Lightweight Reciver Battires

[squarebird]

Does anyone have an idea on what I could use to power the radio gear of a micro glider
that will be as light as possible? I am using the Hitec Feather receiver and HS-55 servos. The AAA receiver pack that the radio comes with is just too heavy. What kind of pack is used on co2 or rubber-band airplanes?

[corey c]

I'm not sure what size aaa pack you have but I know a lot of people use 3-50mah sanyo nicads for their packs including me. Make sure your rx can work on only three cells and if not use 4-50mah cells. These packs are good for about 30min. flight time between charges. If you want more duration you could probably use 110 double time cells [same weight as the 50-nicads]. Hope this helps!

[squarebird]

I am rather new to electric flight, how do I know if my rx can handel 3 cells and what are 110 double time cells?

[corey c]

I tryied to find specs on your feather rx but couldn't find the voltage range, it should say in the spec sheet that came with the rx. I have a mx-6800 rx that works from 3-7v. If you can't find this info, make up a three cell pack and try it out and see if everything works [on the bench, not in the plane]. If it works ,find the voltage where it doesn't, by doing this you should be able to figure out how much flying time you have for that pack. Just make sure you don't fly untill you have no more 'juice' left in the pack, give it a safety margin. The double time cells I talked about are 110mah nickle metal hydrades that are the same size and weight as the 50mah nicads. The 110's have twice the capacity so I guess thats why they call them double time cells. What equipment do you have for your plane?

[corey c]

By the way... These small cells weigh 4g a piece and about 12g for a three cell pack, in case you didn't know.

[squarebird]

What equipment are you talking about? I am using the Hitec Foucus 3 SS FM Feather Radio System, wich includes the feather reciver and HS-55 servos. The plane will be the Mini Kestral glider that was "Plan of the Month" in the Nov '00 issue of RCMicroFlight. I checked the specs on the rx and it does not say anything about the battaries. It does show a picture of a 4 cell AAA nicad.

[corey c]

The mini kestral that was reviewed in microflight used a 3-cell 50mah pack [12 grams].These aaa cells that you are talking about, are they full size regular aaa cells? The 50mah cells that I am talking about are 1/3 aaa cells. With your equipment [rx,servos] I would recomend a 3 cell 50mah pack or the 110's I talk about before,this is about as light as you will get. Try the 3-cell pack and if nothing works, go to a 4-cell pack and that will do it. Or... just use a 4-cell pack right off the bat because this will work and it's only 4 grams heavier then the 3-cell pack. Let me know how it goes! ;)

[squarebird]

The 4 cell AAA pack that I am talking about is a standard pack that come with most radios that I have seen. It uses 4 AAA alkaline cells that you buy off the store shelf. I just started on the airframe Sunday night, so it will be awhile. I might have it ready to fly in a couple of weeks. I will post a new message when it is ready.