RX battery flighttime/endurance?

[Navajo31]

Hi all.

One thing I haven't come across is the flighttime of the RX battery.
I have a Gaui BEC, use 6V on my 3 DS821's and 6V on my GY401 and an(align) stepdown for my 9254 tail servo.
After 2 or 3 (10 mins) flights, the gaui BEC shows only the red and yellow light or even only the red one when i give some stick inputs.
I use a 2s 1000Mah pack for the RX (also an old e-sky one. A former 3s1000Mah that i converted to 2s. This way I have a backup)

Mostly hover and some FFF and 3D

Is this normal or is my setup wrong?
(don't you just looooovvvvvve flying this :smokin:POS :smokin:)

[kkwait]

Same setup for me and I get like 14min with a 1300mAh...

[xodarap1]

I fly (4) 3:40min flights with my 1500mAh Ni-MH RX packs and then recharge them and they have always been fine, even when each flight was 4:40min they were OK.

That's 8 hurri flights a day without having to recharge em or 16 a day with a recharge, which is plenty for me. It might be possible to get another flight or two out of em, i dunno. But to me, there is no sense in pushing them past that.

I can say that my RX packs have never crapped out on me. Can't say the same for my CC BEC that out of the blue just stopped workin' lol.

[Cralis]

Whats the general consensous with just ditching the RX pack?
Pros:
Only one pack to charge.
Only one charger required.
Won't forget to charge RX pack.
One less point of failure.
Less Weight.

Cons:
If your Lipo goes too low, you lose control.
Less flight time? (I never decreased at all... I get my 6 minutes, and since changinhg, still get 6 minutes.. way above 80% rule...)

I have gone the RX packless route and am much happier. I have never drained my packs below 80% so been in no situation of losing my electrics. And if I do, it's my own fault (I seem less upset when I make an error compared to a part failure..)

Flinto helped me change mine, and it's so much easier (and safer?) just plugging in the Lipo, and that's it. Plug in the lipo, forgetting to connect the RX could be fun...

But I've heard some people saying that it's not the way to go...

I did have to swop my BEC... The GAUI one wasn't very impressed when we threw 22.2 Volts at it... and... made a nice little popping sound... some sparks and a bit of smoke... But, I now have a nice (smaller) Castle Creations BEC.

I say ditch the RX pack! :)

[mjdee14]

Hi all.

One thing I haven't come across is the flighttime of the RX battery.
I have a Gaui BEC, use 6V on my 3 DS821's and 6V on my GY401 and an(align) stepdown for my 9254 tail servo.
After 2 or 3 (10 mins) flights, the gaui BEC shows only the red and yellow light or even only the red one when i give some stick inputs.
I use a 2s 1000Mah pack for the RX (also an old e-sky one. A former 3s1000Mah that i converted to 2s. This way I have a backup)

Mostly hover and some FFF and 3D

Is this normal or is my setup wrong?
(don't you just looooovvvvvve flying this :smokin:POS :smokin:)

Man your getting great times.....But I have NEVER pushed it that far down to the red light and one.....

I use a 1300 TP packs and can always fly through about 5 sets of packs with no worry....25 -30 mins

If I were you I would be changing out the RX pack a little earlier.....would't want an inflight RX shutdown for a few minutes of flight time....

But I would say you are ringing out all that pack can give....thats' 30 mins of flight time :clappp

[mjdee14]

Whats the general consensous with just ditching the RX pack?
Pros:
Only one pack to charge.
Only one charger required.
Won't forget to charge RX pack.
One less point of failure.
Less Weight.

Cons:
If your Lipo goes too low, you lose control.
Less flight time? (I never decreased at all... I get my 6 minutes, and since changinhg, still get 6 minutes.. way above 80% rule...)

I have gone the RX packless route and am much happier. I have never drained my packs below 80% so been in no situation of losing my electrics. And if I do, it's my own fault (I seem less upset when I make an error compared to a part failure..)

Flinto helped me change mine, and it's so much easier (and safer?) just plugging in the Lipo, and that's it. Plug in the lipo, forgetting to connect the RX could be fun...

But I've heard some people saying that it's not the way to go...

I did have to swop my BEC... The GAUI one wasn't very impressed when we threw 22.2 Volts at it... and... made a nice little popping sound... some sparks and a bit of smoke... But, I now have a nice (smaller) Castle Creations BEC.

I say ditch the RX pack! :)

This one of those debates that goes on.....I have run a true BEC before and it's really nice.....to just Plug & Fly.

Since the 550 came with the volt reg I use it and really like being able to power the RX, make adjustments on the bench, check the pitch,. etc, without having to disconnect the motor or worry about unwanted spinups.

It is much easier your way......but since I already have the setup....I use the RX lipos on both hurris....

Both ways fly great and it's just a matter of taste, but like you said....one more point that can fail....but if I "Flambe" my esc like Drew did....I still have control for an Auto....when I blew an ESC on my ECO...it fell like a rock with no control.

But the way I fly....I have plenty of other ways of crashing without part failures..:DOH

[xodarap1]

I think the debate goes on and on because there is no right or better answer, just personal preference. I don't agree with the RX pack being a point of failure though. I think there is much less chance of an RX pack failing than a BEC part in the mix and I say that because my CC BEC was a point of failure just before take off one day and it had nothing to do with forgetting to charge anything heheh. The only real failure you could have with the RX pack is if you forget to charge the RX pack.. but to me, that's kinda like forgetting to charge your flight packs heheh. If your memory is that bad.. u might not want to be flyin' large dangerous helis :wow2: . :) More like brain failure instead of part failure :YeaBaby: :shock: . Besides, they go to failsafe settings if the RX is off when you hook up the flight packs and some gyro's tell you your RX voltage on the display before you put power to the flight packs, so it's cool. Yes, it's extra weight but i don't feel it flying any different than when i had the CC BEC instead. I treat the RX packs like part of my post and pre-flight checks, just like cleaning and doing maintenance on the heli etc.. that stuff can be skipped too and it's easier not to do it, but for some, prep and nutzing with extra stuff is part of the fun factor.. just like ET logs, retracts, LED's etc. All freaks are different. :cheers

[mjdee14]

II don't agree with the RX pack being a point of failure though. :cheers

I agree about the pack...it most likely won't fail....when I think of a failure in that system it more likely be the Voltage regulator, which like ANY electrical component, can let the "magic smoke out" at some point in its life,,,,

I have not heard any freaks complain yet about it failing, so it must be pretty reliable since we have thousands of flights out there by now.

[skigolfmike]

I have a FP 1345mAh receiver pack and I'm using about 180-200mAh/flight. I figure up to 5 flights is not a problem.

I'm using an 8V system with a Spektrum voltage regulator for the gyro and tail servo.

[Graeme67]

I'm with Cralis on this one. Throw the Rx battery away and install a Dimension Engineering Sport Bec - Very good quality & reliable. Install a deans connector in the power supply to the Sport bec & you can unplug from the main harness & plug a 3s lipo directly in to the Bec so no chance of motor firing up while testing pitch etc.

Cheers
Graeme

[Navajo31]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the input.
One thing I haven't done is charge the RX batts with my bantam BC6.
That way i could tell how many amps i've used.
The voltage that is indicated on the Gaui red light is still 7,4 and i ususaly have some 3,7/3,8V per cell left. (My other charger at least tells me that much.)

I am/was not too worried about the RX cutting out (at least i hope it will stil work but that maybe the servo's will slow down or so). It should still work at 5V, like the servo's
I might ruin the batt that way, but is this true?

Ditching the RX bat was also an idea, but i would need a different BEC.
Maybe I'll order one later on during an upgrade round.

[kahn10]

hey bro....the problem with running your rx pack down that far is a. the way lipos dive at the end', you might end up with no range,servo's etc very quickly,and b. yahave a good chance of running the lipo below its voltage threshhold and killing it.best things to not let it go below orange