Its all greak to me

[trollsplitter]

Hello.

Ive only been into rc planes for about 10 months. I learned on and still love to fly my SC. I have been doing some reading and decided that Ii really want to go to lipo batteries. The only problem is im not really sure what im doing. I hoping somone will be able to shed some insight and tell me if what im planning here actully makes sense. I dont have a LHS in town and although im willing to order off the net ill be heading down south to some major city centers and want to do most my shopping there.

So here is what I got in mind.

1) I will be switching all conectors over to Deans as they seem to be the leading way to go. Soildering is of no concern. If I can't soilder what I need to I know my father will be able to. <he hand soilders satelite boards for fun, what a nut>.

2)I want to use Thunder Power 11.1V 2100mAh 3-Cell LiPo. The reason for this is I also have a parkzone FW-190 and these are the recomended batteries for that plane. Sorta wanna kill 2 planes with one pack. So will these batteries destroy my SC or will they run it without hazard <understanding that extra wear and tear on motor caused by lipo's will shorten there life span.>

The specs on the batteries are
Type: Lithium Polymer
Capacity: 2100 mAh
Voltage: 11.1V nominal
Wire Gauge: 16
Output Connector: None
Number of Cells: 3 in series
Weight: 5.0 oz
Dimensions: 1.35 x 3.9 x 1.0 in
Maximum Continuous Discharge: 15C
Maximum Burst Discharge: 20C
Maximum Continuous Current: 31.5A

3)These batteries are quite expensive. I will buy them if I gotta but can someone recomended another good quailty battery that may be easier on the pocket book and meets the same specs.

4)This is the part where I really get confused.
I need to find a charger. What should I be looking for in specs. There is a good chance that in futur years ill be flying faster more powerfull electric planes. Should I be looking at a charge for futur use. or just get myself a good reliable 3 cell charger for now and worry about rest later? I also read somewhere that you can buy a device that goes between charger and battery and is designed to shut down charging to a cell when it is fully charged to prevent overchargeing. Is this nessicary or can you get a smart charger that elimates this device.
Any info of suggestions on charges that would fit my needs would be a hugh help.

5)From what ive read modifying the SC to run lipos is simple
-body modificatiosn to make batteries fit,
-Remove the jumper that is near the ACT plugins to change the cut of point.
-ReBalance COG.
am I missing anything here?

6)Being from the north where large feilds are non exsitant in summer I wil be putting the cub on floats. My only concern is what steps should I take with the plane to prevent damage when I opps and splash her down, nose over, and soak the batteries/motor/and electronics.

7)I tock my Ni-MH 10.8V, 1000mAH battery from my FW-190 and made it fit into my SC. Will this damage the SC or should i be forgetting i ever did this?

Any help at al is greatly appricated.
BTW awesome site guys, so much great info. This is quickly becomeing a daliy visit site for me.

Take care all.

[duck9191]

1. dean are much more secure, and easier to use then the stock connectors.

2. the only thing thats going to be effected by the higher voltage is the increased wear on the motor which you already know about.

3. for cheaper batteries, shop around for something similar to what you have with a decent discharge (C) rating.

4. for chargers there is a few ways to go. if you want something for the future look for a charger capable of charging a number of cells with a good output current. also look for one with a built in balancer if your looking for a one shot package, you can get them separate also if you want, or not use one at all, but thats more then likely not a good idea since the balancer will keep the individual cell's from over or under charging. you don't necessarily need a smart charger with all the fancy graphs and what not, there are alot of nice analog ones what work well too, just depends on what you like and what you think you will need in the future.

5. yep sounds good.

6. you could put some tape over the battery box to keep splashes out. other then that its not to easy to water proof since the receiver and batter need a littel air flow to keep cool.

7. it wont damage anything, its only 10.8 volts, lipo's are 11.3 and they are fine. run time should be some what near stock depending on how you fly, you will have some extra get up and go though.

[SCC]

For now and the future, something like this would do.
www.rcaccessory.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=241

[trollsplitter]

Thanks for the great. Really put me at easy with what im about to buy. Just got a couple more questions.

1) What would descent C reatings on the batteries be. should i stick to the minium of 15 continous and 20 bust or would say a 10 continous and 15 burst still be desent. just sorta look for a stay above XXXX rating recomindation.

2)I understand that waterproofing wont work so im also accepting the fact that if i nose over the electronic gear and battery are going to get wet. Would removing parts, letting dry throughly for 48 hours than replace retry, precations do the trick or should i be looking at doing something more?

[trollsplitter]

Oh and i flew with the 10.8V battery. It was a good diffrence in power. The plane was able to climb stright up from a level postion for 5ish second before staling. seemed id only get 1-2 secs out of stock battery. Also found trhe flight to be about 5 mins longer. defantly a good 15 mins in air. I do like flying at full throttle. It was an extremly easy modification for anyone whos got a couple of these large batteries laying around and want a lil more out of there cub but not liking the idea of dumping the cash into li-po yet.

Well take care all ill probley be on in a week or too posting what I ended up buying.


Wohoo 2 more days and i go on vacation for 2 months, and im taking my cub with me :-)

[duck9191]

the stock motor pulls around 10-11 amps WOT. so a 1500 mah 10c battery would be fine, since its rated at 15 amps. but since you are going to run 2100's a 10c battery will be fine. but if you plan on going brushless or using the batteries in another plane that draws more power then you may want to stick to higher C batteries.

i have noes mine over in a ditch, all that got wet was the motor so i took the air compressor and blew it out and kept flying. now if you get water on the rx, dont use it, let it dry for a few days.

[trollsplitter]

cool. thanks for info. ill make sure the C's match the batterie i posted so it they wont have issues in my FW-190.

Brushless /hhummmm your evil duck evil!