Blade 400 or the Mini Pred 3D?

[Superand]

First of all: :confused:

I mean, why cant I just use the powersupply that comes with the B400? Its gotta put out the right amount of amperage, since its with it... And if I just plugged a converter on it, so I can use it as a "wall wart", then everything would be fine?

the lama comes with 2 different kinds of powersupply "sources" and they are: car battery, and wall wart but is it very different with the B400?

lol, n00000000b

[shaggybirdman]

Oh, do you mean that they will try to offer me a blade 400 from their shop? or?

call or e mail them. they should be able to tell you if they can ship to you, or not.

[shaggybirdman]

First of all: :confused:

I mean, why cant I just use the powersupply that comes with the B400? Its gotta put out the right amount of amperage, since its with it... And if I just plugged a converter on it, so I can use it as a "wall wart", then everything would be fine?

the lama comes with 2 different kinds of powersupply "sources" and they are: car battery, and wall wart but is it very different with the B400?

lol, n00000000b

it doesn't come with a power supply. it's only a dc charger. you will need a 12 volt battery, or a 12 volt power supply.

[shaggybirdman]

i guess you could use your wall wort, but it will probably take longer to charge the battery is all. i'm sure everyone suggests getting a power supply of some sort. the pc one will defiantly be the cheapest. you don't even need the switch. just solder them together, and it will power up when you plug it in.

[Superand]

Oh. Well, if I do get an old pc powersupply, how would I know how to make it all work? And what do I need?

Btw. how can it be that the brands, who creates the RC helicopters, doesnt make something most people want? My impression is that they "want" you to have problems, and go make some custom powersupply out of a pc powersupply. :confused:

[Leaf Blower]

Shaggy,
"isn't the b 400 the only heli that comes rtf with a spektrum radio? i'd bet the original dx6 can be had very cheap on evil bay now."

I am not sure that I would recommend a DX6- that's a park flyer radio and supposedly is not full-range. As I have never had a DX6- i might be wrong. I have a DX6i from the Blade 400, and a DX7 - I prefer the DX7..

[shaggybirdman]

Oh. Well, if I do get an old pc powersupply, how would I know how to make it all work? And what do I need?

watch the video. wire cutters, soldering iron, and the power supply. the switch is just a extra that's really not needed. nice to have, but not needed. personaly i'd remove/cut back all the extra wires as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26oqItOY3lE

[Superand]

shaggy, thanks.

-wauw, I got a bad start/impression with this hobby :(

[shaggybirdman]

Shaggy,
I am not sure that I would recommend a DX6- that's a park flyer radio and supposedly is not full-range. As I have never had a DX6- i might be wrong. I have a DX6i from the Blade 400, and a DX7 - I prefer the DX7..

why not? how far away are you going to fly from yourself? if i remember correctly a dx6 has a 700 foot range, and that's concervitave (sp) so they don't get taken to court. that's 233 yards. can you tell witch way your heli is pointed at 2 plus football fields, and remember thats a radius from you. i think you can do any maneuver you would like in 1400 feet circle. even if it were only 300 feet that's 200 yards.

i had a firebird xl a few years ago. it has a 36" wing span. it has a cheap 27mhz radio system. you know the ones that have the 1-6 color coded crystals. now that's a true park flyer. anyhow i would get that plain so high it would be less than 2" big. never a problem.

seriously how far away can you actually tell what your heli is doing. a dx6 is perfectly fine for a heli. a jet airplain well that's another thing. what's the range on a dx7? a mile? 2 miles? a futaba fast radio claims to have a 5 mile range. hell at 1 mile away a 18 wheeler will have vanished. how big will even a 90 size heli be at even 100 yards. my friend a dx6 is perfectly fine for a heli. i've herd of 2.4 having blackouts. i'm talking a dx7. 8 seconds of no control. maybe spektrum is bad all together? :wow2: i think not

[Superand]

Damn..

I dont know what the hell Im gonna do :oops:

All I need is a powersupply, that delivers at LEAST 1.5 amperage, and has an end/stik/pin that fits into my charger that comes with my B400, right? or am I totally wrong? :dontknow

[shaggybirdman]

shaggy, thanks.

-wauw, I got a bad start/impression with this hobby :(

my friend it's no diferent than plains, cars, or boats. ya gotta charge batteries. startup, and the learning curve is a :arggg: brick wall at first, but it will get better as you learn. just don't expect the cost of the bird to be the last money you are going to spend. helis are the hardest thing to learn in the rc world. the blade 400 is a intermediate heli. let no one tell you different, and so is a trex, but a beginner heli is basically a blade cx2. it's a coaxial heli. 2 rotors that cancel the torque of the motor. it will teach you the stick movements, but when you go into a single rotor heli it's back to step 1.

yes helis are tough, BUT ounce you figure it out it's a blast. all the big guns Youngblood, both Sabo brothers crash now and again i'm sure. a heli is a money pit, but the ride is great. just make a set of training gear, and fly smart. set her down before you get to far out of control.

[shaggybirdman]

Damn..

I dont know what the hell Im gonna do :oops:

All I need is a powersupply, that delivers at LEAST 1.5 amperage, and has an end/stik/pin that fits into my charger that comes with my B400, right? or am I totally wrong? :dontknow

correct. get a pc power supply, and mod it. it already runs on 220, has the right wall plug on it, and puts out clean 12 dc. very easy mod my friend.

[Superand]

hey shaggy

I have the lama you know, so I know basically how it works, but Im sure that the B400 and other 6ch heli's like that, are way more advanced. Im going to get the phoenix sim and practice a lot first.

When I saw that video of how to make a custom powersupply, i felt like vomiting. To be honest, I really dont want to make that kinds of stuff, just to make my helicopter fly. Then rather charge the freakin battery on somebodys car!

Cant I use like a powersupply from an laptop?

[terrybeb]

Do you have an electronic parts supply store in your area. They will have a AC to DC power supply like the one I showed you earlier. You don't need to make one but you do need to buy the right one. That may take some time hunting one down as I'm not familiar with your area.

[shaggybirdman]

that would work. hey if your not comfortable doing the mod by all means don't do it. the wall wort will probably work, but take a much longer time to charge the battery. the charger that comes with the b 400 is basically the same as your lamas charger. it just does 2 cells instead of 3.

it's a balance board charger not a balance charger. that helps keep the price down on the heli. if you stay in rc anything you will be upgrading lots of stuff. it's just the beginning that it can be overwhelming.

a $500 heli is just the start. more batteries with higher amperage for longer flights. better electronics, better charger, and such. the first upgrade on a b 400 will be the servos, and possibly the gyro. it will fly out of the box, but you will end up changing the servos.

[RotorStrike]

Superand,I have the Falcon 3D and the Blade 400. My Falcon is not supported by local hobby shops and the B400 is. I suggest buying a heli that is supported by your local hobby shop or buy plenty of spare parts so you won't have to wait 5 or more days on shipping when you crash....Just my 2 cents worth.Thanks,John

[shaggybirdman]

that's a problem for him. no local hobby shop. witch of the 2 do you like better.

[RotorStrike]

Shaggy...I'm still really new at this, but I like the Blade better. The Falcon does take a good beating though...John

[Superand]

Hey.

Im pretty set on buying the Mini Pred, because my favourite hobbyshop has it, all spare parts, and a lot of alu/metal upgrade parts.

The reason why I think that the most people thinks the Blade is better, is because they havent heard so much of the Mini Pred. Im pretty sure thats a shame, because it looks pretty good, and so far, I havent heard anything bad about it.

[Superand]

Hey again.

Well, if I just used a little scooter/moped battery, would that be good enough? And is there a limit of how much amperage there is allowed to be in the battery, for charging my helicopter batteries. And can I charge ALL my Li-Po batteries on such a thing? Its just a small battery, with 12v and about 4-5 amperages..

Something like this one: http://www.thansen.dk/product.asp?c=1729783115&n=2035354835&pn=2035354837 (Sorry its danish, but you can see some of the specs there)

[shaggybirdman]

heck ya. that will do just fine. actually i feel you get a better charge from a battery. zero chance of any ac current getting threw. it could be just me, but my car batteries seemed to have better punch charging off a 12 v gel cell.

[Superand]

Nice! So if I just bought a little scooter/moped battery, with 12v and about 4-5 amperages, I could just plug it in with any charger that fits this one, I got with my Esky Lama v3 charger?

Here is a pic of the one Im talking about:

[shaggybirdman]

sure will :clappp

[JasonJ]

Superand, I used a spare marine deep cycle battery I had laying around for my charger before building my power supply. It got old real quick, as I had to leave that battery on trickle charge almost constantly. Otherwise the charger would drain the battery down to the point where the charger would shut off before finishing charging the lipo. A small moped battery will not last long enough to charge your lipo. If you don't want to build a power supply, buy one. You would be better off with a wall wart than trying to mess around with a 12 volt battery unless you want to go get a group 27 truck battery. In the end, after screwing around with buying batteries and all that, you could have just bought a 12 volt power supply.

I know I'm the wet blanket here, but I am not going to tell you what you want to hear, I am going to tell you what has worked for me and what has not worked for me. If you are not willing to take the time to learn how to splice a couple of wires in a pc power supply, you really are not going to want to learn to troubleshoot and repair problems with whatever helicopter you end up with (and you will be doing a LOT of troubleshooting and repair if you get a mini pred). It's part of the hobby, and you need to know this stuff when you don't have a shop nearby.

[Superand]

Well allright. I probably won't buy such a battery then. The thing that bothers me with making a powersupply, out of an old PC powersupply, is that it looks kinda dangerous. And also, I dont see where the pc powersupply is connected to the triton powersupply nor where the battery, he's charging, is connected.

And btw. I dont mind replacing/upgrading parts and troubleshooting. Hell, I almost bought a T-Rex 450 kit.