NiknJen

Hi, first let me say thanks for having this forum and maintaining it.

I am considering putting an EQ6 in my first 100cc plane. I plan on using 2 - 4350 mAh 2 cell lipo batteries for the receiver and one 2000 nimh for the ignition. I plan on using the flag/pin fail-safe switch and charge package. My questions are:

1. Is there a picture of the flag/pin fail-safe switch/charge package? (can't seem to find one on the site)
2. What ends do the charge leads have and how do they hook up? (I would like to use my balancer and the balance leads from the batteries.)
3. Do you have to unplug one of the batteries to charge the other? (I think I read that, and if so what good are the charge leads to the outside of the plane if you have to open it up and unplug one of the batteries?)
4. Can you run the 100cc ignition off the EQ6 instead of having a separate battery? (also read this somewhere)
5. Am I considering the right batteries? (this is my first 100cc gasser, it will be a "team" plane so I would like to get at least 10 flights per charge, is 4350 overkill?)
6. Can you "test" the battery levels between flight with the charge leads? (If so whats needed?)

Sorry for so many questions, just trying to get my head around everything before I jump in with both feet!

Thanks,
-Nick

rrritchey

Hi,
1) If you go to the PowerExpander page there is a picture of the Pin & Flag package right below the picture of the PowerExpander Pro.
2) You cannot use the charge leads to balance charge. Since the units have Deans plugs in there is not center tap. If you want to
balance charge you will need to take the balance plug of the battery and put it in a charge port. The charge leads have a Futaba male
on one end and a JR male on the other end.
3) It depends on the charger, with most yes. Most chargers cannot handle a "common ground" where both batteries' grounds are
connected. You need to break the ground between the batteries to charge both at the same time. An exception is the Fromeco
charger, it can handle common ground batteries.
4) Personally I would never do this. This is up to you to decide if your plane is really worth the cost of saving one battery.
5) Honestly I cannot tell you. You will have to experiment to see what size batteries will give you 10 flights.
6) Yes, the charge leads are there for battery test and charging.

NiknJen

Thanks for answering all my questions.

Can't believe I missed the switch!
Do you have a product suggestion for a lipo battery tester that I can plug into the charge jacks?
From the looks of most testers they have a numerical read out, what should they read and what number should you stop flying at? (2 cell lipo)

As for the battery I'm still trying to get a "general" number of flights for a 100cc plane with 7 futaba 9157s flying 10 min "aerobatic" flights on 2- 4300 mAh 2 cell lipo bat. I read that a 10 min. aerobatic flight should use about 300 mAh. Is that about right? People through out so many different numbers I don't know what to believe.

rrritchey

Hi,
The Fromeco 8-ball will work for Li-ion/Li-poly. Just about any tester that goes up to 9V will work. You should stop flying at 7.0V on a 2S li-ion/li-poly pack. 300mAH sounds reasonable but each plane will be different. Remember, when you are using two batteries on our systems you are using both batteries so if you use two 2100mAH packs you have 4200mAH available.