T-Rex 800 Battery Loading from the Back?

[skyhigh]

I haven't seen an Align T-Rex 800 up close yet. But in some build videos, it looks to me like the batteries might be loadable from the back? Can any T-Rex 800 owners see if this could be workable?

This little trick will be useful because if there's a large front mounted camera gimbal, its going to be hard to load a long 12s or 14s battery pack from the front. Even for 3D pilots, the rear loading will be awesome because you don't have to repeatedly take on and off the large canopy to load the battery packs!

I first became interested in the rear load after seeing the Thunder Tiger E720 and E820 which have purposely designed rear loaded batteries. I think that's going to be the way to go especially with these new rail mounted battery caddies.

[JohnTC02]

I don't think this is possible as it has to slide in from the front so it will latch into the front receiver mount, there is a piece of metal that sticks up on the battery tray so it will lock into place, pushing it in from the rear will mean that it will catch on the back of the receiver mount.

Others on here may know of a way to modify it so it will work though

[skyhigh]

Thanks John. Yeah, I kinda figured it might not be possible as-is. But I just got a thought.

What if the battery caddy and rails are not used? Instead, use only the traditional velcro pads and velcro straps to secure the batteries. Would it then be possible to rear load the main battery packs? All protruding latches, tabs and any other obstructions will need to be cut out of course but that should be minor.

[JohnTC02]

I don't think there is anything in the frames that would cause you any problems.

A simple solution may be to grind the locating tab off the battery tray, doing that may be all that is needed to allow the tray to fit from the rear, all you would need to do then is find a way to secure the tray in the heli.

[raptorz499]

I would rather have some form of quick canopy release mounts...anyone know what will work that is using them on their 800 pro now?

[JohnTC02]

I use these on my Trekker, 800 Pro DFC and my 700 Pro DFC.

http://www.align-trex.co.uk/upgrades...t-tx7f-07.html

They were a bit of a fiddle getting them to fit on my Trekker though.

[skyhigh]

Originally Posted by raptorz499

I would rather have some form of quick canopy release mounts...anyone know what will work that is using them on their 800 pro now?

Nah, with the advent of battery trays and rails, the rear loading of batteries is a natural consequence. In addition to the huge problem that a long front loading tray poses for AP and FPV, the necessity of frequently having to remove the heli's canopy risks these dangers in general:

• Wind blows canopy onto the pavement. A huge 800 size canopy is going to be taking some dents and scratches for sure! I've seen many times a nice 450 and 500 canopy blow off. On pavement, its almost always going to be another scratch.
• Canopy takes wear and tear. Especially at the bottom front and canopy holes from the constant removal. Who wants a beautiful expensive canopy to start taking damage without even a crash?
• Canopy mount holes wear out risking an in-flight ejection into rotor blades. This can even happy with user error and rushing to get a flight in.

As I see it, the tired old method of front loading doesn't make sense any more. Especially with the larger helicopters where rear loading is a viable alternative given some forethought from the helicopter's designers. Rear loading a heli might seem odd at first but that's just because we've been conditioned for front loading. I'd bet that if Align had designed for rear loading the 700 and 800, not long after we'd all be wondering why the front loading was ever even used!