Use for Third Timer

[PatMc]

I'm using a LiFePo battery in my Taranis, according to common wisdom this type of battery has a very sharp voltage drop as it becomes discharged. This has me a little concerned that the normal low battery alarm might not be able to give sufficient warning before Tx ceases to function.

An alternative or belt & braces solution would be an alarm triggered when the Tx has been switched on for a specific accumulated period of time from last reset. The reset being done after the battery has been fully charged.

Would it be possible for the timer to be switched on/off with the Tx regardless of the model memory and for that time to be held then continue when either another memory is selected or the Tx is switched off then on again ?

In other words the total Tx operational period to be timed and alarmed between manual resets. This to be shown as a single display regardless of the model that's being controled.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Oh - good question! Let's hope someone knows the answer - cos I don't!!

Having a cummulative timer is no problem of course - simply make it "persistant". But, as far as I know, all the timers on Taranis are linked to specific models - not the Tx?

BEB

[Bob Cotsford]

Don't you trust the transmitters low voltage warning Pat? You could set it for a safe value, say 3.2v per cell. I'd have thought this better than relying on your tx battery maintaining it's capacity and not dropping off with age. I must admit I'm using rx LiFe batteries that must be 5 years old by now and have never had cause to check their capacity after all this time so I don't know how they hold up or even how they fail. I do know that my own LiFe tx battery is slowly going more and more out of balance with time and I just rely on the tx battery warning, that and a balance charge at least once a month.

edit - just checked Companion and I have my tx warning set at 9.3v, should be safe enough at that to allow time to land a model.

Edited By Bob Cotsford on 15/11/2016 10:12:05

[PatMc]

Bob, I've never used LiFe before & I'm a little concerned that the warnings of sudden drop from normal voltage to low might not give enough time to get a 3 metre glider in good lift from 1500ft+ to a safe landing before the Tx calls it a day.
If I knew with some accuracy how long the Tx had been in use since the last charge I would be able to decide whether to changed the battery to a fresh spare one before committing to a potentialy long, high gliding flight. But as I said in the OP the timer would be a belt and braces solution.

[Andy48]

Perhaps the easiest solution is to put the original 2000mAh battery back in, that lasts at least all day and probably longer.

[Bob Cotsford]

Pat, with a 2.4Ah LiFe I only need to charge it once a month or so when I remember hence I'm pretty sure a charged battery would last an easy 8 hours or so. What's the current consumption of a transmitter? 35Meg used to be around 200-250 ma from memory so for a 2.4 battery that would be 10 hours. We used to get a few hours use with a 500 deac! I'm pretty sure 2.4 uses less even with the display to drive so I wouldn't be worried if I switched the tx on in the morning and left it on all day as long as it was fully charged to start with.