jeffie8696

First off let me say Thanks for all the help I have been getting here in RCU. I now think I have decided on a first plane for myself and my 11 year old daughter. It shall be a Slo Stick with the stock motor, my 4 channel GWS receiver, a Great Planes C12 ESC with BEC. and Hitec mini servos. In order to keep things cheap and easy I have decided on NiCd batteries. I have had good luck with my High end RC cars using them. So now I have the final question, what battery should I use ? and of course a charger would be nice. I am just interested in convenience and price not stunt flying. I am happy to buy several batteries and switch them out like I do my cars. Thanks again ,you guys rock. JeffP

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

According to the GWS Slow Stick owner's manual, a 750Mah 7 cell (8.4v) or 8 cell (9.6v) is an ideal flight pack. You can extend your flight times by using a 2S or 3S LiPo battery in the 1300 to 2200Mah range so long as you select a LiPo compatible electronic speed controller.

B.L.E.

With electric aircraft, it is extremely important to keep the plane light and nickle-metal-hydrides are much smaller and lighter than a ni-cad of the same amp-hour capacity. For that reason, most all of the commercially available electric flight batterys are either nimh or lithium polymer.

jeffie8696

I agree that the Lipoly is the best but they also have some drawbacks, like burning my house down. I have experience with NiCd and think they will give me plenty of performance aspecially since I will be using a BEC ESC. This plane is only a trainer before we transiton to the .25 and .40 size trainers we already have. The only reason for it needing to be a park flyer is convenience since the large open park is just a few blocks from the house. I will have my Sig Kadet up and running soon.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Hopefully I'm not belaboring the point, but it would be a good idea to look at NiMH battery packs. They pack more capacity into the same size package. The value is that you can either have more capacity for the same weight, resulting in longer flight times, or that you can use smaller batteries, providing better flight characteristics for the plane. Care and feeding of nimhs is very similar to nicds.

Here's an example of how they compare. An 8 cell 700 mah nicd pack from Tower weighs 6.4 ounces and costs $14.99. An 8 cell 650 mah (the closest match) nim pack from Tower weighs 3.35 ounces and costs $12.99. An 8 cell 100 mah nimh pack weighs 6.34 ounces and goes for $19.99. There are lots of other sizes and price points, this is just one example.

Due to the added capacity of nimhs, I no longer buy nicd batteries.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Err, my apologies for not being more specific earlier, but the GWS Slow Stick manual mentions 8.4/9.6v 7/8 cell 750Mah NiMH batteries in particular. The factory specified flight packs are either NiMH or LiPo.

The primary advantage of NiMH over NiCd is the ability to supply more current. Weight savings is also a consideration, but NiCd batteries are primarily only used for low current applications such as powering receivers and transmitters. The GWS motors that are normally run with the Slow Stick (mine came with the EPS-300C) should run fine with a NiCd battery if you happen to have one you'd like to use. If you purchase a Slow Stick with the EPS-400C motor, or upgrade to a brushless motor, you will want the extra current delivery that a NiMH or LiPo cell can deliver. A NiCd battery may not be able to provide the continous high current that a top end power system will require.

For what it's worth, I have been taking my chances with LiPo batteries for a couple of years now, and by some miracle I'm still alive. Of course I only charge them when I can watch them, and I don't sit around and whack on them with a hammer if I'm bored. It is possible to fly with LiPo batteries and not risk mayhem.

jeffie8696

OK so you feel the NiMh is a better choice. If I can get a good sized pack at a reasonable price I will be happy to utilize them, any thoughts about a charger, nothing fancy. I was planning to use my NiCd charger, will it work for NiMh? Thank Everbody for their help. We shall muddle through this together. (I hope) Jeffie

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Will your nicd charger work for nimhs? Maybe. Some nicd chargers handle both, others don't. The issue is with peak detection, the nimh peak is a little harder to detect. If it's slow charging, it shouldn't be a problem, just don't leave the charger connected for days. If you want a fast charger that detects the peak of nimhs and shuts off automatically, be sure to choose one that says it's capable of doing so for nimhs. I use a Hobbico Accucycle Elite. It works great and can handle nicd, nimh, and lipos. Unfortunately, it doesn't meet your criteria of "nothing fancy".

At this point, it might be good to go take a read of some of the material on [link=http://rcbatteryclinic.com/]Red Scholefield's R/C Battery Clinic[/link]. He's got a huge amount of info on battery types, charging, etc. Well worth the time to take a read...

da Rock

Glad you are at least looking at NiMh. The others who "badgered you" did it for two reasons. You want to succeed with your airplane, and the lighter NiMh are going to be MUCH more apt to help that. Lighter weight is really worthwhile. PLUS, the capacity of NiMh helps two ways. You will probably get more capacity whatever the case, but you also have the chance to buy even lighter batteries.

Most chargers that handle NiCds also do NiMh with the same settings. If you have a decent hobby shop that does a reasonably active business in RC planes, they will have a range of chargers and advice worth listening to.

jeffie8696

So tell me. Will my 9.6V 800m packs be too heavy to fly? Or wil the performance just be degraded. I need to watch every penny.

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

In the end, the plane does have a huge wing for the load, so it should be ok.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

They sound like a good fit for a stock Slow Stick. I'd say give them a try and see how you like them. Just remember that a motor upgrade will likely require new batteries.

garyo1954

Does whacking with a hammer help pack those amps closer?

jeffie8696

I think for convenience sake I will try the NiCd packs that I already own then in the future upgrade to something more high tech when and if I get a brushless setup. For now the stock motor will have to suffice for economy sake. I am very glad my 9.6V packs will work, I had almost forgotten about them. You guys ahve been a really big help. Thank You so much.


"Taste like chicken....Ha" yea I can relate. Second airplane, first one liked to chase gophers.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

Don't be concerned about the stock brushed motor, GWS electric motors are very high quality and the plane will fly nicely without having to spend a lot for upgrades. Eventually brushed motors do wear out, and that is a good time to upgrade if you feel the need.

jeffie8696

I do have some experience with brushed 540 size motors in my touring car. I even lived next door to master motor builder Big Jim Greenemeyer in California.(long story[:@]) I still have a copy of his book here someplace.

jeffie8696

Great news . The Slow Stick flies great with just a cheap 9.6V Nicd pack from my nephews old broken toy monster truck. Its no Edge 300 by any means but it is stable and very flyable. I am using the stock 400 brushed motor. Thanks to everyone for their input, I couldnt be happier.

da Rock

Great news is right. Kewl.............

Since this is a beginners forum, maybe a bit of extra info would help.

Cost matters. So does weight. First off, it's not easy to find batteries with the voltage and capacity of exactly 9.6V @ 750mAh in all three types. For one reason, LiPo's only come in either 7.4V or 11.1V, not 9.6V. But if your motor will take 11.1V they can be in the mix. It's also hard to find 750mAh. Darned if most special applications don't always want some oddball capacity. Those special applications are usually trying to sell their one-of-a-kind packs, btw.

I went to Tower to try and keep the pricing in the same ballpark. And Tower gives the most information about their products of anyone. You've got a chance of knowing all the details from them. I could not find full info on all three types at the other online retailers that I know of. Maybe somebody can fill this in. Anyway, I found 3 to compare at Tower.

NiCd 9.6V 600mAh was 6.5oz and $14.
NiMH 9.6V 750mAh was 4.6oz and $10.
LiPo 11.1V 800mAh was 2.1oz and $34.

If I looked at 6oz batteries, I could buy a
NiCd 9.6V 600mAh was 6.5oz and $14.
NiMH 9.6V 1100mAh of 6.34oz for $20.
LiPo 11.1V 2500mAh of 6.2oz for (you ready for this?) $75

That's the best I could find with full info about all three types at one place. Shopping around takes time when you're trying to find batteries.

But bottom line is that NiMH gives about twice the capacity for the same weight as NiCd at about 1.5 times the cost.
For the same cost NiMH gives slightly more capacity and is appreciably lighter than NiCd.
At the same weight, LiPos give about 4 times the capacity at about 5 times the cost of NiCd.
At the same weight, LiPos give about 2 times the capacity at about 3.5 times the cost of NiMH.

jeffie8696

Hydies are on top of my christmas list this year.

jeffie8696

Good news, after much pain I have gotten the Slow Stick to fly very well. Yes it does fly a bit heavy but very stable. I had to rebuild the entire tail section with 3/32" balsa due to crash damage but I think it flies better now than with the original tail. the 9.6V Nicds allow about 6 minutes at part throttle but I installed a larger prop to increase the thrust at lower rpms. I couldn't be happier.

da Rock

Excellent news. Thanks for coming back and telling how things went. One of the greatest things about this hobby is helping guys like you. You not only listened, but understood, and then went us one step better. You made my day.

BTW, flying heavy isn't an awful thing. Understanding that landings will take more speed is about it for the "risky" part of it. And you'll find the heavier loaded airplanes fly in winds their lighter loaded brothers won't suffer.

And you're halfway there to having experience flying a single airplane heavy and light. Wait until you can put some NiMH in the sucker. You'll then have way more understanding (experience) of what it means and how much it matters.

Kewl deal............ Wish you flew around here. We'd like to have you in our club.

jeffie8696

Thank You so much for the kind words. As far as flying heavy it really just doesnt do loops and such(it might but I don't) so I call it "Scale" flight contol. The place I fly doesnt have a good place to land anyway, grass is too tall but not tall enough to be soft. Teaching myself to fly and making progress! Thanks everybody.