good grief...
 

I had flown glow for several years before I set the hobby aside for awhile. As I try to get going again I thought electrics would be favorable but good grief, it seems like every time I read something there is some new issue to consider.
Having bought a few items but not really started to get into it yet, how many of you are struggling with all the "DO THIS", "NEVER DO THAT" rules that surround electrics??

RE: good grief...
 

Rules???.....Electrics are really pretty simple. They're just different. What are some of your questions

RE: good grief...
 

thanks...
I mean stuff like never charge over x, never allow to discharge below x, never leave unattended while charging, always balance this and that using x connectors and on and on.
I am scared to death to charge the stupid thing. I can't get any sense of confidence the thing isnt going to blow up in my face, that I can look away while it charges, that I won't accidentally have it discharge too far while flying, that I will charge it too fast or not fast enough, that the combination of engine/esc/battery isn't going to cause problems, and on and on.
maybe I should use nimh or nicad? would that alleviate some of the problems regarding setting the house on fire??
thanks ~~~

RE: good grief...
 

It sounds like your talking about lipo batteries, while lipo's do demand respect, if proper charging and having the ESC set up to not allow them to discharge too far is used they are quite safe. a good storage practice is suggested as well. Like Pat said it's realy not that complicated just very different from glow.
In most cases now you can buy motor ESC combo's and they will rate them for amp draw so choosing the proper lipo to work is made easy. It just requires a little more research or asking someone to be sure you have a compatible set up.
I'm sure if you tell us what you have and what your trying to do, you will get the answers you need to get you back in the air
Oh and Welcome back

RE: good grief...
 

It was confusing for me at first.....but I bought an RTF trainer so everything came as a matched set...nothing to do but put it together ,charge the battery and fly. In the mean time I read and learned about other set ups. Basically I just go with what seems to work for others. Im catching on though...lol.....no puffed lipos .

RE: good grief...
 

I never found it confusing, but since I work with electronics and have flown since -75 I had an advantage?
It is easy to threat LiPoes right. Use a good charger with balancer, follow the instructions. Set proper cutoff at the ESC, and go flying.

RE: good grief...
 

What are you comparing to, glow?

You mean rules like how much to rich and lean the mix?
What oil content to use?
Break in procedures?
After run procedures?
Setting the idle?
Where to put the fuel tank to maintain balance?
Pressurizing the fuel tank?
How about noise?
Always and never on prop sizes?
fuel proofing?

What activity do you engage in that does not have best practices?

RE: good grief...
 

sorry for commenting...
somehow I knew I shouldn't have even bothered.

RE: good grief...
 

I didn't mean to push you away. I meant to point out that all activities have their unique requirements. Electric flight is no different.

In fact, as a direct result of your post and several others I created this thread as a reference resource

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ELECTRIC FLIGHT
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7100376/tm.htm

Take a look.

As for batteries, yes, NiMh and NiCd are more tollerant of abuse and miss handling than Lipos. So if Lipo handling concerns you, use NiMh. About half the capacity of Lipos for the same weight but in most applications they work just fine.

RE: good grief...
 

The most difficult part of putting together an electric plane is choosing a power system that will fly the plane the way you like, and not burn itself up. Once you figure that out, there's not much else to do but charge and fly. No break-in, tuning, cleaning, and virtually no maintenance (especially with a brushless motor system).

Get some guidance in choosing the appropriate prop, motor (& gearbox if necessary), ESC, and battery pack, and invest in a Wattmeter to check your system. Many planes today even have recommended setups you can start with.

LiPo batteries are more sensitive to abuse than NiMH batteries are, but they're power density makes them well worth it. If your setup keeps the max current under limit of all your components, your ESC is setup with the proper voltage cutoff, and you have the proper charger/balancer, you will have no problems keeping your LiPos alive and well.

I'd recommend that you start with a small electric park flyer first, then when you get more familiar with electrics, you can invest in larger, more expensive setups with less risk of damaging the components.

RE: good grief...
 

[sm=teeth_smile.gif]

I know what you mean. I was overwelmed putting my first electric together. Still am, considering I can't get my expensive little motor to run. After hooking it all up last night, it's starting to make more sense. I still couldn't buy a system off the internet and understand what power of what goes with whatever else. I had my hobby dealer pick everything out for me since he knew what kind of plane I was trying to power.

And yeah, I was scared to charge the Lipo. I still don't have a wattmeter. But I just turned my head away, plugged it in and hoped for the best...
And stayed with it the whole time. No problems.

It does all seem like a foreign language; but then again, so did nitro, at first.

RE: good grief...
 

FMA Celpro charger takes a lot of scare out of charging the batts. For instance a 2 cell batt will only go into a certain socket. After that the charger takes over and charges at the rate the charger decides it will take. It knows when it's charged and shuts itself off and lets you know with a beeper. I've been at it for a while but still like the confidence this charger gives you as you know it knows what it's doing. Check it out on the FMA Direct website. Just a satisfied customer:D

RE: good grief...
 

I have the cellpro 4S also and I like it a lot.