Futaba 3PM charging jack ?

[jgrs4]

I am trying to charge my Futaba 3PM radio, using the charging jack port on the back of the transmitter, but every time I do the charger comes up with a error. I tried both nicad and nimh batteries and have had the same results. I am using a MRC 959 charger. I use the charger on my Airtronics radios with no problems.Thank you in advance.

[adamzty]

charging jack on mine doesn't seem to work either. Its really easy to charge them, just get one of those servo-type connectors for your charger then unplug the battery tray from the radio and charge it that way, that is how I have always done it with mine. Are you using a pack or single AA cells?

[jgrs4]

Thanks Adam. I have used both a nicad pack and nimh AA cells and I could not charge them with the charging jack. I did charge them the way you said, by taking the pack and the AA cells out of the radio and charging them that way. I wanted to use the charging jack, that way I could leave the cells in the radio at all times and just plug my charger into the charging jack.
Thanks for the quick response.

[rccardude04]

How fast are you trying to charge it? Most radios have a diode that keeps you from charging past a certain amperage. Try something like 0.10A and see if that helps.
A friend of mine was always able to charge his off of his Duratrax Piranha Digital charger with the Futaba 600mAh pack.

-Eric

[adamzty]

How fast are you trying to charge it? Most radios have a diode that keeps you from charging past a certain amperage. Try something like 0.10A and see if that helps.
A friend of mine was always able to charge his off of his Duratrax Piranha Digital charger with the Futaba 600mAh pack.

-Eric

If that is true, I would still charge mine by taking them out. I am using 2400mah cells. At a charge rate of .1A, they would take over a day to charge.

[rccardude04]

The .1A was a starting point. I think my friend charged them at 0.5A.
Still takes a while, but that's about as fast as I ever charge my TX packs anyway.

-Eric

[kschauwe]

The diode will prevent the charger from seeing the cells. You have to unplug the holder and use an adapter or use a Futaba slow charger.

[Duster_360]

Reading the manual on charging - its a direct plugin using the futaba charger which manual says takes about 15hrs for the 700mah NiCd pac. Manual goes on to say the 3PM has overcurrent protection (diode) but gives no spec on what that current level is. If batt is fully discharged (which its really not) the charger puts out somewhere near 50ma.

I think Futaba used a low overcurrent number thinking everyone would be using the futaba 700mah pac. Sounds like you're better off to unplug and charge it that way. I have a 3PK and thats what I do, pull it out and change it.