Battery pack holders and servo voltages.

wpandyr

Registered
26 Oct 2009
329
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Southampton
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You can use 4 AAA's ok it is just that they have smaller capacity, ( mAh rating) so will discharge sooner. Servos are rated from 4.8 - 6 volts, using higher voltage will burn out the servos.

A 9 volt PP3 ? is very low mAh rating so if you use it with a voltage regulator it would discharge in a short time running servos.

To get power from a smaller battery pack try using LiPo's with a voltage regulator. They are 2 cell unit at nominal 7.4 volt and depending on length can give high Ah ratings. Care should be taken not to short out LiPo's as they have a very high discharge rate and can easily melt wiring and cause fires. One should also charge slowly to be safe. LiPo's can be purchased cheaply from Hong Kong via Ebay.
 

Doug

Live Steam, scratch building
24 Oct 2009
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West Herts
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4xAAA will work fine. The capacity of the current AAA NiMH rechargables is somewhat greater than the Ni-Cad AA batteries that were available 10 years ago. You can use 5 NiMH re-chargables to run R/C recievers and servos too if you like.

Don't use a 9v PP3, the voltage is too high.
 

corgi

Registered
24 Oct 2009
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Melbourne, Australia
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I have been using 4 x AAA battery holders for some time now with no problems.

On the Roundhouse Lady Ann and Billy the Roundhouse 4 x AA battery holder with its lumpy clip is a bit of a nuisance when shutting the cab roof which is necessary for running the loco's.

4 x AAA gives that extra bit of freedom.

Also on the Accucraft Lyn 4 x AAA will just fit nicely to the cab roof.

I use alkaline batteries available from $2 shops. (probably 1 quid shops in the UK)