I want to install a second receiver battery in a couple of my larger planes for a measure of protection against in-flight battery failures. Currently I use Hitec 7-channel receivers in most of my planes. Can I replace these with Hitec 8-channel receivers and simply plug the extra battery lead into the open port? Or do I need a special kind of receiver to use two batteries?

You could do that or you could use a y-harness (parallel connection), or you could use a diode protected "battery backer" I'm not sure of the trade names.

Jeffpro,

I use a hitec 7 channel on my Giant Aeromaster with two battery packs and two switches per Red's Article: Parallel Operation = Reliability & More Flight Time; http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com/

Highly recommended reading.

Regards,

tom

Excellent article! Thanks for the pointer!

common use in all gaints and jets.
use a y to two switches and 2 batt though.