Edgeomatic

My Feedback: (2)

I need some help with how to use these batteries.

My Questions:

1. What charger to buy?

2. How do you check before each flight and what checker to buy?

3. How many flights per charge (35% Edge 540 using 2 packs on 1 reciever controlled by a smartfly)?

Thanks for the help.

Highflyer2

My Feedback: (1)

Go to the 123 faq section of the hangtimes hobbies web site. It will answer all your questions.

http://www.hangtimes.com/

John

Edgeomatic

My Feedback: (2)

So you can't check after every flight? You just rely on the math problem and hope nothing sudden happens?

flatspinjim

My Feedback: (3)

That's correct. The first couple of times you fly, I would fly 2 flights and recharge, check how many mah you use. That will tell you how many mah you use per flight. Not really a big deal. Both my 35% planes use around 150 mah per flight. I can get atleast 8 to 10 flights no problem. More than enough for me.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Edgeomatic

My Feedback: (2)

So to be safe I could just charge every 4 or 5 flights then? Can you check voltage to just insure that both cells are good? My only worry is loosing a cell like the Fromco Batteries have before for me.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Yep probably more like 5 flights. If you use one charger, you'd probably do both in 20 minutes. With two, 10 minutes.

First the A123 cells are much more robust than any other technology. That's why they were developed for power tools. They can take a lot of abuse. Much more than the Lithium Iion, which is what I'm guessing the Fromeco was? Lion don't have anywhere near the charge and discharge rate the A123 do (55 amps on the 2300). So the A123 won't get damaged from charging. They can take a lot of charge/discharge cycles. They can take a lot of physical abuse too. Any battery can go bad no matter what technology it is. Because you are balance charging you will likely catch it far in advance of losing a cell in flight. These new balance chargers have great error cheking while it charges. The Fromeco Lion are not in the same ball park as the A123.

Also you can discharge check the new A123 packs which is what all of us are doing. My AccuCycle Elite does it. Down to 5.5 volts at the lowest. Or 6V if you like. It won't hurt it. Just not down to 4 volts or something excessive like that. The Triton also discharge cycles.

If you use all the above guidlines your chances are pretty low to have problems in flight. I have two 50cc hard core 3D planes setup with a single 2300 and I'm thrilled with the packs. I'll never go back to the high discharge NiMh. They worked ok but the A123 charge in 10 minutes at 4 amps. They maintain a constant 6.6 volts under any load. Impressive.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

PS: You can load check them before flight, the voltage will never drop. It'll probably be about 6.5 volts all the time.

Mikecam

Hangtime sells the voltmagic. It will work like a fuel gauge and it also does much more. I use mine and enjoy the piece of mind. I also use the FMA multi 4 and I did the mod to balance charge right thru my charge jack.


http://www.voltmagic.com/

BoomerSooner

My Feedback: (80)

i Have three thunder power 610c chargers I use on my A123's. I think its a great charger and simple to use. Many different modes for charging and will charge at 10 amps. I have A123's in all my aircraft. I typically run a redundant setup. I have two Fromeco Iron corps extreme 2300 mah in my extreme flight extra and I can fly all day long and still am yet to put half the capacity pack in after a days flying. i think they're great batteries

Capt Lou

Highflyer and Joe AP gave you good advice. I have been using A123's in my 3 giant scale planes for the last two years and I can't say enough good things about them. Hangtimes Hobbies web has good info and it sells quality battery packs. I have purchased nine 2300 mah A123 packs from them with only good results and, if needed, Hangtimes gives good and fast support.

For a charger, I purchased a CellPro Multi4. It's a good charger that is very versatile and easy to use. You can find out more about the charger on its web at www.fmadirect.com.

I have 3 giant scale planes with the same battery set-up, one 2300 mah A123 for the ignition, and two 2300 mah A123 for the flight pack. I use two packs for the RX for safety back-up. I usually get 5-6 flights out of each charge before I re-charge all packs and, at that time, I still have only used about 20-30% of the packs capacity. On average, after 5-6 flights, my CellPro Multi4 restores about 400-450 mah to each pack. The Multi4 provides good diagnosis and information about your packs after each charge.

One of the negatives about A123's, is that you can't put a volt meter on it to check the pack because of one of the benefits of the technology is its constatnt voltage. The way I check my packs is to charge them just before I go out to fly and after the charge cycle my Multi4 gives a good read out on battery fuel level. If I still have concerns, then, after 1-2 filghts, I recharge and check the readings again. On average, I use about 80-90 mah per flight and with 2300 mah in the pack you have plenty of spare capacity.

Capt Lou

rctom

There is good information here;

http://wildharerc.com/downloads/documents/A123-info.pdf

TF

Edgeomatic

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks for all the help. I have recently found out that I don't have balancer plugs on my batteries. How should I go about this problem?

Highflyer2

My Feedback: (1)

Can you supply a pic of the pack in question? If it is from hangtime hobbies the A123's could have been ordered with a single lead. If this is the case charging and balancing would be accomplished thru a common lead. The charger would have to be able to handle this. The FMA Multi 4 is one such charger.

Hope this helps.

John

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

After seeing your pic, I'd have them installed. See my recent e-mail to you. Richard at WrongwayRC.com will do such work if you can't.

Jake I'm attaching the picture you e-mailed me so others can see what you have. I advised Jake to have Deans micro 3-pin balance plugs installed on the packs so he can leave them plugged into his Smart Fly. That way he can charge at 4 amps without melting his balance plugs. These Deans are good up to 10 amps. Then you can make a 3-pin Deans micro adapter for your charger. That would be the trick setup (this is what I have but I have the charge jack version so I can charge from the outside of my fuse).

If you didn't want to do all that, the minimum you'd have to do is take the charge plug/leads that comes with the Cell Pro and solder the black and red leads to a Dean's Ultra male plug. Then you'd have to unplug each battery from the Smart Fly and plug them into Cell Pro to charge. But this would not be a balance charge which totally defeats the Cell Pro's main benefit: balance charging.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

Install one of these charge jacks per pack. Trick setup. Got mine custom made at WrongwayRC.com. Up to 10 amp charge rates outside the plane. Sweet.