I am a new member and a new flyer and i need some info on my spectrum battery.The rx battery is 4.8 v/800mh if i wanted to use a bigger battery eg 4.8v/3200mh would that mean it would last longer before recharge or would i be better off useing a 6v battery.The plane is a 4 channel trainer,also what is the best option for a charger to handle this type of battery.Also i have no idea what cycling of batterys is all about.Sorry about the long question.

G'day Mate,
800mah is fine for a trainer, 2 guys in out club have 800mah in their trainers with the DX7, & they get enough flights in a day to take them past the overload point, meaning they have had enough.
I use the DX7 in 3 planes so far, soon to be 4, I use 1100mah, in 2 of them, & 2 battery packs in the larger one, it has a 160FX in it.
I doubt you would need more than 1500Mah 4.8 volts in you trainer, after all you are really only using 2 servos, that have flight loads on them, while you are flying, ailerons & elevators, you rarely use the rudder, & the throttle has no flight load, so stick with the KIS principle, keep it simple, & you will be fine.
But by all means buy yourself & battery tester, like this one, http://www.rojshobbies.com/Radios.html
Scroll to bottom of page.
They test your RX pack, with a load, to make sure you have enough battery capacity to keep flying.

You also need to fly with a club and have your installation checked carefully for errors that will cause excessive current draw. A slightly larger battery is never a bad thing, assuming there is room. Monitor your battery before EVERY flight. If the RX battery voltage gets too low the rX will reset/reboot during which time you will have no control. NOT a good thing.

Thanks for the information fella's, have already had trouble with looseing the signal once with the plane going into a dive and nearly crashing.This was probably my battery playing up,it was reading 4.8 volts while in the plane.Will check the website alan thanks.

If it read 4.8 volts in the plane it was time to charge it. This is actually a fairly low voltage. With ANY load it will get sucked down to the cut-off point. The battery that comes with the system is fairly marginal IMO and a slightly larger one is a good idea as I said before. A 6v is even better but you would need a new charger for it. PLEASE have someone experienced check your installation too. Pushrods that bind greatly increase current demands and therefore reduce battery life.

Also, when you checked your battery did you do it with a loaded meter or a plain one? Only readings under load are valid.

Thanks bruce,yer i had it all ckecked at the club before flying and everything is ok.When i checked the voltage i used my digital meter while operating the servo's, when the battery was fully charged it was only reading 5.2 volts I didn't realize the voltage was so critical until i started following this forum. The classic 40 i have flys like a dream and the dx7 transmitter is very easy to use even for a novice.

Digital meter doesn't respond fast enough. You are NOT getting an accurate picture.

Bruce - Electrical Engineer - trust me on this

Ok thanks bruce looks like i'll have to chase up the battery tester/charger.

Thanks a lot for the info from all that had a part in this discussion.. I just got a DX7 nd was told by a couple of guys that I needed to up grade the 4.8 v batt it came with. My first response was why would they give you 4.8V with the flight pack and then have everyone suggest upgrade. I am convinced that for safety's sake, I need to upgrade.. Do I also have to change chargers ???

Happy so far with the DX7.. Lots of hits at our field, so most of us are changing right away that haven't already. AMA came out to check frequency interference but found nothing.. But it still happens. Couple guys that haven't changes over to Spectrum yet, refuse to fly there..

In the past 4.8v asw usually sufficient for RX packs and 800ma was fine. However with Spectrum it is good idea to go to 6 volts. and at least 1100 ma. The reason being Spectrum comes with digital servos,which draw more and the cutoff voltage is too easily reached with 4.8v This is especially true if doing a lot of 3D flying.

Thanks TedMo - It seems that I get lots of opinions, but my answers to thisquestion seem to confirm the up-grage to 6V. After only 5 years in the sport,I still have so much to learn, and who better to get info from than experienced pilots. I wish had the time to get into the technical but when I have time, I like to get 'er up and get 'er down...

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The "upgrade" to 6 volts with the DX7 was due to a problem they had with low voltage "reboot" issue with the receiver. If the voltage dropped below a threshold, and I'm not sure what that threshold really was (or is) the receiver would re-boot or cycle. The time it took would cause some problems (politicall correct for crash.. [X(] ). Spektrum has changed something so it does not do this any longer.

I simply moved up to 6 volt packs to avoid this. I also went up to 1200 mah packs, and is pretty much what I use on everything now.

CGr.