I got a brand new RTF alpha and i have no way of telling battery life on it? We got 45 minuites of flight and i'd like to hook it up to something and see how many more i got before she needs a charge.

Whats everyone using? Anyone got any reccomendations?

thanks!
Michael

It's a little pricey, but it can load test any hobby battery we all use.

Whatever you chose, chose a checker that applies a 'load' to the battery.

http://www.dreamworksrc.com/catalog/...oducts_id=1293

Any Extended Scale Voltmeter (ESV) will do the job. There are some very expensive ones on the market, but even the simplest will do. You want an Extended scale voltmeter as opposed to a regular voltmeter because the ESV puts a load on the batteries when you check them. Without the load it's possible for a bad pack to still read good, but then go bad as soon as a load is placed on it.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...LXNK82&P=7

$7.99 from Tower Hobbies.

Ken

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I bought a 4 Pack of these on eBay the other day. Don't have them yet. If anyone has experience with these chime in. You said "battery life" but what I think you meant, going by your 45 minutes between charges, I assume you meant, "Can I fly on these batteries?"

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-PACK-Volt-Watch-Battery-Monitor-FUTABA-JR-HITEC-GWS_W0QQitemZ380124849121QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Def aultDomain_0?hash=item588134e3e1&amp;_trksid=p3286 .c0.m14&amp;_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1 205|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50

Ihave never really gotten ahold of a bad battery tester, Ihave the type from tower that Ken showed and an older ACE tester. My biggest problem was finding a good Tach, Itried three of the cheap ones then spent the money on the TNC Tach, a bit over kill for most people. Ihave tested my Tach with the combo Tach/Volt Tester sold through Horizon and found it to be right on with mine, a bit high priced but you get two good testers for the price.
Istill have my little tower volt meter in my flight box in case of a dead battery in my ACE, it really works pretty good!! And the price is right!!

West Coast,

im looking for both actually. I want to see if: A. i can fly and for how long and B.what does the voltage look like when i charge it.

RCKen, where do i get the plugs for that voltmeter? How do i plug that thing into the plane battery to check current power?

Edit: i found the plugs for the voltmeter im going to ask around my club and see what the other guys are using and get some hands on experience before i buy one

Thanks guys!

This battery checker is the best I've ever found:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 33, 49); font-weight: bold; ">Robbe 8511 Digital Battery Checker</span><div></div><div>Great little gadget, it gives you virtually all possible information on your battery pack</div>

This is the one I have always used.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=EXRA502

I check after each flight, and when it gets below 70% I stop flying. I would normally get 5-6 flights on my Alpha.

Good luck

If I ever suspect one of my packs is n/g, I throw it on the triron charger, peak it up, check to see how much it took initially and then discharge it on the charger at a rate of 20%, it gets warm, but after cooling, I recharge it and get a real # of what it can take, plus my charger can record all of this info for me to review, so if it took a long time to accept the charge and peaks out  well before the rated capacity and drains fairly fast for the rate, the chemistry inside the pack is deterioating to the point of just throw it out. Yhe old saying holds true, when in doubt, chuck it out.