FIGURE 5.
compartment. Plug it back into the
socket it came out of and push the
battery into the compartment
(Figure 7). It was a snug fit but the
cover still fits well.
I purchased new Futuba style
chargers (Figure 8) from
www.towerhobbies.com for
around $17 each so that I could
charge my new packs These plug
straight in, and after a couple of
hours of charging, the green LED on
the radios (Figure 9) showed they
had done their job. Well, three of
them lit up green. The fourth
refused to go beyond the yellow mid
charge stage. That radio also
seemed to discharge to yellow
FIGURE 6.
earlier than the rest when on
alkalines, so I suspect the problem is
with the charge level LED circuit on
that radio and not with the battery
or the charger. A day long event
proved that the new batteries work
as planned.
FIGURE 8.
FIGURE 7.
The cost per radio was about
$36 but I’ve already spent at least
half that per radio on alkalines this
year. The ease of recharging and
long life when charged means it’s
one less expense and worry for
future events. SV
FIGURE 9.
Melty Brains
by Kevin Berry
Life lesson #7:
Never let your
battery Google
“chemistry
humor”
SERVO 10.2011 41
