On board battery indicator

[chisnsid]

Hi all,
I'm looking to add an onboard battery indicator to my raptor 50... any suggestions, I've seen some from £10 to £50... any reason not to go for the cheapie??

regards

Mikey

[Ade_Law]

on board ones dont give a true indication of battery condition. I personally use my charger set to 1amp discharge and make sure battery voltage is above 4.9v after 30secs.

futaba make a nice external checker which puts a load on it then tells you the voltage.

Ade

[Thomas]

I use the Quick UK ones, about a tenner and do the job.

I don't rely on them though, I only do a couple of flights a charge - though on a 50 with a decent size pack you should be ok for a couple more.

Also a good idea to get a proper charger, bloke at Dorset used the wall thing and his pack was completly flat - he had lights but to see how the pack is you need to wiggle the sticks to get all the servos going so you can see the actual state of it - he hadn't.

[Steve]

On board checkers are slightly usefull for NiCads, but worse than useless for NiMhs.

NiMhs will give you a fantastic reading on the ground with no load, but as soon as you start to load them - i.e. in flight - they can drop off considerably, even disasterously.

I have 3600mAh NiMhs in 2 of my helis, and I look after them by putting through the cycler about once every 6 weeks or so to make sure they're still within (at the very worst) 95% of their capacity, and never flying more than 4 flights (full tanks) for each heli on a full charge given on the same day as the flying session.

I would rather take 2 fully charged helis to the field and have 3 flights with each of them, than try and squeeze 6 flights out of one heli - it's just not worth the risk.

Only ever had a battery fail once, and that was a NiCad on a plane which had an onboard checker. On that occasion, the checker did its job and saved the model.

Oh, and I always have a field charger to hand as well, just in case.

[G-DAVE]

As Ade says this is the one you want -
P-BR-2000 : Futaba Battery Checker --
selectable load 1 to 3 amps.

Dave

[chisnsid]

Hi all,

thanks for the replies... is this the one?
http://www.revolutionmodels.co.uk/cg...ml%23a613#a613

the futaba one at the top??

mikey

[chisnsid]

if this link workds you should see te pic of the unit I think you guys are on about..



regards
Mikey

[G-DAVE]

if this link workds you should see te pic of the unit I think you guys are on about..
regards
Mikey

That's the one
Dave

[Smoothound]

thats the one, can be found on ebay cheaper than here.

[chisnsid]

cheers Gents

Revolution have it at £29.99 plus P&P, 23.99 plus £13 p&P from hong Kong on ebay... revolution seems ok to me?

Mikey

[chisnsid]

oops - forgot to add VAT - comes up to £34... plus P&P at revolution. Still, will be here next day and they are a UK supplier..

Mikey

[David Drew]

Is it worth cycling Nicads? I have 2100mah Nicads in my helis. 4.8 volts.

What's the ideal set-up. NiMh? 4.8 or 6v?

I have a Multiplex Lipo/NiCad/NiMh that can charge & discharge. If discharging, what sort of discharge rate to use & what final voltage?

Think Futaba one looks useful


Thanks all

David

[raptor-flyer]

on board battery checker.

Hi Folks.
Been a silent site member for just over a month now but feel I have to say something on this thread.
I sold battery checkers on that other site for more than a year,never at more than £5.In all honesty the result from your battery,shown on the checker depended on too many variables and showed a different reading from one checker to next.
I agree checkers ought to be used but the type that shows the Battery under Load situations is far superior(in my thoughts).
If flying just one /two short flights cheap checker may well be sufficient but is not the be all and end all of battery true state.
cheers
Tom

[marktigere1]

Hi Tom and welcome.

I have to agree.

I used onboard checkers and found them difficult to see in the sun and also I was never sure exactly what current was being drawn.

Exercising the servos is okay but its not a true test of flight conditions as the Gyro won't be working to its full, nor the tail servo etc etc.

I use the Futaba BR-2000 and since you can set the current load (1-3 Amps), you know how well the battery is charged.

Having said that, on board battery checkers are better than nothing at all!!

Cheers

Mark

[MartinM]

I load the blades with one hand while moving the sticks, this helps to show all is well for another flight plus chargers are so cheap now I just top up while on the field while having a cuppa, why take chances !!!