[spacey]

Ey guys sorry i'm a little lost on this one. How do I go about putting a 6V pack in my model? Do I have to use a regulator of some sort? I don't know jack about electronics and damn i'm a little scared I might pop the rx and servos. My LHS is selling little 6V packs now but i'm not sure what exactly they are (NiCad or NiMh). Obviously I would have to use my field charger to charge it right? This wouldn't damage the pack right? I mean in the long run quick charging it the whole time. I also figured that the pack fully charged would obviously put out more than 6V so what would I have to add to make it RX safe? The hobby shop doesn't know anything about this stuff either and well they don't sell anything to regulate the battery so what do I do? Please help?

 

[John Wells]

I use an Ace Super Smart charger to charge my 6 volt packs. Just make sure your charger is compatible with the battery type and number of cells. Nothing real high tech about it, you get a bit more speed and torque out of your servos. I think the higher voltage packs drain a bit faster, something that's inherent with using higher volt packs, but that isn't a biggie. I like the 6 volt packs and use them in just about all of my planes.

JW

 

[spacey]

Thanks for the prompt reply John.

I have a little swallow charger I use for my lipo packs which seems to be working very well. So you're saying I do not need a funny resistor regulator type thingy to protect the RX?

 

[Quicker]

Most RX's are safe for 6V...practically all of them.

 

[spacey]

I hate the electronic stuff..Its much too complicated. I have been researching this the whole day and seems that none of the servos I use can handle the higher voltage. I don't know. Whish my LHS were of some use on the matter. None of the sites that list JR servos have rating for both input voltages. Only ones i've found are the 811s. Guess this means I'll damage the other servos if I pushed them too high. And now people are telling me that using a 6V pack will force me to charge much more often using a normal 4.8V pack. Well they make it sound much worse than John put it. It's like asking on RCU which 3D plane is the best. LOL I guess i'll have to put some money aside sometime to try the 6V thing out. I just don't want to lose a plane due to experiments. :x

 

[Gordo]

I use all 6V and charge them with my Triton. Paul charges his with the wall wort. No regulator is required and there are Many (Most?) guys serious about 3D that use 6v. Worst thing you might see is a newly charged pack might slightly jitter, give it 30 sec and it quits.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Ask JR about the servos you have, but I doubt they will care at all.

And personally, I buy only NiMH. No reason not to, todays batteries are SO good.

If there is a measurable difference in how long they last, I can't see it. Since I never fly the full capacity, why should I worry.

 

[John Wells]

I called Horizon a few months ago and asked about the performance of JR servos on 6 volt packs. The guy I talked to said you can expect about a 20% increase in torque and speed. He didn't have any specs in front of him, but he did say it was fine to use them on 6 volts. I have one JR servo that jitters when the pack is peaked. That's the only servo I have that does that, and I have a bunch of Hitec and a few JR servos.

JW

 

[jnohsey]

hey, what servos are you using? How many are you going to be using in the plane? I run 5 cell pks in all my profiles, more speed and torque. And I use hitec, futaba and jr. I haven't had to charge more often. And you get the benafit of having the extra cell incase you have 1 fail.

jim

 

[spacey]

Thanks Gordo, everyone!

I think the regulator bit was worrying me a little bit. I have mostly std type servos I use that's why I wanted to try and give em some nitro. I guess my budget doesn't allow for digital and fancy stuff so I was looking at mainly getting a little more speed out of them. The JR servos I have are 99% the 539 and 537 stuff. They are a small step up from the bog std servos. Already at around .21sec and 4.7kg. I think I can get hold of NiMH if I put some effort into it. And I know my charger can do them so that's no problem.

Oh yes Jim I don't own anything but profiles and gliders. Oh and my Funtana but I don't care much for it anymore, so it won't be getting a special treat. I want to use the 6V mainly in my profiles. And well all of them run on 5 servos at the moment.