abufletcher

So what's the deal? I just bought two new 9.6V / 700mAh NiCD battery packs from Cermark to use in my Tx...and even after charging for 24 hours (or even more) in the Tx, they show no sign whatsoever of any charge?

They have the JR connector which seems compatible with my Airtronics/Sanwa Tx. At least it plugs right in. And there's nothing wrong with the charger or the Tx because my usual Tx battery charges correctly.

Is there something I'm not doing right? Or have I just totally wasted my money on two totally useless batteries?

Steve Percifield

My Feedback: (14)

check the batteries with a volt meter.

then, if you have voltage. The plugs are probably not compatible even though they mate.. Make sure the positive and negative leads are in the correct place in the plug, compared to your transmitter.

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

They are compatible with the newer style Z connector. Your transmitter still takes the old style. When replacing the batteries in my RD and RDS8000 transmitters, I had to solder the old style connector off the old battery.

abufletcher

CARP. [:@] What a waste of money. Ah. I see the +/- connections are reversed on the "JR" connectors as compared with the connection on the old batteries. What a PITA.

Steve Percifield

My Feedback: (14)

you can change the plugs. actually you can put the old plug on your new batteries. The battery contacts are held in the plastic housing by a small plastic tang. If you look at the side of the plug where you can see the gold connectors, you can see it. Use a pin or exacto knife and carefull lift it up until the pin slides out. Once out, insert them into the old housing. NOW< BE VERY CAREFUL. if you touch pins, or cross them with the knife, you will see sparks. Remember it is hot.

Or cut the plug off the old battery and solder it on the new battery.

Bundubasher

Switch to LiFEPO4 battery for your Tx and you will never look back - eco friendly - no cadnium pollution, longer lasting charge, better performance and slightly cheaper....win win situation

Cheers
Bundu

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

He would still have to change the plug.............

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

You can re-wire the plug for the cheapest way out. But what are you using to charge it? Is it a wall-wart charger or a 3rd party charger? The reason that I mention this is because (as you probably already know) if the Tx is diode protected, only the wall wart will charge it..

Just my $.02

abufletcher

I have no idea what "diode protected" means, but I'm charging with the Hobbico RC Multi-charger I've used for several years without problems. Sounds like soldering on the old battery leads is the solution. But, it's ridiculous that I can't just buy a battery and plug it into my Tx (purchases only a couple of years ago). I haven't been able to locate a suitable battery in any of the Japanese RC shops.

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

"Diode Protected" means that there's a diode in the Tx charge circuit so that something can't be blown up by hooking up a connector with reversed polarity. Usually, that's a wall-wart. A diode only lets the electricity go one way - into the battery.

If you use 3rd party chargers, they often need to 'sample' the battery voltage periodically to adjust their charge rate. With a diode in the circuit, it can't do that because the diode won't let the voltage 'out' to to back to the charger for checking. A lot of folks used to bypass/short out the diode but it left them unprotected. From what I read above, that probably saved your tx if you were charging it with a charger of the opposite polarity.

Again, just my $.02

Bob

abufletcher

Thanks for the explanation. I hope I haven't screwed up any of my equipment by trying to charge the batteries with the reversed connectors. [X(] Can anyone explain WHY someone thought it was necessary to "improve" the old (Z) connectors? I absolutely love my Airtronics RDS8000 and have two of them. But I feel like the radio manufacturers are working overtime to force me to "upgrade" to a new, more expensive system.

foodstick

Yeah, I hope your two packs haven't been NEUTRALIZED ...

abufletcher

Not a very wise move to redesign the connector (reversing the polarity of the connections) and yet still have the physical shape fit into the old sockets! [:@]

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

I don't think that anything has happened to Abu's gear. I think (Hope?) that he has that diode in his circuitry and that protected him.

Time will tell. Keep us in the loop.

Bob

Steve Percifield

My Feedback: (14)

Batteries America sells batteries with the correct plug, as I'm sure many outlets do. You have to tell them what radio you have. All transmitter plugs are different than a servo or reciever plug. It's just what they do. I wondered why for many years.

And, your Hobbico multi charger is a "dumb" charger and will work with the diode in the circuit.

abufletcher

I thought I did tell Cermark which connector I wanted...but maybe I was mistaken. Anyway, it's too late now that I'm back in Japan. [:@]

abufletcher

So what connector am I supposed to have for my (one year old) Airtronics RDS8000? I can see where I got confused:

http://www.cermark.com/products/Sany...%2C-FK%29.html

Sure didn't seem to me that I should have to order the "old Airtronics" connector for my one year old Tx as opposed to the JR/HiTEC/Z connector that I use on all my servos.

Bundubasher

Abu, look at the attached pic. I have changed over to LiFEPO4 batteries - yes, I was hesitant at first but I'm glad I did. Not only are the LiFEPO4 batteries significant lighter, performs around 3 times longer (and better) in both transmitters and receivers, but I can get over the counter plug in leads for any type of plug I would ever need. No more soldering on connectors - just plug in the correct plug at the red connectors.

I can now also do balanced charging, measure the individual cell voltages and read off on my battery tester the % the battery charge I haveleft.
All this for batteries that is slightly cheaper than Nicads.. once you have a LiFe charger and battery tester, you won't look back again.
See attached pic for my battery details.
I use mostly the Hyperion charger, battery tester and batteries. I have also other LiFE PO4 batteries (X-POWER) but I prefer Hyperion - you will get that in Japan too.

Cheers

Bundu

abufletcher

As I was preparing to graft the old battery connector onto the new batteries, I noticed that the positive (red) wire on the old connector is almost black. I'm assuming that's a bad thing. []

raptureboy

You may have shorted a cell http://www.hangtimes.com/black_wire_disease.html I have the RDS8000 also and it's stupid that they changed the position of the positive from the conventional center configuration that every body uses. I moved the wires in the plug by lifting up on the tangs that hold them in with the tip of a #11 blade, but be careful you can break them off easily[:@] If you remove the battery to charge on another charger you can just reverse the bannana plugs, neg to pos, pos to neg. Still a pain in the butt[:@] Every manufacturer makes their plugs different so you will have to buy their accessories. I use a lot of futaba servos and I have to shave off that stupid little tang on the plug in order to plug into my airtronics receiver

geezeraviation

My Feedback: (3)

If the connector nested OK and was just polarity reversed you should have just swapped the pins in the connector and been done with it. The black on the old wire is a form of corrosion, you will need to clean it good before you can get a good solder joint.