Apprentice 15e
 

Guys,
First of all I want to thank you for giving me the proper guidance in getting the right plane

I bought the Apprentice 15e, after few hours of instructions I was making landings and it is a great plane to learn and have fun flying
The lipo batteries lasted 1 hour and I was flying at 50% throttle and flying circuits only, I also flew in 10mph wind which was quite bumby but it was good

Anyhow, I would really recomend this to a new flyer, get a extra battery pack, large wheels and you are set to go.</p>

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

1 hour on the LiPo? I get maybe 10-15 minutes of flying on one. You sure you arent over flying the battery?

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

How did you get an hour?  How big a battery are you flying?

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

I dont fly full throttle, 70% of my flying is 3/4 power, Max I have gotten is 50 minutes and min was 30 mins where I was flying full and doing aerobatics

The Bettery is 11.1V 3 Cell, I know I am not overflying the battery as it shuts down when it is low

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Don't make me beg or the information. What it the CAPACITY of the battery?

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

#1- Unless your riding thermals or slope gliding there is NO WAY your getting an hour out of the stock battery. Period. I fly at about 60-70% throttle for 90% of the flight on my Apprentice and 15 minutes puts the stock battery dangerously low.

#2- Never fly any LiPo untill the radio shuts the motor off. If your using an after-market smart charger, look at the voltage your cells are dropping to. I bet they are below therecommendeddischarge level. You may get away with it for a while, but your gonna puff that battery, burn your plane, or be replacing an expensive battery. Especially if you really are using a battery that gives you anywhere near an hour of flight. You should be timing your flights and no matter what stick to a set time unless you flew harder than usual, then you shut down early. If you dont use a timer, occasionally bump to full throttle and see if she is as snappy as she was at the beginning of the flight. If she is running sluggish bring her down. If you hear the motor pulsing, bring it down immediately. Even if you have to walk a ways to pick it up. I flew mine to the limit ONCE. I was barely able to save the stock battery. I bought a smart charger(monitoring each charge to see how much juice I used, had left, and put back in the battery), use a timer, and use a low voltage alarm as a third back-up.

But then you may be rich and have access to unlimited LiPo resources. If so, have at it.<br type="_moz" />

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

That is excatly what I do, when the motor starts pulsating I bring it down immediatly, I never overrun the lipo or it will cause permananet
damage.It is 3s 11.1 3200 mah from E Flite

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

OK, if you say you are getting a flight that long, who are we to say you are not. 

Congratulations on your good flights.

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Ithink its impossible myself being that I have the same plane and the same battery. I have heard of a few 30 min flights but i would attribute that to flying at les than 50% throttle, and doing simple round or oval circuits or a lot of gliding on wind currents. If he gets an hour, then I guesshe gets an hour.</p>

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Today I didan experiment. Flew almost full throttle and got 25-30 mins, on my second battery I did mostly 50-60% power and got 45 mins.

Looks Like as time goes on the battery capacity is slowly degrading, Ihave had these for 6 mo's now

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Hey man I want to apologize. Its been a long night at work and I was grumpy, not trying to throw stones around here. You have the golden egg of LiPos man. Those must have been the most perfect LiPos ever made. I ran mine the full 15 minutes and my low voltage alarm kicked in and told me one cell was bad. the venom charger confirmed that the cell was something like .3 or .4 volts lower than the other two. It balanced out though. My 3000 mAh batteries seem like they can do a little better than 10 minutes. Especially the Zippy. Its a 3s1p. THat extra cell seems to make it last a bit longer than the Turnigy 3000 mAh I bhought. good luck and keep it flying man. That low voltage alarm is like 5 bucks on ebay including shipping and handling. Its worth 5 bucks for the extra insurance.

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

I get a safe 20min. on my Apprentice flying low to mid power and I LOVE that airplane. Maybe you have an ultra efficient motor AND Li-Po battery, good for you !!

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

I cant fly mine much lower than 50-50%. If I do it handles a little rough and tends to stall a little easier. Of course I should be more gentle on the contorls too. ;).  But over all it flies very well. I have probably 20 flights and so far no crashes.  A few bumps and bounce, but no crashes. </p>

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Yes, it is a great plane to fly and learn on.

I am now thinking of moving up to T34 Mentor, it comes with Dx6i radio. Any suggestions if that would be a good idea?

Also, I like to seel my Dx5e radio only and 3-4 cell E Flite Charger, do u guys think I can see it?

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

I just bought an apprentice over the weekend. I have flown helos, and once had a pz typhoon (until a tree ate it on short final!) I am looking forward to flying this, but I do have a few questions. Will lite ca work for the wings? As I understand, they have to be glued together, then you put on the cover. Also, any suggestions for an aftermarket lipo charger? I look forward to lazy circuits with this, and also finding some thermals for prolonged flight. I could do it with the typhoon, but the stall characteristics were less forgiving I hope on the typhoon.

Thanks,
Greg
ki4bbl

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

I used 15 min Epoxy to join my apprentice wings, works great and really very strong, I also used little Epoxy to put the cover on although not required
as it comes with self sticking glue. The complete curing time for the Epoxy was 6-8 hours and I let it sit overnight.
I would not recomend using the ca glue, not sure of its strength.

I have the E Flite 3-4 cell charger, which you can buy separatly for $29.99,

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

jarih; I have the RTF E-Flite T-34 Mentor and it's OK. It's advertised as PTS (Progressive Training System)but I can suggest other low wing planes that handle better. The T-34 is a little heavy and has higher wing loading and a little fast IMO for a 'trainer' system. Ask me anything you want about the T-34...

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Thanks...Do youhave other suggestions. I am open to other low wing Models

The reason i liked it was it is comming with a complete system, otherwise I have to buy the parts separatly and costs more..

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Being RTF is nice and I liked the 'training system' advertised but it is still a heavier/faster plane even with the wing droops and flaps. IMO, if you slow it down to low wing training speed, it gets a little to mushy for me. If your'e ok with an ARF and some set up required, I love the E-Flite Pulse low wing design. I have the Mini Pulse XT and it handles very well escpecially at slower speeds. Too get closer to the size of the T-34 Mentor would be the Pulse XT 25e ARF at horizonhobby.com An even more stable/slower low wing airplane would have a flat bottom airfoil. The Pulse is semi-symetrical but still handles very well. There are lots of good low wing trainer types but not many RTF. I might want to sell my T-34 Mentor if thats what you really want, it's a fine plane if your pilot skills are good but if you struggle or get nervous then I would not recommend it until you get better...

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Iwant something that Ican just transfer my Apprentice electronics and maybe motor/esc and fly still using my 3000/3300 mAh Lipos. I would like to try a bottom wing design. The mentor was one choice as was the Bonanza.

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

Good luck with tht, as great a trainer as the apprentice is... I think they reverse engineered its parts to NOT match up with anything else they make. The motor is less kv than the "power .15" its also 22mm longer than park 480/450 therefore it wont fit most cowl . The 3200mah battery needs alot of space, and the 20 or 25 amp esc (depending on which site you look at) is not enough for a plane the size tht the .15 will go in. an dont forget the 8mm hole you have to drill in any prop but the factory one... I am still scratching my head on tht one.??
I am thinking about making a mount and strapping it to the front of my alpha450 and see if the rudder can handle warp-drive !

RE: Apprentice 15e
 

I agree with Above, keep your apprentize as is as it is a great plane. You can always use for a second plane as a backup
It is not worth ripping apart the controls. There are plenty of choices you can get.