Pro lite 2700mah battery for raptor 30. Will it work?

[nguyen23464]

http://ecsvr.com/mta/shopexd.asp?id=2886


Just wondering if my standard RX/TX Futaba charger be sufficient in charging these prolite 2700mah batteries.

[WayneBrown]

DO NOT FLY NIMH batteries in your heli!!
They have been the cause of a lot of broken parts due to the fact that they cannot put out higher sustained amperage over time.
Fly NiCd, or go Lithium with a regulator and keep your bird flying!

[nguyen23464]

DO NOT FLY NIMH batteries in your heli!!
They have been the cause of a lot of broken parts due to the fact that they cannot put out higher sustained amperage over time.
Fly NiCd, or go Lithium with a regulator and keep your bird flying!



thanks alot,

will go with nicads for sure then. Duralites are a bit much rite now.

I see that my my standard futaba charger says it will charge a 1500mah nicad. But I was wondering if I bought a 1700-1800mah will it have a problem.

[WayneBrown]

It will charge it, you need to give it more time however.
Multiply the rate of charge into the capacity of the battery to determine time in minutes to charge fully from dead.
I've charged a 2800mAh pack at 100mAh for 28 hours to get a FULL charge from a fully discharged pack.
You can purchase a hobbico cycler with a 150MaH charge, or a Triton charger to charge it faster if you choose. Futaba used to make a higher output charger (wall wart type) that replaced your stock charger, but I don't know if it's still made.
Look into MAH products, batteriesamerica.com, or Fromeco for a less expensive way to get into lithium power. Duralite is a bit more expensive, but the charge safe feature is a comfortable thing to have.
Keep in mind when you purchase your charger that one day you may want to go lithium and spend the money wisely.

[nguyen23464]

It will charge it, you need to give it more time however.
Multiply the rate of charge into the capacity of the battery to determine time in minutes to charge fully from dead.
I've charged a 2800mAh pack at 100mAh for 28 hours to get a FULL charge from a fully discharged pack.
You can purchase a hobbico cycler with a 150MaH charge, or a Triton charger to charge it faster if you choose. Futaba used to make a higher output charger (wall wart type) that replaced your stock charger, but I don't know if it's still made.
Look into MAH products, batteriesamerica.com, or Fromeco for a less expensive way to get into lithium power. Duralite is a bit more expensive, but the charge safe feature is a comfortable thing to have.
Keep in mind when you purchase your charger that one day you may want to go lithium and spend the money wisely.


thanks for the input,

hmmm 2800mah nicad? I think I might to go with that one. Do they make one thats compatabile with my futaba charger by chance? I found a JR one but I pretty sure the charge plugs are different.

[DebianDog]

You can put any plug you want on there. Just get a servo extension cut it in half and get soldering. ;)

[mplourde]

DO NOT FLY NIMH batteries in your heli!!
They have been the cause of a lot of broken parts due to the fact that they cannot put out higher sustained amperage over time.
Fly NiCd, or go Lithium with a regulator and keep your bird flying!


What???? It's the first time I hear that!!! Anybody can explain the fact you can broke some part of your heli because you don't have any substain power with NiMH! :shock:

I know many people who's flying heli with NiMH, and have no problem since many year!!! :roll:

Please explain to me !!!!

Thank you for your help!!!

[WayneBrown]

You've been extremely lucky??
I'd have to look for the research data again, but basically nimh batteries will drop off in output when placed under a load of just over 1 amp. Your heli will draw less than 1 amp at rest and during most gentle flying, but rapidly change directions or fly hard, driving the load over 1 amp, and the battery will drop off and reset the gyro, or stalll servos at a critical point causing a crash.

[mplourde]

OK.

But i depend of you electronic configuration on the heli. I understand what you said if you have over 125 Oz torque on all servo and other thing like that. This guy have a Raptor .30 size. Not a Raptor .90 size. With the class of .90, you need a lot of power and torque to do 3D manoeuvre. I don't think so this guy have over 70oz servos on his machine.

So, I thnk the 2700 Mah will work with no problem , if this guy have not servo with heavy high torque over 80 Oz each. But, if he have over 80 Oz torque by servo, at this time, you have true LameBird, he needs more power to substain the high current drain by high torque servo. At this time , Invest on Duralite battery. It's never a lost inverstiment. YOu can recycle this system for any heli afther that...

Good luck...!!!

[WayneBrown]

Well, the torque rating of the servos HAS a lot to do with it, but digital servos of any size will draw more amperage at rest than analog servos, and will nearly double the amperage of an analog servo under load.
The best thing about a digital servo is it's speed and strength, by switching the motor on/off quickly, and changing directions rapidly to hold a position, they use more power.
NimH batteries in a plane are okay, and most 30 size choppers with a 'standard' digital servo will perform alright for forward flight, and maybe SOME aerobatics, but if you have upgraded servos (ie: 9252 Futabas) you will have problems.
Keep in mind that every thing plugged into the reciever draws power, and if the 'at rest' amperage draw is close to or equal to the maximum sustained discharge of the battery, under load it will fail, and you will be buying parts.
Save the NimH batteries for your transmitter, and use a higher output battery for your chopper.

FWIW; I can drain the batteries on a .30 size machine in two-three 10 minute flights, NiCd, or NimH. If you aren't checking the voltage between flights, any battery chemistry can let you down. Keep in mind that most .30 size birds setup as trainers are getting 28-20 minute flights per tank of fuel. Aggressive aerobatics, or 3D will load the batteries more, and shorten the duration of charge.

[PaulH]

If your heli can handle the extra weight, use NiMH sub-c batteries. They're the same cell that the electric r/c car people use. A 3300 sub-c pack composed of GP batteries will last about ten minutes with a 30 A draw. I seriously doubt servos are going to come anywhere near that kind of draw.

I have been using 4-cell (4.8 v) sub-c packs for a while now and have had no trouble.

[mplourde]

It's the same for me PaulH... 4 Suc-C pack 1800Mah. Do between 5 and 6 flight with this capacity. No problem with current draw.

But, for the next year, I think I will upgrade to Dulatite Li-Ion pack ....

Have good flying!!!