🔋 NiMH
Nickel-Metal Hydride battery — heavier and lower-voltage than LiPo, but tougher, cheaper and more forgiving of abuse. Common in beginner RTRs.
What it actually does
Nickel-metal hydride was the standard RC battery before lithium took over, and it still has a place. NiMH is far more forgiving than LiPo: it does not need balance charging, it tolerates being left partly charged, and it will not be ruined by one careless session. That makes it the sensible choice for a child's first model and for toy-grade replacements.
In practice
The trade-off is weight and performance. A NiMH pack of the same capacity is heavier than its LiPo equivalent and its voltage sags more as it drains, so the car slows noticeably towards the end of a run rather than staying strong. Packs are usually 6-cell (7.2V) or 7-cell (8.4V) in the sizes fitted to RC cars.
Worth knowing
Set your ESC to NiMH mode when you run one. An ESC left on the lithium setting will cut power far too early and make a perfectly healthy NiMH pack feel dead.
Related terms
What a free account actually does
RC Crash Crew remembers your RC so you don't have to. Every run, every battery cycle, every breakage and every fix — kept with the rig it happened to, for as long as you own it. No cost, no advert, no catch.
🏎️ Your garage — the part that works on day one
Build each rig properly: what motor, what ESC, what gearing, what tires. Then keep its whole history in one place.
- Run log — where, how long, how it went
- Battery health — cycles, puffing, when to retire it
- Component hours — what is worn out before it fails
- Setup sheets you can copy between rigs
- Radios and model memory
- Photos, kept with the rig
🔧 When it breaks — and it will
The bit people actually search for at 9pm with a broken car on the bench.
- Crash Bay — log the damage, see what other people broke
- Repair Desk — what you did, and whether it held
- Tune — symptom in, fix out, by chassis type
- RC AI that can see your own rigs and answer about them
📍 Where to run, and what is near you
Tracks, bash spots and hobby shops, on a map, across 28 countries.
- 505 run spots
- 370 hobby shops
- Race nights and events
- Add the ones we are missing — most towns are still blank
📚 Learn it properly, free, no sign-up needed
547 things explained — and none of it is a two-line stub.
- 30 full guides, averaging 1,450 words each
- 466 glossary terms
- A wiki any trusted member can correct
- 195 models and 142 parts on file
Straight with you: the site is new and the crew is small. The tools, the guides, the map and the 505 run spots are all here and working today — the people are what is still missing. If you want a garage that remembers everything, it works from your first run. If you want a busy forum, come back later, or be one of the reasons it gets busy.