On most of my jets and turbine helis I have been using Duralite LiIon 4000 packs for both RX and ECU .. up until last week i have been using NiMh batteries for everything else ( including lights and smoke systems in the jets ) ...I think im going back to NiCds over the NiMh, as i have been having mixed results with the NiMh batteries .. last week i set a 1200 mah 7.2V 6 cell nimh pack on charge at .5 amp which was set up on my smoke pump. The charge finished with the battery taking on around 700 miliamps .. I disconnected everything from the plane, and 20 min later left the garage. ... Couple of hours later going back in the garage, i noticed it smelled badly like an electrical fire !!!! I found that the 6 cell NiMh pack burned up INSIDE my BobCat ... charred soot all over the place ... the cells were in pieces under the radio tray, and the innards were spewed all over the place. I have no idea why the whole plane had not gone up in flames !! followed by my garage ( several gallons of flammables there !! ) and the rest of my house ..

I used to only think that this could happen while charging or discharging at too high of a rate, and mostly such problems were prone to Lithium type of batteries. I have now heard of NiMh batteries choosing to blow up several hours after being charged from other people as well .... Needles to say, i had the crap scared out of me with what could have happened ! I think i will be going back to NiCds for some applications [] ... just more solid and reliable, and safe ..


Voy