Futaba T7C
 

I have the above Futaba radio/transmitter. I purchased it used from a fella in the club I joined in FL a couple of years ago. It has a Futaba NiCd battery pack NT8S6008, 9.6 VDC 600mAh. The seller put a date of 9/15 on the side of it so I assume that's when he purchased it. To purchase a new one, it would cost around $45.00.

I found a battery pack on Amazon for $15.00. In the write up it does mention the Futaba number so I assume it's a replacement. It has physical dimensions listed so I'll compare it to the Futaba battery I have. This battery is a Ni-MH and is also 9.6 VDC but the capacity is 2000mAh. It is made by BAOBIAN.

I have two questions.
1) The battery I have now is dated 9/15 so that makes it 6 years old. Is it due to be changed or can it last longer. I have a electric Turbo Timber plane and I can get four 7 minutes flights out of this radio battery before I get the low battery warning.
2) What is the difference between a NiCd battery and a Ni-MH battery? Will this new battery work for me and will it last as long as the Futaba battery.

Thanks to all who respond. I'm a Newbie so please bare with me.

The proposed battery will work with the radio, assuming it fits into the battery compartment. The increase to 2000ma will give you substantially more flight time than the 600 ma battery however if the only way you have to charge the battery is with the wall charger supplied with the radio then you may have problems. The chemistry is different between Ni-Cad and NiMh batteries and they use different charging protocols. The supplied wall charger is designed for the supplied Ni-Cad battery. It may over-charge the NiMh battery and damage it. In addition, it would take much longer to charge the 2000ma battery with the wall charger. If you don't have a separate battery charger, I would find another Ni-Cad type battery.

Thanks for your reply. Does it sound like my battery is on it's last leg and I should think about replacing it? Or does it sound like it's OK for now.

I’d change it
 

Sounds like there’s not much left to that battery.
you should get more flight time than that.
like said above if it fits it’s good.
you will need a charger though.

Try this for an inexpressive but very good charger: iMAX B6 Lipo Balance Charger 50W.
Charges all types of batteries, can be found on E-Bay and other sources.