'Redbird Fever'

[Tomstoy2]

Well, this sucks. Who would have ever thought I could catch 'Redbird' fever, but it's happening.
This having to wait for batterys to charge really sucks out loud.
Went out and did 7 flights, all my batterys, one more after the first battery completed it's charge. Back home and about 6 flights on the mSR. Weather is so perfect it makes you depressed realizing you're blowing the day away.
Wouldn't be so bad but I haven't fixed the Avant yet, having too much fun.

So, first up, going to need batterys, I figure 8 on the 450 and 6 for the 500.
I'm going to go with the nano-tec's.*

Not too sure about the charger. I have a Trition EQ and it does an excellent job but takes about an hour to do a battery.

Been looking into the Icharger 206 series. I think combined with the Trition I double my demand*from a power supply. I know I need 300 watts and the more amps the better, that would be per charger so double to 600,*but I'm going to want to overbuild it to accept the growing demand.
Guess that means a case to carry it in, too. Would like to keep it more compact than Raf's as I figure a seperate box for batterys. Easier to transport in a small car.
The box should be able to accept both ac and dc input.

How badly do these chargers drain down a car battery?

Thinking of mounting a deep cycle car size battery in the trunk to supply dc from.

Any thoughts guys?

[redbird300]

Don't get me started, lol.

I would suggest low number of packs, but high charging power, much higher than you need right now. Battery technology is changing fast. 10C charge rate packs might be there very soon. And after that ?

Car batteries don't last long, unless you keep the motor running. Deep cycles (as the name indicates) last a lot longer. Read the first post in the thread about the portable power again, I did some calculations there. Not OK for very large electric helis though, not enough capacity if you want to fly a day.

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=248358

[Tomstoy2]

Yeah! I know, I used the 'B' word. Forced to though.
I want to do as many flights as my heart desires.

God, that's funny as hell, you'd go for just a few batterys. I'm talking individual batterys, buddy, not dozens!

[UPGl2AYDD]

Tom, don't waste your time with car batteries. Trust of the matter is that little 3S1P pack you stick on your 450 is nearly equal to what your car battery outputs, they're only intended to last long enough to crank the engine X amount of times and they're done.

I'm with Raf, get a small number of packs and go for a higher powered charging set, and get it all laid out like a production/assembly line. Then you can charge multiple packs quick and fly the others.

If you wanna go with "at the field" charging solutions, simply put just buy a gas generator, it's what everyone is doing if they got the cash (which you need if you fly large electrics). That or fly where you have access to power.

Even given all this, you're still up against a wall, as you fly pretty consistently, majority of people fly one pack, watch and chat, than fly another later, where you seem to snap packs off like beers. So you'll either need to invest in a portable nuclear reactor or not fly as much.

Simple solution, fix your damn nitro and buy a second nitro. Refuel and go, while your E's sit on the sidelines watching as they get charged up.

[Tomstoy2]

Well, the answer goes with building it one part at a time. Just need to ensure each part is exactly what I want.
Think I'll start off with aa ic206b charger and a smaller power supply to power it. Then some batterys. That will give me temporary relief.
I can work on the long term over the winter.

I'm down to 4 3s left, Zippy's, 20c, and indont think they will last too much longer.
I have 3 6s 40c that are fine.