Futaba 12Z battery/charger

[Anthony.h]

Hi all,
How long does the 12Z run for on a charge with its 2200mAh li-ion?
Does the battery pop out easily, for recharging with the supplied charger? and how does the TX case hold up to the continue removal of the battery for charging?

I have seen a back side picture of a 12Z showing its 3 pin charge socket, has anybody tired an after market charger to charge the battery while in the Tx? or is the Futaba CR2500 charger a must. I have a Fromeco ION cube.

Its either a 12FG or a 12Z in the next week or two, I would rather buy a 12Z but the simple plug and play charging of the 12FG makes me think again.

Cheers Anthony

[Four Stroker]

Any 2 cell Li-Ion charger will work, BUT you need to hack a CR2500 cable since the connector is proprietary (or unknown):

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXPHL6&P=7

[Anthony.h]

easy task, $17 cable from towers and my Fromeco cube.
Any idea why the charge socket is three pin? cell balancing maybe? I have played around with a 12FG, never held a 12Z.

[japan3d]

A friend uses a tamiya plug. Stripped the wires a little, tinned the ends and they fit perfect in the holes, then hooks it up to triton charger. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGG99&P=7

[klhoard]

.
.
There are 12V chargers for the 12Z batteries for about $10 on E-bay.
.
.

[BR289]

The charger it comes with works fine. I just purchased a spare battery and get plenty of flying from them.

[Anthony.h]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BR289
	The charger it comes with works fine. I just purchased a spare battery and get plenty of flying from them.

Would you get two heavy flying sessions on a charge? poping the battery out to charge every time I want to go flying, sounds like alot of wear and tear on the transmitter case.

[BR289]

The 12Z isnt that hard on the battery as compared to the 14MZ. The 14 uses alot of juice but I can still go to an IMAC contest and hardly use it. For regular flying I can get a bunch of flights in without swapping the battery or charging.

[Karl Hibbs]

I just did 8 ten minute flights and the transmitter had 60% battery left. that's 90 + minutes of on time for 8 flights...

[BR289]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Karl Hibbs
	I just did 8 ten minute flights and the transmitter had 60% battery left. that's 90 + minutes of on time for 8 flights...

I have safely ( although but not paying attention ) flown the battery all the way down to 20%. An alarm goes off not much longer after that....

[Anthony.h]

Just brought a 12FG, big difference in price here. 12FG is $1850, 12Z is $3220. Went to buy a 12Z from tower hobbies to find they would only send it express track and trace, and with GST (goods and service tax @ 12.5%) the total came to about $2300.