4.8V Voltage regulator

[NOVALTD]

Has anyone run a LiFe 6-7.2 volt battery ,or any other kind or make battery with a step down voltage regulator to 4.8volts for your 4.8v recv. and servos . Any problems any concerns.? With a increase in voltage and mah rating of the receiver batteries we could now buy batteries of different construction and voltage for our RC systems and not be limited to one voltage and type of battery? (i.e.: futaba voltage regulator). Any reason why this could not happen? Thanks for the help?-DAN-

 

[Robert Pickard]

Running the Life Batteries now from Daniels Place never any trouble

 

[Grimracer]

Dan,

I use Futaba regulators but Castle makes a nice one for around 20 bucks.

YOU WANT a reg for ANY system using LIFE OR LIPO.. IF you are NOT using HV servos.

The RX in your system would likely not care so much about voltage.. but servos are voltage critical..

Grim

 

[dave roach]

I have been using life battery with out a regulator without problems.

 

[Jerry T]

I have been using the LiFE batteries(6.6V) with no regulator also, for a few years or more, no servo failures.

 

[KenOlvis]

I have tested both life an lipo with no regulator no servo problems.I will follow this thread I have just started testing these more powerful batteries lately. small an lite!!!



DRV2WIN
Ken

 

[Robert Pickard]

I dont use a regulator either no problems

 

[Grimracer]

Truth is your likely to be OK using LIFE in our boats with low voltage servos.. they wont last as long as if they had the proper voltage but overall your OK.. WHEN the time comes refresh rates start changing on our systems stuff will start burring up.

Never the less.. if you want to avoid the.. "I aint got" it from battery voltage taking out a servo.. 20 bucks on a 2,000 dollar boat is a no brainer.

I HAVE lost a model due to LIFE...yes it was my NATS sport scale heli.. and it was a wright off two weeks before the contest. I spoke to Futaba about it and they said.. and I quote "no wonder, you HAVE to use a reg with LIFE"... (non HV servos).. my bad.. will not happen again over 20 bucks, boat plane or heli..

What sucked is the machine had over 40 practice flights on it to that point and was locked and loaded for the NATS..lol

BTY.. I have HV servos in my newest scale machine... lol..

Grim

 

[KenOlvis]

Truth is your likely to be OK using LIFE in our boats with low voltage servos.. they wont last as long as if they had the proper voltage but overall your OK.. WHEN the time comes refresh rates start changing on our systems stuff will start burring up.

Never the less.. if you want to avoid the.. "I aint got" it from battery voltage taking out a servo.. 20 bucks on a 2,000 dollar boat is a no brainer.

I HAVE lost a model due to LIFE...yes it was my NATS sport scale heli.. and it was a wright off two weeks before the contest. I spoke to Futaba about it and they said.. and I quote "no wonder, you HAVE to use a reg with LIFE"... (non HV servos).. my bad.. will not happen again over 20 bucks, boat plane or heli..

What sucked is the machine had over 40 practice flights on it to that point and was locked and loaded for the NATS..lol

BTY.. I have HV servos in my newest scale machine... lol..

Grim

Thank you for the info sir I'll be installing a reg. it appears it is a no brainer!!!

 

[Joey Jones]

Dang Grim, I hate to hear that. Terrible...But, standard-rated (5.4v) servos will not last on a 6v (LiFe) setup. That's just the way it is.

I run straight LiFe batteries (6v) in both my helicopters and boats. All you need are 6v rated servos. They're pretty cheap these days, so the added expense of a regulator is negated.

Plus, and I'm not sure about your setups, but my radio boxes are pretty tight. The fewer components that I can cram in there, the better.

-Joey

 

[Grimracer]

Agree.. simple is best.. IF you have the option.. USE HV servos and LIFE.. man its an awesome setup.

If not.. consider a reg.. they are cheap.

.. I had to fly my back up machine at the NATS and it worked out.. BUT.. man that was a bummer... I still have not rebuild the machine.. the mechanics are done but the fuse is............... well.. not done..lol yes, Joe was dead,,,,,,

Grim

 

[dave roach]

Grim

What kind of reg we talking about for around $20.00

Thanks Dave

 

[Grimracer]

CESM0005 (sorry tower number.. I can not seem to paste the link)

Grim

 

[Joey Jones]

yes, Joe was dead,,,,,,
Grim

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

-JB

Edit: You don't need "HV" servos to run a LiFe (6v) pack! The servos that are marketed as "HV" are for straight LiPo (7.4v) power. And those are damned expensive! Pay attention to the voltage of your servos, because you can save a lot of money, and gain a LOT of performance by staying with a 6v setup!

 

[John Beardslee]

Back in the day, all radios used dry cell batteries - all those were and still are rated at 1.5 volts not 1.2 volts like NiCads. So a 4 cell receiver pack would generate 6.0 volts and and 8 cell transmitter pack would generate 12 volts. I suspect and have heard most r/c radio manufactures never changed their radio and servo high range voltage threshold. It is not uncommon for a 4.8 volt NiCad pack to be considerably higher voltage right after charging, the same is true for all battery chemistries so most spikes that would occur are the first time you turn on your system right after charging. When I was running LiPo's in my helis I did run a regulator but when LiFe, A123's became available I switched over and continued to run the regulator but only for the "tail rotor servo". I have never run a regulator in any of my giant scale planes, boats, trucks or cars that use LiFe or A123 cells - knock on wood - not a single failure - may be 10 years - when ever A123's came out. For what it's worth, just my experience.

Thanks, John

 

[Grimracer]

good catch.. HV was just a ping for High voltage..

HV-SV..HM...

Rock and roll!

Grim

 

[Daniel's Racing]

There are very few if any standard or 1/4 scale servo's that we use today that are 4.8 volt rated. All 6.0 volt servos work perfectly with LiFe packs.

There may be a few sub, mini or micro servo's still around with 4.8 volt rating but 99% of the standard size servo's are going to be 100% compatible with LiFe 6.6 volt 2 cell packs.

This is essentially the same voltage as fully charged NiMh 5 cell pack we almost all used before the advent of the LiFe battery. The thing with LiFe is they take high discharge with minimal voltage loss and the voltage drops very little during the overall discharge. The low self discharge is nice so you have all the time from when you last ran until you go again to get charged and never have to charge the night before or the morning of like when we used NiCd and NiMh packs.

IMO for a boat radio box it is best not adding unnecessary items as the least amount of non water proof electrical components you have the better unless your into telemetry feedback or something for a little more technical approach to making advancements in the tune.