maukaonyx

Over the last few years, I changed all of my 4.8V Nicad battery packs to 6V NimH packs with 2000mAh or more. I like having more torque and more speed at nominal weight gain. My Ultimate has the 6V pack too. Most of my battery packs have come from an online battery store, and their prices make it easy to switch. In fact, I probably have to start renewing some of the oldest 6V packs as preventative maintenance. Jon

Oh, here are 2 fresh pics from a couple weeks ago.

pushinoldrc

My Feedback: (46)

When my packs start to react like this, Icycle them with my smart charger for 3 cycles and look for an increase in charge and discharge mAh rates. Ihave had batteries come back with no problems afterwards, and some have come back only to fail (in flight) only a couple of flights later.

I strongly suggest replacing the pack, preferably with a new 6v NiMh or LiFePo4 6.6v chemistry. I like my A123 batteries because Ican charge them at up to 10C in about 15 minutes at the field if need be. They also do not require cycling as they do not retain a memory.
Bryan

pushinoldrc

My Feedback: (46)

That is one beautiful bird. I haven't started my build yet, and Ihave been lurking in this forum for about 1 year looking for ideas, of which there are many.
Thanks to everyone for such motivation to get my build started. I will be posting build photos, but Ihave to get my wife'sTFGS corsair in the air first.
Bryan

notruthless

+1 for the benefits of genuine A123 batteries. Not all LiFe Po4 batteries are the same and do not have the same charge / discharge characteristics. A123 are LiFe Po4, but not all LiFe Po4 batteries are A123's.

Regarding A123's: The fast charge ability is great, but my favorite features are the consistent voltage and the high discharge (30C constant, 60C peak) when you need it. If your concerned about redundency on your batteries, you can use 2 - 6.6v, 1100mah packs on dual switches and still be nearly the same weight as a single 2300 or 2500 mah pack. They last for 1000+cycles.

nick1881

Well I switched the volt meter over to 4.8v just to see and it went straight to green. I think the battery dropped a cell. Gonna pick up a new one soon. I never thought about a wall charger only being able to charge 4 cells and not 5??? Anyone else have this experience?????

J.Paul Saure

Fuse is rough sanded, firewall, wing mounts and landing gear plate epoxied.

Low wing squared and drilled, it's starting to look (remotely) like a plane...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...0&l=18c99c35e3

Enough for this week, I think I won't have more progress soon.
I want to paint the aluminium struts before mounting.

Saludos,
Jean Paul

raubold

My Feedback: (156)

Go LiFe, i had it wiht NiMh, no more for me and the 6.6 works great for all my applications and has an awesome low self discharge rate. Weight to watt is great just as well.

nick1881

ok well i believe i found the culprit, and i feel a bit dumb. My futaba wall charger clearly states the out put is 50 mah at 4.8 volts, not 6 volts. duhhhhhhh

so what chargers has everyone been using to charge rx and tx packs. Accucycle elite????

J.Paul Saure

You found out alone the problem, I was about to write on it.
The standard wall chargers are not powerful enough for such a battery.

I've been using the Greatplanes Triton2, the Quick Field Charger MkII, and the Hobbico R/C Multi Charger for many years with no problems. Lately the Triton has seen most of the work done, connected to an old, big, 12V power source in my shop.

Today you have many alternatives, some dirt cheap from Hobbyking and many others from Greatplanes, Hitec, Multiplex, etcetcetc.
If I had to buy one today, I would probably go with the Accucel 6 or Accucel 8 from HK. Plus one of the small 12V power sources they sell. Be ware though, at the field over here there has been one or two "lemons" from HK, I guess with that price you can expect (and accept) it.
Note that I wouldn't trust HK for "critical flight mission" components!!!

nick1881

Thanksj. Paul. I have seen plenty of triton 2 for sale on eBay. Is it considered a "smart charger"? For lipo's I have the cell pro4 from fma. It tells the voltage of each cell, the amount of mah's put back in, battery percentage. so simple, yet it didn't break the bank. Anything out there for nice/nimh that's comparable????

Thanks for the help guys

Nick

J.Paul Saure

The Triton2 needs an external lipo balancer. For Nicd and Nimh works well, download the manual and see the details.
I normally use it to charge the rx and tx packs in 3-4 hours. It is also programable for break-in charge/discharge cycles.
It doesn't have settings for LiFe.

For the price, the Accucel6 is difficult to ignore...

Vince Wickline

Well I think it's time to build mine. It's been on the shelve for a very very long time, many many years... I think I bought it when the kit first came out. I'm still not sure what to power it with.. We shall see what I stuff in it.

I would love to get into the world renowned Ultimate 10-300 Brotherhood. Can I get a number to put on it?

Thanks,

alfredbmor

snapperheadprpductions, you are in, your official member number is #95, bear it with pride as you are a proud Carl Goldberg Ultimate biplane. Enjoy and share your building advances, thanks and welcome to our great brotherhood.

Vince Wickline

Number 95 I like that number, thanks....

Now for an engine choice

Revy

My Feedback: (1)

DLE 20! Perfect w-b with the split elevators!

ajflyer

Just trying this post and hoping it will join the C.G.U. Brotherhood thread and link me into the thread.
As a new comer to the forum, who is hoping to rebuild a damaged Ultimate Bluehawk,  I'd like to thank daveopam, CanDo and 52larry52 for their help so far. Thanks and safe flying.
Still not sure how I can link directly to the thread when I logon and go to My Forums ( the best I get to is the Kit building catagory.

J.Paul Saure

Hi there!

I've been putting some hours on my Ultimate lately, but with no pictures.

- bottom wing incidence checked, wing shimmed as it had some positive angle.
- top wing incidence checked, was 0, ok.
Plans show 0-0 for top&bottom wing.

- top wing checked and squared, was a little skewed so I had to redrill the fuse holes for the aluminium cabanes.
This is not mentioned on the instructions, only the squarness check for the bottom wing.

- Cabanes painted and assembled.

I finish my MBA degree this week, so I'll be logging more hours and pictures soon.


Saludos,
Jean Paul

Garthwood

AJFLYER..............I normally add the thread under "favourite". Hope this help.

Cheers.

Twin_Flyer

My Feedback: (4)

Anyone with a DLE 20 powered Ultimate, any pictures of the engine mounting would be appreciated! Did anyone reinforce the firewall? how big a fuel tank?

Starting the conversio on the used Ultimate I picekd up. Had a Como .90 in it (looks a like an Super Tiger, same factory??). I will order the replacment 'glass cown and aluminum landing gear from TNT next paycheck and loose the stock wire gear.


Thanks,
Bill S.

Revy

My Feedback: (1)

DLE 20 install...

The first flips...

Garthwood

REV................Sounds powerful. I like your covering job.

Revy

My Feedback: (1)

It wasn't finished then ,lol. Yes, it is an awesome motor for this plane. Lots of torque, fantastic pull with the 17x6 Xoars (16x8 works well too)...I love this plane!


BTW Kirby's Custom Graphics has the vinyl files for it.

Twin_Flyer

My Feedback: (4)

Revy,
outstanding job on that bipe, wow!

And thanks for the photos of the engine mount!

What size tank do you use?

Bill S.

Twin_Flyer

My Feedback: (4)

Revy,
Did you add any left thrust to the engine at all?

Also, where is your CG? I'll go by the plans to start, just wondering if you played with yours at all...

Bill S.

Revy

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks guys! Yes I did add some left thrust. You can barely see the ply I used behind the 1.20 sized mount. CG is at the furthest recommended point...2 7/8" from LE on bottom wing. Tank is an 8oz Sulli.