Battery Packs

Batteries come in an amazing variety of shapes, sizes, capacities, and prices. Most electric cars use a 7.2 volt, sub-C size, nickel cadmium (NiCd) battery pack made up of six individual cells. Most Sub-C batteries are in the range of 1200 to 3000 milliampere hours (mAH). The higher the amp-hour rating, the longer the run time (and the higher the price).

If you use your car mostly for fun or sport, an economical battery such as the Trinity Amp Max will work fine and be very reliable. For racing, however, a good pack of batteries can give you that extra power to get you to the finish line first. Matched batteries, like the Team Orion Activated racing cells, have been charged independently, rated, and then, cells that have the closest ratings are grouped together. Matched racing batteries usually will come as individual cells, requiring you to assemble (solder) the pack.

Battery Chargers

If you're on a budget, a timer-charger such as the ProMax AC/DC Quick Charger with meter will do fine. Most sport packs work great on a timer-type charger.

For about the cost of an extra battery or two, you can upgrade to a peak voltage detection charger such as the Astro Flight Model 115D AC/DC adjustable peak charger or MRC's Super Brain 809. Peak chargers use an internal voltage sensing computer chip to cut off the charge at your battery's optimum peak voltage. This eliminates overcharging which weakens and prematurely ages cells. A peak charger is cheap insurance that you'll get the most power and longest life from your batteries. Don't invest in performance matched batteries unless you have a peak charger.

Racers using matched batteries always discharge their packs to keep them in top shape. Deans Black Box II and Trinity's Memory Buster prevent cells from deteriorating between uses and will keep your battery packs ready to go.