BCP anemic. i think its the battery but how do i tell?

[bigblackken]

Hi,
my heli has less ooomp than it used to. in fact, it is possitively anemic. I am thinking it is partially due to the battery being less powerful. The battery sat for awhile, fully charged for a year. First time out this year, definatly weaker. Crashed at some point. Since it is a BCP that i had never put the aerobatic 9t motor on or the symmetrical blades, I took this opportunity to make these upgrades. Now the head bogs down, I can't do my weak version of stall turns, etc.

I realize, i may have heli issues such as bent stuff (did not replace feathering shaft, although it 'seems' ok), or a sticky head, but is there a way to figure out it is the battery without buying a new battery? can you use a voltmeter? my pitch range is below +10/-10.

if it is a battery problem, why does this happen? I realize that capacity may not be as high as it used to, but shouldn't power output still be ok? or is this an internal resistance thing? I've done my best to read the info in the stickies, but haven't really found the answers to my questions.
thanks,
ken

[rjg]

What charger are you using? The E-Flight chargers are notorious for not being so hot and causing symptoms as you describe.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to check the voltage of your pack with a DVM and post the results after your charger says the pack is full.. :-)

[bigblackken]

i'm using an aftermarket charger, although I don't recall exactly what it is. I think it is marketed by ripmax.

the voltmeter I have is
http://www.commonsenserc.com/product_info.php?cPath=45&products_id=549

its a blinky/voltmeter combo.

i'm using a thunderpower 910mah 3s lipo pack. acording to voltmeter my cells are close to 4.20V maybe 4.16 to 4.18V. It seems to me the pack should be fine?

[rjg]

Have you tried flying for 30 seconds or a minute and then checking your voltage again? Then doing this a couple of times during a 4 minute period as an example to see how fast the voltage is dropping on the pack?

[bigblackken]

i haven't but i will do so next opportunity.
thanks!