I was thinking about buying a lawn mower battery to run my Hitec CG320 charger. Will this work, and has anybody tried it?

275 cranking amps~$20

Sure would be nice as size is ~6"x8"x10".

sure it will work as long as it is 12 volts. but for how many charges you can get out of it is another thing, but i would think you could use it for a whole day of flying with out a problem, i use to use one when i was into rc car racing worked fine for me

What size batt packs are you charging with it?

Right now it would be 7.2v-350mAH GWS packs. In the future I would be charging packs for sp400's, probably 7-8 600AE's or equivelant

I am looking at a 12v battery, and have a charger to charge these and automotive batteries. I just thought it would be a lot easier than runing back to my car or lugging a full-size battery around, thanks for the replies . (plus it would be a spare for my lawn mower, but I suppose then I couldn't use 'a dead battery' as an excuse not to mow the grass !)

Spend the extra $20 and get a deep-cycle marine battery..
..a

I used to use a lawn mower batt all the time ........ until I moved the mower to the shed out back

I am going to set up some extension cables for my van. Something like they use for race car apps.

Ray

Once I used a 18Ah gel cell for small packs (8x500, etc). It went bad pretty quick.

Now, I use a 125Ah Marine deep-cycle battery mounted in a ply batt box on a small hand cart. Easy to move around.
Batt box has fused/switched cig outlets, a small inverter for AC when needed and heavy cables for jump starting cars.
It handles all day at the field with samll and large packs (12x3000) just fine. I get tired before it does.
The hand cart works great on hard surfaces but if I were doing it again I would use larger/wider tires for easier rolling across a gravel parking lot.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep a lead-acid battery used as an eflight power source on a battery maintainer of the correct type (as per cell type) and with pulse circuitry. Search the Northern Tools site for the SureCharge IV for the one I use. If it is a flooded cell check the water about every 3 monthes (use distilled, not tap, water).
My batt is 3 years old with no sign of degraded performance.
http://www.northerntool.com/cgi-bin/...6&prmenbr=6970

I bought a Sears Die-Hard lawn tractor battery that I mounted in a wheeled stacking tool box. I regularly charge 1700, 1400, and 600mah 8 cell packs with it using a Hitec CG 335 charger. Never had it run down. I recharge it with a "Battery Tender". Works great.

After 'consulting' with my brother and finding out that he was going to need a new one this year, I decided to buy a lawn tractor battery and try it, and if it didn't work, he would buy it from me. Well, so far I've charged four GWS packs, my Tyco truck 9.6v pack, and every other battery pack I could find around here, and it seems to be working great!

My automotive charger shows that I've used about 10% of it's capacity, so I think it would last for a day of flying.

$17.95 (w/exchange) at the local Wal-mart, not bad. It weighs about five lbs., and has a handle, so using it at the field is going to be no problem.

I went the smaller lead-acid route (15 amp hour deep cycle). This is the only lead-acid battery I have ever owned, and still going strong. These probably cost about the same as a larger marine battery. But size/weight is a major consideration for me (and others I'm sure). Sure a marine deep-cycle will charge more and probably last longer.....but I have yet to go to the field and have my battery "run out" (less than 9 volts under load). And I'm not lugging around a special cart for my battery......the battery is nicely integrated into the same carry case that house my TX, props, packs, tools, lead-acid charger, nicad/nimh pack charger. When (if) I go to larger packs (>1300Mah 8cell packs) the I expect I will have no choice if I want to fly any length of time over 2 hours (a day for me).

The 6 cell 350 mAh packs won't fly a 50" warbird and the lawn tractor battery won't charge a 16 cell 3000 mAh pack for very long. It will work fine for this use, especially if you are careful to charge it up every night. A deep cycle marine battery for Lite Stik flying is overkill in the extreme (and your back will notice the difference).

I bring along a couple of 10 cell sub-C NiCd packs as backup power if my little 7Ah gel cell fades at the park. My deep-cycle is reserved for larger packs and all day flying.

Rick.

I'm way at the bottom end of the extreme. Since one of my favorite flying spots is high up on a ridge and only accesible by walking, I wanted something very LIGHT and portable.
I'm presently charging 300ma - 720 ma NiMH cells and 600ma Nicads so my needs are minimal.
I integrated a small 12v 4.5A sealed lead acid battery into a large briefcase that carries my transmitter, my AF 112D fast charger, a tach, a DVM and spare parts/tools.
It's worked out great for months now. I haven't yet worn down the battery in a full day of flying. Better yet, it's easy to carry.
I charge it up each night after use and have been VERY happy with the entire package. It's totally portable and very versatile.

Ric,

You are *such* a geek!

Thanks, Tim, I resemble that remark. I believe the term my girls use is *dork*, though. I'm proud of both!
Besides, it's NOT my fault. I can't help it - I'm an engineer.

I use a wheel chair battery. They are deep cycle and just about the same size as a lawn tractor battery. Got mine for $20. I plan to mount it in an old DuBro cart that's been laying around for years.