Hello,

I am planning to put a 5 Cell NIMH battery in my next plane. Do I need to also get a 6V regulator or can the RX and servos take it?

Thanks.

I beleive they can take it.. I put a 6 volt instead of 4 because with 6 volts you get more torque and power on ur servo's.

Be careful. Some servo's such as some Futaba digitals are not rated for 6V operation. Most servo's are but its best to check. Also if you use a 6V pack you won't need a regulator, staright off the pack is fine.

I run all the time on 5 cells ... never had a servo burn on me. Airtronics 102, Futaba 3003/3001/9202 JR 539, Hitec 645/5645 ... its ok.

I've run 5 cell packs for many years, since the days of full competition fun fly. I've never hurt an electronic component. I've never seen the need for digital servos, either, so I can't speak for them. Most electronic devices are built with overhead. That is, you won't see 4.8v components on a device rated for 4.8 volts. You'll see standard stuff, usually rated for much higher voltages than we'll ever run. You'll get faster response and more torque at the expense of 20% shorter flight times, but it's well worth it.

FYI: Hitec has listed their servo specifications for both 4.8 and 6.0 volt packs for many years.

Dr.1

Unless you really need a bit faster servo speed or more torque there isn't much point in going to 5 cell packs. In most cases you won't notice much difference. You will also need a charger rthat is rated for 5 cell packs. If you just want more capacity you are better off getting higher capacity battery packs. 5 cell packs actully use up the power faster because you are using more current out of the batterys so you would have to go bigger to get the same number of flights out of the pack. Up to you of course.

Fastsky hit the nail right on the head. The results of higher voltage is going to be your servos moving faster. The servos will also draw more current which means you will use up the battery packs faster meaning less flying time. That's the trade off for getting more speed and power out of your servos.

I don't know about the other makes of radios, but Airtronics does not recommend using 6v (5 cell) batteries with their receivers. I once considered doing this and called and spoke with Airtronics about doing this and they recommended against doing this, also doing it would void the warranty too.

Ken

I just run the 5 cell batt from RC cars ... I think what they call 2/3C or something. Its 1,100 Mah and I get many many flights from them. I notice the difference on my sport planes even running standard servos like Futaba 3003 or Airtronics 102 ... on something like my Hitec 6545/645 its totally obvious.

Sorry, but you WILL notice quite a bit of difference. 20% in fact. As for the charger, pick up one at Radio Shack. They're usually less than $10.

Dr.1

I was planning to get a 1100mah battery, as for the charger I have an Accu-Cycle Elite. My concern was that after charging the 5cell battery its going to exceed the 6V, I just wanted to know if a regulator was required. It looks like it is not. So thank you all for your response.

Not required, unless running certain digital servos-

Plug-n-play and Have fun!