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What batteries to use on my receivers

Old 12-10-2016, 06:29 AM
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katman74
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Default What batteries to use on my receivers

I am finally going to switch to life batteries on my gas planes.
Been using 6V 2000-2300 NiMh. I have no idea what to use in life
an honestly no a battery guru. Any suggestions
Old 12-10-2016, 06:40 AM
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I've switched all mine over to A123,,, so easy a cave man can do it

Those and a Cellpro Multi4 charger and you'll be a happy man
Old 12-10-2016, 07:04 AM
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katman74
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what to use, 700, 1100 or more .
Old 12-10-2016, 07:34 AM
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Originally Posted by katman74
what to use, 700, 1100 or more .
That would depend on how many and what type servos, size of plane etc.
An 1100 would be great for a 40-60 size bird,,
I use 1 2500 up to 30cc planes,, and I use 2-2500 packs on my 50cc + planes
Old 12-10-2016, 07:39 AM
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katman74
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Perfect, that's what I need to know. Most of my planes are 30cc
Old 12-10-2016, 08:32 AM
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I have change all my 1/4 scale planes to A123 batteries. I use 2, 2500 packs with 2 switches plugged into 2 ports on the receiver, you can use a y-exten. if you don't have an open port. I buy me batteries from Value Hobby.com. The prices are great and I have not had any problems. They are listed as LiFe batteries.

Rich

Last edited by jwrich; 12-11-2016 at 07:46 AM.
Old 12-10-2016, 11:38 AM
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Rodney
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Lots of info on LiFe on the web. In general, any 2 cell LiFe of sufficient capacity works very well. You do have to have the proper charger though and need to keep track of how many amh's you use so as to know when you should recharge again.
Old 12-10-2016, 07:00 PM
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LiFe batteries do need to be balanced when you charge. You need to use a balancing charger. I would replace your current packs with the same size LiFe packs. You will save some weight in the process. OR if you need the weight for balance up the amps for more flying time per charge. My favorite thing about the LiFe batteries is the fact you can charge today and go fly a week or two from now and not worry about the state of charge as the FiFe chemistry has VERY slow self discharge.

Ken

Last edited by kenh3497; 12-10-2016 at 07:03 PM.
Old 12-10-2016, 07:45 PM
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All Day Dan
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Katman, before you start using LiFe batteries you should check with the manufactures of, not only the receiver, but your servos and anything else connected to the receiver. Although the battery may be rated at 2500mah they are far from it when being used for RC. They barely supply 75% of their rated value before they drop off rapidly as shown by this plot. Dan.


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Old 12-11-2016, 04:16 AM
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Well if that graph is of a 2500 and not a 2300 (which I think it actually is),, it looks more like 90% before it drops of??

Now in real world testing,

A typical 10 minute flight on a 50cc 3D plane with all digital servos only consumes about 300-400mah of power, with the 2-2500s and a battery share, I could make well over 10 flights before I'd have to worry
about hitting that curve.

Who runs any chemistry down to the last 10% of battery power??? No one,, that's who

Last edited by scale only 4 me; 12-11-2016 at 04:21 AM.
Old 12-11-2016, 05:05 AM
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What scale said ^^

They require a different mindset but they are a much better battery than anything the 8 track crowd uses.

The one thing I would add, is that I've seen some (not a lot but some) problems with the soft pack LiFe batteries and prefer to use genuine A123 Systems cells packs such as those sold by Tail Dragger RC or WrongWay RC (there's others)

For a 30cc I would recommend a 2500 A123 and a CellPro 4 charger, a Tech Aero IBEC can then be used to power the ignition and act as an electronic kill if you're running EI gas engines.

Last edited by BarracudaHockey; 12-11-2016 at 05:08 AM.
Old 12-11-2016, 05:40 AM
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Originally Posted by BarracudaHockey
What scale said ^^

They require a different mindset but they are a much better battery than anything the 8 track crowd uses.

The one thing I would add, is that I've seen some (not a lot but some) problems with the soft pack LiFe batteries and prefer to use genuine A123 Systems cells packs such as those sold by Tail Dragger RC or WrongWay RC (there's others)

For a 30cc I would recommend a 2500 A123 and a CellPro 4 charger, a Tech Aero IBEC can then be used to power the ignition and act as an electronic kill if you're running EI gas engines.
+1^
Old 12-12-2016, 08:58 AM
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Scale, Try this. Charge your 2500mah LiFe battery. Set you’re your cycler to a cutoff voltage of 6 volts and discharge the battery. Use the NiMH setting if necessary. What did you get? Do this with a cutoff voltage of 6.2 and 6.4. How do the capacity values look?

Get one of these:
http://www.electrodynam.com/rc/EDR-207/index.shtml
Measure the voltage of your batteries at the field as you approach ten flights. What do you measure? Dan.
Old 12-12-2016, 06:25 PM
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Not sure what you're trying to get at Dan,, I never put 10 flights on a pack before recharging, 4-5 tops on a typical Saturday, that's the beauty of the a123 packs plenty of reserve power and easy to recharge quickly,, I have a charger that cycles for calculating the pack current capacity, I don't need to buy anything. I had one of these,, didn't really give you any usefully information so I sold it. http://www.fromeco.org/products/05frc8bal/

Use what you like, but trying to come up with reasons not to use something that's it clear you have never tried is confusing,Personally I got tired of nimh failing on me so I switched,, I'm happy with A123s, I think I know how to manage them after using them the last 4 years,, they've proved to be very reliable for me.

Good luck
Old 12-31-2016, 01:30 PM
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I switched over to A123's some time ago, and it was hard to get my head around them. I think the A123's are a better battery, but that is just my thoughts.
I am using two cell 2300's in my planes and am only up to the 22 to 30 cc gas as of yet. I have 55cc that I will be flying next summer and may use 2 sets of 2300's for that.

The one BIG problem I had with A123 was voltage! I would charge them and then check the voltage and it would fall off , right away without any discharge. Its been awhile since I tested them , but even the new ones did that, but they still had full charge in them.
I finally got a battery tester that says it works with A123's and Life. It says if it reads over 3v per cell go fly. The tester is a Nano tester EDR-207L.
I have been using them for over 3 yrs now, but I don't fly 10 flights on them before recharge. I keep a log on each plane ,a when they get up to about 4 to 5 flights on them I recharge. I never have to put in over 500 Mah.
Old 12-31-2016, 02:43 PM
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Testers are worthless for determining capacity with A123s even the ones that do tell you a "percentage of charge" are still only measuring voltage on a curve and converting it to a percentage.,

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