i have a 6 volt pack 2000 mah pack that i used all day yesturday, and when i checked my battery before my final flight, the voltage readout would give me about 5.4 which i know is too low to safely fly on a 6 volt battery if im not mistaken...and under a load it would drop to 1.5 volts...why? and just right now i checked again and the voltage would drop to 1.5 under a load..... im using the hobbico mk3 voltmeter

4 volt drop under load is way too much...it's probably the voltmeter....check the meter using another battery pack....remember though even using a loaded voltmeter the reading is just a snap shot of the battery at the time you check the voltage

you are right....if i ever get a reading like that again, ill borrow some one elses to see if i get the same results

This could also be caused by a defect in the wiring between the battery and where you are plugging in the voltmeter. If either wire ( plus or minus leads) has been partially severed (maybe many of the multi strands broken inside the insulation) and that will cause a large voltage drop across that defect. A very poor or corroded connector somewhere in the loop could also cause this. Both these possibilities assume that you have a good functioning voltmeter. A bad jumper between individual cells could also cause a large voltage drop at that point.

The Hobbico meter throws a 1A load on the battery, so if it is on the tail end of a charge you will see a precipitous drop in voltage.

Under normal circumstances the servos do not put this much of a load on the battery, but at high deflection even a single servo can draw MORE than 1.5A... throw two or more servos into the mix and you'll see why you may need to cut back on the number of flights per 2000mAh pack let alone a 800mAh pack.

Consider making your batteries field changable so you can swap in a freshly charged pack, for long days of flying.

It could also be a cell in the pack has gone bad. The battery should be cycled to make sure it is working at the proper voltage and rating. Good Luck, Dave

And/Or several cells went bad to yield that low of a reading.

thanks for the input......im gonna take your suggestions and leave it slow charging @150 mah over night and top it off with a peak charge at 500 to get a full charge(the way i was taught)...then discharge on my triton and see how much capacity it has.


what discharge rate do you reccommend for a 2000 6v mah nimh battery, and how low of a cutoff voltage is good to get a good reading on my battery? this is the battery BTW http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXLX50&P=ML

MetallicJunkie....You cant charge anything @150 mah. You can charge at 150 mA. Sorry it's a pet peeve of mine.....I know peeves make bad pets.....you measure current in amps not amp hours (mh).....you get an idea of a batteries capacity in amp hours...ie 2000 mAh, in a perfect world will give you 2000 mA for an hour...see the difference?
Hope the battery is ok

ok so i got the terminology wrong, but you understand what im trying to get at right?

yes sir I do...sounds like a plan