After being away from the hobby for about 15 years I recently soloed my Goldberg Eagle II and have a Sig Mid Star 40 in the works. I am astounded at the advancment of technology in the sport since I have been back. I have spent hours and hours re-learning this stuff. ARF's, RTF's, RTC's, 2.4 gig, and computer radios,its mind boggleing. My question is how many of you sport fliers use a little doo hicky called a volt watch. I have seen a few at the field and the gyuys that use them love them and other guys just seem to know how many and how long their flights can be. With that said; how many of you sport fliers use it and what do you think of it and if not why?

Keep Looking To The Sky

i like them, i got 1 in my plane.. its just nice to know how my battery is doing, and when its time to quit for the day...cheap insurance

I use them also. In both planes and on my flight box to check 12v for starter battery. They work and give a little extra insurance and a little piece of mind.-------Revver Bro#164

I have used them and they are A good little item to have on board. I still have A couple in my older planes and have A couple of units in my box. I have gone to 6v in all my newer planes and when I got mine they only went up to 4.8, now they have them for both but I'm too cheap to buy them. Even with them on board it's still A smart thing to check the voltage before each flight. I like them and when I break down and buy some more I will start using them again.

I don't use them, but I will admit it's a great idea.

I just figure I can easily get 3 flights per day, and between helping others, and other things, I'm luck if I ever get TWO flights in.

I4C makes one that is A volt meter that shows you the voltage at A glance instead of just the battery condition. Again. I'm too cheap to own one though but A couple of them would sure go well in the cockpit of my big plane.

I use voltage watch devices in all my aircraft. My helicopters is where I find them most useful. Heli's pull a lot of current and the voltage watch allows me to see what is going on in actual flight, rather than read a static voltage off a meter. It's amazing to see the fluctuations during flight. It varies a lot more than you might think it would. I won't fly without them now!

Rod

What really has changed is battery technology-now with 1 or 2 1800 mah Nimh receiver batteries, you almost don't have to worry about running down a battery, like Minnflyer said, sometimes 3-4 flights a day is all I can manage anyway. Course Volt watch would let you know if there was a battery malfunction. Add a transmitter battery with same capacity and most of worry goes away. Most of the time my reciever batteries don't get down to 5 volts. Maybe I don't fly enough!!

Not only is the voltwatch a great way to monitor your battery but; it also gives a warning if you have any poor connections between the battery and receiver. If you see the lights on the Voltwatch dance more than one light when you punch the sticks, you know you have a problem with switch resistance, high impedance connection between battery and Voltwatch, sticky or draging servos or some other malfunction which may be on the verge of causing a major problem. If you remember to check its indication right after each flight before turning off either the transmitter or receiver switch, you can be assured of enough energy left for another flight if it is in the safe zone-much more reliable than a loaded voltmeter.

I have gone out and refueld hot and made more than 6 back-to-back flights without recharging the pack, and probably more than 10 flights that day. This is on a 10 year old battery that came with my Futaba radio.

Are you saying you should only fly 3 time before recharging?

I am flying a LT-40 with the standars s3003 servos, and I would say my flights are about 15 minutes each. I would say the last time I flew, I easily got 2 hours of in the air stick time.

Guess I better get a voltwatcher?

It depends a lot on the model, number of servos, battery capacity and how it's being flown. A 40 size 3 or 4 channel trainer will fly a lot longer the a 60 size pattern plane with 6 or 8 servos.

6 flights is probably pushing your luck! Also, if your batteries are 10 years old, then your on borrowed time! I replace my batteries every 2 years , regardless....PLEASE buy new batteries!...LOL

If you don't want to buy an on-board voltage monitor, at least get a resistor loaded battery tester. It's VERY CHEAP insurance.

Rod