I was just browsing the Tower Hobbies web site and saw a plane that only needed batteries to fly. Ok fine. But it said AA Alkaline batteries not supplied.

Please no sarcastic replies, but would a person be smart to use AA NiCad's or NiMH's that can be recharged? Just asking.

Without knowing what plane you're talking about, I'm assuming that the batteries are for the transmitter. It probably comes with a rechargeable battery for the plane. If that's the case, you'd be fine just getting regular non-rechargable AA batteries. The transmitter doesn't take much juice and will last for months on the batteries.

That's what I though but also, most other RC stuff comes with recharge batteries so just was curious about that alkaline thing.. see it often with the electrics.

I just bought a couple low priced boat radios that came without batteries. I made sure the ones I chose came with charging jacks. I bought some 2500 MAH NiMH AA's at the local discount store (Target) to go in the radios. The nice thing about these is I can also use them in my camera, the remotes in the house, kid's toys, etc. I no longer buy alkaline batteries.

Hi Piper. Yeah, that was my thought exactly.. my camera, an HP digital, uses the AA sized and I simply bought a bunch of rechargeable batteries (NiMH) and a charger and use them. I guess what catches my eye is that they sell the things without batteries and then recommend alkalines when, to me, rechargeable batteries would be much better. I dunno.. user's choice I guess.

I think the reasoning is that you get much longer life on an alkaline than a NiMH or a NiCD, and they're less expensive. Of course, once they do run down they're not rechargeable.
Dennis-

You'll be hardpressed to find an alkaline battery with 2500 mah capacity! No matter what brand I use (duracell, energizer, whatever), I ALWAYS get better life out of my nimh batteries in electronics such as a digital camera. Those things will simply eat an alkaline battery alive!

I use Duracell batteries in my Tx's and the cheapest batteries I can find for everything else.

I stopped buying alkaline all together (except emergencies) about a year ago. My local electronics store sells 20 packs of NiMh 2500 mAh for about 30 bucks. I bought 3 packs. I have about 10 charged and ready to use all the time. I did the math and its outrageous how much Ive saved. My son has a Leapster (educational game boy) that would go through 12 alkalines a week (uses 4 at a time). I figure batteries are about 50-75 cents each. So, in one year I would have spent in the neighborhood of $400 dollars on batteries just for his game. So, for about 15% of that, I bought enough batteries to run every device in my house for probably the next 3 years, or more! My estimated cost savings is in the neighborhood of $1100 (that will buy me lots of RC stuff!). Why the heck would anyone buy alkalines anymore?? Rechargeables have come a long way baby! By the way, I now only have to change batteries in his Leapster about once a week. The NiMh are far superior in capacity to the alkalines.

Brice D.

Yeah, that's what I thought, never did the math, but it just seemed common sense. As far as battery life is concerned, well, my digital camera, an HP Photosmart 945 is a 5.3 megapixel with auto zoom, auto focus, and all the bells and whistles. Alkaline batteries last about 20 to 30 pictures, much less if I use the flash and preview screen. I have gotten as many as 50 out of my rechargeable NiMH's and keep two sets of four spare charged all the time.

If I think of all the batteries I would have needed to take along with me on a trip to Europe last year, well... my charger is a 110 - 250 v 50/60 hz charger and works anywhere with the right adapter. And, the batteries work just fine with my RC car.

The RC Planes all have NiCad battery packs in both TX and RX so I don't worry about those, they get charged via my Serius which plugs into the car lighter adapter.

You can buy some decent Nickel Metal Hydride batteries at Walmart, they are rated (AA) at about 2100 MaH. They sell for about $9.00 per package of 4. The AAA's are about the same price, but are only 750 MaH. They have a package that has a quick charger with it also.

I have used these successfully, making my own packs for bigger planes. They usually cycle at about 1800 - 1900 MaH after assembled, so don't know how accurate the nominal rating of 2100 is. You can reuse them 100's of times, versus the continuing cost and questionable reliability of alkalines.

Wouldn't you rather fly something on safe, fully charged batteries?

Happy Landings.

I often wonder why anyone would reply to a post like yours! "Please no sarcastic remarks..." indicates to me a large measure of anger or hostility on your part. I'd rather take the good with the bad and sort through it. Also I know that some people aren't being sarcastic or negative - they just can't express themselves very well. Also questions like this indicate a certain amount of laziness on the part of the poster. Many of these questions could be answered with an Internet search.

Hope I'm not being too sarcastic, but I find posts like yours irritating!

Ciao,

Eagle Al[&o]

Dick,
Perhaps they don't expect the plane to last longer than the life of one set of batteries? I've seen planes like that on the market.

I too bought "loose" NiMH batts for a transmitter of mine (RC car). One complaint that I've heard is that the "loose" rechargeables (as opposed to a rechargeable pack) will develop corrosion over time, ruining the batteries. Has anyone experienced this? By the way, I think the thread starter prefaced his post with "please no sarcastic remarks" because he has experienced this on other forums, maybe even the RC Universe forums, although I find most posters in the Airplane sections to be very mature and informative (this can't be said for all sections of the Forums).