slopilot

How long of a flight will i get off the 350mah nimh battery?

evan-RCU

Over an hour but i would stick to an hour to have a safety margin and check the batteries after each flight to build up some data to track your battery life.

karlrado

Good advice. My "data" is that after a hour-long session, which includes the time between plane assembly and the time I take it apart, I usually put back 60-100 mAh with my charger. I am comfortable flying two such hour-long sessions between charges. But again, that is after I monitored the behavior of the first few sessions.

slopilot

Thanks. LHS should get it in on thursday with the battery. An hour is plenty long enough for me on one battery. I was expecting to have to buy multiple batteries.

karlrado

I'm interested to hear about your experiences with the Fling and how you fly it. I've flown it about 50 times off the included hi-start and the best flight I've had to date is about 5 minutes in a 8-14 mph breeze in a flat area. Nearly all the flights have been in this same flat area with little or no wind. I have not tried it on a slope with wind yet, but that's going to happen soon.

This is probably another way to say that I have not (yet) had to worry about battery life during long flights!

Djennings

Hello All,

Speaking of batteries for the Fling, which one did you use to install in the fuse? I purchased the fling a week ago, bought the Micro servo's and a battery but the battery is too large as well as the micro servo's. I guess I need the mini servos or the micro mini. Funny or most frustrating thing is that I even took my manual into the hobby store with me to do some comparison shopping, guess I should have take the plane in instead.

Any thoughts or Ideas on the battery type and size as well as Servo's?

Thanks,
DJ

BTW, the battery I was trying to use was a Ni-MH4 8V600mAh, I this this is for the Fire Bird. The servos they sold me were GWS Micro Servo STD.

rscarawa

Use the 350nimh flat pack that Tower sells. Place this behind the servos.

For servos, use two hs55 from hitec. THis is what I use and have had great luck.

Djennings

Hey Scott,

Thanks for the information, I had read a post where 2 people were using the GP400 and I was able to order them through Cheapbatterypacks.com, they were less than 2 dollars each with the wire leads soldered on. Not a bad deal, so I ordered 3 of them, plus shipping it was still under $10.00.

For the Servos, I will order the ones you indicated.

Thanks again for the info and cannot wait to fly this thing...

rscarawa

That battery is probably the way to go. It should last you a few hours of flying if you keep an eye on it. I would use a multimeter to check it after the first hr or so and then every 1/2 hr until you know the true endurance of the battery. I suspect my 350 mah battery will last atleast 3 hrs if it is fully charged. To be conservative, it would be best not to push it beyond 50% of its capacity though.

rposey

My Feedback: (42)

I have one but have not been able to get it airborne with the included Mini Hi-Start. The thing just does a big loop. Glide tests go just fine, balance good and trims set to center. Setup has HS55 servos and the recommended battery pack mounted behind the servos, receiver is a GWS 4 ch.

I have never flown a glider before and would like to get some relaxing flight with it.

Questions, sould I try moving the tow hook or add weight to the nose??

rscarawa

Does it do a loop after disconnecting? Are you using just the surgical tubing, or the full hi-start?

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

If the glider flies nicely from a hand toss, then the balance is OK. DO NOT add weight to the nose. You may try moving the towhook farther forward a hair, say, 1/4" or so. You want it to be able to go up with as little elevator input as possible. Just keep it straight with the rudder. Adjustment of the hook is what gets you there. If you need to hold down elevator to keep the glider from stalling or popping off into a loop, the hook's too far aft.

The glider should ride up the hi-start easily, level off at the top, and then just fly off the line (if you don't do a zoom or other such). If the glider doesn't want to come off the hi-start because there's still tension on the rubber, then add more line. On this glider 20' increments are a good way to start.

rscarawa

I think the tow hook for the fling is too far forward as is. I am thinking of moving mine back 1/4" or so. I am suspecting that he may be looping after it comes off the line. Still waiting on that clarification though.

When I use my full length of histart, since the hook is so far forward, it tends to pick up too much speed when going vertical. When it comes back to horizontal and comes off the string, the nose tends to rise. I have to hold it down for a second until the Fling settles down and then everything is normal from that point.

RPosey, are you having a problem with the plane popping off of the tow hook on its own?

kamakasi

My Feedback: (3)

noticed my fling was a little hard to launch on a full sized hi-start. After some messing around I found that backing off on the tension plus a couple of clicks of down did the trick ( the down is programmed to a switch ) so now when I launch I let the plane get 50 or so feet in the air the put the elevator back to neutral and things are good.
As far as a battery goes I've got a 720 ma nimh shoe horned in under the wing. Plenty of flight time. After 3 hours of use the battery still has 300ma or so let in it.

rscarawa

How many lbs of tension are you using on your high start?

kamakasi

My Feedback: (3)

3 to 4 lbs. depending on wind.

rscarawa

I am doing 5 lbs with the original hi-start if I use the whole thing (no wind). If I just use the surgical tubing, I use 3 lbs.

rposey

My Feedback: (42)

Replying to some the great ideas.
I think it is coming off the tow too soon and flipping over into a loop.
How do you'all measure the tension??
I may be putting too much tension and it just goes straight up and pops off the hook.
I will try again this weekend.

Thanks !!

kamakasi

My Feedback: (3)

I use a fish scale that I picled up at Walley World for about 5 bucks.

Djennings

Well all, sad to report that after many successful launches and flights with my Fling, the last launch had the plane go into a right hard turn, then went belly up and headed for the ground. [] Needless to say, the nose of the plane was buried almost 3 inches into the ground, semi soft soil that is. The fuse split in half and the tail section where the control line come out gave way under the stress of hitting the ground, snapped in half. So off to the local hobby store to buy another one, maybe I will consider getting a little larger glider, I already have the BOT but would like to have something in between.

Any suggestions on another mid-size glider, maybe something I can add a Electric Motor too?

Thanks...

rscarawa

I too use a fish scale to measure tension. I use about 5 lbs when using the whole hi-start.

A couple of things to think about. When you hand throw it, you say it flies fine? When you throw it on the high start, which direction do you throw it? I throw mine up at about a 30 degree angle. I think this keeps the speed on the line consistant. Is your tow hook parallel to the bottom of your plane? If not, then it will need to be adjusted.

If the hook angle is ok and throwing at a different angle does not work and the plane is properly trimmed, then you will have to do as was referred to earlier in this thread: Move the tow hook forward. Try moving it about 1/4 to 1/2 inch and see what you get. Kind of strange to have to do that though but maybe yours was located further back than other are.

Good luck and keep me posted.



Scot