Regulating to 6v

[Gary Murphy 1]

With electrics/electronics I can do the manual side ok its the technical side I am lost at. so would like advice on this please.

bought a model and it came with a Flysky i6 radio. Not bad really but I would only use it for parkfly stuff. I have found a better use for it ground based. The only neg I have found is the need for 6v power and 4 X AA batteries. The manual and online search says 6v is the max.

So pretty much all "usual" packs are out. 5 cell NiMh nearest but fitting to room available is very hard. 2s LiPo much easier to fit.

Right ,so what are the ways to regulate a 2s to 6v? I have 6v BEC`s laying around,not the smallest. Have no idea if resistors can do the job,if so what I need and where to place.

Lastly the radio as a low voltage warning 4.2v I think and a radio voltage display. if a bec or resistor set up is used would this effect the voltage readout and low voltage warning.

I know using 4 alkali or rechargeables is easy BUT would just like the longer span of LiPo

[Denis Watkins]

My own take on this Gary, as this is what I do.

4 good Duracell dry cells will last you all season.

4 rechargeable AA cells less so, as at 1.2v per cell, you only get 4.8v from the pack.

Dedicated Transmitter Lipos have already included an internal protection circuit built in, but you pay the price.

[Phil Green]

The i6 is perfectly happy on 4 NiMh cells, Eneloops, Vapextech etc, or as Denis says dry Duracells will last ages. Like all 2.4 sets it actually runs on 3.3v so 4.8 is plenty of overhead.  In fact we often run surface sets from a single 4.2v Li-Ion cell.

I'd go Duracell.

Cheers
Phil

Edited By Phil Green on 04/10/2020 13:56:44

[Gary Murphy 1]

Thanks for the info guys. that dedicated internal protection on radio cells, that's for regulated to 6v??

In my case I would certainly no get a season with Duracell, not that I use it a great deal. even 4 new cells don't read 6v.

also did not realise the radio would work at 3.3v! I will have to look at 4.2 li-ion.

[Dad_flyer]

I run mine (the i6x, which is basically the same) on four NiMh. In my case Energizer 2300mAh. They last ages in it.

[Frank Skilbeck]

Your problem with a 4.2v Li-ion battery is that the low battery voltage alarm, which is set to warn of a flat 4 cell Nimh/dry cell pack, will go off even when a Li-ion is fully charged. Also if you go with a Lipo and regulator the internal battery alarm will only trigger when the Lipos are below their minimum voltage, so you run the risk of damaging the lipos unless you regularly check them.

Not sure what you are trying to achieve a set of 2200 mah enelope cells or similar will probably operate for over 15 hours or so of continuous use.

[Martin McIntosh]

I have had one of those sets for a long time and only remember charging my Eneloops about twice. Don`t over complicate things.

[Phil Green]

Posted by Gary Murphy 1 on 04/10/2020 14:11:15:

Thanks for the info guys. that dedicated internal protection on radio cells, that's for regulated to 6v??

Err.. what?

Posted by Gary Murphy 1 on 04/10/2020 14:11:15:

In my case I would certainly no get a season with Duracell, not that I use it a great deal. even 4 new cells don't read 6v.

If you dont use it a great deal I think you'd be surprised - honestly they last ages.
The 6v is nominal, they dont mean it must be 6.0000 volts, they just mean 4 AA cells, NiMh or primary

Posted by Gary Murphy 1 on 04/10/2020 14:11:15:

also did not realise the radio would work at 3.3v! I will have to look at 4.2 li-ion.

I didnt say it would run from an external 3.3v internally the electronics of all 2.4 sets run at 3.3v, this is regulated inside the set and the regulator is fed from your 4-cell battery. It needs a small excess (called dropout), typically a volt or less so anything over 4.3v from your cells would be fine.
At the low currents typical of a transmitter, the regulators dropout is even lower which is how we run from 1S.

Cheers
Phil

PS just a thought - the i6 has a plastic case. Since a friend had a spontaneous lipo fire whilst it was in storage, I dont like the idea of lipos in plastic transmitters in the house 

Edited By Phil Green on 04/10/2020 16:42:59