Battery and Charger

[Bigload]

I am wondering if there are chargers out there that tells you the condition of your battery?

Basically % full, and other useful info (and not so useful) indicators.

Thanks

[Spadona]

What type of battery are you using?

For Lipos, you can use a voltage meter to detect what voltage each cell is at, which gives you a rough idea if the battery needs a recharge. I'm not aware of any products that can check for fullness for NiCd or NiMh, however.

[ThunderCactus]

It's possible, but not accurate, to gauge how full a battery is by the indicated voltage
The voltage gradually decreases as the battery is used, more so in Nickel chemistry than LiPo. LiPo's tend to have a J curve as opposed to the slantier draw of the NiCd/NiMH

Anyway, just track how many mags you've used and how much amperage you put back into the battery. Then you'll at least get an idea of how many mags you can get out of a battery.

[Bigload]

So I guess a regular voltmeter works just as well then?

I forgot all my high-school robotics / tech class stuff, so basically when it is not 8.4v or 9.6v it isn't full?

[ThunderCactus]

actually, the advertised voltage of a battery is it's average voltage, not it's peak voltage.
So like a 7.4v lipo is actually 8.4v when full. An 11.1v lipo is 12.6v when full.
And 8.4v battery is around 9.6v or something, I forget the exact number