Model Boat Mayhem

Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: MartinRJ on February 15, 2017, 06:43:12 pm

Title: Hello and some dumb questions
Post by: MartinRJ on February 15, 2017, 06:43:12 pm
Hello all, new member. My modelling has always been in the plastic kit arena, but I have made a billings Bluenose which I really enjoyed. I have bought my first sailboat, a joysway Orion, as a starter boat. My dumb question is about batteries for it. I realise AA,s are needed but do I do for throwaways or rechargeable? If the latter 1300mAh or 2,500mAh, and are the Duracell or Energiser rechargeable s ok?
Title: Re: Hello and some dumb questions
Post by: malcolmfrary on February 15, 2017, 07:16:43 pm
Some people say they like single use batteries until they find out that their boat is stuck on one tack unexpectedly because the battery has used all the usable juice and it can't be steered of adjust its sails any more..
Any reputable name rechargeable batteries are usually OK.  I tend to use packs from Component Shop, disliking separate cells in a holder.
Title: Re: Hello and some dumb questions
Post by: MartinRJ on February 15, 2017, 07:27:22 pm
Thanks Malcolm, so a "pack" of 4 AAs would be better than the inbuilt battery holder? Presumably that would mean taking out the existing holder and soldering in the pack? Or is there some sort of connector that I need to match up?
Title: Re: Hello and some dumb questions
Post by: knoby on February 15, 2017, 07:30:00 pm
The orion will sail for weeks on a set of duracell batteries. remember you will also need a suitable charger if you decide to go the re chargable route.
Another point is that the rechargable batteries are only 1.2 volts each, where as the duracells are 1.5 volts each. The Joysway transmitters can suffer with range problems after a few hours sailing if you use rechargables, 1 member at our club got a whole seasons sailing out of 1 set of duracells in his transmitter.
Title: Re: Hello and some dumb questions
Post by: MartinRJ on February 15, 2017, 07:58:06 pm
Thank you Knoby  that's good to know. As a total beginner I'm floundering a bit, but looking forward to my first sailboat. My assumption is that the boat batteries will need replacing frequently but the transmitter less so, if I could get a season out of the TX batteries that would be good. Didn't.t know about the voltage difference so that will help thanks.