Electrics - Cost is not as bad as it appears

[gwright]

i would agree,.. although, the flight time with the lipo's can be
considerably longer than a flight with glow fuel, so you could adjust the
electric cost "per flight" to about 2/3 of what you have, since an actual
flight will only consume 1/2 to 2/3 of a pack , giving more of an advantage
to the e-power,..however, there's another side of the coin also,..charger
expense. you're not going to find a charger that will charge a 10-cell lipo
pack quickly for $200 ,.. it's closer to $400 for a schulze ISL6-636 which
will do up to 13 cells at 8 amps. Yes, the little 330 could do it (I think
it'll go to 10 cells, and it's $200), but it only does 5 amps, so charge
times are longer. Of course I'm very pro-electric :) ,.. but there is
reality to consider,.. and when factoring in everything (probably want a
couple chargers), the initial cost is quite high compared to glow. It's made
up over time, and is eventually very much in favor of electric,..but that
initial expense is pretty high.

-----Original Message-----
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org
[mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org]On Behalf Of Lee Davis
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 11:09 AM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Electrics - Cost is not as bad as it appears


I did a little quick and dirty math and while Jason's 3 batteries, at a
total cost of approximately $2000, seem prohibitively expensive, when you
compare them to glow fuel expense, they're competitive.

While the electricity used to charge the batteries isn't exactly free, it's
such a miniscule expense I'm calling it free.

The 3 batteries are good for 500-1000 charge/discharge cycles giving a total
of 1500-3000 flights, so the cost/flight is $.66-$1.33/flight.  Compare to
glow fuel for a 2 stroke @ $10-$15/gal costs around $1.50-$2+/flight.

The C50 motor plus with gear reduction plus speed controller sells for
around $600.  'Pretty much the same that we're paying for a 2 stroke plus
exhaust system.

The only thing extra is a charger.  Say, $200 for a nice one.  Not that bad
though, because I've seen some that charge everything, including RX/TX, so
it's more like replacing one charger with another.

Lee Davis
Piedmont Models
http://www.piedmontmodels.com/

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