Beginner to drone racing 4s or 5s?

[Onyx]

Oh wow, thanks a lot for all the tips @High TechPauper! I'm gonna try to solder with my brother electronic's, he has some experience in that, and i prefer to be able to repair my quad like you said, i really want to get into this hobby, even if it means taking more time to repair than to fly!
I've got a last question (for an airplane that is collecting dust in my garage), i need a new battery, and the old one was a NiMH 950 mah 8.4 volts. Is it ok if i replace it with a 1500 mah Lipo 3s? (the esc supports 4s, but the motor of the plane i don't know) is it bad to change from Nimh to Lipo's? Will it fry some of the electronics?

 

[HighTechPauper]

Oh wow, thanks a lot for all the tips @High TechPauper! I'm gonna try to solder with my brother electronic's, he has some experience in that, and i prefer to be able to repair my quad like you said, i really want to get into this hobby, even if it means taking more time to repair than to fly!
I've got a last question (for an airplane that is collecting dust in my garage), i need a new battery, and the old one was a NiMH 950 mah 8.4 volts. Is it ok if i replace it with a 1500 mah Lipo 3s? (the esc supports 4s, but the motor of the plane i don't know) is it bad to change from Nimh to Lipo's? Will it fry some of the electronics?

Hi Onyx,

Went to see what the experts at RCGroups had to say about this subject and even though they are talking about helicopters I think the same applies to your plane.

First and most important...
The nominal voltage of a 7 cell NiMH pack is 8.4v so that sounds like what you have.
2s Lipo - Any bigger and you risk destroying the model, due to the likelihood of more marginal motors and electronics used back in the day, if you try to put a 3s on it you may kill it. Plus the much lighter weight of the lipo should balance out a bit the 12% lower nominal voltage. The one concern is at what voltage will the planes electronics/motors stop working because that makes a big difference in whether this will all work as described or fall out of the air after 1 minute of flight time. you would need to get a 2s, hand hold it and run the bat down and see if the plane loses power or control before the lipo gets to 6.2-6.4 volt range. If that worked I would try a flight to slowly test distance range.

Second...
If there are any radio crystals involved in the model or the transmitter, or old fashioned or proprietary parts that you need or will need to fly and repair the thing, you better scour to see if you can get them now still (possibly obsoleted in the now fast evolving hobby of RC flight) or else you will spend money on a battery and still won't really be able to use it.

Link below, but I think those are the biggies I'd think about before hitting the buy button on anything

8.4v NiMh conversion to Lipo - RC Groups