Wot 4 to electric.

[christopher small]

I am thinking of changing my Enya ss 40 on my Wot 4 to electric power,i have a couple of 3s 1800mAh lipo batteries spare and was wondering if i could match these up to a suitably sized brushless motor and if so what size esc.

 

Chris

[Andrew767]

Hi Chris.......is it a real one or an ARTF?...Just about to begin building a MK1 from plans and was going to use a 5055/560 with a 60amp esc a 12x8 prop and 4s 4000mah Lipo..hope the chaps on here able to help.

 

Good luck and best wishes

 

Andrew

Edited By Andrew767 on 12/11/2011 21:12:39

[leccyflyer]

Chris

 

Unfortunately those batteries are likely to be much too small for a conversion of the glow powered Wot-4 (assuming that it is the original Chris Foss kit).

 

You'll need to be looking at 5s1p or 6s1p lipos, of at least 3300mah capacity, and more than 4000mah would be better still. At least a "40" sized brushless outrunner in the 700w+ range a 60amp ESC and props in the range of 12x6" - 13"x8" should fit the bill.

 

Best of luck - electric Wot-4s are great fun

[Reno Racer]

I built a WOT4 Mk3 (Tapered Wing) a few years ago and built it for electric using the templates and guide from Chris Foss's Website here

 

The 4-Max website has a few models that have been converted and lists components used.

 

I used a Turnigy 5045-890kv motor, 85A S/BEC, 12x6 E prop and a 4S 3300mah. This gave a good 8 mins+ of flight (mostly at 3/4 full throttle). Hope that helps; pretty cheap set up with plenty of power for all aeros and decent duration.

[christopher small]

Yes Andrew its a real one ,possibly 25 years old,given to me recently by a friend.

Many thanks to all of you ,plenty to think about and look up on the internet,get some idea of the costs involved,i obviously need much bigger batteries than i have at the moment.

Chris

[Codename-John]

depending on how many batteries you already have you can add them together, for voltage series them to make a 6s1p, (join the - from pack 1 to + of pack 2, using + pack 1 and - pack 2 for connector to esc) or if its extra capacity you need you could always parallel your sets of batteries (both + and both - connected together) to make a 3s2p 3600 mah etc then all you need is the motor and esc

 

 

[Tim Mackey]

Beware using different batteries when connecting in either series or parallel - for the uninitiated there's several rules that MUST be adhered to.

[Codename-John]

with him saying he had a couple of 3s 1800 packs i was assuming theyre the same manufacturer etc ?

obviously they need to be at around the same charge state to begin with, with each cell balanced (as you`d normally charge a lipo), for parallel connect the 2 balance tabs together the same, dont for series,

but other than that i dont know of any particular rules, and ive seen numerous occurences of people making up their own bigger packs this way, theres even videos on youtube of someone making up their own 66.6v 15Ah out of 6s 5Ah cells for an electric bike, in this exact same manner

[Tim Mackey]

I'm not saying don't do it - I do it all the time.

I'm just highlighting the potential issues ( groan ) for inexperienced people who arent comfortable handling these things.

If you parallel them, then the voltage must be the same. The SOC can be a little bit adrift in this scenario, as they will even each other out in a short time.

If in series, then the capacity must be the same, and also, the "C" rating of the packs.

Here its far more important to ensure that the packs are all at the exact same SOC if you intend charging them as a single battery - not something I would recommend anyway - far better IMO to split the packs up and charge each one separately.

Sorting out the correct balance plug configuration is also a potential issue when in series.

 

Its always best practice to only use identical packs in any combinations.