Another Lipo question

[secrtwpn1]

What does it mean when a battery says 7.4v or 11.1v? Also, please explain to me what it 1600mAH, 800 mAH means in relation to run time.......Also, would it be safe to connect two 11.1v batteries in parallel. I received my new speed control today from Nautilus Models and I dont want to cook it like the last one.....

Thx
Farlan

[JWLaRue]

Hmmm......let's start with this:

• batteries are generally rated by two values, the voltage and the amperage-hours (Amp-hours). Voltage (v) is a measurement of the power or 'strength' of the battery and Amp-hours (Ah) is a measurement of the capacity when consumed at the rated voltage.
• So the 11.1v and 7.4v are telling you that the battery is capable of handling either 11.1 or 7.4 volts.
• The mAh notation means milli-amp-hours....or thousandths of an amp-hour.
• So 1600 mAh is the same as 1.6 Ah.

These numbers by themselves do not tell you how much run time a given R/C sub will have. To figure that out one would need to measure the current draw (Amps) that the running sub consumes. To do that you need something that measures current....like a multi-meter (or amp meter).

So let's say you do the measurement and find that your sub draws 1/2 amp when running at 1/2 throttle and you are using a 2000 mAh (2.0 Ah) battery. That means you can expect roughly 4 hours of run time.

Notice that I haven't mentioned voltage at this point....for simplification I am assuming that the current measurement is made while drawing the rated voltage from the battery. Drawing a lower voltage in effect extends run time.

-hope this makes some sense!

Jeff

[greg w]

You would be better off getting a larger capacity battery than running two in parallel to prevent any accidental over discharging of one of the batteries. If you do run batteries I. Parallel then make sure that they are of the same capacity

[secrtwpn1]

What gauge wire do you guys use?

[apa-228]

I think you mean that the ESC will operate on 7.4 or 11.4 volts. A battery will be either one voltage or the other but not both. That is unless someone modified it by tapping into the connectors specifically to make a lower voltage for some reason. That is what is done in AC auto transformers like the power supply to your doorbell. I have never seen that in a single battery. Golf carts run 48 volts to the motor in forward and 24 volts in reverse, but that is becasue they tap the reverse feed at the connection point of the third and fourth battery.