Batteries & Chargers

Batteries and battery charger technology are aspects of the R/C hobby that can be confusing. All the choices can be a bit much for a beginner to digest at first.

Battery Type	Use	Cost	Example
NiCad	Transmitters and other hardware designed only for NiCads.	Inexpensive	My Futaba radios
NiMH	Surface and aircraft that need a bit more juice than NiCads can deliver.	Moderate	My E-Maxx
Lithium ion/Lithium Polymer	High power, low weight applications. Also good if charge shelf life is important.	Expensive	My micro helicopter and Mini-T
Alkaline	Almost never use them except for poor hardware that won't take anything else	Inexpensive	Crappy, OEM transmitter.
Lead Acid	High power, high weight applications like large Battle bots and larger vehicles.	Inexpensive	My battle bot, Rex.

I have a sizable shelf devoted to nothing but battery chargers (pictured below). Two chargers are devoted to charging NiMH batteries for my E-Maxx, they are the small blue chargers on the left and right in the image. They can be powered from wall current or 12VDC. They are quite inexpensive, can charge both NiCads and NiMH battery packs at high current levels, and can deep cycle battery packs. The Accu-Cycle in the center, back is designed for NiCads. It has two independent, computer controlled chargers. One is intended for receiver battery packs and the other is intended for transmitter battery packs. This charger is very smart and knows how to cycle, deep cycle, and trickle charge. The Triton charger in the center, red, is the most intelligent, computer controlled charger I have. It can charge NiCad, NiMH, LiIon, lead acid, and just about anything else. It has an interface for a thermocouple to keep things from getting too hot or exploding. This is a great charger. The only thing I don't like about it is that it must be powered from 12VDC --- that is why the heavy duty 12VDC power supply is on the shelf (far left).