Chris Bott - Moderator

one of the traders at Weston Park was selling made up eneloop Rx packs. 'course I have no recollection which one - sorry. As I recall they were facing the flightline - near the middle??

Sanyo actually make a thing of the low temp characteristics of eneloops here. Saying that they are the battery of choice for ski resorts  Should do us proud in the winter then. Sanyo Eneloop

Thats great thanks "Instant" seems to be Vapextech's name for the same technology as eneloops. I'd like to know for sure if they really do have the advantages over standard NiMh's ??

If you're talking AA sized then take care..  I've had some problems with NiMh's  the bigger the capacity (for the same can size) the less current they seem to want to give.  The also seem to go poor in the cold.  Combine the two and I've had voltage problems under high servo load. It's a shame you can't easily get NiCads now. The new eneloop type seem to be the answer, they come fully charged, don't appear to suffer in the cold at all, and so far seem to be happy holding volts with all servos working hard. They also keep thier charge for very long periods (very little self discharge), so no need to top up before a session just because they have been on the shelf. I'd be interested to know anyone elses experiences with these cells. Just google eneloop - other manufacturers seem to be using different names, but eneloop seems to bring up plenty.. 

Tony / George  Have you tested the electric setup? In my experience with setups this size, I've needed a higher Kv than that (580) and a bigger prop to get 1KW on 5S lipo's (or 6S A123) More like 700Kv and a 14x7. It would be very interesting to know the actual measured figures ? I guess you have plenty of room to manoever. Probably don't need the KW and/or can go up in prop size. Great looking build, I'm not sure I'd want to cover it looks so nice in bare balsa

Surely if you have reset the elevator trim to slightly down, and put no downthrust in, you will still have the same problem?  Except now it will dive in the glide.. 

When I got my DX6i I had the same concerns. So I pushed in a 600mAh (Rx type) welded pack. There really isnt enough room with the battery contacts in, but I didnt fancy pulling them out. It lasted over 3 hours without the voltage reading dropping significantly so I have concluded that current draw is very low. Months later the (nimh) lost voltage in the cold, and curtailed a days flying I bought a set of the new Eneloops, 2000mAh, ready charged, very low self discharge and apparently good in the cold.  This was with a view to make up a soldered pack. However after slotting them in separately, I've never got round to soldering them up. So far I've not even had to charge them and I've used it quite a bit... I would never use batteries with spring contacts in a vibrating airframe. But have slowly convinced myself that in the Tx, with a battery reading and a secure battery cover, everything is OK. Incidentally I thought it remiss of Spektrum to go on and on about the charger plug polarity, but not mention that a std Tx charger is the wrong voltage!

If it glides fine and climbs under power then its downthrust you need definately. Ideally you want it's direction of travel to stay the same from glide right through to full power. It will of course gain height at full power and loose height when gliding, but that's not the same thing as the direction that the nose is pointing in..

Here we go again, yes please..

I know exactly where you are coming from, I'm in a ridiculously busy period right now with family and work too. Can you believe I've had the Seagul Sea Fury since Fathers Day and its still in the box! Thank goodness Danny is fettling, (well rebuilding most of) the Cirrus Moth for me at the moment... We're hoping to have both up together at our next funfly, with a SD Card vid camera in one and a remotely controlled vid camera in the other.   (Both on A123's of course lol) Mind you mentioning it here might have put the kybosh on that lol

Hi Timbo  Any updates on your tests of the cylindrical A123's yet...?

Danny, try and keep it flyable at all times, just in case we get a break in this infernal weather.. i.e.  Dont have all the covering stripped off just as a High settles over the midlands lol 

Next time he flies it I promise I'll only er... press the rec button on the vid camera once....

Certainly was

Quote "all your attempts at everything always work 100%"  The homebuilt GMAC PR machine must be working well! Mind you I should have twigged that it may need a tweak when it promised calm winds, high temperatures and no darkness at night to stop flying....

already promised      - there must be a language barrier between the West Midlands and North Wales

Thats OK then, if you say so No idea about the song. So, when can we see the first electric wot 4 sticky bun dropping flight at a funfly?? Actually, that might be a bit of a waste of good buns??

is this thread about wot 4's or wot buns? Lol - we could have done with a bun warmer this weekend..

The tally of sticky buns is adding up nicely - Well, we had a funfly, which is a little lucker than some other events that have not gone ahead at all this weekend. Friday evening was gorgeous, we had a great fly off the peg and barbeque. Saturday was cold and swung between rain and drizzle untill after lunch. The rain stopped and we had a good afternoons flying and a good number of enquiries about membership which is always good, topped off with a barbie in the evening as the wind picked up. Overnight saw gazeebo frames (without fabric) blowing away, and campers hanging on to tents from the inside... Sun morning and it was clear that we needed to cancel the day because of the wind. At least all canvas was dry and we spent the morning "rescuing" tents and marquees etc that were all threatening to make their own way home.. Oh well, we can all start again in a month.. maybe the weather gods will be a little kinder? Oh and I'm trying to organise a mobile sticky bun van for the next event

Timbo Good luck in your quest. It would be great to see such an explaination for beginners. Although part of me says if it was that accessible, most of the fun would go out of it.. I totally agree my method does not cater for beginners at all. I think its actually more of an observation, that all the models I have on this particular battery type has ended up, after experimentation with motors/props/cell counts:- 1 - Well overpowered, but if that power was used all the time the duration would be low. 2 - Working at 40-50A flat out. 3 - Eagle tree has really surprised me at how low the "averarge" power is that I end up using. 4 - An obvious one - The duration depends on the average power and not the max power. So am I kidding people who watch a flight and see both awesome performance and a long flight?? my  next setup will probly go as follows:- How heavy will the plane be? How many watts for 100W/lb (depending on model type)? How many cells do I need for that power at 45A? About what prop size do I want? What KV motor do I need to drive that prop at the pitch speed I want.  This is where I start to rely heavily on previous model data and a wet finger. What motor of that KV is available that will handle the power I want? How much will the setup weigh? Will that weight bring the model to the desired weight? (The lower the better) Purchase motor Try the chosen battery/prop with it, measuring current, revs and power. With a little luck I may only need to change to a slightly different prop size to get the readings I'm after. Try it in the model, and adjust prop again if necessary. Be prepared to buy another motor or add a cell to get it right. And this is a simple one because I'm restricted by my chosen battery only being available in one mAh size. Add the ability to use many different sized batteries and the number of variables just multiply. As I said, good luck with the beginners explaination...

Timbo, I've had 110A out of them for a short period!  Volts did drop off alarmingly and I don't think I'd do it again. But the good news is that they survived. So propping to impress and then using careful throttle management to extend flight times, is a route available to us.  I personally like to fly with the taps right open now and again, (Huge loops and verticals) and in between, give myself and the batteries a rest. So I tend to prop for 40-50A, use cell count to get the power I need and then fly with a much lower average current. Having said that, I let Ian Redshaw fly my 3Demon last year and he was pretty much prop hanging for the whole flight. The batteries didnt seem to care. I did have to warn him just how quick they run out, and just in time too, I think that saved the model...

Gents, our "Standard" 40 - 50 sized setup which works well in many many models is the Thunderpower 670Kv gold coloured motor and 6S A123's or 5S Lipo's.  We use 12x6 13x6.5 and 14x7 depending on power requirements. We've used this in Wot4's, YT 3Demons, Hangar9 Showtime 50, DB Tiger Moth, X2 in Ripmax DH88, and many more. On 14x7 and 6S A123, it pulls around 1KW which is pretty good for a 600W motor. It doesnt seem to trouble it at all, AS LONG AS throttle management is used to keep the average power well down.

Timbo - I'll be there, like a shot. Just as soon as I can, which at the rate I'm going won't be before the Autumn I've sloped in the Yorkshire Dales, Long Mynd, Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Burton Dassett but never yet in Wales. At the moment work seems to be taking me near Cardigan quite a lot, but you never know, there could well be something I need to do in the North... Thanks for the invite. One way or another, we'll take it up If all else fails, I'll wave on the way to Gleneagles..

That sounds like a decent step forward in facilities - how much was cheapo?

So - Anyone thinking of coming this weekend?  We are getting more and more interest, but as it's free and weather dependant, no one ever commits to attending. So we are into panic week!  It's always the same. Fingers crossed for the weather anyway!