Batteries
by Dave Acree
Of all the things which can drive a skipper nuts is his batteries failing during a race. For those
skippers which use battery packs, it never fails to find out they only brought one pack. Or better
yet, you charge about 15 hundred ni-cads a week or two before only to discover on race they
would be better used as ballast.
So where is this leading me? I found an article about batteries in the December 1994 "Consumer
Reports" magazine which everyone should hear. If you want to read the complete article (a good
idea), it would be well worth your effort.
Here are 5 types of batteries which we can use are listed below:
Alkaline Batteries
Heavy-duty Batteries
Nickel-cadmium Batteries
Lithium Batteries
Recharge Alkaline BatteriesThe question is which ones of the 5 are good and not-so good?
Alkaline Battery
Pros: Longest life, low cost, long storage life.
Cons: Single use the throw away.
The alkaline are the good all-around battery to use. It provides between 1.3 and 1.4 volts of
power and it's voltage gradually drops. And there is secret, they keep going, going.
I can testy to this. I used alkalines for my receiver's batteries for 2 days of sailing with no
changes. Plus if you bought a new pack a month or 2 ago, they are still full of power!Heavy-duty Battery
Don't buy them and don't use them. Enough said.
Nickel-cadmium Battery
Pros: Cheapest in the long run, rechargeable.
Cons: High initial cost, inconvenience of charging, short life between charges
Ah, the old stand by, the most widely used batteries in model boating. To have enough ni-cads
to sail with may take a bite out of you wallet. But once you got them, you can recharge them.
Now here are those little nagging facts we love. Ni-cads lose about 1 percent of their charge
daily even when they are not being used. If you charged a set 10 days ago, those nicads are
down 10% in power, not good.
Then, nicads have a shorter life between charges and voltage tends to plummet with little warning
(we all been there).
Lithium Battery
Lithium batteries are extremely reliable and do have power but they are expensive. The biggest
selling point is their light weight. Not much has been made known to how to make them
accessible to model boating. Some skippers have used them, that is the best I can say.
Rechargeable Alkaline Battery
They are more costly the their regular alkaline brothers. Now only that these guys is you must
buy a special charger, the nicad chargers won't work.
The next item which should be noted is they have a limited life span. With each recharge, these
batteries shrink in life and after a while, work more like nicads, lasting only a fraction of the time
of a fresh alkaline.
Recommendations
Alkaline batteries are the best bet for model boating. If you like recharging, individual nicads are
good as well. Lithium batteries maybe the ones for the future for their power and light weight. If
youhorse for the cost, it is the humble alkaline.