Put them on a low charge, it sounds as if you have a 'smart' charger, it will go into 'Trickle Charge' when it senses that they are at max capacity, no need to discharge first, as Nihm's don't have 'memory' like the old NiCad's.

Once charged, they keep their charge for quite a long time, I use them in my Fuji bridge camera & it can sit in the cupboard for anything up to 3 months or more, but it is always ready to go when I pick it up.

Martin

Your post came on the same day that I received an E-Mail about a modeller whose house had been burned to a shell when a battery he was charging caught fire. I'm afraid I'm not exaggerating; he's only just been able to move back after four months. If, as you say, you haven't a clue how to use the charger then DON'T USE IT!!! There must be some identification on it sufficient to enable you or someone here to recognise it and follow up with an instruction manual.

Glynn Guest says that he once calculated the energy stored in a humble sealed lead-acid battery was enough to lift it to the top of Mount Everest, so who knows what catastrophe a modern LiPo or NiMH pack might cause, especially in a hobby-room full of glues, paints, thinners, plastic and wood?

PLEASE don't be even remotely casual with batteries and chargers. They are truly dangerous in the wrong hands.

Dave M

Martin

What type of charger is it i.e. Make/Model? Even the Google spiders can't make a great deal of "fancy blue metallic"! There are quite often videos on You Tube about using certain types of charger.

Dave M

Here's just a few examples of the videos I mentioned:

**LINK**

**LINK**

**LINK**

Yo don't need to know ANYTHING about electronics to make and operate model boats. This article was written for people who mistakenly think that you do….

**LINK**

Dave M

Eyewash, dear boy! If it really was rocket-science I'd have taken up knitting a long time ago.

All you need to know is what type of battery you have; what the voltage is, and what capacity it has. All that stuff is written on the battery pack. The charger does everything else for you [what we call "the clever bits"]. It's not even as difficult as boiling a kettle and, as 'Sir' Geoffrey Boycott might say, my Mum could do that!

There are a number of "silly old farts" around who seem to think it's somehow cool to be ignorant and that it's arrogant to understand anything about basic schoolboy physics. They're the ones whose models look like they've been assembled with reference to the wrong set of plans; are painted with housedust and old treacle and, inside, are home to a large colony of damp, colour-blind rats. Trying to help them is like a game, where you have to guess the answer they want to hear. You were well advised to avoid them.

Read the article first; the videos will make a little more sense if you do.

Dave M

Edited By Dave Milbourn on 26/04/2016 10:40:22

There are a number of "silly old farts" around who seem to think it's somehow cool to be ignorant and that it's arrogant to understand anything about basic schoolboy physics.

Hello Dave

Very well said, you have summed up in one sentence something a trend that has been growing alarmingly in the past couple of years.

As you know I recently had an enforced period of inactivity where I took the opportunity to read through some of this forums recent postings and I came to realise that a number of people, who are certainly old enough to know better have an almost reckless approach to the most basic of construction and operating systems.

I don't know if these people are being deliberately ignorant just to provoke a response or more frighteningly they genuinely have no concept of the possible harm that they could inflict upon themselves or others.

Modern batteries and chargers can and do explode or burst into flames, steam boilers can most certainly explode with catastrophic consequences, mixing different paint systems can produce toxic fumes, sanding hardwoods produces carcinogenic dust…….and so on.

I find it utterly incongruous that people with so much life experience can take such a cavalier attitude with their own and others peoples wellbeing. They regard basic Health & Safety as being created by busybodies and as such should be ignored.

How these people have managed to live so long is a mystery to me and quite frankly I am amazed that they even reached puberty without killing themselves by sticking their fingers into electrical sockets.

Paul

Martin

I didn't intend to imply that you are in any way ignorant and I apologise if I gave you that impression; your model-making skills are indeed beyond question.

I've seen what is called discalculia at first-hand; an otherwise very bright lass was forced to resign from the business after she'd been promoted into a job which needed proficiency in maths – except that numbers were little more than just meaningless shapes to her. Nobody is perfect – I can't play a saxaphone either!

This forum is what it says on the can – an open public space for everyone and anyone. I do sometimes engage in private conversations with people, but only where there is a very specific point to cover which would be of little interest to anyone else. Otherwise I hope my contributions are of value to all – even those whom Paul so acerbically describes above! Believe me, if I thought for an instant that you are the type of person I've described then the last thing I would be doing is writing a reply to you. We can leave them happily enjoying their isolation.

BTW You don't need a radio to test a servo; just one of these and a 4-cell receiver battery pack **LINK**

Dave M

Martin,

I, too, wear glasses, and used to find dust masks a bother, precisely because they steamed up my glasses. However, one only gets that problem with the simpler types of mask that does not really fit around the face, and allows exhalation air to pass under the edge of the mask and up across the nose.

With a proper half mask, this simply does not occur! Exhalation is instead passed out through exhalation valves, and so no glasses steam up — and no dust creeps back in under the edge either!

Personally I use a Sundström SR 100 (**LINK**), but there are many other brands available that do a similar job.

For dust and non-solvent base spray/airbrush painting, a standard mechanical particle filter (**LINK** is sufficient, but the mask can also be used to protect against gases with the appropriate filter; in fact, a particle and gas filter can be used together, if neede, as they simply attach to each other.

I have found this mask surprisingly comfortable, and it is very easy to put on and take off, and has a simple, tangle-free head harness. Breathing through the particlt filter is very easy, as is exhalation, and although not as comfy as orking without a mask, I can wear for an hour at a stretch, no problem.

/Mattias

Edited By Banjoman on 26/04/2016 12:47:39

Dave…..acerbically…I had to look it up and you never apologise to me when you imply my ignorance

Paul

"I'm sorry but I think you're a thicky"

How's that?

DM

The lack of basic technical 'savvy' worries me as well, although not so much on this particular Forum. At one time I was inclined to put it down to current educational shortcomings and while I still think this is a factor, it is more likely to affect younger modellers who are usually more than willing to learn.

I agree that the ignorance by older people is more puzzling as their education and upbringing is likely to have given them a better 'feel' for basic practical technical matters and and also that important ability to be aware of what you don't know and which might bite you; caution I think it's called.

Maybe it is partly because 'oldies' get impatient and blase about a lot of things and get their grandkids to work the remote etc. 'When all else fails – read the instructions'. But I do also wonder if the big increase in people buying rather than making their models and thus skipping the construction stage may be one reason for the 'posts of bafflement' which so often appear on internet forums.

I have also heard it said that many people who buy the model boating magazines only look at the pictures.

Colin

Martin

In answer to your original question, please read the penultimate section of this article ("Storing your cells" – it's about 3/4 of the way down) **LINK**

You've said that you already knew the technical issues covered in my article so there seems little else I can offer you. I can't help you with your reasons for feeling challenged by the numbers associated with 'electrickery' but unless you're able to deal with this to what is a very small extent then your hobby will remain not only unfulfilled but also a potential liability to your well-being.

To put it another way, you'll never learn how to clap if you insist on keeping one hand in your pocket.

Dave M