Batteries nicd battery help

[Derek]

My dad just bought a 1/6 scale rc truck. I don't know where he got it from and I can't remember the name brand. It's a name brand that I've not heard of before. Honestly, he probably got it from China. It's not a speedy truck but he is amused with it, so that's all that matters.

This truck comes with a 9.6v 1000mah nicd battery and charger. Awesome! I'm trying to help him locate a couple more batteries so that he can run his truck for more than just one battery...especially since it takes nearly 4 hours to charge a battery. He is also looking for more "mah" per battery, if possible.

Here is a link to a listing on ebay that shows what his batteries look like:

2X 9 6V Rechargeable Battery Pack 1000mAh w Tamiya Connector A174 | eBay

It would be simple enough to just order these batteries and be limited to the 1000mah but like I said, he is looking for a couple of batteries with more mah. Is there such a nicd battery available?

He did find a listing for some 9.6v 2000mah nimh batteries but I don't know if he can use the nimh batteries because the battery that he does have is a nicd.

Any thoughts??? I'd appreciate the help for my dad.

 

[pvolcko]

The problem with switching to a nimh pack will not be with the RC car. All it cares about is voltage and current delivery capacity. So long as the ratings on the nimh pack stack up you will be fine there. The problem will be charging them. If he's using a built in charger or a stock outboard oem charger it may not have support for nimh, which has a different charging strategy than nicd. You should be able to pick up a nimh charger pretty cheap, or you can use one of the modern RC chargers (iCharger, Powerlab, Hyperion, etc.) which all have nimh support as far as I know.

 

[Tony]

As Paul stated, switching to the NiMh battery is no problem. However, I would be looking at swapping to a Lipo. When he charges the 9.6v battery, he should be close to 12v which is a 3s lipo. All you have to do is measure the capartment that it's going in and find a battery that fits.

Any newer charger will charge the NiCd or NiMh batteries. Even my B6AC will charge them. Just get ready for it, they get hot.

 

[pvolcko]

I agree on looking into switching to Lipo. I did this on my old DraganFlyerIII quad. Stock it uses NiCd packs, 12V 600mAh. I swapped to a 3S 1800mAh Lipo pack. It's smaller, lighter, holds voltage level higher throughout the flight, and has 3 times the capacity for much longer flight times. 9.6V on an 8 cell NiCD pack is 1.2v/cell which is nominal on NiCd. Fully charged it is 1.45V/cell or 11.6v total. On Lipo 3.7v/cell 3S is 11.1V nominal and fully charged it is 12.6v (4.2V/cell). It is a little high, but probably okay for the car. The motor may get a bit hot so if you try lipo in it check the motor through the first run to make sure you aren't cooking anything.

 

[Derek]

My dad has no interest in getting lipo batteries....especially if there is a chance of "cooking" his motor. This truck of his is very basic. Top speed is probably only 3mph, but he's amused with it and that's what matters.

So...if the 9.6v 2000mah nimh battery would fit in the place of the 9.6v 1000mah nicd battery...all should be well? Is that what you are saying?

 

[RandyDSok]

So...if the 9.6v 2000mah nimh battery would fit in the place of the 9.6v 1000mah nicd battery...all should be well? Is that what you are saying?

Both Nimh and Nicd are at 1.2v nominal... so it is fine as long as he is using the proper charger that supports nimh batteries.

I'm with the others... the LiPo's are also probably just fine but a little caution is always a good thing which is why they mentioned to just check to ensure the motor doesn't overheat. .... I'd guess there is as much of chance at overheating with nimh and/or nicd as there is with a lipo