I just got a new in the box 1/6 21st century Stuart, charged the battery for 18 hours as recommended, heres the problem, when put in the tank the machine gun fire works as does the cannon, but when I try to turn the turret or move the tank it goes dead, the battery shows 6.51 on my tester, so I'm guessing its the battery, thanks for any advice.

Sounds like one of two possible problems:<div>
</div><div>A.    Your charger is not fully charging the battery.</div><div>
</div><div>B.    Something in the tank is draining the battery too quickly.</div><div>
</div><div>A.   Check the battery voltage about 15 min after fully charging it.  Your meter should show the voltage at about %10 over the listed voltage.   Example, with my 7.2 volt tank battery's, I show about 8.1 volts just after charging and about 6.8 volts when depleted.  A 12 volt car battery goes from about 13.75 volts to 10.8 volts.  If your battery never charges up above the voltage listed on the battery then it has a problem.  Put the meter on it while charging and you will read the target voltage.  If the voltage is low while charging then the charger has a problem.  Keep the battery cool while charging, it will accept more power that way.  Also slower rate charging will squeeze more power into the battery, ie. 1 amp hour charging will put more power in a battery than 4 amp hour charging.  Slower charging = more power.  If this is all OK then go to step B.</div><div>
</div><div>B.    If there is a short in the tank wiring it would drain the battery to fast.  This could cause the battery to heat up, check that.  Put the meter on the battery just before installing it in the tank, put it in and let it sit a while then check the voltage again, if it's the same then try one motor at a time checking between each motor and see if one of the motors produce a big voltage drop.  If so then check out that unit.</div><div>
</div><div>Without the tank/battery in my hands to look at, that's about all the help I can offer.   Good luck.</div>

Thanks for the reply, I believe its the charger, with the charger connected to the battery it shows 6.51, I went and got my car battery charger and set it at 2 amps and checked at the battery again and it shows 10.2, I'm hoping that it will take a charge now, I'll have to wait and see, thanks again.

Is it a 12 volt battery?

Yes, 12 volt 7amp, I just checked and its at 7.29 volts off the charger so it is taking a charge, I'm keeping a close eye on it, thanks again.

Glad to help.

12 volts will measure 14 volts just off charge.
Darryl Usher

Well, it seems I was a little quick on condemning the charger, off the charger all I could get was 9.23 and I should add that the volts dropped slowly, once in the tank the machinegun, cannon and the motor sound were excellent, but not enough power to run the motors.

Looks like a new battery is in store, a new battery is on the way ( wife and daughter out shopping, means they'll do my running for me ) I'll post once I try that, thanks again for the help.

My stuart's charger died within the first year. I played with it exactly once..

It was a bad battery, its working fine now, forward, reverse, turret, all functions are fine, I appreciate the help, I have several 1/16 tanks and have been here for awhile, I'm just not as talented as a lot of the members, this is one of my favorite forums, I really enjoy seeing the mods, its is a really different type of hobby, customizing, painting and then making it actually move, thanks for the help guys.