Blue Ribbon

My Feedback: (133)

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I'll start here. Just purchased an (older) 27% MW Cap 232 and the question comes up if a power supply is needed if I use 5 cell receiver packs?

I'm not going to use didgital servos. It is just not clear when I need a voltage regulator. I'm running JR servoc. I don't think receivers are that voltage sensitive.

Any thoughts?

Bill

Phil Cole

Five cells will normally be OK. Some JR servos have a reputation for being jittery if the battery voltage is up fairly high, as when fresh off the charger. If that happens to you, a 6.0 V regulator will help. Whether or not it happens possibly depends on the receiver (specifically, the resistance of the power bus), any servo extension wiring you may have, and the resistance of the power switch and battery wiring.

Receivers are all OK with five cells.

Volfy

My Feedback: (23)

Just try it with a freshly charged 5-cell pack and see if your servos are okay with it. Most of them will do just fine. If you don't need it, don't use it. It is just another failure point in the critical path.

I'm sure those who sell voltage regulators would love to convince you that it is an absolute necessasity with a 5-cell pack, just as those who peddle ultra expensive whizbang battery packs love to scare you to death about using "cheap" NiCds.

I've used home-made 5-cell packs assembled from salvaged cell phone batteries with no problems at all. Any shortening of servo life is, well, too insignificant to cause a failure before these dumb thumbs of mine do.

Blue Ribbon

My Feedback: (133)

Thanks very much for your comments.

One person had a point, that the voltage regulator kept the batteries "level" longer, and thus no rate change, which may affect critical timing for a 3D pilot, but that's not me yet . . . maybe next decade.

Bill