Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[radiojoe]

Yeah Lipo's are a bit more to think about, storage charge, remembering to charge them before taking boat for a run etc. but they do give good service and power, I've been using them for around 5 years now and have not had any issues I do keep them in a metal ammo box, NIMH batteries are fine but if you want a bit of performance lipo's are better, I've been using a Turnagy Accucell 6 since my first lipo around £60 but it charges any battery from Lipo's to PB batteries and has the storage charge settings etc.


Joe

[Capt Podge]

Aye, that looks to be the way forward - once again many thanks for the info Joe 


Ray.

[radiojoe]

OK Ray   if there's one thing I'm good at it's spending other peoples money 


Joe

[Capt Podge]

 


Ray

[radiojoe]

Just thought Ray there's aways the 10 cell NIMH = 12 volt might give a bit more umph.


Joe.

[Capt Podge]

there's aways the 10 cell NIMH = 12 volt might give a bit more umph.

Joe.

This just goes to show how much I know about batteries Joe - I bought 2 of those packs, back in Oct and have yet to use them. I have been keeping them charged though.


So, next time out, I'll take those with me, along with a 7.2v 3300 pack and make the comparisons.


Edit:forgot to add, my 12v nimh packs are 2600mAh

Thanks again for the idea Joe.


Ray.

[Capt Podge]

Back to the lake this morning, breezy and blustering but a lovely day otherwise.

I've installed the 12v 2600mAh and it's made a big difference (thanks Joe)

It was a bit difficult to get photos with operating the Tx and the camera but did manage to get a few - and she did come up on the plane (just).

Quite happy with her now but, after watching others' performing on Lipo, I'll definitely go ahead and order up some kit and update when everything fitted and working.

So, here's the 3 shots I managed this morning...

Ray.

[Backerther]

Hi Ray;
 Congratulations for your happy and successful boating of the nicely finished Huntsman.!!
Especially, the first pic is really realistic on the water just in harmony with wave.
Each size of wave looks the same scale as your boat that I think makes the pic so realistic.!!
Looking forward to more pics as well as nice descriptions when you should go for the boating from now on.


By the way, I am a lipo battery fan so that I normally use lipo as my standard power supply for my cabin cruisers,
The standard lipo for me is 3S/2S 5000mAh and I normally carry 5 or so to the boating site.
From my experience, I could enjoy over 10minutes runs with each 5000MAh depending upon my style of sailing,not sooo fast..
At the longest about 15 minutes runs even that still maintained scale like speed sufficiently!!  

Kiyo

[Capt Podge]

Hi Kiyo, thank you for your kind words and I agree with you about the first photo.


You obviously go to your sailing area very well prepared - always.


I think the action shot you've put on looks great!


Ray.

[radiojoe]

Hi Ray   she does look grand on the water, if she planes with a 12 volt NIMH she'll fly with a Lipo, after some trials I ended up with a 3S 5000mah Lipo and I have to throttle back on turns, I was a bit dubious before getting Lipo's after hearing some horror stories, but as long as you put them in storage charge when not using them for some time they are no problem some of my Lipo's are 5 years old and are still in service, I've only had one puff up in all that time and that was down to me forgetting to put it in storage charge so I've binned one Lipo in 5 years, I've got into the habit of dealing with the lipo's after every run by putting them into storage charge up or down depending on the state of charge left in the battery, and as you probably already know don't run them too low it's worth getting a low voltage alarm to protect them, a cheap little thing that plugs onto the balance lead and reads out the total charge and the charge of each cell,  loads of them on e-bay,


Joe.

[Capt Podge]

Hiya Joe, thanks for the clarification regarding storage etc and the alarm thing.
I'll have to get down to concentrate on the pc later today and make sure to buy everything needed.


Cheers,
Ray.

[Backerther]

Hi Joe;
Indeed,you have explained the characteristics of lipos to the point,haven't you !!
One of my lipos (yellow) has swelled already like my belly 20years ago and will be dismissed from the service in a very near future if it should go on puffing up..!!
While blue one is still working very well, though much older than yellow one.


Kiyo


 

[Stuw]

What a transformation from page 1! I agree she looks great on the water. 


Quick question - what is storage charge? I’ve got a couple of lipos in a protective fireproof bag but as I haven’t used them yet ive charged them up to avoid low voltage...

[radiojoe]

Hi Stew  the correct storage charge is 3.8 volt per cell most Lipo chargers have a storage charge function usually about 40% , never leave a Lipo in a fully charged state for long periods.


Joe

[Capt Podge]

Hi All,

Well, I've taken the plunge and bought the items I need to start moving over to LiPo batteries.

I wasn't confident enough to order via internet and so, after a couple of phone calls to Kyje and Jason at Component Shop, I've acquired what I needed. These guys really know their stuff and were really helpful in making the decisions as to what was needed.

Here's a few photos of what I got...

...and to get started I've done a balance charge on both batteries and followed that by putting them into Storage mode.

I'll update further when I get the chance to swop over wiring etc.. and get the boat back down to the lake.

Ray.

[radiojoe]

Looks like you've been on a trip to "NASA" and bought back a few souvenirs       yeah a bit daunting at first but you'll soon get used to them.


Joe.

[Capt Podge]

Looks like you've been on a trip to "NASA" and bought back a few souvenirs       yeah a bit daunting at first but you'll soon get used to them.


Joe.

 
Cheers Joe.


I was wondering about the settings for the storage amps. I set it at 1 amp but it took nearly two hours and I'm thinking it should be up to 2.2 amps - does that sound about right please?


Ray.

[radiojoe]

Hi Ray I do my charging and storage set at 2amps being a default setting on my charger , storage charge dose take quite a while depending the state on charge of the lipo I guess it's a slow process to avoid heat build up.


Joe

[Capt Podge]

Oke doke, thanks for the info Joe and hopefully I'll be able to get the boat sorted soon. 


Ray.

[grasshopper]

I was under the impression [size=78%]that with a smart charger you can do everything at the 1c rate ( or up to the battery’s limit) but the setting you tell it you want to do sorts everything else out[/size]

As it measures individual cells it knows what voltage each cell should be at at any given moment…..the other setting would be discharge rate and I leave that at the max.

[Capt Podge]

Hiya Grasshopper, this is where confusion comes into it. I'm still re-reading the charger instruction manual. In particular, the 'C' portion. My batteries are 35C but I don't seem to be able to understand what that means?


Ray.

[JimG]

The C is the capacity of the battery, in your case 5000mAh (or 5Ah) Ideally this can deliver 5 amps for 1 hour although in real life the capacity will be slightly lower than this. The 35C is the maximum current that should be taken from the pack, in your case 35 X 5 = 175amps. (This would actually flatten the pack in less than 2 minutes so not a likely scenario but should not cause lasting damage to the cells although they would be very hot at the end of the run.) As long as you keep well within the maximum current you will be OK, a slightly warm pack at the end of the run is perfectly OK just let it cool down before recharging.
Jim

[Capt Podge]

Hiya Jim, that's a great response from you and now it's crystal clear to me so thank you very much for your comprehensive answer.


Much appreciated. 


Aye,
Ray.

[grasshopper]

And looking at the photo it says you can charge at 5c but that’s not something I would trust.


When in a hurry I’ve charged small lipos at 2c but it’s not something I’d do regularly like I would ‘old fashioned’ NiCd and NiMh cells.

[Capt Podge]

Thanks again Grasshopper, all noted and understood,


Next point : Forgot to include the low-voltage alarms, which I bought at the same time, in the photos.
Do these attach to the balance lead only while they're in the boat?... Or maybe during transit to and from the lake.


Just want to play safe with these things.


Aye,
Ray.