Buying advice - chargers and batteries

[Gizmo3k]

So, I want to get into R/C partly for myself, and partly for my son. I will be getting my hands on my Dad's old Kyosho Raider (about 27 years old) next week, and will be looking to try and get it running again.

 

I will need a new battery (or two) and a charger for them, and I am trying to find out what my best option is. I don't want to break the bank, but want to be able to charge the batteries up as quickly as possible - I don't think my son will have much patience, although hopefully this will teach him some!

 

As far as I remember, the car uses Tamiya connectors, although I may be wrong. Is there an ideal battery size for trade-off between charging and running time? Is it worth going for a charger that will charge multiple batteries at once, or am I better off with a couple of single chargers?

 

Are there brands I should be avoiding?

 

I have been reading some of the articles on here, but I think I am reading too much - the answers are very comprehensive, and I am getting myself confused!

 

Finally, I have been looking at the Ripmax Jackal for my son, am I right in thinking these can take the same batteries? I think the connector is different, but I might be able to put together an adapter if needed.

 

Thanks!

 

Gizmo3k

[Isaacz93]

Venom nimh's are normally pretty good from my experience but a lot of them dont use the tamiya plug (a TRX one) but there are a few that do. Turnigy also does some good ones too,theres one Here that is high capacity and should fit in the raider. Normally its a good idea to stay away from cheaper makes but some are decent.

 

For a charger,i can recommend the Schumacher UAC-50 which is a relatively cheap charger and should be good to start off with and does all sorts of batteries if you decide to go onto LiPo batteries. 

 

But i am not sure about the jackal as the batteries look smaller.  The UAC-50 comes with a spare lead so you can solder any connector onto it that you want. Hope this helped a little,i am still relatively new to this hobby too.

Isaac

 

[stretch]

Nimh batteries vapextech make good ones and never had a problem with the ones i had. Charger i'd go with the 80w overlander  http://www.modelsport.co.uk/overlander-rc6-vsp-80watt-7a-output-ac-dc-charger/rc-car-products/379060 higher wattage than the core-50 which helps if/when you make the move to lipo.