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RC Car Battery Upgrade (How To Upgrade Your Battery)

Owning your RC car is very fun but if you have been using it for a while you may want to make it a little faster or give it better acceleration. This is because as you drive the RC car you get more confident in its abilities, and you will begin to feel like the car is moving a little slower. 

Your RC car is not moving slower, you have just gotten used to how fast it moves. 

After you have used your RC car for a while you may want to make it faster, but how do you do that?

Upgrading your RC car battery is easy to do in most cases as you can just buy a more powerful battery and swap it out with your current one. In some cases, you will need to purchase an adapter to be able to increase the power of your RC battery. 

Depending upon which RC car you have will depend upon which types of batteries you want to upgrade to. When you upgrade your battery you want to make sure you get the same brand as you currently have. 

If you currently have NiMH batteries you will want to upgrade to LiPo. A LiPo battery pack is lighter and has more power and is the same size as other batteries. 

Upgrading your RC car battery to a LiPo battery will immediately allow you to make your RC car faster. You can also speed up your RC car by getting an upgraded motor. Moving from a brushed motor to a brushless motor will allow you to have more than enough power to go flying through the grass, mud, and other slippery surfaces.

Changing to a lithium polymer battery will help to power that upgraded motor far more than NiCD batteries or NiMH batteries will.

To see the most powerful RC car batteries on the market currently, just click here. 

HYPER GO H16DR 1:16 Scale Ready to Run 4X4 Fast Remote Control Car, High Speed Big Jump RC Monster Truck, Off Road RC Cars, 4WD All Terrain RTR RC Truck with 2 LiPo Batteries for Boys and Adults

A good RC car doesn’t have to cost a fortune. This 1/16 scale model is 4WD and can reach a top speed of almost 30 MPH!

With speeds like that and 4WD you can take this RC car almost anywhere!

Can You Upgrade Your RC Car Battery? 

There are some people who think you should not upgrade your RC car battery and you should stick with the one that comes with it. Most of the time this is because they did not buy a good RC car to start with, so they would rather buy a new RC car rather than upgrade the one they currently have. 

If you have a good RC car such as a Traxxas RC car or other good brands, you can easily upgrade the battery. If you have a cheap generic RC car then you will likely not be able to upgrade to a better battery and instead, you should purchase a better quality RC car. 

Traxxas makes it extremely easy for you to upgrade the battery in their RC cars. This is because their RC cars are user-friendly as they want you to work on them and have fun playing with them. 

Other RC car manufacturers allow you to change the battery in the RC car, but it may not be as easy to do compared to the Traxxas RC cars. 

To upgrade your RC car battery you will want to find one with a higher MAH rating (milliamp hours) and that has a higher voltage to power your RC car. You will also need to upgrade to a different battery charger.

LiPo batteries use balance chargers that are designed to give you a better charge to make sure that your battery gets the right amount of voltage while it is charging. Your LiPo charger will also ensure that your battery does not overcharge through the use of voltage protection.

One thing to keep in mind after upgrading your RC car battery and the engine is that you don’t go too fast that you lose traction/grip and can no longer control your RC car. If you find that your vehicle can’t handle the power you might want to get full spikes for your tires to help with that.

How To Upgrade Your RC Car Battery

Before you upgrade your RC car battery, you will need to purchase a new battery.

For some RC cars to upgrade your RC car battery you simply have to buy a more powerful battery that is compatible with your current RC car. Each model is different so your specific RC car might require an adapter to be able to upgrade to a better battery. 

Upgrading Traxxas Batteries

Most Traxxas RC cars allow you to swap out the battery to get maximum power without needing to change anything or use an adapter. You simply have to buy a better battery, take out the current one and plug in the new pack’s balance plug.

Upgrading Losi Batteries. 

On most Losi RC cars, if you upgrade to a LiPo battery, you will need to adjust the battery holder to make it a little bigger. This can be done by simply breaking off the clips for the battery holder so the new bigger battery fits where the original battery was located. 

Upgrading Arrma Batteries

Arrma actually uses a tray to hold the battery for their RC cars. This tray slides into the RC car and holds the battery in place. When you upgrade to a LiPo battery, all you need to do is make sure that the LiPo battery will fit into the Arrma tray. 

The connectors on the LiPo battery and the original battery are the exact same, so you do not need to worry about a connector. You will be able to replace an 1800 mAh battery with a 5000 mAh LiPo battery on most Arrma RC cars. 

Upgrading Redcat Batteries

When upgrading to a Redcat LiPo battery, you will notice that the connector that the original Redcat battery connected to is different from the one on the LiPo battery. You will need to purchase an adapter for the battery before you replace it. 

This is good to know so when you buy your LiPo battery for your Redcat RC car, you can also purchase an adapter so they arrive at the same time. 

You can buy a Redcat battery adapter by clicking here. 

Which Battery Is Best For An RC Car?

While there are many batteries to choose from, you will want to look at the weight, voltage, charge, run time, and charge of the battery before you buy it. For some people, the lighter battery is what they want while Other people would rather have a more powerful battery that is heavier. 

The best battery for your RC car will be a Lithium Ion (LiPo) battery. A LiPo battery is much more powerful than the other options and will also last much longer in between charges. 

To see the most popular LiPo batteries currently available just click here.

Conclusion

Overall it is pretty easy to upgrade your RC car battery from Ni-Cads or Ni-Mh batteries to Li-Po batteries. If you did not spend a lot of money on your original RC car it may not have come with a Lipo battery, and you will definitely want to pay to upgrade it. 

A Lipo battery is the fastest way to upgrade your RC car and make it faster without very much hassle. These batteries are extremely powerful and come in a variety of sizes. 

This ensures that you are able to fit these new batteries in most RC cars without any modification to the body. 

If you are looking for a good place to get a variety of different batteries that you can use to upgrade your RC cars you can find them all by clicking here!