3D Flyer

My Feedback: (37)

I started out about 3 years ago flying electrics when the foamy revolution first came about. I started out with a FoamyFactory Ultimate 30" with ETEC 1200 3 cell mah lipoly (1st generation), CC 25A ESC, and a HiMax 2015-4100. Flew this setup many hundreds of flights. Then the thrust became lacking and I replaced the motor ... things were better then again lack of power.

I got tired of the Ultimate (probably because I could no longer torque roll it due to power loss) and bought an Eflite QQ YAK 54F. Love the plane, but my setup still lacks power, so I bought a new thunder power 1320 3 cell lipoly and a Hacker A20-20L which I am hoping solves my power issue.

Question: I have 2 Himax 2015-4100 motors and a spare CC 25 ESC that are not sufficient to power a 14 oz plane for 3D and great uplines. Is there an application I can use this older equipment in? What do you think the problem is? Unbalanced 1st gen lipolys? Worn out motor? Worn out lipolys?
(these are 1200 mah 8C packs)

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

WhtBronco

I would look at the li-po batteries first. The other thing you can do is make sure the bearings or bushings in the motor are still good. Even my 2nd gen TP 1320mah packs only lasted about 150 flights each before the discharge rate was not adequate.

BTW, the Hack A20-20L, TP 1320 pack and 10x4.7 APC SF prop is an awesome setup. I have it on a 14oz balsa 3D plane and it's incredible power. I also found that by going with the TP 3S 910mah pack I could drop an ounce in battery weight, which of course makes it fly better and only lose 30 seconds of flight time in comparison. My 1320's are not getting used anymore the 910's are so good and they can handle the power draw from the 20-20 with no problem. After a 10 minute flight of 3D they pack, motor and ESC are just barely above ambient temp.

WhtBronco

One other thing, unless you already have one, get a watt meter so you can see what kind of amp draw you are getting from your older setup. This, IMO, is a tool you can't do without for electric aircraft if you really want to know what you have.

3D Flyer

My Feedback: (37)

Ok, thanks. After I have the Watt meter how do I analyze the results?

Also, do you think a lipoly balancer is worth the $$$?

jcflysrc

My Feedback: (50)

I have the wattmeter, and the results are shown on an LCD screen in real time. Just hook it up between the battery and the ESC, and when you run the motor up, it will display 4 diff parameters. You can see what the set-up is actually drawing in terms of amps, or how much power, or watts your motor is putting out. Real simple to use honestly. No rocket science here. Get one...it makes fine tuning your setup a lot easier. You will be able to choose the prop that will keep your current draw within the batteries specs, and keep you from frying a motor basically

WhtBronco

Yeap a watt meter is very easy to use. You simply look at the display and compare the results to the max your equipment can handle.

Yes a balancer is worth every penny. I use the Astro Flight blinky. It's only $25 and work great. Using a balancer your batteries will last longer(more cycles) and be more consistent through out their useful life. The biggest issue with batteries is that the cells become out of balance and 1 cell can be over charged and another under charged. This will result in less available power and possinbly damage a cell.

Make sure batteries have a balance lead on them. If not a balancer would be a waste of money.