Myron Beaumont Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 David May I suggest a poll on "Failures" .whether equipment wise , actual or imaginary or known to be induced by human error. A comprehensive summation of the many problems encountered and discussed continually on the forum could maybe give a concise direction to move in and prevent many of the possible hicoughs on the way to flying safely. A list of the commonest probs experienced & voted on would give an idea of what peeps have actually experienced most. Some items are of course discussed regularly at some length but a neat "what to look out for & what not do do" might focus attention to the most common problems and various solutions we find to get around them . I suppose it might help to have a subdivision between ic and,electric powered flying machines .although of course when it comes to battery "failures?".the problems (or not)affect both regimes . To start with,we could all suggest categories to which end may I start by bringing up something like #1) How many modellers trust your charger to cut off at delta peak when your NiMh battery has reached full capacity only (a current thread about the cold weather prompted me to think of that one ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cantwell Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 To be honest, i have this problem, i use a mainlink delta charger, its basically a plug it in, press the button, and forget it charger, and i LOVE it, but just yesterday, i plugged a 2000nimh, and a 1200 ni-cad into it, the ni-cad went off, the nimh didnt, the thing was RED HOT when i checked again this has happened with nimhs more than once, i now have a worldwide search on for every un-used ni-cad in the world, they are all mine, MINE I TELL YOU!!!!! so gerroffum, loved ni-cads, HATE nimhs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myron Beaumont Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Alan You can't have mine !! My favourite is my Nicd that came in my Optic 6 tranny, German I think ,I don't know why but it just seems to get better and better .The only memory effect I know about is mine ! I can't remember exactly when I bought it . I have a few Ripmax packs you're welcome to .Never much good capacity wise from new (or were they ?) Cue for another question Eh? Apart from that one ,I'm happy with my Instants I've converted to all found and just charge with a wall charger for about 10 hours no matter what . Someone will tell me I'm wrong I expect Myron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Exactly why I have ditched almost all of my nickel based cells in favour of the far superior lithium. Nickel is just so old school these days. Heavy, poor current delivery, fickle charging routine, limited capacity,lousy cold weather performance....I mean with the price of lipos and regulators as they are, or even A123 cells, tell me, why bother with nickel at all?? Lipos: Cheap, powerful, superb performance, always ready, lightweight, massive power potential, and, best of all, simply the easiest cell to charge reliably every time - despite the SOC - bar none. Completely safe if handled correctly, but then of course, that requires the user to have half a brain and be conscious and careful....Hmm, knowing as many modellers as I do - maybe Ive just ruined my own argument Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myron Beaumont Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Timbo All I can say with my " half brain "is that the more powerful something is in life & nature ,the more dangerous it is and generally missused.eventually . We can remember innovations long ago deemed advances in technology . Armagedon comes to mind . I'll get mi coat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben B Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 I had a battery charging near miss the other day. Happily charged about six packs of Lipos only to inspect the charger and say to myself "what's this lilo thing?".... Turns out at some point I'd flipped it from Lipo to Lilo mode. Luckily the voltage cut-off for lilos is less so I under-charged my packs.... Could have been very different! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Posted by Myron Beaumont on 05/02/2012 13:59:17:Timbo All I can say with my " half brain "is that the more powerful something is in life & nature ,the more dangerous it is and generally missused.eventually . We can remember innovations long ago deemed advances in technology . Armagedon comes to mind . I'll get mi coat I wasn't suggesting that YOU had only half a brain Myron... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cantwell Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 sorry Timbo, anything that needs a lipo sack to charge, and has been the subject of oh so many fires, is not coming anywhere near my gaff!! remember, the statement you said about completely safe if handled correctly was given to the very first ATOM BOMB, it probably was too, but would you want to handle one? now then, where are all these luverly ni-cads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Dont need a lipo sack, and has never been the subject of a fire where it was not shown that operator error was to blame. IMO, LiPo batteries are no more potentially dangerous than petrol cans. Neither spontaneously combust, and will only catch fire if prompted to do so.Sorry Alan, thats a very old fashioned, and rather ill founded opinion.Incidentally, have you seen the damage that has been caused by overcharged nickel cells over the years! I think we are off topic here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cantwell Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 get what you mean Timbo, every new thing has its tampereres, but i have seen more than 5 serious fires with these things, and not by idiots either!! and yes, it is ill founded, i know nowt about eli--leck--elect cant even say it, all i want is a power source that i can trust, and to be honest, i dont trust these things one jot, nickel cells have been going many many MANY years, there are so many, there are bound to be horror stories, Lipo sacks are well documented, as are metal charging cabinets, and advice not to have these things in the huse etc, they are not for me, not yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Blimeys Alan - youve seen more than 5 serious fires involving lipos?? Now I know you are connected to the trade, but as you dont even have any lipos yourself, and I guess fly mainly with lads who still like the slimy stuff, thats an awfully high incident rate!If its trade related, then it sounds like they need to get smart . I have been flying electric around 20 years, and with lipo for about ten of those. I own(ed) hundreds of lipo packs, fly with loads of people who use lipo almost exclusively, and have never seen, or heard of any of those people having suffered a serious incident. I have lipo in big scale models, small fast jets, gliders, combat machines, transmitters, receiver packs, aux lighting packs, etc etc.I think, to get back on the topic, a more interesting, and tangible survey would be "How many lipo fires have you witnessed or suffered" NOTE: NOT how many have you heard of down the club field or pub, or via the internet, or from that chap who occasionally turns up at the club etc, but actually witnessed. I'll kick it off....ZERO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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