andy04

Need a replacement battery, I have not used the Heli for about a year now, shelved it after a crash, got the new parts now and want to revive now, surely the original battery is dead, want to get a new one. The broken part was the controller so I am not 100% sure if it will work and so don’t want to send 25 -30 dollars on a battery.

Looking for a cheap battery, I found some Zippy batteries online and they are CHEAP, I know they do not have a good reputation but they will serve my purpose. Have a few questions

1. What config am I looking for, should I get any 11.1v 800/1000mAH battery and it should fit and work?
2. Will it charge with the stock charger that came with the heli? I do not want to invest in a new charger yet either.
3. What are the "S" and "C" ratings? What are they for? Should I be looking for a specific rating?

TIA

aircrash

Usually a li-po battery does get bad after a year. Even if it sit there with no maintenance.
Maybe you should try to charge it.
In any case:

1. Unfortunately there is no standard based to capacity. So there are some variations to the dimensions. Also there may be a difference to the plug, or even the plug missing.
2. Yes. No problem.
3. Well, S stands for Cell count, eg a 3S is a three cell battery, which is 11.1V if it is a li-po.
C stands for max discharge rate if nothing else is specified or for max charging rate if it is specified as such. Typically a li-po with more than 15C is OK for any use.

The most important is to get a battery that fits, has the right plug (or change it) and it does not weight more than the stock, or at least be close with less than a 10g difference.

andy04

cool, thanks, so if I understand this correctly. I can get any battery as long as the weight is similar +/- 10g difference.

As for as the connectors are concerned, can I just cut and attach the connectors from the original battery? I know I have to be careful about the polarity and stuff... but if I do that, it will fit the heli and the charger, so just to confirm with the replaced connector, it will charge on the stock charger?

aircrash

Yes, but don`t forget about the dimensions too. It must fit.

The charging plug is -thankfully- the same to all li-po in the market, or at least I have not seen any different one. It has got as a standard now.
The only difference is to the power connector (plug). As long as you can make some soldering then you can change it. DO not cut the cabnle and just strip it, you must solder it. Better do not cut the cable but just the plug.
But I`m pretty sure you`ll find the exact size/weight and plug for the HB almost everywhere.

andy04

What's wrong with cut, strip, electric tape? is it the weight? why is solder necessary?

aircrash

Cause the connection is not adequate for this kind of amperage that a helicopter`s motor draw.
Maybe it works at the beginning but the connection will get loose by time and after it is heated (not so good connection means that this point is heated, heat makes it even more loose, the problem gets worse, etc).

You can search the ebay for the battery code of your HB. Most propably you`ll find lots of them, ready with no mods to be done.

andy04

OK, the old battery did get charged and it powered up the heli, but the heli wouldn't take off, even at the max throttle, max rpm, it stayed on the ground... Can it be the battery? maybe its not holding enough charge anymore? or is it something else?

aircrash

Yes, it may be the battery but there more things that may cause it.
If you have a voltage meter then check the total voltage (all cells). It must be around 12.5 to 12.6V when it is fully charged and not lower than 12.3V if you take a reading right after of using the battery for one minute. If it reads less than this then it suffers from a huge voltage drop, meaning that its capacity has gone bad.
A li-po voltage meter is handy to have.

Is this the fixed pitch HB you have?
So, check if the rotor is spinning the right way. I don`t have one to tell but you can see the manual, it must tell about. Most probably the rotor must spin clockwise but check the manual as I said.

Of course check the total weight, per the manual.

I don`t know if the swashplate level (distance to the frame) has anything to do with the fixed pitch HB. But it may.
Check this guide.
It may tell about.

andy04

Thanks for the input, very helpful.

Ordered a voltage meter from ebay, but wont receive for another week or two.

I am not sure where all the manuals and stuff are but I think it might be the direction, I think I can do a simple test for the direction of the air. If it is not correct, what do I do? just reverse the polarity on the controller?

aircrash

Here`s the Honey Bee V2 manual http://www.heliguy.com/i/002434.pdf

Well, yes, you can reverse the polarity of the plug and make it spin the right way.

As long as you don`t plug the main motor to the tail`s output and vice versa then there is no problem to both the motors and the 4in1.
But if you plug the main motor to the tail`s motor output then you`ll fry the 4in1.

andy04

ya, is was rotating in the wrong direction, once I changed the polarity it worked! was working perfectly fine until I touched the wrong button on the remote by mistake... broke a few pieces again... oh well... will be ordering them now...  Thanks for all the help aircrash