wind junkie

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Hey, that's a good story. I think if I tried that, with my luck, and lack of style sense, I'd end up either in prison or detention.

Sky Brother

Hey Fellas,
I have some questions about batteries for the shockflyer. I plan on getting the nippy 0808, Phoenix 10, and using an APC 10x4.7. I have heard of people using lipos from 340 2 cell up to 1500 3 cell. What does more mah give you exactly, just more flight time? I understand that the extra cell gives more power, but how should I choose my mah exactly. Another consideration is that I am in Colorado, at about 7200 feet, I don't think it will make any difference, but not sure. I will probably go with Kokams, they seem like the best value. Anybody tried the new electriflys? Thanks for any help.

T Howard

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I just bought the shocky 540 and I,m going to order the axi 2208 and jeti 08 monday. What is the best battery pack to buy with it for long flights and good 3d?

wind junkie

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Hi SkyBro,

Lipo's are getting better all the time, and there are a few larger capacity ones that boast high discharge capability and light weight. It's a little complicated in just saying more mAH will always be better, because a lot depends on the cell's ability to hold a voltage under the load you want to run.

Right now, the king of the hill is still the Kokam 340 for weight and amps. You can get an honest continuous 7 amps from these. They are the logical choice for shockies and 3D, as this plane won't fly well when it gets heavy (ie, over 8 oz).

Other new generation cells to compare in the larger sizes are the Irate, Tanic and new Apogee cells. If you want longer times, these seem to have high discharge capability and relatively light weights which mean more flying time. You wil note these combos are in high demand and prices are high also

Crash, "The Best" battery depends on how long you want to fly, and what draw you'll need. If you're satisfied with 5-7 minute runs on an AXI 2208/34, then the Kokam 340s are good. If you want more time, you may consider the other cells I mentioned.

BTW, I learned most of this by studying rcgroups, and measuring some of my own bench tests for motors and props I own.

whackinski

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Brother and Sky Crash. You should use a 2s or 3s LiPo pack 340mAh. I like my Nippy but finally got to see the AXI 2208/34 in action tonight. Depending on the prop/battery combination this rated pack should not exceed the 10 amp rating of the speed control. I say if you dont mind paying a few extra bucks get the AXI with the pheonix speed controller.
I will be using this combination on my next Shocky!!!
Check with some other dudes but for this setup try and keep the mAh rating of the pacs to under 800

I do not think altitude will effect your performance.

WIND very clever, Detention, he he he

Can you imagine the headlines... Man arrested for tresspassing and for unauthorized model airplane flying in school.

wind junkie

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Yea, the Axi's are too good to dismiss outright. They arn't that light, but they do have power and efficiency. One came in the mail today. I think Billy Hell's Hobby Lobby barrage of advertiseing worked on me.

I've been "Axi-Fied"!

Now I gotta figure out how to mount this thing. I should have a few weeks to think it over, as other projects are intervening.

whackinski

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Dude I will have to hold out till late June to do another foam 3D but Vertical had the next plane for me. It is classified at this point but boy that guy is a depron master craftsman. He has the AXI set up, it is outstanding. The wind messed things up tonight Vertical had the worst wind but broke a LG axel.
My goal will be to find a good local indoor facility, the gym I flew in was okay but too small for more than one dude at a time.
There is an Expo center not too far from me I am going to check it out on Monday.

I flew my nippy on a 9x7 GWS prop tonight it was okay, with vertical performance and manageble power outside. My next purchase will be a Tanic 3s pac.

Sky Brother

Thanks Whack and Wind, yeah I will go with the 340 pack to start off with, and I will probably try some of those other cells you mentioned for some more flight time, something up toward 550 or so. I will probably get the AXI then, but like Wind said a good mount for it is another story.

If it takes over an hour to charge these lipos, do you guys just buy a bunch and have them all charged up when you go fly, and always keep one on charge or what? It just seems like a lot of down time if you only have one or two. Yeah im excited to get the shocky, it will have to be the Edge.

wind junkie

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Seb, How did you like the 9x7? Was it on your shocky? How does it compare with a 10x4.7?

Sky Bro, I elected to spend a good chunk of change in cells, to have the luxury of not needing to field charge. As you say, it takes about an hour to charge any lipo pack (1C, by definition, as all charger and battery manufacturers recommend). So, no matter how many flights I take, to re-use a pack will always kill the rest of my lunch hour.

whackinski

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SkyBrother
You will be thrilled with the ShockFlyer, whether you use the Nippy 0808 or the AXI. I have 4 battery pacs for my Shocky, no 3s pacs yet. I'm going to get 2 of them.
You can fast charge LiPo's with the right charger, just run some normal cycles on them first.
Don't cheap out on your charger, get one that reads batery data back while charging. I have been keeping detailed record on charging and discharging my packs. You may want to put some kind of Identification on each pack, I use white Velcro and write a number on it with a Sharpee

I'm glad to read that you are working a mount for the AXI, I will be looking for a cheaper solution to mounting that motor. Hobby-Lobby just raised their prices, the AXI mount use to be $17 buck now its over $22! I have enough aluminum to make 6 nippy mounts which cost me $2.50.

Michael Schumacher is dominating at Imola
Go Ferrari!!!

whackinski

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Wind
I have been flying on the 10.4.7 from the begining on my ShockFlyer. Trying the smaller prop made the plane fly more like a .40 size gas plane. It brought the thrust to weight ratio down closer to realistic but there was still some vertical performance. I am going to try this prop in the forbidden gym.


Are you watching the F-1 race?

wind junkie

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The "Forbidden Gym" -- LOL.

Hey, good news I think, I found this thread again over on RC Groups:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...=axi+abs+mount

It's an ABS front edge mount and kit for the shocky. The kit has some carbon reinforcements that stiffen up the foam at the front and towards the back. The designer lives in Portland Oregon and is charging $7 per kit. Seems like a good deal to me and I'm going to try one on my next shocky with the axi. I wish there was a good way to reinforce the center back to the wing with a lightweight ply or similar firewall type mount. There are some post crash pics on that thread, so I guess it's fairly sturdy.

The best I've seen is John V's axi mount with some light tri stock on the fuse bottom running up to the mount (like the top of the tail). This way the nose wont crumple up. I bet the trick is in wood selection and lightly mounting the motor to the plate.

No, I'm not watching the F1 race. Just going through mail and getting ready for he day's projects.

YNOT

A lot of tips in this thread. However did not see my question.

What about the gear? I really don't want to put it on. 1) I travel for work, ALOT, so it will travel in a case. 2) I intend to catch the plane, but is there a structure reason for the gear/stuts?

I can run some strip CF down the bottom of the plane so it doesn't get boogied up and I have the prop saver.

Any thoughts?

wind junkie

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Ynot,

Sounds like you've made up your mind. The only structural benefit the gear has is a small amount of cross bracing from fuse to "wing" (actually the horiz overlap of the fuse to wing area). But the stock method of mounting in the fuse is pretty weak (rubber gromet), and usually makes a mess when the gear hits something like grass. The wheel pants don't like grass at all either. The axles don't stand up to rough pavement very well. Can you still tell I like my gear?

I really enjoy doing touch and goes, and landings on a slick smooth gym floor. But if you always plan to fly over grass or always toss and catch your shocky, then I would suggest leaving off the gear.

1) It's more weight YOU don't need
2) It's less complexity and stuff that may get ripped off in a crash
3) the structural benefits are dubious at best and not available without custom mods

whackinski

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I was thinking of a way to make the gear removable. On my next shocky I'm going to try and thread the tops of the gear rods to use little plastic nuts and washers on top of the wing.

Subsequently there some aerodynamic benefits to the wheel pants and the foam that attaches to the gear rods. They give additional lateral stability and act like little anhedral stabilizers. I am going to ask my Physics Prof to help me run down some calculations on my shocky. This will be a nice data base for my future designs. The guy has dual PhD's in Physics/astrophysics and aerodynamics one from Yale, he's a math monster.

I'll post the formulas on this thread in a couple of weeks.

Hey wind have you heard anything about beeper motor rc/airplanes? I found a thread on RC groups where the guy lays out the conversion of one of those tiny rc snowglobe cars. to a foam airplane. I have one of those cars to mess with my kitty, I'm going to take it apart and make a tiny foam plane for the office.

Wind what is your occupation? You seem like an engineer type yourself.

vertical ts

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go with the stock motor mount recomended by hobby lobby.They say to take a piece of 3/32 and cut a 1/3/4 circle.the easiest way i did it was with a hole saw.To make the notches in the mount,i used 3cut off wheels and a dremel.That is 3 at a time.With 3 of them,it cuts at about 3mm,and it's super easy.If you want to save some weight,go with 1/16 ply instead of 3/32,thats what i did and it's plenty strong!hope this helps

whackinski

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I have a few glow planes to finish before I build another Electric 3D but I am getting the one Vert showed me last night. I'll but all the stuff in June or July.
I toasted a LiPo tonight and could have burned my TX, Shocky, and my Car.
I put the battery in my TX case. I pinched the leads by closing the case on them. When I got to my destination I opened the case and found the Battery was bulging. I immediately cut one of the wires breaking the circuit and put the thing outside on the driveway for an hour. One cell went back to shape but the other one stayed puffy. It is reading 3.7V so one cell is gone. Vert clued me in on proper disposal.
I usually drive my truck and keep the stuff in the cab. Tonight I took the car and put everything in the trunk. I got lucky, partially because the pac was discharged.
I am leaving the leads long so I can use different battery positions. This is risky if you carry the pacs in your TX case. Tomorrow I am making a special battery box with to safely transport these things. I'll put foam dividers in a plastic box.

I was lucky the pac didnt burn!!!

I still flew on a ball Field near my buddy's house today. Hey Trent No damage tonight. That is except the Kokam.

YNOT

The Shocky is a bad dude.

Took several tips from this thread and it flys great. Hovered out of my hand, into a rolling circle and hovered back for a safe catch. Performed better than I really expected.

ChuckAuger

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Dang, YNOT, you got a free ChuckFlyer and are messing around with these Shocky's! Next thing you know you'll be flying 3D planes!

YNOT

I have my Up-Chuck (that's what I call the Chuck Flyer Yak) in paint right now. Should be done this week and ready to fly for me to bring to Joe Nall in a couple of weeks.

Free plane and it needs $400.00 worth of gear, thanks for the new addiction Chuck :-)

wind junkie

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Glad to hear your close call wasn't more serious Seb.

I'm a programmer for Lockheed Martin nowadays, but I was a EE at school. Glad that education didn't totally get wasted.

Thanks for the tips on the axi mount Vert. I ordered the ABS mount today from Todd Hamilton, but I'll most likely make a mount like you described as well and weigh both sets before installing on a new shocky (to be axified). Then I can do a side by side comparison for "the lightest" setups I can achieve with the Nippy against the Axi.

Good point on the wheel pants and gear struts. They probably do help KE flight a bit.

whackinski

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Ynot, see if you can post some photos of your shocky. I think it's cool that you flew it out of your hands into a rolling circle on the first flight. I find it equally cool that you got info from this thread. This was my first Shocky project and the first time I used any internet discussion group for info on a project. Gos I love Technology!!

Wind I am a GC/MS Service Engineer. I returned to shcool after 20 years for Masters in EE/ design engineer. I have been steeped in theory. I went back to basics with math and have been re- taking every thing from Trig to Prob/stats to Physics. I always had weak math skills.

I am interested in your findings for your AXI Shocky, I will use your data on my next project. I am hooked on these little planes. You can fly them at any baseball feild. I found some info on beeper motor planes I think I may tackel on of those next. I still want to do loop in my living room.

Catch you guys later

Whack

wind junkie

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Continuing education is a wonderful thing, is it not? I think Henry Ford said the secret to eternal youth is learning something new every day.

I've not seen the beeper motors, but there is some talk about them on rcgroups (ezone). This is the best source of e-knowledge around.

vertical ts

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wind,
The axi will weigh a lil more,but i think it is far worth it!I can't even tell you how much i love that motor.With the mount described above,i have to mount the battery further back,but once again,i think it's worth it.It flys like a 3dx with a rz350 on 1200 lipos.Don't know if you've flown one,but if you have,you know what i mean.

My neighbor has a metal lathe at home,so i migh have him put my axi on a diet.

whackinski

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I'm a glutton for punishment. I picked up some more LiPo's today, a 2s 600 and a 3s 340.
$20 bucks for the 2s, with no connector. The bigger battery was a little more but I didn't want to wait for the pacs in the mail.

Yes Wind, I love being the only guy in the room who remebers black and white TV. I also go to a technical school, It has University status. Just one problem, the quality of the female student body, and the lack there of. There are no engineer groupie chicks. I can hear it now... that plastic pocket protector get's me hot. There are no stripper wannabeeees at my school. Once in a while you get suprised by a cutie, till she gets closer. I coined a new term for the girls at my school.... DeVry hot.

Hey TS, Kenny has 4 sets of male/female JST connectors, I dropped them of today.

What's the consensus on this subject; What is your opinion, is there any merit to twisting a servo by hand? My guess is it is not the best thing to do, especially to the tiny servos I use on my shocky.

Voice your opinion
Whack