Alternative battery system for Futaba 14MZ (/12Z) radios

[flyinbill1]

Has anyone tried the Duracell equivalent to the Sony NP-F570? If so, does this battery perform well when compared to the Futaba battery?

See this website? http://www.duracelldirect.com/part_dr5res.aspx

[dkpodder]

Originally Posted by flyinbill1

Has anyone tried the Duracell equivalent to the Sony NP-F570? If so, does this battery perform well when compared to the Futaba battery?

See this website? http://www.duracelldirect.com/part_dr5res.aspx

Yes, I'm using two Duracell's. Performs aprox. equilant to the Futaba ones.

[DemonHeli]

Wow I wonder if any of the original people that started this thread are still around? Spooky, but I recently bought the eBay knock offs and they are not much better than stock. I'm getting 45 maybe an hour on a single charge. Batteries usually dump to 50 percent in the first 15 min. then hold for a while..

I'm wondering if we can help the poor souls out there with this old thread and maybe find some more solutions to the battery problem. Are there any more cells at a higher capacity out there like the duracells? There is another 1/2 to 1 inch of space to the right of the battery. Has anyone tried to use longer cells with no case? I'm going to look at it and see what's out there.

[hoot]

I'm considering hacking out the battery bay to install a larger battery... like a 2 cell LiFe

[DemonHeli]

The bay is pretty big, Any link to the LIFE batteries you would use? if we can get up to 3000Mah it would be a good upgrade. The bay has an extra 3/4 inch to the right, it looks like it could also hold a nice sized flat Lipo.

[panzlflyer]

A LiFe wont work as the charged voltage will be less than the flat voltage of the LiOn

[hoot]

Did it. Done. Works great.

Took apart an old Sony battery and wired into the base pins. Threw away the cells, circuit board and top half of the shell. Re-installed just the lower half into the radio.

Battery meter seems spot on.

[DemonHeli]

Wow, not sure what I'm looking at, is the battery velcro'd onto the back?

[hoot]

You can velcro it. I Gooped it on cause I don't like it being wobbly with velcro.

[psionic001]

Hey Hoot,

that's the same mod that I am looking at doing for my Long range FPV system.

Is it possible to use the charge port or trainer port to supply the power? Or do i have to hack an old battery?

Thanks

Matt

Originally Posted by hoot

Did it. Done. Works great.

Took apart an old Sony battery and wired into the base pins. Threw away the cells, circuit board and top half of the shell. Re-installed just the lower half into the radio.

Battery meter seems spot on.

[nicthepic]

Originally Posted by flyinbill1

Has anyone tried the Duracell equivalent to the Sony NP-F570? If so, does this battery perform well when compared to the Futaba battery?

See this website? http://www.duracelldirect.com/part_dr5res.aspx

yes, the duracell works like original futaba.

[DemonHeli]

Ok I'm gonna really focus on this and hopefully this will be searchable on google as a I will build a 3000 MAh battery for is that fits in the bay. 1 hour if your lucky battery, is too little time. We can have more with a little ingenuity. I'll update what I find and post a source once I complete. Never give up, never surrender!

[Lars Linders]

Originally Posted by DemonHeli

Wow, not sure what I'm looking at, is the battery velcro'd onto the back?

I have the same problem, and this optionis certanly not what I'm looking for.
I really love this thread, I keep updated daily!
My originaliteit batt's are far gone, cause they only work for max half an our..

Is it also possible buying some new original batt's?

[DemonHeli]

It's funny I bought some generic ones off eBay and they last 1/2 hour. If the sit on shelf they discharge in a week. Just garbage. The original futaba seems to last a full hour and keeps charge. Original seems better. But I'm sure I can get 3000 lipo in the bay with little modification. I'll measure the dimentions and get a lipo that fits in the bay and make a connector out of an old battery. I'll post what I make, I don't want to let this die because I use this transmitter every day and it frustrating when I drops from 80 to 60 percent in ten minutes. Talk to you soon!

[exfokkerflyer]

I'll be watching what you come up with. I bought a couple more batteries on ebay giving me a total of four with two chargers. I'm able to get enough flying out of two batteries as long as I don't have to adjust anything... that eats up the power quite a bit.

Interesting that you guys are saying that the original battery works better... mine has always been terrible and have found better luck with aftermarket alternatives.

I ended up picking up an 8fg in a deal I couldn't pass up... I like it, and it maybe be what I turn to instead of the 14MZ just because of battery life. Don't get me wrong, i prefer the 14, but the battery life is terrible, especially when setting up a new model. Often it will take two evenings because I run out of battery power in the radio!

Tom M

[DemonHeli]

I fly every day and I bought 3 generic chinease batteries and of course it's hit or miss. Some days they hold, some days they dump in 10 minutes. The freaking original Futaba so far is holding it's own with the longest runs. I even have 2 sonys that don't hold 3/4 of the Futaba. No clue why. The bay is huge and I don't know why we can't stuff a bigg lipo in there. I'll slice the front off a cheapy so it will engage the internal pins and then make a JST or miniDeans connector to the battery. I'll shoot you what I find with the dimentions there are lots of options just need to find a good lipo that takes up the whole bay, not 3/4 like the stock one. I'm sure 3000Mah will fit. Give me a few days..

[jlsalas]

Hi;
surfing on the web I found a new commercial kit for fitting the 18 Mz battery or any 2 cell Lipo battery ( up to 5.000 mah) in the 14 Mz radio.

http://shop.singahobby.com/?q=node/30544

but I don't understand how to connect the new battery into the radio.

What do you think about this new solution?.
Jose

[DemonHeli]

I found some cells along the same type that was listed originally in this thread years ago. Lithium Ion with a high discharge rate. The 14mz bay is 20mm x 40mm x 70mm max, these cells are round cells 19mm x 50mm at 1800mah. 2 of these side by side get us 3600mah. I should have the cells in a week and then I'll modify an exsisting battery to use the interface plugs. I'm excited, 1 hour run time is not good enough I hope this is the solution, I'll keep you updated.

[jlsalas]

Hi again;
I understand that you will open the battery case and fix the two new bateries inside the case; Is this correct?
Regards

[exfokkerflyer]

Things have been rough around here lately, family going through some tough times. Buddies heard about it and invited me out to go flying. Good day for it, not too hot, mid to upper 90s, light breeze for autos... it was good to get out!

On my second flight with my Rave ENV with my trusty 14MZ, I was two minutes into the flight and at about 100 feet, about 150 feet in front of me, my transmitter low battery warning went off!

Got the heli back in, battery was at 18%. I remember looking at it on the first flight at about 80% fully charged a couple days ago... second flight was at 61%. Dropped 40% in about three minutes! I'm lucky that it didn't keep dropping, if it did, well I wouldn't have my beloved Rave anymore...

This was one of those cheapo eBay special batteries... It might need to be cycled and 'broken in', but judging by what I've seen so far, I'm not holding out much hope.

I'm pretty close to hanging up the 14MZ and relegating it for plane use. I have an 8FG with a lipo that I can fast charge should I need, and it works perfectly fine for helis.

Tom M