Any news on the Trex 500?

[Bobbyk]

The reason the T500 will be popular is because of the battrey price and the size, a good comparision which has been debated till death is the T600E vs T600N which ever float your heli go with....for this size of a bird Elec rules...

Robert

[truman]

i agree that the electric helis are great i don't disagree for a second I love the no tinkering just plug them in idea I just can't justify the cost of packs if they were half the price maby I wouldn't have a nitro at all.

Rob

[Donny433]

They are talking 6s for the Trex 500,same size that kept most from taking the trex 600 plunge..
The Lepton runs on 4s with pretty good performance..So why not 4s for the 500?

[rcasey212]

They are talking 6s for the Trex 500,same size that kept most from taking the trex 600 plunge..
The Lepton runs on 4s with pretty good performance..So why not 4s for the 500?

Donny, the difference with the Trex 500 6S packs vs. the Trex 600 6S packs is pack size. The Trex 600 requires close to 5000mAh 6S packs to run 5+ minute flights. The Trex 500, however, will require around 2100mAh to achieve 5+ minute flights. As I'm sure you have seen, the cost for 2100mAh packs is much less than 5000mAh packs. So the cost benefit is definitely there! What makes it even more cost effective, is that a lot of people who will be interested in the T500, already have the T450. The typical battery on the T450 is 3S 2100. If you take two batteries which you already have for your T450, wire them in series, then you already have batteries for the T500! It's a beautiful thing!

[kgfly]

Donny I think you will find that any 500-class heli (Trex500, QJ-EP8, Lepton, RCT500, HDX500 etc) can be flown with a range of battery setups from 3s (usually 3s2p 4400 using 2 x Trex450 packs) to 4s (usually 3300 to 3700mAh) to 6s (usually 2 x 3s 1800 to 2200mAh), This is part of what makes this size so attractive, lots of flexibility while keeping the battery costs down.

[docjoe]

If the Align motor can eek out 5+ minutes on 6s 2100, i'll be happy. I'm running my Lepton on 6s 2100 (2 3s packs in series) and am getting about 4 minutes (following the 80% rule).

4s is decent on the 500 size but it's still anemic. 5s is OK but 6s is much much more fun. You could buy larger batteries like 3700s and they'll fly longer but they're also much heavier.

[jlasater]

fwiw..

That's been my fear all along..Much over 1500 G and you won't get the performance and runtime on 6s 2100..that we hoped for...I'm already working on ways to lighten it up...3 -4 oz out would make a big difference...

John.

[truman]

they will have to bring the cost of packs down alot before I consider an electric bigger than the 450 it seems to me they are just like solar pannels they are great but to much cost to justify. With the two TP packs the TP reciever pack and the two nimh for my starter I allready have almost $500.00 invested in batteries its crazy!

Rob

[OICU812]

they will have to bring the cost of packs down alot before I consider an electric bigger than the 450 it seems to me they are just like solar pannels they are great but to much cost to justify. With the two TP packs the TP reciever pack and the two nimh for my starter I allready have almost $500.00 invested in batteries its crazy!

Rob


LOL $500 is just the beggining, better run from the hobby now. :rolling

[Pinecone]

Helis are cheap.

$500 doesn't even buy a set of tires for the race car. And that can be gone in 1 - 2 weekends.

[Bobbyk]

There is a guy on here that had a picture on his investment on battries, I think he had two TP charger and balancer about 10 FT Evo's 6s and some for the 450 and he said he bought them in one day....

Anybody has the picture or know who the guy is?

Thanks

Robert

[truman]

On top of the batteries I also spent about $3000.00 on my heli so I know what spending is about.

Rob

[Ginvent]

they will have to bring the cost of packs down alot before I consider an electric bigger than the 450 it seems to me they are just like solar pannels they are great but to much cost to justify. With the two TP packs the TP reciever pack and the two nimh for my starter I allready have almost $500.00 invested in batteries its crazy!

Rob

you already have batteries for a 500 sized bird my friend

[bullaculla]

4s is decent on the 500 size but it's still anemic. 5s is OK but 6s is much much more fun.

Kinda like the difference between 6s and 8s on the 600! :rolling

[Ginvent]

Kinda like the difference between 6s and 8s on the 600! :rolling

Honeslty if she has the right motor a 4 or 5s setup will be great but definatly 2x3s 2100-2500 25c to make a 6s 2100- 2500mah pack in this bird will be the most popular setup

4s 4000mah might work to


A123 will be interesting to

[Steel Butcher]

Helis are cheap.

$500 doesn't even buy a set of tires for the race car. And that can be gone in 1 - 2 weekends.


I'm going to post on some racing forum, "Racing is Expensive"

Possible replies:

- Wow, I almost spend nothing on racing compared to the upkeep / operating costs on my Piper.

-geesh, you should try the upkeep on a yacht. Racing is almost free

- I spend way more on deer hunting (purchase 40 acres, rifles,etc). Racing is my least costly hobby...

etc

etc

[lloyd 1]

Any news ...................as christmas is comimg

lloyd

[Pinecone]

I'm going to post on some racing forum, "Racing is Expensive"

Possible replies:

- Wow, I almost spend nothing on racing compared to the upkeep / operating costs on my Piper.

-geesh, you should try the upkeep on a yacht. Racing is almost free

- I spend way more on deer hunting (purchase 40 acres, rifles,etc). Racing is my least costly hobby...

etc

etc

My buddy with a Piper Cherokee 180 spent WAY less than I do racing. And I do fly full scale.

BT, DT, sails are more expensive than tires, but last longer.

Shooting is WAY less expensive. I also used to do a lot of that, competition pistol and shotgun (sporting clays).

[Kepler]

I thought about an Eheli but the packs are way too much and one crash can do your battery in not my cup of tea NITRO ALL THE WAY! I would buy a Rex 90 in a heartbeat. At least I could get parts anywhere not like my f#$% Predator Max

I use to burn $40 worth of fuel on a weekend flying my nitro helis. A 500ml tank of 30% nitro fuel is $3 or $4. 5 flghts in a day; to easy. Conservatively this is a $1,000.00 worth of fuel a year if I flew every second weekend. Now I go and plug my chargers into the club power supplies and charge all day for free. Still get my 5 flights in, sometimes more and dont pay a cent extra.

$1,000.00 buys alot of packs. Electric for me all the way. Together with the the conveinience, its a no brainer.

[truman]

are you talking 600 size because I do have a 450sa the batteries for that are reasonable I have heard it explained that buying batteries is like buying a couple of years of fuel at once which I agree just hard to put the cash out all at once to bad you couldn't buy them on a monthly plan LOL I am not complaining of the cost of the hobby its just that I spent alot recently and am tapped out the wife has allready told me she was going to cut me off LOL

[Razor_Racer]

Hmm

"In preparation for mass production!

T-REX 500 - Equipped with the standard power:
425 carbon fiber blades
500 L brushless motors
6S 2200
50A ESC
Flight weight about 1690-1750 g

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

500L brushless motor with different test configurations:

4 S3200mAh battery:
Violent 3D - flying time of about 5.5 minutes
General 3D/F3C - flying time of about 8 minutes

5 S3200mAh battery:
Violent 3D - flying time of about 5.5 - 6 minutes
General 3D/F3C - flying time of about 9 minutes

6 S2100-2200mAh battery:
Violent 3D - flying time of about 4.5 minutes
General 3D/F3C - flying time of about 8 minutes

6 S2100-2500mAh battery:
Violent 3-D - flying time of about 5 minutes
General 3D/F3C - flying time of about 8.5 - 9 minutes"

[Kepler]

are you talking 600 size because I do have a 450sa the batteries for that are reasonable I have heard it explained that buying batteries is like buying a couple of years of fuel at once which I agree just hard to put the cash out all at once to bad you couldn't buy them on a monthly plan LOL I am not complaining of the cost of the hobby its just that I spent alot recently and am tapped out the wife has allready told me she was going to cut me off LOL

I fly a few different size machines but the 2 main ones I fly are a Trex600 on 10S 3700mah and a Hurricane550 on 6s 3700. I use a combo of 2 x 3S + 1 x 4S for the 600 and 2 x 3S for the 550. This way I use the same packs for both. Also this can keeps crash damage costs down also.

I have 3 complete flight packs which is about a $1,500.00 investment. But I didnt buy them at once, These have been bought over an 18 month period. Worth noting that the packs I bought 18 months ago is still going stong. It pays to buy quality packs. I have stuck with Hyperions and are very pleased with thier quality and life cycle. My latest investment is a full set of LCX 18C packs. These are about 25% cheaper then their 23C rated packs but stil have plenty of reserve for the amount of amps I pull. Also the same size pack is 4250mah as apposed to 3700mah.

[aaron07]

Please forgive me for my lack of observation, but will 2x 4S 2100 packs be an option for the 500? Would it be comparible to the 3200's?

[Ginvent]

Please forgive me for my lack of observation, but will 2x 4S 2100 packs be an option for the 500? Would it be comparible to the 3200's?

8S might be allitle much for the 500 but i think one 4s 3200 would be a really light and powerfull setup

[PaulH]

I wonder how well A123 batteries would work in the T500? A123 cells are 2300 mAh and weigh only about 10-15 g more than a LiPo of similar capacity. A 6s1p pack can be had for around $75, which is about half of what a comparable LiPo pack would cost with only a slight weight penalty.

Thoughts?