Regular AA batteries tend to wear out quickly in these R/C TX's, so I ordered this one: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__7346__rhino_2620mah_3s_11_1v_low_discharge_transmitter_lipoly_pack.html As with most of these chinese products, decent instructions are not given. That's bad enough, but if you hook these batteries up backwards you will probably fry your transmitter...... And so, here are the simple and somewhat obvious instructions. The first thing to note is that the black and red wires on the battery and the TX are properly colored - it's the connectors that you need to modify, add or worry about! It is possible to easily plug them in backwards. I removed the stock battery connector - note that, when looking at it from the back of the TX, the wires from left to right on the 9X are black-red. None of the connectors on this battery are the same exact (3 pin) connector on the 9X - BUT, both the black and the white connector will fit with these caveats... 1. The white connector must be sanded or filed down a bit in order to make it fit with the wires in the right order - that is, black on the left and red on the right. 2. The black connector slides onto the proper two leftmost pins (those are the only ones doing anything), but it sticks down too far and interferes with putting the battery in. I used to white one - sanded down - and it works fine. Just make 100% sure not to plug anything in backwards or you could fry your radio! Pictures as follows - First shows old battery pack removed from 9X with the connector in the same position as when it was plugged in - red on right (from rear view). Below Image shows new Lipo battery installed with sanded down white connector - and red once again on the right. I hope this helps some people! Next project - install smartiepants board and backlight!
No soldering. The newer 9x's have the battery pack (the AA's) plugged in with a white connector - 3 pins, but only two are used (as mentioned above, the left two). So no soldering - just a little sanding or filing as I did.
I've changed the plug to be a normal servo female conector, so it's common to all radio packs out there. (except JR/Spektrum junk) So now I can easily swap the radio pack between my Futaba and the 9X if needed.
