When it comes to flying your radio-controlled airplane, one of the most important things is making sure you put a fully charged battery pack in before each flight. I get asked often how to know if a battery is fully charged, so I wanted to cover exactly that here.
Why it is important?
Checking for a fresh pack in an RC Airplane, especially and EDF jet is super important. I’ve seen far too many times dead batteries placed in to an RC EDF jet to only watch half a circuit and then the battery stops and the plane comes down. This is 100% avoidable by just following this post.
How to Easily check for a fresh LiPo Battery
For lithium-based batteries, it’s actually very easy. I use a device that reads the balance lead from the battery pack. Once plugged in, it shows the voltage of each cell. Many of these units also display the battery capacity as a percentage, which is super handy. You can quickly glance at it, confirm your pack is fully charged, and then continue with your airplane run.
If you’re still using nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, good on you! They’re old technology, but they still work. The biggest tip I can give is to use them soon after charging—ideally within half an hour. NiMH batteries have a self-discharge rate, so leaving them overnight could mean your battery is significantly less charged the next day. Make sure to mark the pack as fully charged right after taking it off the charger.
This method works for RC cars as well, though the risks of undercharged packs are less critical compared to airplanes. Either way, following this simple check ensures you get the best performance from your RC vehicles every time.