Really sorry to have to ask this.....

[Ratrace]

As you may know I am a complete newbie to the rc world, I have the Heng Long Sherman with V7.0 electrical gubbins.

Now, I have spent most (yes most ) of today trying to find a suitable extra battery for it, apparently the stock battery is a 1800mah (?) LiPo.
After searching this site and several others and reading god only knows how many conflicting posts I am now of the opinion that these LiPo thingies are going to explode or burn my house down... surely this cannot be true? do you really need fireproof bags etc to charge them ?

Next up was Nimh.....again a bit of a minefield & even less of them come with the same XT60 connector.

I'm not going to be using the tank in any competions , I just want to have some fun around the house & garden but for longer than the 20ish minutes that I currently get, I might get another tank in the future so we can have some "family battles" in the summer so having some form of backups would be needed.

All that I've achieved today is to totally confuse and dishearten myself...

I would be eternally grateful if any of you could actually point me in the right direction of a UK stockist for suitable batteries and charger to suit.

I'm going for a lie down now, my head hurts,

[Kaczor]

LiPos are safe if you are using them properly.

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[Jofaur86]

Good evening, you will find attached an extract from the Blog of "Rad" with all the explanations on the different types of batteries. For the sockets, it is easy to change them, especially since the Tamiyas often generalized, are not Top, level of contacts and reliability
https://radindustries.wordpress.com/201 ... batteries/

[jarndice]

Ratrace Hi,
My goto is www.componentshop.co.uk for batteries and other electrical ancillaries,
They will at no extra charge fit whatever connector you wish to any battery you buy just ask,
As to LiPos,A lot of scaremongering has been written about them but treat them with the respect that you would any piece of electrical equipment and you will have no problems,
I do use an approved charging bag but in the many years I have been using them I have never experienced any problems.
NiMhs are fine but in small tank hulls such as the Panzer 111/4, Sherman you need a smaller battery with similar or better capacity which both LiPos and LiOns provide.
I use a Turnigy Accucel Charger which will charge anything from a lead acid battery onwards.
Component shop sell just about any suitable charger for reasonable prices I recommend them.
Hope this reassures you.

[tankme]

Li-Ions are what come with the newer HL tanks. The are safer than the Li-Po version IMO. Li-Ion 18650 cells are used in all the vape devices.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I run 2400 mAH MiMH batteries in almost all my tanks because they are less trouble to charge and good enough for my modest run times. I use LiPos when space is tight, and I do use a little charging bag. I have had no problems. Jarndice's advice seems good for a charger which will handle both types. I wish I could try that link, but the Atlantic ocean causes too much shipping cost

[RobW]

The other thing to look at is what you're doing with the tank. If you remove the battery box and fit the upper hull with magnets plus add some cable extensions you can switch batteries without tipping the tank over. If you're repainting or adding a lot of detail that's going to risk doing some damage if you forget to support the delicate bits. Removing the battery box also increases space & gives you some more options to alter the internal layout: only the gear boxes are fixed, and I always remove the smoker.
Another vote for Component Shop. Check their shop and Ebay, sometimes with batteries it's cheaper to buy from one or the other!

[Ratrace]

Thanks for the help guys, as a casual tanker I've decided to play it safe and go down the Nimh route, it's a bit of a tight fit and I had to get an adapter thingy to go from the XT60 fitting to the Tamiya connector on the battery.
This week I'm going to look at cutting out the battery box to free up a bit of space.

Thanks again for the help and advice, this really is a great place for newbies ( or old farts ) like me to learn.

[jarndice]

In common with many others on the Forum I also cut out the battery boxes on all my Heng Long Tanks,
Do make sure the batterybox cover can be retained in position,
A smear of filler will seal any gaps afterwards,
I have learnt that you must take care which struts surrounding the battery box to keep and which it is safe to remove, Get it wrong and you will have a hard time mounting body to hull securely,
This applies whether you are using the Heng Long mounting screws or Magnets,
A tip which will help with your battery's re-location,
Everyone now goes oh not that again.
I line the floor and the sides of the hull of my now unbattery boxed Tanks with velcro sheets,
This allows me to glue a strip of velcro to the battery and the base of the control board and the smoker and anything else that is going into the hull,
You can now place these ancillaries anywhere there is space whether it is on the side or the floor of the hull securely and yet removable whenever you need access.You will be surprised how much extra room you will find using this simple little mod.
Go to E-Bay for the velcro sheet and shop around some of the dealers ask very high prices for the stuff.

[Ratrace]

Thanks jarndice, keeping the strength in the hull was going to be my main concern before I started hacking things about.
I intend to keep the 2 halves screwed together for the time being as the internals are something I'm hopefully not going to be messing with a lot, I also like the velcro idea....something to keep in mind for the future.