery to run down and is there a way to tell if it's running down from this charger? Will it charge my 12v battery and if so is there any advantage to doing this? Can I somehow plug this thing into a wall socket?

Yes I've read the instructions but I still need some help on some basic things. I'm doing all this solo.

Thanks for the help.

http://www.electrifly.com/chargers/gpmm3153.html
It's only got a single output so you have to decide which ONE you want to charge at a given time. Battery life will depend upon charge rate and duration.
Check the above. It has links to videos and things.

Plug into wall? You would need to buy/build a suitable power supply to connect it to.

Not worth the effort.
The power panel is usually driven by a lead battery in the flight box. They're usually not always large enough, charged enough, high enough voltage to charge something else.

Nope.
The Hobbico Accu-Cycle Elite is the charger that has two outputs and easily charges a RX and TX at the same time. And it also comes with a transformer to plug the charger into the wall at home. For about the same price as the TritonII. (now, we tell you)

Got no idea how long the 12v battery will take. It depends on what you're using it for.
The chargers have no way to telling how much charge is in a battery. We've got ESV (extended scale voltmeters) that load our RXs and TXs packs to tell how they're doing, but I know of none for 12V batteries.

It should. The 12v is a sealed lead battery I'm guessing. That's what most people have to drive a power panel. The TritonII's one real claim to fame is that it'll do lead batteries. There is a button on the front for you to select what kind of battery you've hooked up to the TritonII. The Accu-Cycle Elite doesn't do lead, btw.

Nope. You can get a transformer like the $90 Hobbico one Tower sells http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...EARCH=hcap0250 It converts the AC house current to 12V DC that the Triton needs. The Accu-Cycle Elite comes with a transformer.

Electricity is a pain in the for lots of people. Hope this helps.

BTW, for all the beginners...............

The TritonII is an excellent cycle/charger, does ONE NiCd, NiHM, LiPo, or lead battery at a time. It only works from a big 12V battery. It is $125 right now.

The Accu-Cycle Elite is an excellent cycle/charger that does two NiCd, NiMH, LiPo at a time. Doesn't do lead. It will work from the wall or a 12V car battery. It is $140 right now complete with the transformer.

Thanks for all the help gang, you guys are great.

Let me get a couple more things straight with you guys before I quit buggin you (till the next topic). I bought this charger and I have to open my car hood to use it. If I charge the reciever pack a day or two in advance or more (with my car hood open while charging) is it ok to go flying, or should I only fly when I charge the night before. Is the purpose of trickle charge for when you fall a sleep at the field with the hood open and the battery charging? What is the best setup if I have a plane or two and want to fly all day without running out of battery power: bring multiple cars for battery charger charging, use mutiple battery chargers off the same car battery at the same time or get a field box that accomodates a car battery? Lastly, is their any point where I need to worry about having a car battery charger with me because I'm the only one at the field, and my car battery is drained because of charging all my airplane batteries off the car battery?

At least I don't have to ask about kinds of batteries or charging rates because I read the instruction booklet.

Either works.
Since your charger only does one at a time, if you put off until the night before, what happens if the weather breaks and you want to go fly right then?
Don't forget that you still have your original wall warts, those slow chargers.
So when you get home, put both RX and TX on the wall warts. Next day, using the TritonII won't take very long at all.

The trickle charge is to pack the battery fuller than it gets from the heavier "quick" charge. It's actually a good idea to let the quick charger give some trickle.

Bring more than one car? Multiple chargers? Field box with a car battery?
Are you serious?
Cheapest solution in light of your ideas........... Trade the Triton for an AccuCycleElite.
What's the best setup with your Triton? It's an excellent charger. Planning does wonders. Charge your TX and any airplanes you might fly in the next week or so. Also you might get a couple of extra RX batteries and charge them up. Take the charger and use it if anything shows it's down on capacity when you check it with your ESV. You got an ESV, right?
The transmitter is going to last through a couple of airplanes in a day. It's also got a readout that'll make monitoring it easy. Your TX does show battery voltage, right?


You're going to have a real problem flying enough in a day to drain your car battery. But it's been done to old car batteries. But not new ones.

Now..................
You've got an excellent tool there in that Triton.
Use it and the wall warts to insure the next time you go to the field you take full batteries. And when you get home, use it to not only recharge, but to tell you some very important information. When it says it's got a "full" charge on a battery, it beeps right. Well, the beep ain't the big news. What the Triton tells you on the readout is how much capacity that day at the field consumed. With that info, you got the world by the tail. Think back and remember how many flights you put on that TX. How many flights on each airplane. Now you got the info that'll answer a bunch of your questions, the ones you already asked, and ones you haven't asked yet.

As for buying some more chargers.............. Don't need to. But if you do, why not pay only $10 more and get one that does two recharges at once and can be used off 110V AND 12V.

If you think your car battery is getting low - start the engine and let the alternator recharge it. Put a heavy duty battery in the vehicle, not that you'll need it.

Thanks da Rock and Bruce88123,

Couple more things from what you said da Rock. I don't have a "wall wart" for all batteries. Just for ones that came with the radios I've got. When I bought the 6V battery I didn't buy a wall charger. Can I use the one from the 4.8v battery that came with the DX-7 or are you suggesting I buy a wall charger when I buy a new battery that is different from my current ones?

Second, no I'm not serious about the car battery field box now[:-]. I'm also not sure what a ESV is. Is that somekind of battery checker?

Third, I'm using a DX-7 radio and I don't remember reading anything in that manual about it displaying voltage. I could be wrong. It's been a while since I've read that manual and probably need to do some review.

Thanks again!

The wall-wart will NOT do an adequate job of charging 6 volt packs.

The DX7 displays the system battery voltage in the upper right corner of the LCD. Remember that this is ONLY the TX voltage and has ABSOLUTELY no bearing on the condition of the RX batteies. The TX can be fully charged and the RX dead.

You can use aftermarket chargers to take care of the batteries but don't fast charge unless you need to. The batteries will appreciate it.

The ESV is an meter we use to check the condition of the batteries in the airplane. They're anywhere from $8 on up. They're small and easy to use. Some guys check before every flight.

As I said before: The transmitter is going to last through a couple of airplanes in a day. It's also got a readout that'll make monitoring it easy. Your TX does show battery voltage, right?

Now.........
The DX7s I've been flying (a couple of students have them) have 1500mAh batteries in them. How long are you flying in a day? 1500mAh ought to outlast the pink bunny that plays the drum.

Fully charge that DX7 and then go fly. Watch the voltage reading and count your flying time. If the reading goes below 9.6, put the TX on the Triton. If that doesn't happen, when you get home put the TX on the Triton then. Either case, look at how many mA the TX battery takes from the Triton to fill 'er back up. Then divide that by the number of flights you made on that TX. You'll know roughly how many flights you should expect from that battery next time out. That Triton (as does the AccuCycleElite) gives you the tool to watch your battery performance. They'll tell you when a battery is starting to crap out on you. They'll also help some batteries by cycling them, but that's a different deal. The same technique works for your flight batteries.

Wall warts come in all manner of ratings. A buddy of mine uses 6v packs in his airplanes and bought wall warts to suit them. He understands electricity and knew what to buy. If I remember correctly he had a hard time finding those warts.

I went and found the spot that the DX-7 reads the volts, thanks. I've got it charging now. I guess I forgot to turn it off last time I had it on. It's funny how I never really noticed that before you guys said something. Thanks.

I also have a Futaba battery checker/discharger that I got off the classified area along with an Apache smart charger for 50 bucks. The last time I used the checker it didn't seem to work. I may have to get a new one.

I'm still not quite clear on whether or not I can hook up more than one charger to my car battery at a time. Lets say I get the Hobbico charger you are talking about and want to use both chargers at the same time. Can I hook up the Triton and the Hobbico charger to my car battery at the same time? Also I noticed at least five different "power points" inside my airplane bus SUV, are these good for anything having to do with airplanes?

You can hook up any number of chargers to a single car battery.

What you MUST be careful of is that the TX chargers for JR/Spectrum have reverse polarity to those for Futaba radios. Do NOT get them backwards or radio damage WILL occur. The charger plugs look the same so be VERY careful.

I can still used the Futaba checker/charger for my rx battieries right? I plugged my 6V into the checker it said the battery was low so it is working. Your just talking about transmitter wall chargers right? Or do I have to check the polarity of the triton if I use it to charge my TX? Thanks.

Sorry about the crappy pictures.