Being a newbie to turbines I have a question regarding Lipo's for the ECU.
It is well know that Lipo's are potentially very dangerous with their tendency to catch fire.
So why are they supplied with a turbine , to power the ECU. When recharging (if you want to be safe) this means
that the Lipo has to be removed from the aircraft. difficult if there is limited space for the battery.

What is wrong with using another type of battery such as an A123, to replace the Lipo?
Is it just cost or is there another reason?

Regards
Ross

I don't necessarily agree with your premise. They don't have a "tendancy to catch fire", but you can MAKE one catch fire if you treat it badly enough.

I do agree that it is good practice to remove it from the airplane for charging. You should use a high quality BALANCE charger for charging.

There are plenty of folks using other types of batteries and not all turbines come with Lipos.

Hello Ross.

Lipo packs are safe as long as you charge them right.

If you want to use the A123 packs you will need to send the ECU to JetCat to get upgraded for A123 use.

You can also use Ni-Cad or Nickle Metal packs.

I think LiPo's got a bad wrap a few years ago when they were new to this hobby and people were not charging them correctly .... or not even using the right type of charger. I've had LiPo's in many small airplanes (for years) that have encountered their share of abuse ..... crashes, hard landings, dropping, etc .... and never a problem.