jollycub

My Feedback: (5)

This actually is a two part question. I am planning to put new receiver batteries in my airplanes and transmitter batteries in my...well... transmitters. The batteries are all 10-12 years old and from what I am reading, it would be better to replace the batteries just to be safe. I would like to buy the batteries with no ends to save money and put the ends on myself. Would it be better to cut a servo wire and solder the connector to the battery or to crimp the wires myself. I am of the opinion that it would be better to solder the wire on since I trust my soldering more than my crimping.

Also it seems there was some discussion about poor quality rechargable Eveready batteries at Walmart. Has anybody noticed whether the quality on these batteries increased enough that they are reliable enough to use in airplanes?

Thanks

cwharper

Not that I recommend the practice, but I just successfully made a 4 cell AA pack from off brand batteries I found online. I practiced soldering spent alkaline batteries first then the rechargeable ones. I think the key to soldering packs together is to have a hot iron and only let the tip of the iron spend at the most a second on the battery ends. However, probably the safest way would be to get cells with tabs on them made for soldering. I don't think I would trust my crimping either.

mrasmm

the main problem I have found with the energizer packs and chargers at walmart is they get way too hot for my taste. They seem to provide enough power, although I dunno about how many cycles or whatever they last, but I am betting it would be short with how hot they get (especially charing at the 4c rate some of those chargers do).

As far as soldering or crimping, I don't really like crimping, but I suppose if you do it right it would hold up pretty well. What I think works the best is a combination of the two. Strip the insulation off of the crimp ends if it has it. Crimp them on, and then make a nice hot solder where the solder really flows (watching that the heat doesn't flow back up into the pack through the wires), and then that will penitrate beween the crimp, so you'll have a solder/crimp connection. If that's not gona work out for whatever reason, I would stick with the soldering =)