Hi.
I would like to buy another battery for my blade 400. Do I have to buy the 3s 11.1v 1800mAh stock battery or is there a better one available that would give me longer flight times.
Thanks

You need to buy 3s 11.1V battery packs with the ability to continuously deliver 36A under load. For the 1800mAH battery, 20C gives this power output. You can buy batteries with a bigger 'gas tank' i.e. more mAH and they can be had for less than the $62 that Horizon Hobby wants for their 1800mAH battery.

If you want longer flight times, then you need to buy a battery with more mAH. You'll also want to get a better charger than what came with the B400 so you can monitor how much you are draining your battery in flight. You don't want to discharge >80% of your battery's mA or you'll damage it. For an 1800mAH battery you wouldn't want to use more than 1,400mA.

I bought mine from unitedhobbies.com in China - shipping took about a week and got two batteries with 20c discharge and i think were 2250mah... for less than 1 eflite - and that's shipped.

I now have 2 eflites and 2 zippy's and the zippy's last a good 2-3 mins longer.

I think they are out of stock right now, but what I did was find all of the 20c packs that were 3s and around 2000-2500mah and set the email reminders on the site. A week or two later got the email and now I have two more packs!

They come with Deans on them, I switched them out for EC3 - but from what I hear most prefer Deans.

I ordered a battery from www.valuehobby.com as they have 1800mAH batteries for about $26 + ship. I haven't received it yet so I won't comment on the whole ordering and product review experience until I've received the battery and used it for flight. The ValueHobby batteries look like they come with female Deans connectors on them too. Thinking it'll be less dangerous for me to create a Deans -> EC3 connector cable than it would to remove the Deans from the new battery.

It was my first solder job and I didn't do it flawlessly - I was worried as well. Nevertheless they both work just fine. Even if you are sloppy with the EC3 the connector covers it up and you don't even need shrink wrap.

Great instructional video here:

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Articles...ArticleID=1768

Let us know how those work!

Also just looking at those batteries - I think you can get a 25C and it will only pull 20C.

I'm not positive on that but read that you can do it. The 25C are a little more expensive but may be an idea for future purchases.

Thanks again, I love resources for cheap packs.

Thanks for the info and links. They look a good price.[sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Wow so many batteries on the site you linked Brookshay. What ones did you go for in the end?
What do you think to the link below or have you found a better battery?

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idProduct=2045

Thanks for everyones help

Quite a few reports on those batteries - one or two good ones in there too......

Yeah sounds like you may want to stay away from the HXT based on reviews...

This is what I have, you will notice that the reviews are quite different.

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idProduct=6306

Go Zippy!!

Thanks for direct link and advice, out of stock again, has to be good
Did you have to wait long before they were back in stock?

I waited about 2 weeks I think, then another week for them to arrive. I already had 2 eflite batteries so I wasn't *that* impatient. I have heard great things about the Loong max batteries as well:

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idProduct=5607

If you look below stock bar, you will see their estimated stock date. For Loong Max it's late March early April so these bad boys may be in soon.

Zippy says late March. I'd just sign up for the email reminder for both and you should be set. I suppose you could go ahead and buy them - but then you might be looking at two different shipments, etc. or buy one batt and the other gets stock first.

Worth the wait though - 2 for the price of 1!

Thanks [sm=thumbs_up.gif] I have ordered 2 batteries the Zippy ones. also 2 sets of carbon blades, just have to wait now. As you say the price makes the wait worth while.
Many thanks again for your help.

sorry to hijack the thread - but i have a question i hope is along these lines - i was thinking of getting a B400 - they look pretty sweet. I was reading thru the online manual and it says to ONLY use the charger that comes with it for the battery, but it does not have AC capabilities for charging - correct? ...then how would i make it AC charging capable? .. i would love to charge while in my "work room" straight from the plug ... do i have to buy something else?

i have this Align charger http://www.ka-planes.com/inc/sdetail/1067 why would it not work?

I use an old CB radio power unit. connect your red and black leads from your balance charger and your done.

From the link you posted it looks like your charger works off the mains, as long as your charger can take the B400 battery charge plug I would say just plug in and charge.

that is what i thought - if it takes the charge plug i should be fine - but i was not sure as the manual explicitly states not to use any other charger but the one included ...was not sure if this was one of those things where for example if you buy a Radio Shack radio it says to use Radio Shack batteries kinda deals

I think you have to buy a power supply from E-flite to use the charger from an outlet. I had to do that on my CP Pro.

Nick

if this is the case then that sucks []

but why... i wonder? ....hhmmmmmmm ... oh well - this hobby aint for broke people [&o]

rc-jj:

I use the same charger - works fine.. it may take a while to charge but works fine! I have caught criticism from a couple friends as they say it''s not a top of the line charger and could pose some risks to puffing batteries, but so far I''m in good shape.

Yea, I too found it weird that an RTF kit wouldn''t include the $30 AC power supply.

I did use mine, with a laptop power supply, but found out it wasnt balancing too well so have bought a Imax B6 from a mate. Very happy with it as it will charge up to 5 amps.