I charged my battery (Ni-MH 7.2V 900 mah) for my brand new firebird commander today, but I got rained out. I used to use a stoplight bulb discharger for my rc car batteries (Ni-cads) when I did not get to use them. Does anyone out there know if I can use a bulb discharger for these kinds of packs? (How many bulbs? #1157 bulbs?) What do you guys do besides holding the throttle down to discharge your packs?

It is a waste of time to discharge modern battery packs, except to test their capacity through some scientific means from time to time (e.g. a computerized charger/discharger that monitors mAh). NiMH packs and modern NiCds do not develop a memory, and there is no appreciable degradation from leaving them sit charged.

Holding the throttle down, also known as extended static running, is a bad thing to do to your airplane's power system. Most electric airplanes are cooled by the forward motion of the plane through the air. Without that cooling, the motor, batteries, and electronics can overheat and become damaged. The propeller does little to cool the motor and other electronics, as they are generally located near the center of the propeller's disc, where the least amount of air is flowing.