Bridon

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Thanks you so much Denis...checked all as suggested, then tried it on 12v DC and still the same. ? When I read your last part about the 1 amp into a Nimh and the same into the Lipo...the very thought that the Nimh charged ok but not the Lipo got me thinking. Looking at the charging lead i made up...it was 6 foot long!! ? So, figuring this would maybe act as a resistance drop to the voltage, i set about and made another lead, this time only 12 inches long and the result....SUCCESS..!!! I have learnt a lot today...mainly the hard way but at least I have cleaned all the contacts and couldn't see the wood for the trees until I read your post. thanks again Denis...One Happy Bunny. ?

Hi, I have a Graupner Ultramat 16 charger that is giving me problems when charging for the first time any Lipo battery. It was purchased before a house move so has been sitting sealed in its box and totally unused for a few years but is effectively brand new. It charged a couple if Nimh battery packs last week perfectly. Today, I am trying to charge, for the first time for me, a 2S 1000mah Lipo battery that has good balanced voltage in all cells. Readings on my battery checker are 7.715v Cell 1= 3.857v Cell 2 =3.859v. So, setting the charger to ‘Lipo Manual’ then I set the charge to 1amp (1C) and then I input the battery capacity (1000mah)…then I connected the balance lead…all good so far. Finally, I connected the battery for charging and press the start button for 2 seconds and we’re away! The display says ‘Balancer Con’ (so it sees it) then ‘BLC’ on the display then it moves on to CHG and I can see the charge start but 2-3 seconds later it stops and up pops ‘Error Contact Break’. Ruled out the leads as it will charge a Nimh on the same leads with no bother, so eliminated that one. If I charge the Lipo with the Balance Connector not connected it will charge. (I did this for a few seconds just to see and no error message). So, I am down to the Balance Connector or their leads. Made sure all are correctly connected and tight but no difference…so I went out and bought some electrical contact cleaner…sprayed all contact points let it all evaporate for a few minutes and no joy….the same error message ‘Error Contact Break’ pops up 2-3 seconds into the charge…have I missed something obvious or is my charger at fault?

Thanks, Dick, I will take a look at that site...looks promising. ?

Hi Simon, It was the recommended ESC for a little Tower Pro 2408-21T that I bought a few years back as it was the same motor and ESC that Tim Hooper used in his Pixie-Major plan. After years if I.C. powered models, I wanted something small, simple and electric to use in the local park to get my 'hand-in' again after several years away from the hobby. I could make a Pixie-Major from the free plan Tim had in RCME years ago to use it but my intention was to use this power train on a small glider (Mike Proctor's 48" Minnie HLG from RCME 1984) that glider would be perfect as a first little electric model but that would ideally need a small 7x4 folding prop but the problem is that I don't know of any that will fit this very thin (2.90mm) motor shaft this motor has. ?

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Thanks PatMc.....I thought it was my fault and spent an hour or two trying to solve a problem that isn't there!! ?

We all use wooden dowels at some point and the other day we were out shopping and I saw these packs of wooden dowels for sale in the 'craft' section of 'The Works'. They are a very useable size of 1/4" by 12" and are perfect for small model push rods and I found that they drill and accept wire for adding clevis at each end perfectly. i was trying unsuccesfully to use BBQ Skewers but found them too thin to drill but these dowels do the job perfectly. Good for use when wing mounting with rubber bands too. In packs of 10, you effectively get 10 feet of 1/4" wooden dowling for £1...!! For those without a local store, 'The Works' do a mail order service too.

Throttle Problem Hi, my first foray into going electric is not too smooth....I have an old but unused BRC-15amp ESC that I was trying to set up on a test stand today using my Futaba T6EXA TX and RX. all works perfectly fine apart from one irritating point.... the throttle stick movement is reversed. The throttle works in the correct way on other models (Non-electric) but this ESC will not seemingly play ball. I see that the BRC instruction sheet says "This ESC is not programmable" and wondered if I could reset to factory default somehow in case my initial set-up with the ESC was wrong and I could start again. When I initially set it up, I set the TX set throttle stick to what is normally full but the ESC did not beep the expected 2 beeps, it beeped 3 times after which I moved the throttle to minimum and it all worked but in reverse...that took me by surprise...!! So, putting the stick to minimum and doing the set-up again...I now get the expected 2 beeps...Hurrah....but although this has calibrated the min to max throttle as desired it is still only working on the wrong throttle stick movement... ie Full power is 'minimum' and low to stop is what is normally 'full power' Naturally I can go into the TX and reverse the throttle servo as a workaround but I would rather it was all standardised so does anyone have any on how to tell the ESC to use the throttle in the 'normal' sense?

Good advice. ?

It is just mechanical Rich...it looks quite easy and probably takes 10 minutes. I did a quick scan of the procedure from the manual. ?

I get mine from Vapex Batteries here in the UK...they are quick on delivery and never had any probs with them. Your other comment...I chose the Basic T6L Sport as I wanted something just basic for glider use only and it comes as Mode 2 which is ideal for me. There are instructions in the manual for the Mode 1 conversion if required. ?

Much appreciated knowledge there Brian...just the info I was hoping for. i did consider going to a 6v pack but someone pointed out that most servos 'could' object to working at the higher voltage that a fully charged 6v pack would be so after reading your comment...I have decided to keep my 4.8v packs......thank you so much, mind put at ease! ?

Sounds a good scheme Eric...always prefer rechargeable over dry cells. ?

Thanks for the info Frank....learning more each day! ?

Thanks, Eric, all interesting stuff. The last part was of interest too as I have a couple of small 2 servo HLG types and the AAA lightweight packs would be an idea too....out of curiosity, what was the mAH of the 4 cell AAA NiMh pack were you using?

Thanks Frank...all much clearer to me now...to save any doubts about my 4.8v pack I think I will think about upping to the 6v packs.

All taken on board....thanks Simon. I will keep the Nimh packs and to be on the safe side I may precipitate any voltage drops by going for the 6 volt pack. The Sektrum gear I have uses the AR200 RX and the voltage range is wider starting at 3.5 volt so when I saw this Futaba RX started at 4.8v it did concern me that It was a bit close.

Thanks, Frank, sounds like I can use my Nimh packs still....good news, just need to decide whether 4.8v will suffice for this RX or do I play safe and go to 6v....all these replies from all on here is a great help...I am getting some good info. ?

My models are all pretty small Don, from a Dave Hughes 'Soarcerer' to a maximum 2 mtr thermal soarer with maybe electric assist. So 2 servos and occasionally 3 at most...not heavyweights by any degree. I was hoping to be able to still use my flat 4 Nimh packs at 2500 mAH. My main concern was the voltage requirement of this RX as my packs are 4.8v and If I can use those all well and good but if I have to, then I could go up to the 6v range but I need to keep things within budget being an OAP. ?

Thanks, Martin...so it seems I am OK to use my Nimh batteries then? They are as I said 2500mAH so a good capacity. I meant to ak, if I decided to gu the 6v route...there is a AAA Nimh pack at 950mAH which would be a lighter payload for smaller models. Never envisage using more than 2 servos at any one time...most likely just the 2. sorry to keep asking these questions as I didn't want to make a mistake. ?

I'm sure a few on here have this radio that I have just bought, so I wanted some advice if possible. It's the Futaba T6L Sport intended mainly for glider use, slope and maybe electric assist. I understand that the TX has to be dry cell batteries to get 6v...no problem but the RX ( R3106GF) instructions states a power supply range of 4.8v - 7.4v. I intended to use my fairly new existing airborne packs (Vapex) each of which are 4 x 2500 mAH Nimh rechargeables as I have two packs of them, I can re-charge at the field if needed with my Pro Peak Prodigy charger. However as this is the lower end of the recommended voltage range, I wanted to know, will they be OK to use with this radio or do I need to get a 6v pack? ?

Someone will be very lucky to get this one.

Yes please.

Yes please...what a fabulous prize!