I have always used the 4.8v rx packs in my planes but i recently asked a hobby owner what battery packs he recommended and he sent me 5-cell 6.0v Nimh battery packs. I am flying basic 4 and 5 channel 40-60 size planes. Will these packs work just as well as the 4-cell packs i've used before?

The 5 cell packs will work just fine. The servos will have more torque and a bit faster speed. The battery life in flight is a bit shorter with the same size from 4.8 to 6 volts, though. Meaning, if you got 5 flights out of the 4.8 you might get 4 our of the 6 volt packs (just an guess, not based on actual fact). You probably will also need a charger that will charge 5 cell packs to get them fully charged.

CGr.

Thanks!

1.2v

Sorry, couldn't resist.

If it were me, for that type of plane I would stick with 4.8v packs but step up to 1000 or 1200MAh packs

Well the 5-cell packs that i have are 2000mah.

Well, it's totally your call. A 5-cell pack is not NEEDED for your application, and you SHOULD get a charger designed for charging 5 cells (if you don't already have one).

One thing you didn't mention is your radio. If you are using 72MHz or Futaba 2.4GHz, 4-cell packs are no problem. But if you're using JR or Spektrum 2.4GHz, the 6-cell pack is cheap insurance against brown outs.

As Mike said, for a basic four or five channel aircraft, you won't get much real advantage. You won't need the additional torque, and the speed of the servos won't much matter when you are doing very basic maneuvers... bank-and-turn, climb, descend, landing, and so on. Where it really comes useful is when you have really agressive moves with a plane that is capable of doing such maneuvers.

What I should have said in my first post, they will work just fine, but are more than you will need for that type of plane.

CGr

6v NiMH receiver packs are as cheap or cheaper than many 4.8v 600mah receiver packs. I just ordered a Venom 1200Mah 6V NiMH battery:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHUJ2&P=7

...for a Tower Kaos 40 build I'm (planning on) working on. At $12.99, it's as inexpensive as most any 4.8v NiCd receiver battery I could find.

Servo City still has Futaba 4.8v 600Mah receiver batteries on sale for $6.99 each. If I wanted 2 or 4 of them, it would be worth putting an order together. Just one of those would cost as much as the Venom battery after s&h.

The folks at Hobby People often put receiver batteries on sale. I bought one of these Hi Energy 1600Mah 6v NiMH batteries with my last Hobby People order:

http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/233836.asp

They were on sale for $11.99 at the time. Hobby People often has good sale prices on these kinds of batteries.

If you can't get a really good deal on basic 4.8v 600Mah receiver packs ($8.00 or less delivered), there really isn't any extra cost required to jump up to a higher capacity, more powerful receiver pack.

I fly Spektrum. I have a Dx7, so you think the 5-cell packs will be more reliable for me?

You absolutely shouldn't fly 4.8v receiver batteries with Spektrum radios. 2000Mah 6v NiMH is a good minimum battery size for sport planes with Spektrum/JR radio setups. A large capacity 6v receiver pack still can't guarantee against occassional lockouts or brownouts, but it will greatly reduce them.

On a high performance plane with 6 or more digital servos, you should consider a 2S or 3S LiPo battery with a 6v voltage regulator instead of NiMH. High torque analog and digital servos can draw more current than many NiCd/NiMH batteries can deliver reliably. LiPo and LiFe (A123) batteries are becoming very popular as receiver batteries for high performance aircraft.

Then absolutely, you should use a 6v pack.

It was a year or more ago that Horizon posted on there web site that you should be using 6V packs with there 2.4 systems to help with the brown out problem. I haven't been back to there site sense then so I'm not sure if it is still there or not? I'm still on 72 so I mix and match my battery packs according to the plane I'm setting up. In the real world I have never noticed the drain difference between 4.8 and 6 volt but it can be measured with meters and it is a fact, just nothing you will notice at the field.

i would use a 6volt pack to power up the receiver... if you lose a cell you will still be safe; however on a 4.8 pack you wont.

Bingo!



Drain difference is about 5 percent, as someone said, not something you'd notice at the field.

You prob already know this but thought I would just point out the obvious that if you have went to 6v and are using a 4.8 volt wall charger you will need to upgrade to a 6 v charger to fully charge the new battery.

http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-9.html thats a good charger

I've had a Duratrax onyx charger for a year now.

Wouldnt the turnigy accucell 6 work good for charging and cycling the 6v 1200mah pack? It is much cheaper than most chargers that I have found.
dan

yeah it would work well....

Yes, The Accucell 6 will work just fine. I have had one for a year now and I love it. Charges Nicads, Nimhs, Ph, Lipos, Life (A123s), and Lilo. I haven't figured out what Lilo is yet. Maybe someone here knows?

I just bought a Spektrum DX7 just this year. They now package a 4.8v 1100mAh NiCd 4 cell battery with 4 high torque digital servos.
I heard they had trouble in the past and they made some changes since then.
They now claim an input voltage range of 3.5 - 9.6v.

TW

The packs I see consistantly cause crashes are big Nimh packs.

These packs are particularly prone to false peaks. Add that with occasional use, low tech chargers, low tech users, long storage periods between plane useage and a history of simple reliable trouble free use of Nicds equals disaster waiting to happen.

I have and use these large packs all the time, but, I have learned to watch them very carefully.

Of note: I think that the new Low Self Discharge (LSD) Nimh technology may bring simplicty to these large, cheap, and enviormently friendly Nimh batteries.

Just another two cents worth on the subject.

Ken

lion is a computer battery, they look like this
http://www.all-battery.com/li-ioncyl...batteries.aspx
usually running at 3.7v if i remember correctly

Guys a quick question regarding the battery packs. The JR DSX7 I got came with a 4.8v battery pack. Well I haven't used it since I'm still on my older battery which also is a 4.8v but 2000mah (I think) where the one which came with the radio is a 1100mah. I only have about 9 flights on the plane since I switched the system with the Ghz setup. Haven't had a problem, but when you speak about voltage drop (when it causes your rx the reset) could this happen on your first flight or is it more something which happens after a couple of flights? We fly on average around 4 flights...then it either becomes to hot or the wind gets too bad.

Anything that will draw excessive current will drop the voltatge. How severe that drop is totally dependent on the load AND the condition of the battery pack. So, it really does not matter what you fly with it, as long as you spend time to remove any of the binds that would be associated with linkage, especially the throttle, will help. This is why I advocate something like Voltwatch2. These devices give you an immediate indication of any sort of binding and help tremendously with removal and conrol of any binding that may occur during the initial build phases as well as any that might develop after the building process and initial flights (sort of shake-down cruises.. ).

When a bind occurs, the Voltwatch2 LED's go from green to yellow to red, depending on the severity of the bind. A typical bind is at the throttle when the servo goes to the end of the travel of the throttle and tries to move it more.. then it binds and draws a lot of current. When you find these, you make the appropriate adjustments then move on.

This will happen with both 4.8 and 6 volt packs.. it doesn't matter. And if it happens with some of these radio's that have a threshold voltage for reset, well, you know what happens.. it will reset and leave you without control for a few seconds.

Spektrum has "fixed" the problem, however, I really like to avoid the possibility of a problem, so I use the 6 volt packs AND remove any binding in the linkage before I fly.

CGr