Treeflyer

I have recently assembled and flown (and then reassembled) a Mountain Models Dandy Sport. I spent last summer flying the Slow stick. I now have a collection of about 6 nicad/nimh batteries. Before I collect more, I am hoping to make the jump to LiPo. I have read a fair amount about them and found a website www.radicalrc.com that seems to have a fair selection. I now own the Pixie 20 programmable ESC. I need a charger for 2 and 3 cell packs and a 2 cell pack to get me started. Is it possible to make this leap for $90-100 for the charger and 1 pack? Are the packs listed at radicalrc what I am looking for and if not could someone point me in the right direction? Also, will 1020 mah packs provide enough discharge rate to power the speed 300 motors I currently run in the slow stick and Dandy?

Thanks for the help

crashingagain

The 1020s will be pushed too hard by a speed 300 in most cases. Etech 1200s, Thunderpower 1320s, or Kokam 1500s would be a better choice.
You can get $30 dollar lipo chargers but you get what you pay for, I own a Triton ($120) and it treats my lipos well and can charge everyting else I have as well. The pixie 20p will work great with the lipos. Check out Bishop power products, they have lipos and cheap chargers.

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

crashingagain's advice is good.

Kokam 1020 LiPolys are first-generation cells only capable of about a 3C discharge, or three times the cell's capacity. That's only 3 Amps on the 1020s. A Speed-300/EPS300C/EPS350C setup will draw upwards of 8 Amps. You're talking about fried battery pack in record time

While you can run three packs of 1020s in parallel to get enough capacity to run the motor, why bother when there are now second and third-generation cells out there that can handle the load? For my money, the best deal out there right now is the Kokam 1500. It's an 8C cell, meaning it can handle a 12 Amp load without having to parallel multiple packs together, and assembled packs are starting to come way down in price, around $16 a cell. The Etecs are good too, but they're only 6C cells.

Treeflyer

Great advice. Thanks! When you mention that you get what you pay for with regard to a cheap charger, what exactly do you mean. I realize I am not far enough along to realize the subtleties of battery charging since a crash usually marks the end of my flight session and not depleted batteries. So, specifically, what would I miss in a $30 lipo charger that I would come to require 6 months down the road?

Thanks again