Electrics - Cost is not as bad as it appears

[Amir Neshati]

One has to also deduct the cost of a starter, glow driver, glow plugs, fuel
pump and
battery, bearings, etc, also. The lower cost of vibration has been touched
here too...

And it takes much more room to store 10~15 cases of fuel...Troy! ;-)

I just can't figure out how to choke and prime an electric....

Amir


> 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/
>
> =====================================
> # To be removed from this list, send a message to
> # discussion-request at nsrca.org
> # and put leave discussion on the first line of the body.
> #
>
>
>
> =====================================
> # To be removed from this list, send a message to
> # discussion-request at nsrca.org
> # and put leave discussion on the first line of the body.
> #
>

=====================================
# To be removed from this list, send a message to 
# discussion-request at nsrca.org
# and put leave discussion on the first line of the body.
#