Hey Andy,.......long time no hear from you up there in the north of nowhere!
(I'm only joking,....you know me!
)
I've used Lithium Ferrite batteries in powered models......However I don't have 'Senior' moments any more. I have 'Craft' moments. (Can't Remember A F****** Thing )
"Ferrite's" are wonderful batteries in my view. Electrically they are far more robust than their Li-Po cousins. They can be discharged down to 2 volts per cell without any problems, and indeed I've discharged mine to almost zero volts (by mistake) and they still recharge okay, ( totally unlike li-Po's) and they can be stored at any voltage without harming their overall capacity. I have some 9 year old Ferrite batteries that still have 90% of their original charge capacity, plus,.......they don't burst into flames when damaged like lithium polymer batteries can. Further,......... they can be charged / discharged more then 2000 times.
You said that during your senior moment at the start you were surprised at how much current just setting up the controls had taken out of the batteries,...............but were later surprised at how little time it took to recharge those batteries.
I'm wondering if, during your moments of "geriatric logic" you had become confused and misunderstood the amount that the battery had been discharged while you set up the controls, and that in fact the battery hadn't discharged anywhere near as much as you thought. That would explain why it only took a little while for them to re-charged again.
Ferrite batteries are normally rated to be charged at 4C (or possibly higher with newer batteries). So if your battery has a capacity of 1600mAh, you could charge it at 6.4amps for around 15 minutes. If you don't feel comfortable doing that,........charge them at a lower rate. Like I said, they are very robust batteries, and wont catch fire like Li-Po's have a reputation for doing.
If I were you Andy, (which of course I'm not,...............unfortunately, because you're a lot younger than me) I'd stick with the ferrite batteries. They are very robust and can take far more abuse than li-po's. The hand power tool company "DeWelt" use Ferrite batteries in their 36v battery packs, and some electric car manufacturers prefer them to Li-ion batteries.
Keith