crash_expert

My Feedback: (4)

I would really like to get your take on useing a Lithium-Ion redundant battery system. I am going to purchase my first set of Duralite Plus Lithium-Ions "Jet Package"

Personaly the whole technology really scares me. To many horror stories . I am used to NiMh. I know that the redundant system is an extra safety measure, but to get the pros and cons from the people useing them will really help me in my decision.

Thank you

sideshow

My Feedback: (11)

Crash...no worries. I have Duralites on both my jets (got them from DreamworksRC). They work great, 8 flights.....no charging. Just be sure to use the right charger. I use the Orbit V6 but the Duralite charger will work perfectly. They're not cheap...but the benefit is worth it. I have a very limited time in which to fly....not charging between flights is priceless.

yeahbaby

My Feedback: (21)

ditto to Sideshow's comments.

I put another 6 flights on my King today using the Duralite setup. 3 flights with hot pumps in between. wicked smart. know what I mean. I've put as many as 11 in one day using those batteries when I field charged after flight 6 for about 30 minutes or so and then flew another 5. use the battery checker before flight to confirm they are still in top shape and bring lots of fuel.

follow the directions and use their charger.

I held off using this "new" technology until all the experts had blazed the trail of reliability and performance out of them. I'll give 'em two thumbs up.

Jack and Rachelle are good folks and support their products 100% in my experience.

good luck

buck

highflyer353535

My Feedback: (3)

i agree thats all i use is duralites and knock on wood i have yet to have any failure and plant any jets

JohnVH

My Feedback: (38)

If your into Li-Ions, and want to save a few bucks on the exact same cells, www.fromeco.org I am currently using 7 of their packs and it is very nice to not have to charge at the field all the time!

crash_expert

My Feedback: (4)

Thank you guys. I looked at them both the Duralite and the Fromeco batteries. I weighed the options and I am going to go with the Duralites, there redundant system has me sold.

Not to mention TOdd over at [link=http://dreamworksrc.com]DreamworksRc[/link] was very helpful and did not try to sway my options one way or another between brands.

To the Moderators! No, I am not in any way affiliated with DreamworksRc or any Rc company for that matter. I just wanted to state my satisfaction about an Rc company that has a real person that knows what they are talking about and can provide great customer service.

cactusflyer

My Feedback: (4)

crash_expert,

I've been using Lithium-Ion batteries on the FADEC for about six months. I bought mine from Maxx Products along with the "cheapy" charger and they work fine. I had to back down the glow power on my Wren's auto-start because I started popping plugs due to the higher voltage just after charge. Check out: [link]http://www.Maxxprod.com[/link]

Tailwinds,

John

sirrom

My Feedback: (4)

crash_expert,
I also use the Li-Ion batteries for my jets and I love them. I started out using the Duralites but have now switched to getting my batteries from a guy locally who sells them. www.troybuiltmodels.com The owner is a great guy to deal with and very honest and will go out of his way to satisfy you. As far as the redundancy on the packs what you have to realize is that if you buy a 4 cell Li-Ion pack from any vendor you are going to have redundancy. What I have come to find out is that duralites is using the same cells that my guy uses but charging quite a bit more for a lesser capacity pack. Don't get me wrong I have duralites still and use their chargers and they do have great support and so does Todd, but I work hard for the money and I don't just like to give it to somebody because everyone else is using them. I have three of the 4 cell packs from TBM and they all work just as well as my duralites.

Patrick.

p.s. for the record I do not work for nor am I affiliated with troy built models in any way.

lov2flyrc

My Feedback: (24)

Patrick,
Curious....Do these packs come with a Stay Balance Charge Safe Circuitry? What is the warranty on the packs?
Todd

sirrom

My Feedback: (4)

Todd,
No they don't come with the Charge Safe Circuitry, but the charger already has it built into it. I regularly charge the batteries I get from him on my duralite charger and they charge the exact same way the duralites do. Plug them in light comes on, light goes off charge done. I have about 75 charge cycles on the very first pack I bought from him because I thoroughly test anything new that I try. The charger performs just like I have a duralite battery hooked up to it. And if a user is really that concerned about it, buy a KOKAM charge save circuit to put in the charge line which does the same thing as the charge safe circuit built onto the battery.

Also wanted to mention, I charge the LiPO pack for my sons park flyer on my duralite charger also and it also behaves the same way as if it were a duralite battery.

As far as the warranty goes, I have never had a problem with him but I looked at his site and his warranty on his batteries is kind of vague, I mentioned this to him today in an email and he is in the process of revising his site to clarify what kind of warranty he offers. Speaking of warranties, I took the time to actually read the duralite warranty today. It is a very specific warranty.

Todd, as I said in my previous post, I don't want to get into a pi$$ing match with anyone about this, I choose to use his batteries and have not had one problem with them or with him. I just threw it out there as an option to the duralites. I was not trying to step on any toes. As we all know healthy competition in the market place breeds innovation.

patrick

Once again the disclaimer: I am not affilitated nor work for Troy Built Models.

lov2flyrc

My Feedback: (24)

No pissing match coming from me Patrick..... Always looking to supply my customers with high quality product at afordable pricing. My question was legitimate curiosity, was a bit unclear on the site regarding both items. If his product was comparable I might look into it further. Duralite charger has the Charge safe circuitry built into it too, double safty there.... If used with these batts you are protected. But, the Duralite batteries now come with the Stay Balance Charge Safe Circuitry, does quite a bit more than just protect agains overcharge.....Have a look [link=http://www.duralitebatteries.com/circuitry.html]HERE[/link] for more info....
Regards,
Todd

sirrom

My Feedback: (4)

Todd,
I took a look at the site and that is pretty nice feature. If you take a look [link=https://www.fmadirect.com/site/fma.htm?body=Products&cat=28]here[/link] you will see that the kokam charge safe circuit does the exact same thing.

I am glad that this is a place for people to exchange ideas to make this hobby better for all.

Patrick.

yeahbaby

My Feedback: (21)

Crash-Expert

I went out and got another 6 (8:30+ min) flights today on my Duralites. they probably still have another 3 or so flights in 'em. my biggest limitation is the Jersey modeler fuel can battery. gotta get a bigger pack.

these things work and by the sounds of it, there are other options out there also. just depends on what you want and what level of prefabrication I guess.

hope everyone has a great weekend.

buck

Davidso

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Buck;

I have recently switched to Duralites (thanks to Bags). I am running two (2) 2000 packs for the super Bandit and I can get 4 flights and after that the voltage on each battery reads 7.05 and I stop there... I charge the batteries at home with the Duralite charger. I have setup one of my field schulze chargers(ver 8.06) for Li-ions at 2 cells with I=.40 for Akku1 and Akku2 is default .330amp. I was told by Rachelle that not to exceed 400 mamp.

What do you have you field charger set at? What is the max current I can use to charge the Li-ions at the field? Thanks

Looking forward to fly together one of these days.

yeahbaby

My Feedback: (21)

David

I don't use a field charger (ie. Schulze Chamelion, Orbit etc etc) the one time I did charge at the field, I merely used the Duralite box and the associated alligator clips to charge off my 12v lawn and garden battery.

I'm sure there are others on here that will provide some background on what works but for me, I'll just stick to the 6 or 7 flights a full charge provides.

One thing I have noticed is that much like the long flat curve of a typical Nicad or Nimh discharge, the duralites will stay at 7.0volts for a while. The packs say stop fly @ 6.9volts under a 1 amp load, so if you haven't hit 6.9 then keep on going.

On my marathon day I probably flew 2 or 3 more flights hovering at 7.0 before I finally burned out and called it a day. I have yet to fly to 6.9 volts or 10.8 on my ECU pack and I'm flying an AT400 for 8:30 in a Kingcat. That's a lot of engine on time at the end of the day.

I'll have the big brother to your Bi-Centennial F-4 soon. we'll have to get together up at Prado one of these dayz.

cheers

buck

Davidso

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks Buck...

We (Bags and I) yet have to maiden the F4. May be we can do maiden flights on the same day. You got to send me pictures of that "Big Brother"...

See you soon....

sideshow

My Feedback: (11)

David, I use the Orbit chargers which are comparable to the Schultze. I charge at 1 amp (for 4000mah packs). The duralite chargers are at 800 mah. It's a nice easy charge rate that doesn't tax the cells. I have read other information that Li cells can safely be charged at 1C...though this may reduce cycle life. I called Emory at Duralite because one of my Rx packs seemed to not be taking a full charge. He asked at what rate I was charging, it was 5/C (2 amps). He then asked how old the pack was, it's 9 or 10 months old, he said some of the earlier packs had the charge safe circuitry set to not allow such high charge rates. I reduced to 1 amp and everything is fine. Buck's right, you can safely fly down to 6.9 volts...and it'll take a while to get there from 7.05.

I don't know if I answered any of your questions. If not post them again, I'm no expert but I'll see if I can help.

CraigG

My Feedback: (40)

One thing I have noticed is that much like the long flat curve of a typical Nicad or Nimh discharge, the duralites will stay at 7.0volts for a while. The packs say stop fly @ 6.9volts under a 1 amp load, so if you haven't hit 6.9 then keep on going.


buck
[/quote]

Buck,
Where are you reading the voltage...off the yellow charging connector or the black one that plugs into the RX/ECU? The reason I ask is that I have heard if you read the voltage off the yellow connector it indicates approx .2 volt high, i.e. an actual of 6.9 would read as 7.1. Have you heard anything about this?

FWIW I have also been flying Duralites with great success but am now a little confused about the no-kidding "stop fly" voltage.

Thanks,

Craig

Ian R

Buck and Craig

I have just received a new duralite pack for my ecu. The new instructions have an added line that does indeed say +0.2v on the yellow.

My old instructions did not mention this.

Happy Duralite user on my jets for past year ECU and rx

hope it helps Ian

yeahbaby

My Feedback: (21)

Craig

yup you're exactly right. although my duralites don't mention the .2 rise off the charge jack I have experienced that phenomenon. I stumbled across it with Bags one day.

just check off the black lead and have a blast. I believe off the ECU packs you're reading the voltage as if it had a black lead. know what I mean.

if you can't reach the black lead due to install, just give yourself a buffer when checking off the yellow lead.

off to the flying field, hopefully to burn another 5 gallons thanks to my battery system.

woo hoo

buck

PS every time I post now I hear that fast talking guy on the radio spewing out a disclaimer. LOL

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

I don't

yeahbaby

My Feedback: (21)

LOL I just can't help it anymore. that fast talking dude is in my head.

hey Crash Expert today was my 3rd day of flying bringing the total for the weekend at 17 flights. good luck with your decision regarding the LiOns. they are not flawless but pretty damn close IMO.

cheers

buck

Thanks Jack

Tom Antlfinger

My Feedback: (24)

Hi Buck:

Easy backup solution to the Jersey pack battery problem for me was this 2400 RC-2400 pack from Cermark.....about 39.95.....saves opening up the one that comes with the Jersey.....pack comes with Tamiya plug as you can see....

Tom

DavidR

My Feedback: (1)

Only 5 gallons......What a woooooosssss

I now have 3 complete sets for my Kingcat, I went through two changes of batteries several times this summer. 7 11 minute flights per charge on my 4000 mah packs. I have had one failure with them on a transmitter pack but that was the only pack I had that was not wired series parallel for redundancy. I check them before every flight no matter if it is the first or the last flight just to be sure. Best thing since sliced bread!

Tom Antlfinger

My Feedback: (24)

[quote]ORIGINAL: DavidR

Only 5 gallons......What a woooooosssss





I agree David......5 gallons in that beautiful San Diego weather......we are down to 5 gallon days here in the north country....it's called the finger frostbite limit......

Tom