Hello
I've been flying a 38lb CARF Spitfire for about 3 years now with a Hacker A100 motor and 26X15prop. First year was on a built in pack of 48 A123 charged at the field. A123s are great for warbirds which usually need some nose weight with about 1/4 more weight than LiPos of the same power.
When one A123 started to go off I switched to NanoTech 130c burst LiPos because it was now cheaper than A123s. 4 X 5S 5000mah ( 10S 10000mah ) now power the Spitty with power to burn. A simple hatch gives access to the motor/battery compartment for chargeing and radio/motor arming switches.
I charge with a PowerLab8 1344watt charger running on 2 X 12 volt deep cycle batteries and it charges all 4 batteries at once in about 20mins. An afternoon's flying easily sees 3 flights and a good bit of talking.
For me the other must have Item to make this all work is telemetry. My DX18 not only gives me real time battery voltage so there are no surprses but also battery temp.I fly in Bunaberg, Australia which is in the sub-tropics. Afternoon temps are usually around 30 degrees plus and until I got telemetry I had no idea my battery temp was hitting 55 degrees after landing which can't be good for batteries. With a ducting system now out through the radiators battery temp now drops below ambient during flight and once the cover is removed on the ground, charge and flying is almost continous.
It's all been so succussful that I'm currently making a my own composite fully moulded 1/4 scale Mustang whhich will operate on built in lipos.
Richard
