Propo Special controller: May be safe to use NiMHs
 

Thanks to e_lm_70 for taking apart the Digi Propo Special, and
posting pictures of it in the gallery, we were able to learn about
a fuse in the controller that is not in the standard Propo
controller. It was a fair guess that the fuse was in line to
protect the controller from any damage from the batteries.

Because of that, I decided to use NiMHs in my Propo Special,
and after 2 weeks I'm having no problems yet :D

I decided to play with my regular controller, which I only used
for a few minutes the first day I got it with my car. I put the
NiMHs in, played for a little while, then I felt a little concerned
about damaging something, because I know that there's no
fuse in the controller. So I went back to the Propo Special.

I dug up the manuals for my controllers because I was looking
for any codes that might have been printed for the Propo
Special that I might have missed. First, though, I looked
through the manual for the regular Propo to check out the
warning about the NiMHs, and it was easy to spot because it
says 'NiMH' and has the recycle logo. And you see all the
exlamation marks. However, when I looked through the manual
for the Propo Special... there's no warning about using NiMHs!
Not on any of the pages, and not on the box itself.

I am truly convinced that using NiMHs in the Propo Special is
safe. But I do think that it's dangerous to use in the regular
Propo controller. I will continue using NiMHs in my Propo
Special, and will let everyone know if something does go wrong.

I have been using NiMh batteries in all four of my controllers for about a month now and I use them on a daily basis and I have had no problems yet. One of my controllers is the special and the other three are normal. I have done research on the NiMh batteries and I have found that they are 1.2 instead of 1.5v and that they hold the voltage LONGER, But I have found no information that supports the claims that most companies make about not using rechargables. Most people cofuse the Mah as power, But it is actually the amount the battery CAN discharge per hour of use. so it is not stronger, it just lasts longer than an alkaline. Also I just bought the NSX-R with the lights, so I might be interested in selling my yellow Beetle and controller if anyone is interested.

Adam, thanks for the info, that is definitely great to hear
about the NiMHs in the regular controller!

And you got the NSX-R, I think you're going to get so spoiled
with the lights :)

Have fun!

Not all Nimh work well with the controllers. I tried using Nexcell's but it couldnt charge the car. n e suggestions?

I use Ray-O-Vac and Energizer NiMHs from Wal-Mart. They both
cost about $12.00 for a 4-pack of AA. And I use the 1-hour
Ray-O-Vac charger, which cost about $30.00 and comes with
2 AA batteries. You can charge 4 AA batteries at a time.
It's an expensive charger, but really worth it for the quick charge
time :)

Ahhh yes, Nexcell. I've heard way too many negative remarks about those batteries to ever bother buying any.

Along with the Ray-O-Vacs and Energizers, I recommend Maha (also called PowerEX) brand.

As far as using that 1-hour charger...If you use good quality batteries then no problem, BUT with a charger that 'aggressive' (it charges at 1,800mA) you have to be careful and monitor temperature on lesser brand batts.

Good luck.

basically nimh batteries once fully charge hold about 1.45v and akalines have about this as well but nimh can hold up the voltage even when being drained quite heavily whereas akaline has difficulties as tehy ahve a higher internal resistance.

i measured the curent when charging a bit and with nimh the current only droped 0.02amps from the begining of the charge to the end whereas akalines start the same as nimh but drop off as the charge goes on about 0.2amps anmps less than teh start charge current.

i ahvebeen using nimh in my bits and my digi-q without any problems infact the cars seemed to ahve more punch after being charged on nimh batteries.

Chilledout, that it great information about the batteries,
thanks very much for that! I have some rechargeable
alkalines but never wanted to use them again because I do
notice in some of my portable devices that they don't perform
as well as NiMHs. I'm going to donate them to my coworkers
and stock up on more NiMHs this weekend :D

Namuna, I did notice a few times that the batteries got
extremely hot after charging. I read on some battery sites
that I can maximize the battery lifespan by taking them off the charger as soon as they're done charging, so I do that as often
as I can. But they do get really hot sometimes.

hmm, how bout NI CADS? are they safe? should i give it a punch?

it's not a matter of damage or anything....it's just if the batteries are down to 1.2v, the car won't charge.

that's why they say alkalines, cuz they're 1.5v. i've never used alkalines because i don't buy any. i've done testing with a meter, and i've found that the batteries are no good once they drop to 1.2v

alkalines have a high voltage, but it drops steeply under load. that's why sometimes...if u don't use things for a while, it seems to get power back? yea, that's it. nimh's and nicds actually HOLD a constant charge....and they average a more usable voltage. which is good

for both my tanks, i've only used nimh's. they charge up to around 1.52 volts, then they're no good once they reach about 1.2