RCMikeofIndiana wrote:Ergocentric,
I understand the voltage is safe. It is the amperage that they were referring to being to high that may cause the burning out of the receivers and/or servo's. Most commercial A123 pack sellers also talk of having a heavy duty switch & wiring to handle the high amperage.
Your friends are confused.
Current is the flow of electricity.
The magnitude of this flow (current) is determined by the pressure (voltage) and the resistance to the flow.
There's a formula called Ohm's Law which says: I = V/R (where I is current, V is voltage and R is resistance.
So, the only things that determine how much current flows into/through your RC gear is the voltage you apply and the resistance the servos, receiver, etc represent.
Think of it this way...
The battery in your car can deliver several hundred amps - which is more than enough current to turn you into a smoldering block of carbon.
However, if you put your hands across the terminals of that battery -- nothing happens. There aren't hundreds of amps surging through your body because there's just not enough voltage (pressure) to push that current through the resistance of your body.
The only way you'll get more current to flow is by either raising the voltage or reducing your resistance.
Now an A123 pack *can* deliver more current when it's asked to -- but that's a very good thing!
If you have a linkage that becomes stiff then the servo on that linkage will have to work harder to move the control surface -- that means it will draw more current. If your battery is a wimpy AAA or even AA -sized NiMH one, it may not be able to deliver the required current so its voltage will drop. The result could be a brownout that crashes your model.
By comparison, the A123 will deliver the required extra current and the servo will continue to move. If you regularly check how much current you're putting back into your batteries when you recharge them you'll soon spot the fact that something is using more current than usual and that might lead you to save your model by investigating and finding the faulty linkage.
The only time an A123 will fry anything is if you have a major problem such as a stalled servo or short-circuit in your wiring. In the former -- the servo will probably fry -- but the rest of your system will probably continue to work -- possibly saving your model.
RCModelReviews.com, just the facts.