Li Poly electric vs. glow power, costs?

| Has the price of Li Poly batteries come down so that the cost factor | of getting into electric flight comes close to the cost of powering a | glow engine plane?

For a plane of this size, no.

| AXI 4130 motor (equivalent to a .90 4 stroke) $169. Can power a 12 - | 16 lb. plane. But flies a 6 1/2 lb. one with amazing performance: | | 2 packs, Li Poly at ~ $180 ea. ,,,,,,,,,~ $360

That seems awfully cheap for a LiPoly pack that can power a motor that large.

| A good Li Poly charger at ......~ $200

GP Triton. $130.

| Power supply fir charger ...~ $100

$100 for a power supply? Bah! Power it off your car battery, or convert an old PC power supply for next to nothing.

| It seems the electrics have a way to go before price is comparable to | glow. Almost about 3 times the cost of getting into glow power. But | the price of electric at the smaller planes's end is quite affordable.

Yup.

| I have and AXI 2212/34 electric motor that costs $79, ESC $69, 2 packs | Li Poly 3S, 11.1 V, 1500 MAh for ~ $76. Li Poy charger and power | supply, $130 + $69 = $199. This adds up to ~ $425. | | Have I missed anything?

Well, not every electric has to be brushless. You didn't include a gear box, though not every plane needs or wants one.

But yeah, the larger electrics are still quite expensive. Some will argue that you can use the same battery pack in another plane -- which is true, though I've found that I usually like to do `one plane per class' and different classes of planes typically need different battery packs.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, Wan pecked:

Nope. OTOH, can you step out to the end of your driveway and fly that .90 or even that AXI 4130 powered behemoth? I can take my Slow Stick out for a spin anytime I want and the neighbors don't complain. OTOH, if I want to fly bigger, I go to the park. If I want to fly REALLY big, I get out the slime-o-plane and go to the flying field.

It's not a matter of either/or. It's a matter of picking the right tool for the job.

-- Dave Thompson

This is the best answer yet.

Do the same sums for a .15 engine and smaller electric plant.

Comes out very similar.

IC still cheaper in big sizes, and still more ultimate power to weight, if you want 140mph planes...

To paraphrase the Master Card commercial: To be able to practice the IMAC pattern at the soccer field across the street - priceless...

How about a tiny 3D plane like those flown at the ETOC? Those aren'

really even possible with glow power. Heck, my little foam Shockflye has been the best torque rolling plane I've ever owned. The fact that can fly it in my yard and that it dosen't easily break in a crash make it one of my all time favorites!

Wi

-- Mike Wizynajty

----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Wizynajtys's Profile:

I hope I can respond to Doug. This morning, "The system is down, our engineers have notified" Has anyone had any similar problems?

Well, Doug I agree with you on this about the cost of larger electric aircraft.

Actually the plane powered by those batteries belongs to my friend. He originally did pay about $300 per pack. but as the prices of Li Polies came down, the packs became about $180. Not bad for about 28 minute flight per charge. BTW, he has several of those large planes powered by those batteries.

The Astro converter power supply I have actually costs $79.99, rated at 13.8 V, at 12.5 Amps. The $200 figure was for the larger motor. Now I wonder if the same afore mentioned power supply would work for the larger battery packs?

One of my two 3S3P Li Polies when fully down from flying, took almost

I prefer brushless because of the gear houses breaking. But Himaxx have brushless geared motors with metal gear houses. I don't think they will break as easily as before.

I have been using the same batteries in the same class of planes since I began learning about electric power. Thanks to the discussions with this group. Yes larger planes call for larger batteries, but they may be used in different planes without any problems as far as I am concerned.

Wan

And the GWS Slow Stick is the best tool for the job....... :-)

Mike

Wan,

About the same time. Just don't do it more than twice without running the car & charging it's battery......or you'll be walking home. --

Jim L.

My personal preference is always Glow power.

However.... I keep an electric park flyer in the boot of my car, together with my glow powered Raptor.

I find electric useful because at times I have only 10-15 minutes of available, it is too little to time to take my Nitro bird out of the car, hook it and fill it up, ... etc etc.. and finally still need to clean it after flying.

It is clean and quick fun. Although I find electric more expensive, this is the main reason why I still have a new-in-box 0.061 engine which I never mount on my plane...

Six_O'Clock_High wrote:

Six and Mike, I thought those little 3D foamies would be difficult for me to handle until a friend handed his Tx while one was in flight, It is a lots of fun to fly. Flew where there no need for a landing aproach, just snatch it out of the air.

Would you recommend a complete combination so I could have one to fly?

Wan

You are talking about some larger planes........as I see it Wan if more modlers were interested in larger planes and electric conversions then probably the price would come down. So far the interest is in the 300 to 400 class planes brushed or brushless. Anyway who has it made.......the guy/gal carrying a GWS A10 in one hand and the other hand a medium size slr camera bag holding radio, charger, batteries, tools, ect. walking to the soccer field only 10 min from his house. Or the guy/gal driving a 1/2 to 1 hour to get to his club to fly AXI4130 powered plane????? Answer: Both have it made because it boils down to one thing...........You are going to pay to play and that goes for any hobby..............and as long as you are enjoying it, what does money matter anyway :-)

Mike

Unless his car battery is past its prime. Then it will not support ONE charge. BTDT! Had cables and a friend with a car.

Sure. Go to ikarus.net and get the plane of your choice with a 3D power plant, ESC, and nano servos. The battery cut out is just large enough for a

I'm back with an apology to mike W. I asked for a combination for 3D without looking at his posts in the other R/C group where combinations are being discussed.

I found it to be informative with the differing views on 2S/3S and motor choices. Seems the AXI 22 series are popular and there disagreements.

So the choice is based on experimentation and personal preference?

Wan

Six_O'Clock_High,

I almost duplicated that yesterday. Charged my 3S1P-1500 Kokams 3 times & the starter grunted when I went to leave. It started, but the battery was down. --

Jim L.

Mike, Exactly what I have been talking about many times. I go to the close by small flying field for my smaller planes and to the club for my larger planes. My field box for Glow used to weigh about 40 lbs. Feld box for electric weigh about only 4 lbs.

I simply turn on a switch and fly, no tweedling with needle valves and no messy clean up. Switch off, remove the battery and go home. But every elelctric flyer know this. We do have it made : )

The down side is I have to recharge my batteries and when I have used

The up side is, the prices of Li Poly battries will come down as technology advances and competition among suppliers reduce prices as in the case of Kokam. I hope I know what I'm talking about.

Except for the cost now, could anyone expect better?

Wan

Hom much you want for it?