Pete B

Thanks, both, I'm reassured. There is certainly no roughness and I understand that the magnets will have a 'resistive' effect when the motor is turned by hand. I shall proceed gently....... I must add, by the way,  that I've been very pleased with the quality of products and mail order service from BRC, TJD and Modelfixings - all have been prompt, helpful and a pleasure to deal with! Pete ps Babelfish did very well with the translation, Ron, but didn't even try 'Flusschwankungen'!!! 

Hi All, Have come to a temporary halt to the renovation here in France due to an unfortunate collision between a disc cutter and my groin yesterday (stitched but I'm still alive and shaking.......) You may recall I recently posted some newbie questions, kindly addressed by Timbo and others, about the great electrickery mystery. I took the advice and made the recommended purchases so thanks to all. I now have the perfect excuse, for a few days, to turn my attention to the accumulation of bits and kits I've acquired, at frightening expense(!), with a view to converting the Nebula to brushless, assembling an Easyglider Electric with an inrunner replacement for the stock brushed motor (see source of info here under 'Flight Tests' ) and eventually, tackling a CMPRO Discus. Yes, I know the link is to a French site but the numbers are European and you'll recognise most of the nouns! To the issue, at last.  I have purchased two brushless outrunners, a 200w and 300w, and I'm surprised at the variation in effort required to turn the motors by hand. One turns over quite easily whilst the other has considerable resistance, clunking from one sector to the next. Being out in the sticks, my only knowledge reference point, apart from your good selves, is the rest of the web. I have found this short video where the chap is demonstration one motor against another, claiming one is defective. The turning resistance on my two motors seems to fall somewhere between that shown in the video but not far off the extremes. Unfortunately he does not state which one he claims is defective....... Having never handled such a beast before, I have no experience of what should be the correct 'feel' for a motor. I haven't yet wired them up to test them in case one needs returning. Do motors vary in their turning resistance? Is the defective motor the looser or tighter example? Does it matter? You know, I've just realised that ignorance isn't a problem until it becomes a problem.........  Pete

Great machine, count me in, please!

Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, not really, but I'll have a go anyway! Pete

Yes please! Pete 

Just to add to the previous, they offer 11x6 or 11x8 props, but you may wish to go for Graupners elsewhere.... Pete 

Hi, I have just placed an order here They seem to have what you need but I cannot comment on quality, etc. Pete 

I've blades on the Blighty list for next week, Erfolg - can you arrange some sunshine, too, please? I've placed a couple of orders with UK firms for collection back home and I've played Customs roulette with some bits from United Hobbies, in the States, so I'll let you know how efficient the French douaniers are! Pete 

Well, suitably refreshed,  I'm about to place the order for the 2814-8T combo as it seems the biz. Good news is the diameter of 36mm means that I may be able to use the existing cradle in the model. I like the look of the Graupner folders but the 5mm shaft left me searching fruitlessly for info on adapting shaft diameters to accommodate folders. However I have found this spinner which seems to have the correct spec. I'm tempted to get two sets of 11x6 props (one for spares) but would it be worth going for a 10x8 or 11x8 as well to cover the options? - at less than £3 per set it's not a lot of money. I'm back in the UK next week so I can collect the bits there. I'll be able to sort out any connection leads then. Once again, thanks for your help - it is becoming clearer - slowly Pete 

Many thanks, Timbo - I'm an hour ahead here so it must be bedtime - will absorb this when I'm compos mentis! Pete 

I am impressed, Timbo - that clears the fog somewhat! As the motor diameter is 30mm compared to the c.35mm of the existing 600, I presume that I should replace the existing mount with, say a ply bulkhead inside the nose with a cruciform engine mount  such as this The existing set up weighs c.1300g, so the brushess version should reduce that by at least 250g plus any noseweight needed (!), so would you suggest a prop of 11 x  6 or thereabouts? I haven't yet got all the calculations clear and I'm aware that this can be done mathematically but, in time....... Turning to the charger questions and links that I screwed up in the earlier post, I understand that you get what you pay for but, as each vendor/manufacturer seems to have a different way with words, this too appears to be a minefield. I see this at the cheap end of the scale which, on the face of it appears to be able to perform largely as this one which appears more versatile I see that the Prodigy II still needs a balancer as well and, as I don't envisage needing more than 3 cell charging for the foreseeable future, would the Multiplex be likely to meet my needs? I'll address the plug compatibility later......  I will try to start thinking for myself soon, honest! Pete 

Suitably clothed in sack-cloth and ashes, Timbo, now I can see the chain symbol. I won't make that mistake again, sorry! I'm pleased to say I managed my first flight since about 1982 today, and, with nothing else to compare against, I was very satisfied with the performance of the existing set up. I managed about 15mins flight time overall, with 7.9v left at the end - rain stopped play. CG was probably a bit forward of optimum and I can see that less all up weight with a modern system would make it a bit more of a floater, so I'm heading towards your suggestion of a brushless/LiPo replacement. Unfortunately, your phrase "fit a nice cheap low kv outrunner brushless, with a decent 11 / 12" diameter prop" exceeds my knowledge base, so I'm going off to do my homework and try and unravel the jungle I seem to be entering! Thanks, all, for your help so far. Pete 

Thanks, gents, for your very prompt replies - and the amusing anecdotes! I've been shifting topsoil today (oh, joy) so it's taken a while to get back to important things....By the way, thanks to Erfold, the house is now buried and the topsoil, which was intended for flower beds, is now covering the house. Can't wait to see how big the carrots will be! Having operated on the offending item, I've managed to re-solder the pack as a 6-cell, charged it and, much to my surprise, found it working and giving 8.45v - I was under the impression that one multiplies the number of cells by the nominal voltage, to give me 6 x 1.2v = 7.2v. Have I misunderstood something? At least it means that, weather permitting, I may get a test flight in tomorrow. Within the end cap of the cell was a plastic insulating disc. As you may be able see from the photo, the insulator is creased over on one side, and I'm thinking this may have been a manufacturing fault and the cell shorted internally. Perhaps that would explain the bang? Given that the risks appear to be similar whatever the battery (!), I shall accept the advice to go to LiPo's. Right now, I'd be happy to get the beast in the air and I can get modern soon. I have to admit I'm struggling to get my head around this. It's spinning a bit from all I've tried to take in from the various sources. At present, I'm trying to keep costs down, for now at least, and performance is not the priority. Presumably, with LiPo's, I can continue with the stock 600 motor and the Jeti 30 ESC. Timbo suggests a 3S1P battery, which I understand to be 11.1v. Can the 600 motor run with this voltage? Would a 2S1P at 7.4v be adequate for the Nebula? What sort of maH capacity should I need? I don't want to be seen as lazy about these questions - it's more a case of information overload at present and I need to clear the fog. In terms of chargers, and it's a pity my nice new Pro-Peak is like to gather dust, are the chargers such as this: link deleted ! adequate? It is described as a balance charger but the price looks considerably less than many others. link deleted ! Would I do better with this? Do you have any recommendations? Do I need any other equipment such as a digital Lipo Indicator, connector leads etc? As you'll understand, living in France requires an internet order and I'd hate to overlook an essential part of the kit. Thanks for your patience, your help is appreciated, Buenos Dias, Pete

Thanks for your welcome, gents. I'm in the Lot, Myron, between Brive and Cahors, a region today afflicted with 8/8 cloud and a c.30kt south-easterly wind! It's nice when the sun shines, though. A grimpeur, eh? I'm the wrong size for that but still enjoy a ride when I can! Saw a couple of stages of Le Tour last year and will no doubt do the same this July. I have been mightily impressed by the speed of response to my battery query - don't you people have anything else to do? I should be outside continuing my transformation of a field into a garden but I'm currently trying to formulate a sensible reply whilst trawling the net for an idiots guide to Li-Po's - so many questions...... Having scraped a Physics 'O' level nearly 40 years ago it's getting the brain to function again, that's the problem. Your patience will be much appreciated.  Bonne journée! Pete 

Hi all, I'm just returning to the hobby after a long break. Things have changed, haven't they!? I live in deepest France, where clubs and model shops are rather sparse, and having about 6 acres of meadow behind me, I thought I'd make a sensible return with an electric soarer - I really enjoyed the 100" class back in the '70's and I'm happy with something similar. Anyway, to the problem. Last year I bought a Ripmax Nebula in the UK, together with Jeti 30 ESC and a Kan Cells 2000maH 8.4v 7-cell pack. I bought my Hitec Optic 6 here and am on 41mHz. Having finally found time to put it all together, I thought I'd give the 600 stock motor a test-run to check for interference, run-time etc. After about 30 seconds, there was a big bang from within the fus and I found that one of the cells had exploded. It was a very respectable bang, too! Can anyone suggest a cause for this, please? The battery pack was purchased about a year ago and has remained uncharged until the weekend, when I gave it a trickle charge overnight on my Pro Peak Varipulse charger. I didn't measure the voltage after charge but after the bang, it is stilI showing7.6v. I was hoping to patiently cycle the pack up to full capacity before going to fast-charging, but now...... Have I done anything wrong or could it just be a defective pack? Has leaving the pack uncharged for so long contributed? Would it be possible/advisable to replace the damaged cell or better to write off the entire pack? Any advioce would be gratefully received, thanks.

Hi Everyone! Just to introduce myself, like so many others on the forum, I am making a return to RC after many years absence. I now live in a part of France where model shops and clubs are a bit thin on the ground so the internet and forums such as this are an invaluable source of information.  Back in the mid to late '70's, I built and flew such models as the W & E Superfly, Magnatilla, Miles Magister look-alike, Multiplex E1 and the EMP Corona 100" - names for some of the seniors to recall, perhaps?  My only claim to fame was beating Chris Foss once in a soaring comp. at Portsmouth Anyway, family, mortgage, work etc took priority and now, after 3 years of renovating a house (which just happens to have 6 acres of meadow behind it, I've found some time to return to the hobby. Never was an aerobatic type, so I'm looking to do a bit of soaring with a Ripmax Nebula leccy to start with and we'll see how it pans out. Plenty of thermals here in summer! STOL and vintage types may also be on the cards when I've re-educated my fingers. Well, I'm now off to the Electric Flying section as I already have a battery problem and, having lurked here for a while, I'm pretty confident the answer will be found there.  Pete