RC Car Batteries

If you’re starting to get serious about RC cars, you may find yourself getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of options and information available to you. What kind of motor do I need, what kind of suspension, what kind of wheels? The best way to deal with this is to start with something fairly simple, so this article will deal with your RC car battery.

RC cars generally run off 7.2 volt battery packs, which are composed of six 1.2 volt batteries in a series connection. These come in stacked and side by side varieties, the only substantial difference being in the amount of space they take up.

This battery pack, in almost all circumstances powers the motor that drives the RC car as well as the receiver on the car that allows you to keep it from slamming into walls or, depending on the kind of fun you like have, makes sure you can drive it into walls.

While all the batteries put out the same voltage, they don’t all have the same capacity, which is measured in milliamp hours. What this affects is how long you can run your car in between charges, which is something to consider if you’re going to be running your car a lot away from your home. Of course, you can always purchase an additional battery pack.

There are two main types of RC car battery: Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH). NiCad batteries are cheaper, but they have less capacity per unit volume/weight than NiMH, and they develop battery memory which generally means less and less available power over time.

Battery memory basically means that if you don’t drain the battery down completely before recharging, the battery won’t charge up fully when being recharged. So eventually, the battery will lose most of its capacity. NiMH avoids this problem, and while the initial expense is higher, you will spend less money in the long run.

You will also need to pick the right charger for your RC car battery. Like batteries, there are two basic types: timer chargers and peak detection chargers. Timers charges simply charge the batteries for a set amount of time, while peak detection chargers detect when the battery is charged and turn off automatically.

The timer charger is cheaper, but runs the risk of overcharging the battery and can only be used on NiCAD batteries. Better to go with the peak detection charger and be on the safe side with your batteries.