Hitec Eclipse 7 battery life
I have a Hitec Eclipse that seems to work fine other than the fact that the included battery has a horrible lifespan. With a full charge it might only last for 15 or 20 minutes. When I was trying to configure all the settings (adjust trim, throttle settings, etc) on my helicopter, the battery would die before I could even get a full run out of it. From talking to people, it seems that this is normal, and that the included battery doesn't last long on a charge. I think it's only 650 or 850 mah.
Examining the battery pack, I noticed that it looks like it's made of Nicad AA cells. With this is mind, I remembered that Radio Shack has a AA battery holder that is about the same size. I bought one yesterday and filled it up with 2200 mah NiMh AA cells. After removing the little foam spacer in the battery bay, this pack fits perfectly without any modification. It's a tad tight, but not too tight. The battery tray cover fits over it and everything.
I haven't had a chance to fly with it yet, but I did test it out and everything seems to work fine. Remember that the cells are 1.2 volts just like the NiCad's, so the battery pack's voltage is identical. It seems to be a very worthwhile mod, since for only about $20 I went from 650 mah to 2200 mah.