Electrics - Cost is not as bad as it appears

[Rick Kent]

It's hard to imagine a flying scenario in which I'd need 4 LiPo battery
packs at the field with me for one day's flying, with one airplane,
considering that you can get 2 to 3 flights per battery, per charge. One can
always recharge at the field. Fly your first pack out, toss it on the
charger, and fly on the second pack while #1 recharges. Unless your routine
is to fly 8 to12 flights a day with one airplane, one right after the other,
anything over 2 packs would be overkill IMO. And then, transmitter battery
duration would begin to come into the picture.
Obviously, at the WC, one needs to be "overprepared" for any contingency,
especially with largely new technology/equipment. In that unique case,
multiple spares would be a good idea. I imagine JS likely has a spare motor
and gearbox on hand, too. Necessary? Probably/hopefully not. But good to
have if you toast a motor or something a long way from home.
Just my pair o' pennies' worth.

Rick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Dupont" <dansy at av.eastlink.ca>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 4:36 PM
Subject: Re: Electrics - Cost is not as bad as it appears


> Hey Lee that is for one battery pack....let add 4 more for good measure
> another 3000.00....if Jason has let say 7 pack with him at 750.00 that
> would be another $5250.00 of Battery's, pretty bad as far I'm concern, the
> price of Batteries would have to come down significantly.  Also what the
> manufacturer say about life expectancy could be different then what
> actually happen to the packs, having race indoor cars for quite a few
years
> one learn that battery's are also not made equal.
>
> Cheers Daniel D.
>
> At 11:09 8/11/2003 -0400, you wrote:
> >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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