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Author Topic: Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment  (Read 3131 times)

tony52

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Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment
« on: August 24, 2009, 10:31:18 pm »

With the winter drawing nearer, I am keen not to make the same mistakes as last winter. Rx's were left in the boats, in the shed, and come this spring, the following equipment had to be replaced:-

a) 1 x 40 mhz 7 channel fm rx
b) 1 x 40 mhz 3 channel fm rx
c) 1 pair of 40 mhz hitec crystals

Ouch! it hurt my modelling budget.
Surprisingly the 27 am equipment was all intact.
Determined not to make the same mistake, this winter could anyone please advise me, with the following points:-

a) I obviously now plan on removing all the rx's, in approx 1 months time, additionally should I remove the servo's and esc's?
b) The nimh batteries (both r/c and drive), should these be left flat, or kept 'topped up' whilst in storage in the house?

Any help would be appreciated.
Tony.




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sheerline

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Re: Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2009, 10:40:24 pm »

Hi Tony, sounds like you have a condensation problem in that shed of yours so removing all the gear would make sense if that is the only place you can store your boats.
Your NiMh batteries should be fully charged before laying up and maybe given a top up after two or three months. Never let Ni Mh cells run down until totally flat and certainly never leave them flat for any period, they don't like it and it can shorten the cell life. Keep these batteries dry too and make sure there is no possibility of any wires shorting whilst they are layed up.
Somehow the thought of winter feels very distant right now as it has been so warm, but come it will and you are obviously getting prepared early after last years disaster.
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2009, 07:26:41 am »


" Winter is on the Way  " .... how depressing....  :((

 But I digress.....
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sheerline

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Re: Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2009, 11:02:56 pm »

Someone on the radio was talking about the summer wasp problem which appears to have plagued many this year. He happened to mention that when the wasps finally quit, it generally spells the end of summer. This is an interesting observation and one which I never recognised  as a fact in nature, but will watch with interest this year to see if the statement holds water.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2009, 10:56:20 am »

For crystals to have died, something really horrible must have happened.  I have always regarded them as virtually indesturctible, only being susceptible to not liking their pins bent, probably fire, and becoming lost.  A working-over with WD40 and somebody else's toothbrush will normally restore them, possibly a bit of brasso to remove any surface corrosion from the pins.

Wasps.  Can't remember seeing one this year.  So I'm probably still waiting for summer to start.  :((
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sheerline

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Re: Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2009, 11:16:17 am »

Malcolm, someone on another posting somewhere mentioned about crystals ageing... thats a new one on me!
Like you, I agree they are virtually indestructible and probably only die due to impact damage. When a set gets trashed, they are the very thing you save rather than discard. Usually they either work or they don't, although I have seen one or two intermittent ones in my time. 
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ray123

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Re: Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2009, 01:55:57 pm »


" Winter is on the Way  " .... how depressing....  :((

 But I digress.....
  theres another way to look at it martin  more time to build new boats O0 O0 
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monarch

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Re: Winter is on the Way - How to look after R/C Equipment
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2009, 02:32:28 pm »

Hi
As far as the NI-MH Batts are concerned this is the manufactures advice.
NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) Battery Storage

Duracell NiMH Battery Storage

Ni-MH batteries can give years of safe and reliable service if they are used in accordance with recommended procedures and are not abused. Batteries should be kept clean and dry both during use and storage. They can be stored for many months in a charged or discharged state without any detrimental effects as long as they are not exposed to extreme temperatures for any long period of time. After periods during which the battery has not been used, the battery should be charged before being placed in service. Extended overcharging or overheating of the battery should always be avoided.

Varta NiMH: Battery storage in any state of charge is possible. Storage temperatures between -20 and +35 are recommended, relative humidity approximately 50%. In case of long term storage cells must be recharged once a year.

Sanyo NiMH: Under the recommended storage conditions (-20 C to +35 C) the Twicel can be stored indefinitely in either a charged or uncharged state. Recovery may take several cycles. If a battery is stored for a prolonged time connected to a load, electrolyte fluid will leak, the battery will begin to deteriorate, and capacity will be impaired after storage. During long time storage battery deactivation may tend to occur, and for this reason charging may stop early during recharging after storage. This problem can be solved by charging and discharging the battery several times.

Sanyo NiMh Battery Storage: Generally speaking, a loss of voltage and capacity of batteries due to self-discharge during storage is unavoidable. The factors inducing this self-discharge of Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries is listed below:

The inside of the cell is a hydrogen atmosphere at low pressure, which gradually reduces the active materials at the positive electrode, resulting in a drop of cell capacity. Accompanied by this, the negative electrode which is thermodynamically unstable in its charged state gradually gives off hydrogen gas, thus reducing cell capacity.
The active materials at the positive electrode in its charged state self-decompose, causing the cell capacity to decrease.
Impurities within the cell, especially nitric ions, are reduced at the negative electrode and diffuse to the positive electrode where they are oxidized. This results in a lowered cell capacity.

Lionel
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