I need to replace my 15 year old NiCd TX and RX batteries for my old Airtronics system. I am using the old batteries to do the radio setup (I was surprised they even took a charge) but will obviously not put it in the air with them.
I see Tower Hobbies has, for example, the receiver pack in 700mAh from Airtronics for $33, or they have a Sanyo for $12. I have no problems with soldering the old leads onto the new leads, but is the connector really the only difference here? Same with the transmitter pack.
I just want to make sure before I order that the $21 difference is just a tax on the soldering impaired. Thanks all.
Jon

I use Sanyo batteries only.

Sanyo batteries are the best and many pack with other brand names are made with sanyo. I have the B8-HRAAU pack for my TX and it is a 1650mah NIMH battery and charges with the standard TX wall charger for $26 http://www.eflightpacks.com/ They don't have much for RX packs but if you contact Tony, He is the one who runs the store he might make you up a pack of your choice. Really great service too. I recieved a pack with a bad cell for my electric planes and all I did was let him know and he just sent me a brand new pack and told me to just keep the bad one and replace the cell so I put a new cell and the pack was as good as new. He just took my word for it and gave me the second one for free so I got 2 for the price of one. For the RX packs Servo city has them with free shipping and good prices (but not as good as eflightpacks) but has many to choose from. http://www.servocity.com/ServoCity/P...batteries.html

Hope this helps
Dauntae

Thanks for the info and the URLs. I'd much rather post a question here and get several opinions from several people than ask at my LHS and get just one. Thanks.
Jon

One more question re: batteries... I am looking at a Sanyo RX pack which is 1200mAh, but when looking at a TX pack I only see a 700mAh from Sanyo (this is at Tower.) Should I look elsewhere for a higher capacity TX battery, or is the load on the TX enough lower that they will last comparable times?
Jon

That would be hard to say because different transmitters use different amounts. Like I said in my other post that I have the 1650mah for my TX and it lasts me all day and is only $26 but I usually bring a few planes so the TX is the only thing that gets used every flight, I have a field charger so I charge the smaller RX packs at the field, One thing I noticed is you said the radio is 15 years old and the gold sticker rule came around in 1994 I think. If your radio is not gold stickered it might not be legal to use (Gold sticker is in reference to the type of frequency transmitted) If your not sure than I would bring it to a hobby shop and let them take a look at and they could tell you before you go spending money on a battery.

Dauntae

It is gold stickered. I remember when I bought it the rule had been made, but was not in place yet. Non stickered radios were available, but I made a point of getting a stickered radio.
I probably will look for a higher capacity battery from another source for the TX. I hate to have to leave the field on a nice day because of dead batteries. Thanks.