Moving to Lithium

[psycho_fling]

Re: Moving to Lithium

thought zippy was an ok make used them briefly when flying helicopters

[typhoon_driver]

Re: Moving to Lithium

cheaper ones are cheap for a reason. Poorer build quality inside. It's the cheap ones that usually go up when you demand too much from them.

[PJ-27]

Re: Moving to Lithium

Thanks for the help everyone, I think I get the gist of it.

[leorcc]

Re: Moving to Lithium

cheaper ones are cheap for a reason. Poorer build quality inside. It's the cheap ones that usually go up when you demand too much from them.

HK Turnigy and specially the Turnigy Nanotech are excellent Lipo's, pretty much everyone in my RC car club and Model airplane club use them, including me.

[PJ-27]

Re: Moving to Lithium

I had a look at the Turnigy packs too, a little more expensive.

I don't know any Li-Po existing brands so everyone else's word is the best I have to go by!

[Mouldy]

Re: Moving to Lithium

From personal experiance;

Outrage
Hyperion
Thunder power
Flight power

Are all brilliant makes.

Turnigy... do the job, but there not the best...

For the price, out of the lot id suggest you go for flightpower. for your drill motor drive you could get away with quite a small pack, not sure what motor your planing on driving your disc with though? so cannot suggest a good size pack yet.

This has come up in discussion many times. The basics when using lipos are;

2mm base plate
Charge in lipo sack
Balance charge as often as possible.
Inline fuse
Use correct charging/balancing equipment.

Also i wouldnt suggest doing what Gary suggested (going for 6 fights on your lipo pack)...you should never run a lipo flat! if you do you risk damaging your pack.

I personaly take my lipo out of my robot, and balance charge it after every fight no matter how long the fight was...This is for 2 reasons;

1) to make sure its fully charged and all the cells are ok
2) so i can make a visual observation of the pack after every fight (check for damaged - chaffed wires, dodgy connections etc)

Another important rule is make sure your wiring is up to scratch...no dodgy exposed terminals etc... everything should have the correct rated cable, attached to the correct rated connections... preferably covered in heatshrink.

All of the things above will be checked on your tech check.

[PJ-27]

Re: Moving to Lithium

I've got a lot of brands to check out then!

What do you mean by 2mm base plate?

The disk drive is a 24v drill motor, don't have any spec's unfortunately, the disk weighs around 3kg.

Cheers for the comprehensive response!

[Laser]

Re: Moving to Lithium

At least 2mm metal base as lipos tend to get hot

[Mouldy]

Re: Moving to Lithium

Basically that rule was put in place to accommodate the EO's running wooden floors....

Just in case your lipo goes up and its in a robot like the old beauty which had no base plate... you wouldn't want the flames going down and igniting there floor.

If you find a setup your thinking about purchasing- stick it on here and ask the question, theres no point wasting money on rubbish components.

Not sure what drill motor your using or gear ratio etc- best to play it safe and look at 3000mah or above.

[team_orr]

Re: Moving to Lithium

with the 2mm rule does it have to be metal? or can it be slightly thicker hdpe or something?
new with featherweight lipo's

[Mouldy]

Re: Moving to Lithium

Technically if you read the rules (section 7.8-lipos) there's no mention of the baseplate rule. It's currently an advisory, but I'd suggest a metal base plate will make it's way into the rules eventually.

An ignited lipo wouldn't have any trouble melting hdpe

[team_orr]

Re: Moving to Lithium

Yup thought so, just checking so that if i do eventually go to Lipo i wont make any daft mistakes

[PJ-27]

Re: Moving to Lithium

The way Bitza is designed means all the expensive components are in a metal casing, and then mounted right in the middle of the robot a good distance from the floor, so shouldn't be a problem.

The drive motors are 12v Argos Drills, run by 15a Electonize's so can't draw too much current there.

As I don't know any specs about the 24v Drill motor we're using for the disk, I'm going to have to experiment! As I start I'm thinking a 10:1 reduction?

Given the bouts are each 3mins and as per your advise I'll be balancing them after each round I'm thinking 2,650mah upwards will suffice, hopefully......

Can't spend a huge amount, so I'll post what ever Li-Po I pick in the end, probs be a cheapy though!

As for wire what do you use David? I'm currently using stiff 10awg? And where do you get it?

[mattsdragons]

Re: Moving to Lithium

i for one an cirtainly interested in how effective a drill motor will be for a disk.

if it is a half good weapon, it might be my next weapon. a spinner powered by a drill motor

[PJ-27]

Re: Moving to Lithium

Why is that so crazy?