cuber wrote:I understand the lithium battery ban from a safety point of view, but this is super inconveniencing for me. The only way I was able to get our hovercraft running last year was with lithium batteries, anything else did not have enough power to lift it's own weight. I ended up buying quite a few, as well as a decent balance charger, and now the team has no use for them this year. Any ideas on good batteries that fit the requirements?
I am a personal fan of NiMH batteries. They are substantially heavier than the LiPOs, but are probably the best option. I use Racer's Edge batteries, but I've heard good things about Traxxas batteries as well. It's definitely a good idea to get a smart charger, meaning it'll automatically shut off once the battery is full if you plan to reuse batteries.
The nice thing about NiMH is that you can
overcharge them legally, because they must be <9.0V by labels. So you can have a 9.5V - 10.0V battery and still be within the rules. The issue there is that you risk damaging the battery, so I'd cycle them every once in a while. You seem to be worried about it lifting its own weight. Note that you have 33% more surface to work with, and with the added voltage of the NiMH, you ought to easily be able to hold everything