Hitec/Futaba charge leads

[Cralis]

Does anyone know if they are the same?
I bought charge leads from Midland Helis, for my 'soon-to-arrive' DX7. They supplied me with a Futaba lead. That has the banana clips for my (yet, unused) ProPeak Prodigy II charrger, and a male connector that will go into my DX7. They say the Futaba and DX7 charge leads are the same.

However, would the Futaba charge lead also work on my Hitec Tx? Not sure how to find out, except to plug it in and see. The size looks right, but I'm not sure of the polarity. Any way to check, or maybe someone knows?

Also, are they correct in supplying a Futata lead, for a DX7?

[robgt]

The Futaba lead will work in the DX7, but you will need to reverse the polarity of the plugs when connecting to the ProPeak (Put the red plug in the black socket and vice-versa).
The DX7 is basically a JR radio, which uses reverse polarity from Futaba.

I think The Hitec is the same - but not positive.
There should be a little diagram somewhere that looks like an incomplete circle with a dot/line in the middle of it (similar to a power switch logo). That diagram should show you the polarity of the plug (pos and neg being marked on it).

Cheers,
Rob

[Cralis]

Thanks Rob.
What if I forgot to change the polarity (Putting the red into the black..)? Would I blow up the planet? Or would there be a warning/error?

[robgt]

The ProPeak will tell you that polarity is incorrect and not destroy the planet
Cheers,
Rob

[Cralis]

And mankind will be saved! JOY TO THE WORLD!
Thanks Rob!

[SRH990]

If you did somehow manage to charge the radio with the wrong polarity there is an internal fuse that blows, very common with people trying to charge the DX7 with a Futaba charger.

[marktigere1]

On the Futaba I think it uses a diode to prevent incorrect polarity.

But then Futaba always did do things properly

Cheers

Mark

PS. This is a joke and in no way aimed at causing offence or creating a long drawn out reply from DX7 and JR users who may feel that I'm having a cheap shot at their beloved TX's. It just sickens me that what should take one or two words turns out to be a couple of long winded sentences that in the end means complete rubbish instead of just getting to the point. Usually put in a 'PS' at the end of a naff reply from someone who actualy knows nothing about Heli's and flying.

[Cralis]

Fuse an expensive item? Cheaper than blowing the TX i guess.

Also, my ProPeak has banana clips on it, so I need to plug it into a transformer with banana plug inputs.

I'd like to connect crocidle clips to the banana plugs so that I can use it at the field off my 12V battery.

Is there a Banana clip -> Crocidile clip connection? Basically, a crocidile clip that I can plug my banana clips into to connect to the 12V battery.

[Cralis]

If you did somehow manage to charge the radio with the wrong polarity there is an internal fuse that blows, very common with people trying to charge the DX7 with a Futaba charger.

Won't the propeak prvent this from blowing? It has a polarity check or something.

[Cralis]

No help with the banana clip / crocidile clip thing?

[robgt]

I don't think you can buy this...
Best thing to do is to buy the items needed and solder one up yourself

Cheers,
Rob

[jimbob]

You can get them - I have them for my multimeter leads - but as Rob says - buy 2 crock clips, 2 4mm sockets and 2 pieces of wire.

Why not connect 2 x 4mm sockets permanantly to you field battery instead?

[SRH990]

You should find what you want somewhere in the Maplin catalogue, I've got some crocodile clips that have a 4mm socket that the banana plug slots into, very handy for charging other peoples batteries I don't have connectors for!

The fuse itself is pennies and you won't blow it with a Pro-Peak as it will always warn of reverse polarity if you get it wrong. Never charge at more than 1A as this can also blow the fuse, although why it blows a 3A fuse I can't quite figure , I'd recommend no more than about 0.5A unless you're in a hurry.

UK supplied JR radios have a diode in the charging circuit which prevents you using a peak charger as it cannot sense the battery, this is to prevent damage if you try to charge it reverse polarity, same as Futaba (Marktigere1 !), for the US market the diodes aren't fitted as they prefer to be able to cycle batteries in the transmitter, I had to bypass them in my 9X and 2610.

[Cralis]

Can't find the female version that the 4mm banana clips can plug into. Does such an item exist? Then I could just add croc clips to a cable as yo say. But.. it's finding the right bits.

[SRH990]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...CODILE&doy=7m6