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Post by teepster on Oct 5, 2010 2:29:08 GMT 1
A couple questions. I ordered a couple Turnigy 1300 lipos and a EC3-XT60 adapter from Hobby King. It's been several weeks and the EC3>XT60 still shows backorder on their website. I already gotten charged on my credit card which is due but no batteries or XT60. I hate paying for something and then having to wait extended time for it to arrive.
1) Is this a common thing with Hobby King?
2)Secondly I read a lot here about converting the connection from EC3 to something else and the soldering that is required. Seems like this EC3 to XT60 adapter lead is a good way to avoid soldering or am I misunderstanding what I have on order?
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Post by flydiver on Oct 5, 2010 3:42:24 GMT 1
1. Yes.
HK rule of thumb > never order anything on back order. Your entire order sits until it's filled.
2. EC3 are fine. XT60 are fine. You can use a converter.
Ultimately you'll have to learn to solder. It' an important aspect to the sport. Hard to avoid.
How long you willing to wait?
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Post by teepster on Oct 5, 2010 18:57:53 GMT 1
Willing to wait? I'll wait as long as it takes at this point. HK has my money and I need a battery. I'm hoping the order comes in before snow flies in the north east. I didn't know the EC_XT lead was on backorder until I checked on my order after a couple weeks. Your implying I could have checked for possible backorder before placing the order. I didn't catch it then but even so I may have proceeded and hoped for only a week or two delay. The price was the draw. Live and learn.
I've done tons of soldering in the Navy as a Avionics technican. I did bench repair on Tacans for 4 years in the 70's.
I've had the SC all summer went thru 2 batteries already and have only flown the plane once. You helped straightened me out on those mistakes. Thanks.
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Post by flydiver on Oct 5, 2010 21:55:52 GMT 1
You can cancel the back order stuff and get the other shipped more promptly-assuming it's in stock. Stock on lipos has been pretty spotty for the common sizes. I finally got frustrated after waiting 2 months and did that on a mixed order. Unless they changed policy though you'll only get store credit, not a refund. Someone here got a refund on Paypal. I'm not sure on credit cards. Some folk make 2 orders an [in stock] one and and [out of stock] one. It takes awhile to find them all out but there are other choices available than HK without nearly the hassle. I've made some orders but I'll be hard pressed to do it anymore. This may be worth checking out: www.hobbypartz.com/lipobatteries.htmlGens Ace batteries from Hobbyparts www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1315915There is commentary from Charles (everydayflyer-my battery 'mentor') and a link to a test by him. This is way better and more accurate info than you have hope to get from 90% of fliers. Obviously you'll do fine at soldering. It intimidated me. I was lousy at it to start but I've sure had a lot of practice and feel much more confident now. |
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Post by teepster on Oct 6, 2010 20:08:47 GMT 1
Maybe I should cancel the EC3>XT60 adapter (backorder) so I can get my 2 new Turnigys. The adapters are only $2.85 and who knows when they'll come in. I can take that loss if I don't ever use HK again. I have 2 dead hobbyzone batteries with EC3 connectors. Seems like I can cut them off and solder them onto the new Turnigys. I probably should have gone this route to begin with.
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Post by flydiver on Oct 6, 2010 20:48:39 GMT 1
Still got those batteries? You might read this....carefully, several times: www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12583723&postcount=1You'll need an NiXX charger to get it going and can finish it with a lipo charger. It works. Success is dependent on how long and how badly they've been discharged as well as original quality and prior history. In your case that may be way too long. You really ought to be thinking on getting a better charger if you haven't. |
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Post by iflyforfun on Oct 6, 2010 21:15:12 GMT 1
Maybe I should cancel the EC3>XT60 adapter (backorder) so I can get my 2 new Turnigys. The adapters are only $2.85 and who knows when they'll come in. I can take that loss if I don't ever use HK again. I have 2 dead hobbyzone batteries with EC3 connectors. Seems like I can cut them off and solder them onto the new Turnigys. I probably should have gone this route to begin with. I would not bother cutting them off and re-soldering wires together. EC3's are available at every hobby store I've entered and a bag of them cost only a few dollars. If you get them on-line you can get them even cheaper. IMHO EC3 are the way to go!! take a look at the following videos. How I solder EC3's s923.photobucket.com/albums/ad79/Iflyforfun/?action=view¤t=EC3Plugs.mp4How to adjust EC3 plug tension s923.photobucket.com/albums/ad79/Iflyforfun/?action=view¤t=EC3PlugsFittingLoose.mp4I have never tried to revive a LIPO as the link that Fly sent you suggest. But if I ever got into that situation I would try it. Sounds like a lot of people have had success with getting packs to charge again. Ifly |
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Post by Dillzio on Oct 7, 2010 11:19:24 GMT 1
Maybe I should cancel the EC3>XT60 adapter (backorder) so I can get my 2 new Turnigys. The adapters are only $2.85 and who knows when they'll come in. I can take that loss if I don't ever use HK again. I have 2 dead hobbyzone batteries with EC3 connectors. Seems like I can cut them off and solder them onto the new Turnigys. I probably should have gone this route to begin with. You can always cancel the out of stock part from hobbyking, and order it from ebay. |
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scott
Flying officer
Posts: 16
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Post by scott on Oct 9, 2010 7:55:18 GMT 1
Some of the things Hobby King has are worth waiting for because they are a great bargain. I still like to shop there a lot. Some things get stocked a lot quicker than others. Maybe you could cancel the order and then buy just the EC3 connectors if they're in stock and buy a different size mah that's in stock. I think 2200 mah is a great size for the cub. Solder the connectors on yourself.
I bought some lipos off ebay that I really liked. 15C 2200 mah 11.1V lipos. Do an Ebay search for: 11.1V 15C 2200mAh Lipo Battery RC 3S LI-po AKKU 20C These worked great with the stock cub. Gave me excellent flight times and more power. Are very close to the length and width of the stock 1300 mah battery but you may need to cut a small amount of plastic out of your battery box. You should be able to find them for about $12 shipped. I have had no problems with these. You will need to solder your own connectors on. It's actually really easy to do. With your experience you should have no problem at all.
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Post by teepster on Oct 16, 2010 1:14:58 GMT 1
I managed to recharge one of my 2 dead lipo's. They both read "0" volts when I started. I just used one of those plug in the wall rechargers designed for AAA's. I metered the charger to find the - and + sides and jumpered wires to LIPO's. After a couple hours I got from 0 to 4 volts. I then used a car battery charger with a 2 amp setting and put that on for a only a couple minutes and got it to about 9 volts. Finished it off with about a hour on the SC charger that came with the plane. The battery ended up swollon a bit which doesn't look safe. I did run it a couple minutes in the plane in the basement and it worked ok and was still over 10volts afterwards. Tried the same thing with the 2nd battery and I couldn't restore it and it was the newer of the two. Not sure why. I did all this in my cellar on a metal work bench and didn't leave it unattended because of all the warnings out there.
Probably not a safe thing to do but it worked OK on one OK.
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Post by flydiver on Oct 16, 2010 2:02:19 GMT 1
A slightly puffy lipo after that is to be expected. It may fly, probably it'll be lame and not last long. The sooner you do a 'recovery' the better your chances of minimizing the damage. Even a merely low voltage lipo should be brought up to 50% charge ASAP. One that is near dead and sitting around for weeks/months has a pretty low chance of being OK.
It won't explode into flames if you try to fly it. It may puff worse. Likely it'll be disappointing but you don't know until you try. You may be able to get a feel just by hooking it up and doing a 10-15 second static test.
If you fly it be fully prepared for it to crap out at any second and you'll need to do a dead stick landing. Be VERY conservative and careful.
Where you need to be really careful is when you charge it. That's when the problems can show themselves.
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Post by toff on Oct 16, 2010 22:58:32 GMT 1
If you fly it be fully prepared for it to crap out at any second and you'll need to do a dead stick landing. Be VERY conservative and careful. Second this. The 1500 3s lipo I used to charge a dead lipo lasted 2+ mins on my eurofighter, at half throttle, then went lame ( no thrust, but still turning). Thankfully I was at 100ft+ when it cut out, and I've practiced dead stick landings for the last few weeks with the SC ( get as high as you can, then cut throttle - good practice )seeing how long you can thermal/ slope with no power. Suprising how long an SC can stay up with no motor power! |
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Post by flydiver on Oct 17, 2010 6:59:58 GMT 1
The more I think about it the more I think you should do a full throttle 30 second test before flying. Don't do more or you may burn up stuff. Make sure it is well secured and stay away from the prop. If it passes that with flying colors you might try it.....carefully.
If it goes puny on you in that time frame discharge it and toss it.
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Post by teepster on Oct 20, 2010 1:58:52 GMT 1
I put my recovered battery in the plane and ran it at full throttle in the basement and it lasted 1min 45sec before shutting down. I guess it didn't recover very well after all. Probably similar numbers to Toff above if I backed off some on the throttle.
Thanks to all for the advice on this on.
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Post by flydiver on Oct 20, 2010 2:13:51 GMT 1
So it goes....Good you did that. Better in the basement than in the air.
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