nsherman

I am a new RC'er and have a battery question. My current Rec. battery pack is 4 AA dry cell setup (yuk). I am looking at a NiMH 4.8 (Hobbico HydriMax 4.8V 1200mAh Square). What does the 1200mAh mean? I have looked at www. towerhobies.com and see them range from 1200mAh to 2000mAh. Can I use any size I want or can the wrong size cause problems?

Any help would be appreciated.Thanks,
Nick

DK64

1200 MAH is the capacity of the battery, the bigger the capacity the longer the run time between charges. for example in a standard .40 size plane you could probably get four safe flights before recharging with a 600 MAH pack on the other hand if it was 1200 MAH you would get 8 flights out of it before charging also these are just approximate flights per charge just to show how it works. also i would go with sanyo nicds instead of nimh pack becasue they are more user friendly (in my opinion).also you can use any size you want the bigger packs are slightly heavier though but electronically will not cause any problems.

nsherman

Thanks for the information. I do have one more question on the topic. The current dry cell setup says 6V on it. Does the NiMH also have to be 6V also or can it be 4.8V?

Thanks again for your help.

Nick

slam

You said 4V now 6V. If it's currently 6V, you better stick with 6V. None can tell you what would happen with 4.8V, except it wouldn't work! Have fun!

nsherman

It is a 4 AA (dry) cell pack. Each AA (currently Energizer) battery is 1.5V for a total of 6V. The pack I was looking to buy is a NiMH 4.8V and I thought I better find out if it work before I buy it. (as you can see, I'm new at this) I have been looking around on some web sites but am unable to locate a square 6V pack. I am very limited on space for the battery. It is in a small tunnel hull boat and the flat packs are too long for the compartment. The max size of the battery would measure 2 1/4 in. long X 1 1/4 X 1 1/4.

Nick

slam

My apologies. I have shown my ignorance!

Can you try it with 3 AA (4.5) and see how it goes?? before you commit.

nsherman

Just tried it and when I take 1 battery out nothing works. But that could be because there is nothing closing the circuit. Not sure.

Nick

slam

Yes. You will probably have to short across the empty slot.

nsherman

Ok, I pulled a battery out and and ran a short across the empty slot and it worked. The response time on the servos doesn't seem to be any slower than before. Looks like the 4.8V will be fine.

Thanks for your help,
Nick

Wings-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Those AA 1.5 volt dry cells is what the battery was charged to. They are actually 1.2 volt cells charged to 1.5 volts. (Check your standard Duracells or Energizer AA and they all state 1.5 volts.)

When the 4 dry cells are just charged the voltage will come to almost 6 volts. That is exactly what your NiMH's will read when it is freshly charged.

Use the NiMH's just as they are....It's a good replacement. Just recharge when they get below 4.7 volts.