Just as a note of possible interest. When I was in my training days (meaning trainer and buddy box because, as far as I am concerned, we're all still learning each and every time we fly), my instructor talked about points of failure. The more complex something becomes, the more it becomes problematic. His point was to keep it simple.

The simplest form, of course, is plugging the battery directly into the receiver.. no switch, no extension, nothing. Just a direct connection from the battery to the receiver. We move up in complexity from there, adding a switch, perhaps a charge jack, anything in the power path adds points of failure.

Keeping it simple would involve just that, a simple connection from the battery, through the switch, to the receiver. Even that involves potential points of failure.. the switch.. switches have been known to fail, then there are the connectors on the extensions, which have been known to corrode and cause problems with that.

The voltwatch2 is a simple device that plugs into a vacant channel on the receiver. Adding a Y cable to "buddy" it up with a used channel, such as a servo channel, adds points of failure, including the voltwatch itself.

But we pay the price for technology by adding devices like this, for the most part, the trade off, from simplicity to the information we get from such devices, is worth the trade off, in my opinion.

And, as previously said, the other device is nice, and useful. But it also is more complex than the voltwatch. Hey, I've seen people adding telemetry to their systems, to send back information to the ground via a second radio link, or have on board storage devices that store the data for latter viewing and analysis once the plane lands. All this adds complexity and gets away from the simple devices to keep our planes flying.

Again, it's a trade off, and, for the most part, these devices are useful, to a point. My suggestion is to keep it as simple as you can and get the most information you can for the least amount of potential problems. It ain't fun to have a plane's receiver die in flight.

That's my soap box.

CGr.

If you move the control surfaces THEN keep them still at the new position, do you get more than 2 lights on?
If you do then there appears to be a problem with your Voltwatch. The IC inside has 2 modes of operation, single LED or bargraph. It COULD be that the pin that selects bargraph is active
If you get a scatter of lights only during movement of the surfaces, then I reckon you've got a high resistance joint in one of your leads.

Look, I'm not going to force feed you. How hard is it to read for yourself.

That said, I like simple too and if CGRetired had simply read about the voltmagic then he would see it also just plugs into the receiver just like the voltwatch. The ONLY difference is it needs it's own channel. And as CGRetired already stated he prefers to not buddy it with something else. You would think 2 minutes of reading isn't asking too much before you try putting something down. (especially when you end up sticking up for it with out even knowing it)

What if I told you for only $39.99 you could land your plane and see if you had lost your link from your radio to your receiver and how many times that link was lost. How about doing a high speed maneuver that really sucks a lot of juice and landing your plane and seeing what the lowest volts that your receiver saw during that maneuver( are your high drain servo's too much for your battery). How about for all the A123 or lipo uses that CAN'T use the voltwatch, would they like to see how much is left in their batteries. The voltwatch has two choices, 4.8 and 6.0 volts. The voltmagic has 20 choices from 4.8 (5 settings) to 6.0 (3 settings) nicd, nimh, to A123(3 different settings) to lipo (4 settings), with or with out a regulator(5 settings). I mentioned a regulator, how about an over voltage feature that would show if your regulator is failing. Would that be helpful, knowing that your regulator is failing and your receiver and servos are about to get more volts then they can handle.

I own one and spending $39.99 (I spent less with package deal from hangtime hobbies) to know all of the above on a $2500 3D Yak is cheap insurance. A little over 1 % to safeguard my investment.

I noticed the warm welcome that "42etus" received when he suggested the voltmagic, so I figured I would just show the Swedish folks on this site the website where they could find all the information they required, apparently that is the wrong approach too.

So being Canadian I would like to apologize for wasting all your time and hope you continue to enjoy this hobby(meeting all the wonderful and helpful people) as much as I do.

Hey guys, I wasn't trying to be inflammatory here. I just wanted to point out that the VoltMagic is a far better product that the VoltWatch. And yes it has a price tag to match. It's not appropriate for all planes, but does have it's place. Thanks to Mikecam for pointing out the advantages of the Voltmagic. They really are great little units that do much more than display the battery voltage. Check out the website and decide if one would be right for your application. http://www.voltmagic.com/index.htm .
Paul

The Voltmagic isn't a far better product, it is a totally different product all together. I for one don't have a $2500 plane, so paying $40 for Volymagic doesnt seem like a value to me. If I did have a $2500 plane, I could see that it would be a benefit to have. I didn't mean to start a Voltmagic/Voltwatch war. I do think it is funny how it starts over a question about a product that I ALREADY HAVE and turns into a "pay $40 for this", Voltwatch is crap. I love the price (I can afford one for all my planes!!), and the "at a glance" battery information Voltwatch provides, and really, that's all I need/use it for anyways. For the record, I have resolved my issue, and do thank those that took the time to actually help me with my problem. I am able to move all surfaces to full deflection, and it only lights up to the 3rd led for a second, then goes back to the first one.

I also use voltwatch, I have 6 of them in all my nimh planes. But you can't use voltwatch in an A123 or Lipo plane which is why I researched other onboard battery indicators and found the voltmagic. It does many things but it also does exactly what the voltwatch does except it does it for all the A123 and Lipo users out there.

I do not see any need for an argument here. These are two different products and do different jobs, both do what they are meant to do and do it well. If you need the deluxe version, get it but for the low end 4 and 5 cell NiXX units, the Voltwatch is sufficient.

Just an update on my post #10.  I've got a bad battery.  It shows up at full voltage when it comes off the charger, but by the time I get it to the field and turn on the plane, all lights are flickering with the fully charged light being on solid with no stick movement.  Switch to a different battery and all is well on the home front.  Curious failure indication.  Humm, just thought of something that may  or may not have anything to do with the indications.  The receiver is a Futaba 2.4 14ch.  All my other receivers are 72.  Is it possible that the 2.4 updates the servos differently, causing the short duration peak loads??

Don

'Could be something to do with the frequency hopping; transient loads at the change over ?