I picked up a 12 pack of Energiser Lithium AA’s today for $19.87 from Sam’s Club. Possibly Walmart might have the same deal. Just a heads up because it’s nice to save a ‘buck’ thingie.
Graham :rolleyes:
Thanks Graham - I sent your note to members of the 5 active Footy clubs in Florida (Orlando, Titusville, Vero Beach, S. Daytona and Tanglewood in Sebring). If anyone knows of other clubs sailing Footy’s in Florida, please le me know.
By the way, only one Florida club lists Footy’s on the AMYA site. I sent info to get Tanglewood updated. How about your club? Is your info current? Check it out.
Graham - Looking fwd to meeting you at the Footy NCR. We Winter in Sebring for 6 months and hope to meet a lot of new Skippers. Hope they have name tags.
I received the below note on chatter from Butch at Sand Point.
Anyone know what is happening that causes this chatter?
I think I remember something about Top 8? boats at Euro GP using Lithium. A number of us in Tanglewood use them with no problems. What is happening?
I did a Google search a few weeks ago and found good prices, but needed to buy a case of 500?
Hi Frank I tried lithium batteries and they created so much chatter I went back to alkaline. Another one of our skippers experienced the same. Hope they work for you.
I haven’t experienced any problems Frank either. I use them with Futaba 2DR and Spektrum receivers. Like Alkeline primary cells they give typically 1.5v so it shouldn’t be a voltage issue… curious.
Hi Frank,
There’s all diifferent types of “Lithium” batteries, partly because the advertisements use the word without telling the whole story. Perhaps he meant Lithium-Polymer, which would be over twice the voltage. If he’s using consumer Lithiums like the Energizer E2, which are available in local drug stoes, then Graham’s right, their top voltage is only slightly higher than a similar sized alkaline cell, and it shouldn’t be enough to cause a problem. Maybe Butch can elaborate. Sanyo has some new Lithium based batteries called “Eneloop” which store their charge longer between chargings. They are made in both AA & AAA, and are not as lightweight as Energizer E2, but they are rechargeable, which the E2’s are not. I’ve been looking locally for their AAA cells, and have only found them in multi-packages (2 AAA’s with 4 AA’s, or 2 AAA’s with 4 AA’s plus charger and AA to C & D adapter casings) at Costco, and 4 AA packs (but no AAA’s) at Wolf Camera. I really hate to mailorder these, as the shipping will be almost as much as the batteries!
Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA
Can anyone recommend AA and AAA rechargable batterys and battery chargers? I would like to change from alkaline to rechargeable for my transmitter and wonder what has worked well for other people. Will 1.2 volt rechargeables work well in Futaba or Hi-Tech 2 channel transmitters or will the voltage be too low? Will good quality rechargeables last for a day of sailing? I have gone through a lot of alkaline transmitter batteries in the last year.
I use Energizer AA Lithiums in my boats with no problems, and they last for a long time. I may have to try out the AAA’s when the rules change. Has anyone weighed the Energizer lithium AAA’s?
I have used rechargables in both Futaba and High Tech without any problems. Bob
Glitching etc
I have noticed a problem with the lithium AA cells, which may be related to their slightly higher voltage, combined with the particular receiver that I have. Occasionally the sail servo will glitch, and pull the sail all the way in while running. I have reverted to regular alkaline cells to prevent this. I have measured the Li cells, and the 4-cell pack has a no-load voltage of 7.1 volts until the day they die. Under heavy load, they are very stiff, and don’t drop much at all. My receiver is a 75 mhz Futaba, with BEC, which appears to regulate the servo voltage to 6V. I think that the stiff battery voltage may be causing overheating of the regulator in the radio, which in turn may be causing the erratic behavior. The heaviest load occurs down-wind, which maximizes the heating of the regulator.
The above is my present analysis of the problem, but I have not yet proven it beyond a doubt.
The published data, on energizer.com, appears to be far too conservative, at least for the 4 cells that I purchased. The published data shows a fall off in voltage with use, as well as a fall off with load. Unfortunately the batteries are much better than the published data. It would appear that dropping back to 3 cells would be the optimum solution. Under the current rules, it might be reasonable to carry 4 cells but not use one. This problem will go away when the new rules go into effect. 3-cell battery holders are available at some electronic parts suppliers, including digikey.com, in both AA and AAA configurations.
Remember to charge your cells before use… IIRC, Energizer Lithiums don’t come charged – BTDT. But you can get a swell chargher that will charge them in about (15?) minutes.
It shouldn’t matter which cells you are using in the radios, as long as they are good cells and properly charged. Don’t mix battery types (Lithiums with alkalines, NiCd or NiMH)
I use a set of 2300 maH NiMH in mt transmitter, and they will literally last all day. It takes longer to charge tho, but automatic chargers can handle that, or at least most of a full charge overnight, and I finish the charging using a 12V peak charger (Hobbico Quick Field Charger MkII) in the car on the way to the lake.
Remember to turn off the stuff when not using it. 
thx
Tomohawk
I have not heard about charging Energizer Lithium AA batteries. Where do you get technical info on doing this?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Of course I’m referring to the Energizer e2 rechargeables, whhich are rated 2500 maH and has a recommended 15-minute charger for charging.
Sorry, my foul, I was focused on the Lithium batts that come in the Blue packaging. I will do my 360. Turns completed. 
Actually, Frank, the foul is neither yours nor Tomohawk’s, but rather Eveready’s Marketing Department, for using the same “e2” name on both their non-rechargeable and rechargeable batteries, which are entirely different products. This means that there will always be confusion when discussing the “e2” batteries, since we will not know for sure if it’s the rechargeable or non-rechargeable cells that are being discussed.
Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA
So… when you refer to th e2 cells, make sure you say “disposable” or “rechargeable” along with it. They’re both good cells.
thx
That is interesting Walt about the higher voltage. I went away and checked my 4x AA packs.
4x Duracell alkaline AA primary cells lightly used… 5.98v no load
4x Energiser Lithium AA primary cells lightly used… 7.13v no load
4x Energiser Lithium AA primary cells new… 7.19v no load
3x Energiser Lithium AA primary cells new… 5.39v no load
If as you suggest the voltage does not drop greatly under load with the Energiser lithums then the 3x AA option has a lot of merit. Especially as the battery only weight would be a mere 45g, half that of the 4x Duracell pack at 90g.
An added benefit will be to get 4 packs out of twelve rather than 3
BEC… I think you will find that the Futaba receiver BEC only regulates the voltage to the Rx electronics but passes the full battery voltage down the bus bars to the servos.
Graham
Almost 8 Volts on 4x AA cells? wow… That seems to be off the 1.2V or 1.5V standard. Are those rechargeables? Rechargeables will have a slightly higher charge fresh off the charger (up to 1.5 volts, but not close to 2V)
If the BEC regulates the battery voltage to the Rx circuitry, then why not eliminate the 4x AA battery pack altogether, and plug in a single 9V battery instead? It would be a great weight savings.
This has been tried- by the fast electric boaters. Some of those boats use a 6-cell or 8-cell (up to 32 cells!) for the mains (motor) battery, but only need to power the receiver and rudder servo beyond that, so a 9V battery is used.
It seems to work fine for certain receivers, and some will let the smoke out. Most current receivers are using CMOS circuitry, so they should be good up to 15V, but still some had problems. There was no way to tell which receivers will work with the 9V and which won’t.
I use the 3-cell pack myself until I get a boat working, and then put in a 4-cell pack for longer sailing.
fwiw
Further to the above I’ll be sailing the pack below in trials the day before Orlando (I hope) to test the 3xAA in real conditions on the water. If there is any range issue I can quickly switch back to 4x.
I have used a strip of my wife’s widest copper foil leaving the wax paper backing in place. I like simple solutions. If this works ok I will most probably be switching to 3xAAA Energiser Ultimate Lithium for the race boats and 3xAA for fun sailing in future under the new rules.
Graham,
You have found a very clever way to reduce the voltage of a four-pack.
DANGER - This should not be tried without great care
When looking at the pictures, I was horrified to see a probable explosion danger, until looking back at the text and saw that your copper foil has an insulating barrier of paper one one side. But it is still dangerous; if the paper wears through, you will have a shorted litithium cell, which will probably explode. This danger could be avoided by substituting a dead cell of any type (preferably an old alkaline cell). You would still need the copper foil, but the insulating layer would be less important. I am pointing this out mainly because someone else might read your item and misunderstand the danger.
I got some 3-AAA holder from somewhere. I think RS.