Once again I ask for help in this wonderful hobby that never ends.......

I would like to be able to check the charge of my batteries while at the field and every time I go to the LHS, they do not have any meters in stock. I keep trying to look for one online, but have had no luck in finding something - more because I am really not sure on what to specifically look for.

I do have a multimeter from radioshack and is there a way to be able to use this to check my batteries? I have leads from a field charger that will fit into the multimeter and then fit into the battery connections. This is the meter I have:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...uctId=2103176#

If this is not suitable, can anyone recommend something for me? If I do have to purchase a new one, I would rather buy a digital meter that has load bearing on it.

Thanks once again for all the help.

You need to be able to put a load on the batteries.

something like this will work fine
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXWW16&P=ML

Assuming you are using Ni batteries.

I have one of these on my plane:

[link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHDJ2&P=ML]http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHDJ2&P=ML[/link]

The assumption above is that you are talking about receiver NiCD / NiMH battery packs, not actual flight power batteries.

With NiCD / NiMH packs you can loosely evaluate remaining flight time by the voltage level when the battery is under load.

With LiPo ( and other ) flight batteries, the voltage level stays relatively constant until the end of the battery capacity at which point it drops off VERY quickly... ( some may say almost instantly! ).

I have this tach/voltmeter from Hangar 9. http://www.hangar-9.com/Products/Def...?ProdID=HAN111
It appears to work well and places a load on the battery pack which is dependent on the voltage and number of cells in the pack. Without putting a simulated load on the battery a voltmeter by itself won't tell you a whole lot.
I thought it was a pretty handy device to have laying around.
They sell for around $45 and can be hard to find at times but I found one in my local hobby shop sitting around.

I use a combination peak recharger and volt meter, a cheap job for nicads only. Diagnose the problem and solve it all at once.

I like to give the nicad a zip of electrons after third flight. After I lost my beloved Seniorita due to dreaded battery fadeout, I am a bit paranoid.

Tom

Thanks for all the tips. I most certainly do not want to lose a plane to something that could be avoided.

If you're at all handy with wires, you can buy an extra set of test leads for the meter, cut off the probes, solder a 10 ohm, 5watt power resistor between the wires, then solder the appropriate end from a servo extension onto the end. This will put an approximately 600 ma load on the battery, and you can read the voltage out. Depending on your battery chemistry, you can then estimate remaining life. Make it even more accurate by creating a discharge curve for your battery by starting with a fully charged battery and then plotting voltage vs. time as you discharge the battery with this setup. Laminate the curve and keep it in your field box. Now you can hook up the battery, look at the voltage, and see where you are on the curve.

Brad

Something else, invest in good quality cells. I made the mistake of buying a set of AA's from Hobby King, to make up an rx pack. Bad move, thinking 2300 mah would be nearly 3 times my old pack's rate.
Cycled them several times to condition them. Then used the pack in a plane I was building. Worked the servos fine, but I couldn't get the retracts to function at all.

These are big ones, with separate JR 391's for each retract. I thought the servos were at fault. Having to fish the leads and retracts out of 4 3/4 foot long wing halves was no joy.

Even plugging the servos straight to the rx had no effect, but I just knew that I couldn't have two bad brand new servos.

I finally got the bright idea to try another power source. Cheap China esc, hooked to a lipo, and both the retracts worked fine.

Yanked the rx pack, voltage looked good unloaded. Put it on my charger and hit the discharge cycle. Not even 15 second at 2 amps and pack was showing near ZERO VOLTS.

Cut the leads and tossed the whole thing in the trash.

Went out to the LHS, spent the bucks on quality cells and now have a nice working rx pack.

I have digital ESV (expanded scale voltmeter) as in Exeter_acres link, as well as a couple analog that Tower gave away for free (a few years back when the daily specials really were!) They put 250mA load on the battery and give an approximation of relative life - use it wisely. ;-)

I also have a VoltWatch2 on a couple planes now. I used to poo poo them, but they do give a fast visual.

google Hyperion EOS sentry battery monitor or have a look at post in the battery and charger section.Lipo, life, liion, nixxnuff said