Electrics - Cost is not as bad as it appears

[Rick Kent]

Dan,
Look at it this way. With your current IC powered planes, you drag along a
few items of field equipment and fuel and such, right? When you take your IC
powered plane to the field, AND an electric powered one, the ONLY additional
piece of field equipment needed to tag along is your charger. One extra
piece of support equipment with two types of planes isn't that bad, is it?
And, that piece can stay in the parking lot by your vehicle, out of the way,
to charge packs. Doesn't seem like such a huge hassle to me.  :-)
As for hot recharging, e-flyers generally have devices to cool spent packs
to a reasonable temp before recharging, e.g. a piece of PVC drain pipe with
a 12v computer PSU fan mounted in one end or similar. I've seen some car
guys throw spent packs into their drink coolers between races, although I
don't know for sure how effective that really is. These big LiPos are
discharging at 50-60 amps, so I doubt charging at 5-8 amps is going to hurt
them a lot, heat-wise I wouldn't go from landing/taxi straight to the
charger, though.. The smaller LiPo packs don't even get that warm after
discharging.
Here's a forum that covers everything you ever wanted to know about
batteries for e-flight:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=129
Rick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Dupont" <dansy at av.eastlink.ca>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 11:38 AM
Subject: Re: Electrics - Cost is not as bad as it appears


> Don't get me wrong, if the price come down for the battery I will give it
a
> try for sure.  But I would hate to have only one plane on
> Electric.....since I would still have to carry all that gear in case I
need
> the fuel plane...:)
>
> But my understanding at this point says...you cannot recharge at the field
> since the battery will already warn from the discharge cycle and I like to
> fly at least 6 flights, often more....
>
> I always a spare fully charge pack for my radio, good for about 12 flights
> altogether.
>
> I carry all king of spare parts including complete a engine / spinner
> /starter / glow driver / ect.ect......since I often fly well away from
home
> about 100 miles, and I fly there because since it the most concentrated
> Pattern in the Atlantic Canada.
>
> Cheers Daniel D. 2693
>
> At 10:58 8/12/2003 -0400, you wrote:
> >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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