jakjr

My Feedback: (18)

Ive been looking at the tribute 3d planes (and thinking of getting one) but the only way I was going to get one is if I could use some of the electronics ive already got for now (just to get it flying) and later on buy upgrades IE convert it to brushless, smaller servos, bigger battery, etc.

Ive got servos, and a receiver that will work just fine, and an ESC I think will work.

For the esc my question is: I have a great planes 20 amp ESC that I was planning on using (for now or until I upgrade to brushless) but I dont know if it can work on li-po batteries.

The instructions dont say what kind of batteries it can use, it just says it works on 5-8 cells. Obviouslly that would mean ni-cd or ni-mh batteries, however the instructions "dont" specifically say not to use li-po batteries or to use only ni-X batteries.

As long as the voltage is within the required specs (and it will be ) I dont see why I couldnt use li-poly batteries, power is power, after all its not like li-po batteries pump out power in a certain sequence or a/c or anything.

Foamaholic

My Feedback: (1)

You can use your esc with lipos. The esc won't care. The cutoff voltage on the esc it too low for lipos though. If you run until it cuts off you will damage the lipos. Lipos need to cut off at 3 volts per cell. Nicads and nimhs can have a lower cutoff, so non-lipo esc's have a lower cutoff.
If you use your esc don't run until it cuts off. When power sags land before cutoff. This will work fine. You could also time your flights so you know when to land before the esc cuts off.

jakjr

My Feedback: (18)

Actualy the cut off voltage on my esc is 4.8 volts, that should work right?

N1903Z

The 4.8v cut-off is for an entire pack (not per cell) and is too low because a 2 cell lipo pack will need a cut-off at 6v. A 3 cell lipo pack will need a 9v cut-off. Assuming cells are wired in series in the pack. Right off the charger, a 2 cell lipo pack should have a voltage close to 8.4v and close to 12.6v for a 3 cell.