*1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

I have always taken my batteries out of my planes in the winter and taken them inside and the planes stay in the garage. This year I got lazy and left them in the planes out in the cold garage. I do go out and once a month put them on a 12 hr charge. Are there any pro's and con's about doing this.

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

For the last 15 years I have been away from home for an average of 9 months of the year working ( this is the last year ). My active planes (about 4 every year ) are stored in an unheated attic for that 9 months duration and I leave the batteries in them. The temp up there ranges from +100 to -20 and over the years maybe 2 batteries have come out of the attic in the summer unusable. When I lived at home all winter I cycled the batteries off and on all winter and had more failures that way then I do now. These are both nicad and nimh batteries.

I'm sure that there are a lot of electronic Guru's out there that will tell me I'm doing it all wrong. But after 15 years of success I'm not listening.

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

Jez, are you guys on some sort of conservation jive.
New batteries every season, period..
If you're flying a a warm climate that supports 12 month of airborn fun (lucky *******s) you should be change em 2 times.
They cost next to nothing, why fiddle around and play guessing games?
Or even develop an ego..."Ohhh I got 1000 cycles from my packs and they're just fine. Believe me, they exist.
Bin them. buy new and get some sleep.

Same with glow plugs. I put in a new one basically every session. say every gallon. (Thats correct every gallonish)
Engine failure due to a glow plug. Never, ever has that happen.
Bearing replaced every season as well. Whay wait and ask questions "how do I know when my bearing need replacing?"
Well, you can wait until you hear a real nice crunching sound when turn over the engine or just replace them while you don't.
It's the same with the batteries chaps... you can wait for the inevitable crash... or spend a few bucks.

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

bla bla,

Changing batteries and plugs every year is not necessary by no means. I fly 26cc thru 62cc gassers and check the batteries before each flight with a meter. Changing everything out does no good, new batteries go bad just as a battery that is one year old can go bad. If you don't check things, replacing does not good. I guess if you just like spending the money on new things thats ok but not really needed. I was just checking to see what people’s opinion were about leaving batteries in the cold because I had never done it.

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

I leave my batteries in my planes during the winter and cycle them all about once a month. The up side to cycling is that it will find a bad pack befor you lose the plane. As for buying new batteries every year, not for me. I have way to many and the bigger packs are in the neighborhood of $40.00 each. I have also discovered that new packs fail after a few charges and cycles. I have bought 2 Hangor 9 packs that did not last a full summer and failed, so I figure it is at best a roll of the dice. I just take care of what I have and I am confident in the batteries that I have. Cycle yours and I think you will just fine. You may also want to look in the batteries section of RCU and seek out Red, an RCU moderator, who is an expert on batteries. Good Luck, Dave

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

DavidAgar,

Thanks for the info. I'll look for "Red".

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

If you say your changing glow plugs every gallon of fuel there is definately something wrong with your procedures or your thinking. I fly nothing but 4 strokes and use OS F plugs. That means I would spend $10.00 for every $20.00 worth of fuel [X(]. My glow plugs last at least 100 flights and in some cases 150 flights. Never lost a plane in 25 years due to bad glow plugs or bad batteries. Just stupidity

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

Ha... this is Norway, a Gallon of CoolPower 30 cost me more like $40!
Plugs, sure I've has them last a long long time... I just don't think about it any more. Just change it what I arrive and set up.
Batteries, same thing. Why fly a $3000 plane when you're asking questions about a $20 battery?
I don't... but I'm sure there are those that do and good luck to them.

This is cold weather fly country.
Cold and batteries isn't good, you learn that from experience.
Like real cold (-10 and below) and 5 cell packs... they can cause glitches.
4 cell packs are far less prone to that in extreme cold.
Now idea way. You tell me.

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

Capasity is different, Current, drain time, charge times. Everything changes and when the whether warms up, they never go back to normal.
Mind you, we fly in cold weather.

RE: *1800 mAH Battery In Cold Storage*
 

Hey, can you tell me where money grows on trees?[X(]