Duralite Batteries ?

[Citypickle]

I am going to order battery package for my 50v2. But wondered if the weight of the 60-90 battery pack would have an effect on the cg. Have all digitals in it. Sick of 2 flights and charge. I want to fly not Charge!!
Charlie

[DavidH]

Charlie,
There is only a couple of ounces difference in the batteries.
4 cell 1900 mah reduntant pack 4.3 ozs
4 cell 2800 mah reduntant pack 5.6 ozs.
4 cell 4000 mah reduntant pack 6.6 ozs

The reduntant packs are wired so that if one cell has a problem, you do not lose voltage. All that is lost is some capacity.
The two cell packs are lighter, but there is no redunancy wired into them.

With the 4000 mah pack and non digital servos, I would think you could get in the 15 to 20 15 minute flights range between charges.

David

[Matthew]

With all digital Airtronic servos in my 60 and a 401 and TJ pro I get about 7 flight before I have to recharge with the 4000 mah packs.

[Citypickle]

I just ordered the heli pack for the 60/90 with the Tx battery and the three way charger on Monday morning. I hope they can get it here before the fly in at Macks.
Got sick of charging more than flying!! Maybe I can learn to fly this Tennis Ball. :arggg:

[TerryBelanger]

I ordered mine and they were here in 2-3 days so I'm pretty sure you should have them by Mac's

[ImRich]

I could use less weight in the nose of my R50V2. I find with my digital servos (8311s) and 1700 NiCad pack that I have to add a lot of lead to the tail to get the C/G correct.

I even tried to mount my battery under the equipment tray as far rear as I could to relieve the nose heavy condition as much as I could.

Does anyone else find the R50V2 nose heavy or am I the only lucky one?

[WillJames]

The 60-90 is tail heavy, but with the 90 radio tray and a duralite out front, the balance is perfectly neutral. You will LOVE the duralites, they weigh about 1/2 what my SUB C NiCd 1800 pack weighed. They weigh a little less than my NiMh packs too. Did not weigh them on a scale, just the hand scale.

[X-jason adamo]

Why do they cost so much? I wanted a set for my helis and the packs alone are $100.00 and the kit is like $310.00. Is it the way the battery is made? And are they worth the cash?
Thanks, Jason

[rstacy]

And are they worth the cash?


Personally, I dont think so. I havent read anything to convince me otherwise.
The nicads are serving our needs very well at a much more affordable price.

[X-jason adamo]

That is what i say. It's just a battery is what i thought.

[DavidH]

Depends on how you look at the deal if they are worth the cash.

Everyone will have different opinions about it and I respect that.
Here is how I look at it.

A 4000 mah nicad or nimh pack will weigh twice as much or more than a 4000 mah Duralite.
With the 4000 mah Duralite pack I can fly a couple of gallons of fuel between charges. Also I have constant voltage from the first flight till the last flight using a 5.1 volt regulator.

Now if you use nicads or nimh that are less than 4000 mah you most likely going to need a charger to charge at the field also. That will be required if plan on flying several flights. Most chargers like that run in the $100 range. Also most likely you will need a charger/discharger cycler at home. That will also run in the $100 range.

With the Duralites, all that is needed is the charger that charges them. This charger is 12 volts or can be 110 volt AC also. The Duralites can be charged after one flight or 12 flights, it will not harm them.

I take the Duralites off charge at home, go to the field and fly as much as I can in a day. I don't have to worry about a charger to charge at the field. I check the voltage every couple of flights and just continue on flying. I have been using the Duralite Plus batteries for 18 months, they have worked great for me. Before the Duralite Plus batteries I used the Duralites. The Duralites was the Lithium Metal cells that were predecessors to the Lithium Ion cells now. Duralites have worked for me.

David

[TerryBelanger]

Most of the benifit will be realised by people who do not have existing battery setups.

If you already have an existing battery setup (i.e. charger, cycler) then the only real benifit you will see is the weight savings, and the flights per charge. I thought the batery was heavy as hell when I first got it but you have to keep in mind you can't compare the 4000 mah Dlite with a 2700 Nimh battery. The 4000Mah nicd and the nimh's are MUTCH heavier than the Dlite.

If you use the Duralite charge system, you just plug the dlite batteries into the correct port on the dlite charger and wait for the light to go off.

As with all Lithium batteries you will still have to be causious about charging. I know of several people that charge there DLites in there copters in the house or in the car and never have any problems with it. The Dlites have charge safe cuircutry(sp) in them that is supposed to monitor the charge and keep bad things from happening. I have a charge safe cuircut in one of my Dlites burn up and melt the velcro strap in my fury. I took the Battery to a field rep and he replaced the battery on the spot. I called Dlite the next day and they overnited me another charger also.

As ar as the regulation goes, you can regulate ANY setup so the Dlites don't REALLY have an advantage there

The Dlites sound expensive but if you tally up a nicd or nimh setup that gives you the same benifits (I've found setups that satisfy everything except weight and flights per charge), then your actually saving money.

So for someone who has nothing then you'll see all the benifits DavidH mentioned.
If you have batteries and chargers already like me, you get more flights per charge and less weight, no memory wich means you don't have to cycle the batteries, and fault tolerance because the batteries are wired in parrallel. I just hate having to wait at the field to charge my batteries instead of flying and I like that the charge safe cuircutry takes a little of the charging fear away.

[X-jason adamo]

Thanks i did not know that a charge lasted that long.
thanks :lol:

[Curtis Burns]

I talked to Mr. Jones at the Mac's this weekend about Duralite batteries and decided it was the way for me to go. I just ordered the 4000 flat pack, regulator w/switch, load tester, AC adapter, 3 + 1 charger and a few charging leads for close to $275.00.

I was only getting two flights out of my 1000mah NiCad before I had to charge for 2 hours. Waiting to fly sucks. I bought a 2700mah NiMH battery at Mac's for $29.00 plus tax but I realized I was going to have to buy a good charger / cycler, which isn't cheap either, because I don't trust my charger / cycler. With the charger I bought I can charge one TX battery and three RX batteries at once. It's really simple I suppose, you can buy a Pinto or a Cadillac. I've already spent big bucks on everything else what's another $275.00 for top of the line batteries. $275.00 could be cheap insurance and hours of fun instead of minutes of fun. I can also use my new Duralite charger to charge my LiPoly batteries on my electric aircraft.

Curt

[Mike Fortin]

After you charge those Duralites up on a Friday night and fly the whole weekend without charging you will start to see the value!

[WillJames]

The other thing I like about the Duralite setup is the extra margin of safety. I run the regulated fail safe switches and the redundant 4000mah packs. I like the extra safety features.

[Mike Fortin]

Good point Baja, there is always something to be said for a little more saftey!