Hey guys im getting a 28% Edge 540 of tom from Wild hare and was wondering for battery setup if any one has some tips?
i liked the idea of li-ions but dont know much about them, do i need regulators how much all that jumbo, if u use them on ignition, bla bla bla ect. or do i use nimh and how many i want to be using 6v to get the extra grunt out of them servos. what bettery do u recomend for ignition, do i need 2 batterys for reciver and servos.... all ideas would be apreciated all ideas are welcom

Well, IMHO, it all depends on how much $$ you want to spend. The low-cost option is NiMH or NiCD because you don't need regulators. But if you want to spend a bit more $$ go with Li-ions. You will have to use regulators but you will have a constant 6.0 volts to the servos. If you use digital servos, you should use more battery capacity (i.e. use a 2800 mah vs a 1500 or 2000 mah). Yes, you can use Li-ions all the way around with no problemo except that you will, like I said above, have to use regulators. Overall, the Li-ions are lighter than a comprable capacity NiMH or NiCD.

Brand-wise, there are now many different companies that sell Li-ions. Which ever brand you use, I highly recommend that you use their charger because you definitley don't want to overcharge the batteries and using their charger that is specific for their battery should work very well.

The two brands I see used the most (I'm going on a limb here) are Fromeco and Duralite Plus. I use all Duralite Plus myself and others have used the Fromeco with no problems. It's your choice.


Good luck,

Bobby

[&:][&:]Is there anything i need to know about li-ions??
ok i think i have it worked out tell me if im wrong please..
5cell 6v 2000mah on ignition (is this a good way to go?)
Li-ion on recever and servos (4800MaH)? do i need 2 smaller ones so i have a redundant system?
I guess money is no obsticle but i dont wanna go overboard its not a giant mother of a plane its a 28% sooo i dunnooo???[&:]

RCFREAK: here is what I will have on my 28% WH Extra Special (I have a 33% WH 260 and set it up the same way except for larger batteries).

The engine is a DA 50, two 2000 mah Duralite Plus - one on each side of the plane with two switches, two 6.0 volt regulators each going into a SmartFly BatShare then the BatShare's leads going into a JR 945S RX. Basically, this gives a redundant battery system on the control surfaces. Ignition will also be a 2000 mah Duralite Plus battery, with one 5.1 volt regulator and an Electrodynamics EDR 107 (I think that's the number) optical kill switch setup in-line with the regular switch. I also have a Duralite Plus Li-ion battery in my JR 10X. I am total Duralite Plus Li-ions.

I religiously check all battery voltage before and after each flight and record the data in a little flip pad that I carry. The "stop-fly" 1-amp loaded voltabe is 6.9 volts. The only time I have ever come close to the "stop-fly" voltage was when I first got my Duralites. I had 5 digital servos in a Sig Something Extra (only one 2000 mah battery and one 6.0 volt regulator). I flew a total of 95 actual on-time minutes before I reached the 6.9 stop-fly limit. I was tired but I wanted to see just what those batteries would do. I think I burned a gal of Cool Power that day!! 95 actual flying minutes is a lot of flying. It took me all morning and half the afternoon!!

Like I said, I am total Duralite Plus - batteries, battery voltage checker, charger (3 + 1) and TX. Jack at Duralite is very helfful - just as much as Tom is here at WildHare. Any time I have had a problem (or thought I had a problem) Jack replaced the battery at no charge, no questions asked.


No, I'm not sponsored by Duralite Plus or anyone else. I just like the company and have had excellent success with them.


Good luck,

Bobby

I went with 3 2400 Fromeco packs with the regulators and can easily get 15 10 min flights without re-charging

I have the edge 540 from Tom. I went with Fromeco's 1x4400mah on the rx, and a 2200mah on the ign. I also use their regulators and switch combined, and use their voltage checker and charger.
I'm fairly pedantic over charging batteries, and will charge every friday night for weekends flying. I can fly all weekend on that charge. My tx however wll need charging on Saturday, still using NiCd in the tx.
The fromecos are great, no problems with them at all. The switches are great, supplying a constant 6v to the servo's. The regulators are adustable for whatever voltage you want. Maybe a regulated Li-ion is not required on the ign, and a 4.8v NiCd will do the job. But, better safe than sorry.
Getting the fromeco batteries into Austalia now though may be a problem. I noticed on the fromeco website they're not shipping os anymore, dont know if thats true for duralite too, so maybe an issue going forward. I dont know what the local stores carry in the way of batteries.

Good luck with it.
Where abouts are you flying?

Hey euclid im flying at WRCS In sydney. We should keep in contact whats ur email address, we can share some info on the edge that would be great thanx mate

So these duralite batterys sound good, are there regulators any good, compared to fromco.
Would any one be able to buy me some Fromcos if i paid you for them + shipping expences as i live in Australia and they are no longer doing international freight that would be great if someone could help me out with sourceing some fromcos.[&:]

The only consideration for me to others reading this thread, is that the Duralite 3+1 charger gets pretty warm when I put the 11.1V TX, and three 7.4V RX/Ign. batteries on charge at once. The comparable Fromeco 4 input charger does not get warm to the touch, so it seems to be working more efficiently.

Fromeco batts/charger are a great price - I hope you're able to get them in Australia.

Hi guys, been running a single 2000ma Li-Poly with a duralite 6v regulator and one HD JR Switch for nearly 9 months (about 50 flights) and no problems at all, I personally think the redundancy thing on this size model is purely ones own choice and not totally necessary ( my opinion only ;-) I run a Brison 3.2 on a Extra special, digitals all round and have managed a very light setup (15.5 pnd)
oh and I run a single 4.8v 1000 ma ni-cad on ignition, this is Brisons reccomendation: any good quality 4.8v 800ma or above pack is fine for ignition, can't imagine it would be too much different for the CDI units..... good luck with yours

Lipos are great but if you also want to go with a cheaper setup and fly all weekend then here's a suggestion.

2 5cell 2500mah NiMh AApacks- $44.00 with connectors (Plugged directly into reciever (10.28oz))
1 4cell 2500mah NiMh AApack - $18.00 with connector (for ignition)

I'm running 2 1650Nimh packs in my WH Ultimate with 7 Hitec digitals and one standard servo and I can easily get over 10; 15 minute flights before charging. I usally alsways run down my ignition pack way before draining the main packs.

I know I can lose some weight going to lipos, but these planes fly so light with 50 class motors you really would not be able to tell the difference. I personaly was looking for really long flight times being that I can usally fly over 10-12 flights in a day.

Been runnig this setup in my edge for over a year with about 155 flights. Not one issue whatsoever.

Is there some reason not to run 4.8 volt system? I am building my 28% Edge with 8611a on rudder and 5945's on the other flight surfaces. I would like to stay with 4.8 only because my other planes are 4.8 volts. I was thinking with the torque of these servos, 4.8 volts would surfice. It just has me wondering since it seems that everyone else is running 6.0 volt. I do plan to run dual batteries on the receiver.

6 volts just gives you more torque and speed. If you don;t need that then use 4.8.

TF

4.8 will also give you a little longer run time for the same capacity batts because your servos are pulling less amps than at 6volts.

But like Tom said, if it's not necessary (which with those servos it's definitely not) then 4.8 will do just fine.

The most simple setup with the most current --
latest NIMH cells -JR has new SANYOs -for example --600 size pack delivers - 1650 ma!
So get one for the engine and two for the radio (use two switches for the rx )-on a 28%model this is plenty.
You can recharge and test with simple inexpensive equipment andweight wise any savings going to Lipond regs is very minimal.
We flew the WH35% with one 5745 rudder servo today -and it does easy knife edge loops - gobs of current available on the single 3200ma NiMh 5 cell pack (thru two switches in parallel)
Why two switches?
I use the little EXPERT brand v meter in the model -attached to the Rx
If I stir all sticks as fast as possible --the meter will flicker down one bar - meaning that the rx is seeing a power drain in excess of what is flowing in-thru one switch.
if I add the other switch - no more flicker.

This is a myth. Yes, there is 25% more current flowing and 25% more power being consumed, but you are carrying 5 cells which means 25% more total watt/hours on board so it works out the same.

TF

Myth Busted !

Thank you TOm !

Julien

I know the total watts per hour was a little higher, but not enough to completely cancel out the amount of consumption. This is what was explained to me by the owner of NOBS Battery's. In any event you can still run the know older NIMH packs in the bigger planes without spending money on lipo setups. This will get you into the gassers and keep the cost down to a minimum without sacrificing power availability if thats a big concern.

I'd have to respecfully disagree with you there Tom. Yes the watt/hours will be more with the 5 cell pack but it will not cancel out the extra current draw. Adding the extra cell does not increase the mAh rating of the pack. However increasing the voltage will increase the current draw for a given load. A higher current draw with no change in the mAh rating of the battery will result in a reduction of battery life.

Correct, but it increases the voltage at which those milliamps are delivered which is part of the power equation. Watts(power)=V*A. Capacity = watts*time. A 1500mah cell can deliver 1500 ma for 1 hour at 1.2v = 1.8 watt-hour.

4 cells = 7.2 watt-hour. (4.8*1500=7200)
5 cells = 9.0 watt-hour. (6.0*1500=9000)

TF

That is correct but in this case watt/hours are irrelevant. The only thing that we are interested in to determine the life of a battery pack is the capacity of a pack, the current draw and the time spent at that current draw. The 6V pack will supply more current with the same load and therefore have a shorter life like SAL98 mentioned.
Think of it as a light that burns twice as bright last's half as long.

I have the Extra special with 4 5945 digitals and one JR 8611 and 2 hitec 425bb's I am running two 2700mah nimh's (6volt) is this alittle overkill ,, what could I get away with,,, I usely fly 4-6 10 minute flights a afternoon,,,

See my post above -This works is simple and cheap -reliable -don't forget the little light bar V meter - worth it's weight in gold.
As for the Lipos - you will find em in all my electric models -but that's it!

At the risk of being branded a heretic, I think all of you guys are way over kill on your battery setups.

My 28% Edge setup is the conventional 4- HS5945s and one 8611 with two HS225BB (throttle and choke) and a DA50 for power. I’ve been using ONE 2s1p Thunder Power 2200Mah Lipoly w/ a 6 volt regulator for Rx, and one 2s1p TP 1320 Mah w/ 5 volt reg. for ignition. The Rx voltage Reg. is rated at 10 amp. It’s never even been warm after a flight.

Based on careful checking after approx. 50 flights, here is what I’ve found. Sixty minutes of flight time consumes about 600 ma of Rx battery (that’s 4 -5 flights of 10 – 15 minutes) and the ignition draws even less (> 200 Mah). My flight style is predominantly IMAC with some mild 3D. To me this means that we are really over doing the electrical systems on the 28% planes.

Next (here comes the blasphemy, flame suit ON), I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using Lipoly batteries in gas and/or fuel planes. Yes, they have some issues, but ANY rechargeable battery can be blow up by improper handling. Treat them with care and respect, just as you do gasoline, and you’ll be fine.

IMO - You don’t need 4amps of NiMH on board for the radio, it’s just dead weight! And, 2000 Mah of ignition battery is REALLY dead weight. “Lighter is better” are words to build by. A 16 lb. plane will fly better than the same plane at 18 or 19 pounds, period.

What I would really like to do is get a data recorder to track the amp load during flight. I think we would all be amazed at how little current is actually being drawn by the servos. Based on that data we could come up with a suitable battery configuration that would have a comfortable safety margin without adding excess weight.

What do you think about my situation Dugster,,,, 2 post above,,,

Your setup is similar to mine, so I would expect that they draw about the same voltage and current levels. You didn't specify whether you are using 2 batteries for the radio, or one of each of the 2700's for radio and ignition.

Assuming you're talking about two radio batteries, I think you can remove one of the 2700 Mah NiMH without any danger. If you don't feel comfortable with only one battery and switch, go with two 1400 or 1600 Mah (6.0v) and a BatShare (see URL below) to ensure redundancy.

http://www.smart-fly.com/Products/BatShare/batshare.htm

If you are using a 2700 Mah for the ignition, change it to a 1400 - 1600 (4.8v) pack and cut that weight in half.[8D]