View Full Version : Prodigy Battery Packs
AZ ChopperCam
08-04-2006, 02:25 AM
I'm going to buy some TP pigtails and just snip off the astro taps and splice in the TP taps. the wiring is straight through. easy to do.
dreslism
08-04-2006, 02:31 AM
I'm going to buy some TP pigtails and just snip off the astro taps and splice in the TP taps. the wiring is straight through. easy to do.
Yup, probably easiest. I already have tp taps here since I build emolis.
I also asked Aaron at prodigy where they are located and how to buy them.
He said I could paypal through them, or they also distribute through viper hobies in Mesa. I assume that is where you got them.
Ask your buddy at Viper what else he knows about prodigy.
How long they been around, and anything about the cells if he knows anything.
Thanks
AZ ChopperCam
08-04-2006, 02:37 AM
Yup.. Viper is about 3/4 mile from me. I get them from there and I heard from the guy down there only that he likes the power they provide. not much more was said. They have only been around since spring '06 as far as I know.
I wonder if they are local to me??? hmmmm.....
dreslism
08-04-2006, 02:42 AM
Prodigy said
"Our distribution is located in AZ but we don’t sell from there, conflict of interest. "
AZ ChopperCam
08-10-2006, 01:54 AM
still havent tried these as 10s in the Raptor but another 8 flights in the Logo in the last 4 days with this pack. Still going strong. I'm gonna start really pushing this pack hard after my vacation next week. Might put a 21tooh pinion on and load up some amps.
so far for $99 this pack in impossible to beat. It's just about the same size as an FP 5s3700 but with more capacity. As soon as the hobby shop gets more I'm gonna buy the enitre stock of them
AZ ChopperCam
08-10-2006, 07:23 PM
went to the hobby shop today and picked up 3 more 5s5000 packs. $297+ tax.
I plan to try two of these in the Raptor. Seeing as how the Raptor and Logo are pulling the same amps I'm guessing the performance will be equal to what I am getting in the Logo. If so then I'm converting my entire fleet to electric and the nitro is going to ebay!
dreslism
08-10-2006, 07:31 PM
Go! Go now! You have lots of light left today! :D :D :D
I am hoping these are good as I will most likely get some for my raptor.
I am looking to get a DSLR very soon to put on my heli so I need some more runtime and to save some weight.
I just weighed my wifes DSLR which is the same one I would get to put on there and it is 735 grams. 1lb 10 oz ready to go. Should be doable if I shave a little weight in batteries and off my mount.
How much does a prodigy pack weigh?
AZ ChopperCam
08-10-2006, 08:10 PM
581 grams
I want to make sure anyone who reads this thread understands that I would NOT use these in a 3D machine where high watts were being pulled. I really don't think these packs can handle that style. They are 10C packs better suited to AP/AV flight.
581 grams
I want to make sure anyone who reads this thread understands that I would NOT use these in a 3D machine where high watts were being pulled. I really don't think these packs can handle that style. They are 10C packs better suited to AP/AV flight.
Right.
You're not gonna get the 1200-1500 watts that the hot 3D setups are pulling in the Trex 600....you're looking at more like 900 watts.
AZ ChopperCam
08-10-2006, 09:22 PM
sweet... my Raptor likes these. Just flew. I am taking it easy on these new packs for the first 5 cycles. Flew for only 3.5 minutes.
RaptorCam
98° ambient
12.2lb
10s5000 Prodigy Packs
22amps average
836 watts average
311mah/min draw
motor 162°
batts 102°
esc 109°
1090mah back into pack
no conclusive decision yet, but it really looks like these are not a bad selection for AP/AV. $/mah is cheaper than emoli and they are lighter.
Nice!
Only drawing 4.4C average. Be interesting to see what kind of full power draw you get.
Nate Dogg
08-11-2006, 07:17 PM
prodigy lists the batteries as 5s5000 10C 11.1v. Right? I'm still learning this, so how do you configure these for a 10s for a raptor? How do you wire them and do you seperate them for charging? I thought that each cell was 7.2 volts or something like that. wouldn't a 5s then be around 21v? do you use something like a cc85hv esc then? So much to learn yet :) thanks for the help guys!
AZ ChopperCam
08-11-2006, 07:48 PM
they must have a typo. 5s is 18v. I wire two of them in series for 10s. I have a small series connector that looks sorta like a "Y".
10s is techincaly 36v but fully charged is 42v. After the first minute of flight they stabilize around 38v.
I use a CC85HV with excellent results.
AZ ChopperCam
08-29-2006, 10:49 AM
still going strong!
I contacted Prodigy and they are going to make me a few 6S 5000's. This is going to be perfect for the Raptor. by going 11s with these packs I should be able to match the performance of 10S FP or TP packs at 1/3 the cost.
Yukonho
08-29-2006, 11:25 AM
I run TP 8S 2P (4000mAh) in my Logo10. I wonder if I can configure some kind of prodigy pack to fit between the sideframes in my logo. Would be nice to get another pack or two for less than $320 each!
Calipers in hand...
colin
Yukon:
FYI:
The 5000mah cells are
1/4" thick
1-7/8" wide
6" long
or
~6mm thick
48mm wide
152mm long
4S out of my 5S packs comes to about 26mm thick.
The connector sticks out the end
Yukonho
08-29-2006, 12:11 PM
Thanks for that Teej,
My TP packs are 48.5mm wide, and my frame spacing is actually a bit under 48mm, so there is some give in either the pack or the frame or both. Height wont likely be an issue, nor will length, so it looks like it is worth a shot.
Cheers,
colin
Nate Dogg
09-04-2006, 02:03 PM
DJ-
How are your prodigy packs holding up? any word on the 6s 5000's?
AZ ChopperCam
09-04-2006, 03:31 PM
due to my new affiliation with FlightPower as a FlightPower USA Team Pilot I won't be flying the Prodigy packs any longer.
When I last spoke to Prodigy they were going to custom make me a couple of 6s packs. I had planned to use them with a 5s pack for an 11s setup on the E-Raptor. I figured the extra cell would help keep the voltage up to what I would get with 10s FlightPower packs. I suspect that would be a good route to go but as I say.... the FlightPower deal came by and happened so quickly that I didn't try it out.
I'll be flying FlightPower new formulation 5s1p 5000's in the Raptor(2 of them in 10s) and Logo, and the Joker will get new formulation 5s1p 6600's (2 in 10s)
As soon as the rest of the bits I need to build my cameraship show up, I'll be testing Prodigy packs myself.
I don't have a whole lot of e-flight experience, but a bunch of people at the field are flying trexes and such.
T
AZ ChopperCam
09-04-2006, 08:51 PM
your mount should be arriving this week :D
Exxxxcellent. :D
I need to come up with a power connector solution, too. Apparently I don't have the touch for soldering Deans connectors. :O
Either that or my soldering gun isn't transferring heat like it should be. Quite possible. I'm notorious for abusing soldering tips. ;)
WillJames
09-04-2006, 09:06 PM
Finless Bob has a great Deans soldering video somewhere, you can PM him here (finless) and ask him where it is. May help you with your soldering, it definitely helped me.
I've seen someone's soldering video. But mine just didn't work that way.
I tinned the leads and the deans and applied heat, clamped the connector down, put the wire on top, held the trigger on my *230* watt gun until the arms just short of the chisel soldering tip glowed cherry red (Note, this was on fresh wire after trying more sane soldering techiques) and applied the tip to the wire as in the video.
Nothing happened for about 10 seconds. Then the deans began to melt.
Now, I'm no stranger to a soldering iron. I've managed to replace an SO-28 SMT IC chip with a 40 watt pencil tip and had it work perfectly.
The wire I'm working with here is the battery leads off the HV85 esc. Big fargin' wires. I'm sure that doesn't help.
It may just be a "lack of practice" issue with the deans. I'm _starting_ to get 'em to go together OK.