SS_Dave

Is there a good way to select the mA needed for an airplane,
or do you just buy the biggest, baddest battery you can?

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

I don't know f there's a formual, but if there is it's going to be based on things like plane size, type of flying, number and type of servos, and other factors. I tend to be conservative so I buy larger capacity than I need. However, weight is also an issue, so I tend to stay within a certain class of batteries. Since I don't fly larger planes, none of my packs use anything larger than AA cell batteries. I do have a few smaller planes, .15 size, where I've used AAA cell nimh packs to save weight. If I were building something like a large 3D plane, I would go to an even larger cell to be able to handle the larger servos and the additional servo movement for that style of flying.

flipstart

I usually select the cell size to the type of airplane and number of servos that are used. On 46 size planes, you can go with AA cells, up to say 1650 mah in Nimh, which should fly you all day long. On larger planes, 1/5 and 1/4 scale, I usually have redundant batteries and use Nicd, because of servo demand, and use 1100 mah Nicd, two batteries and two switches, both charged separately. I have not used nimh cells for large planes with high torque servos, mainly because Futaba states to only use nicd. Some battery sites say nimh is fine, just have not switched yet-2 -1100 mah Nicd batteries work fine and they are not as sensitive to overcharging as nimh.

The 1650 nimh packs are a proven cell type as well as the 1100 nicd, so I tend to stick with them until something better comes along.
There are cells out there with more capacity but these two seem to do the job well and provide more than a days flying.

SS_Dave

Thanks for the response.
I setteled on an 1800 mA NiCad for my Stinger.
I had a 1700 mA in there but was thinking it may have been overkill
and was looking for a good rule of thumb

jaka

Hi!
Why go with Nicad's when there are NiMH cells available??
You get a 2800mAh NiMH cell/battery for the same weight of a similar size 1100mAh Nicad cell/battery.
I use 1000mAH AAA size NimH cells (weight 50g) and also a 400mAh battery AAA (2/3 size of a AAA) in my pylonracers. All GP cells . In my You -Can -Do .60 I have a 2500mAh, 4,8V cell
And in my JR X388s transmitter I use 1800 mAh NiMH cells

Regards!
Jan K

agexpert

My Feedback: (1)

I am thinking of converting my glow planes to 6V regulated Li-Ions. I think a 4800 with a reg. is less in weight than a NiMH pack of similar capacity. Have you thought of that option?

onepern

some times the weight can work to your advantage the weight of my nimh 2000 MA pack was perfect to balanced my plane Id rather ad it in batterer capacitie than lead.
Danny