Electric combat thread on RCU

You got a cool electric WWII combat rig? This is the place to show it off!

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Captain America
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Electric combat thread on RCU

Post by Captain America »

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7489770/tm.htm

Just saw this from the Aces group on RCU and thought I would post a link to it for you IC challenged folks.
Lou Melancon
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Post by Lou Melancon »

That is the scenario we've all been worried about. The ACES planes are more fragile than ours, but any impact at 90mph is going to tear up equipment.
Captain America
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Post by Captain America »

Ive had the same problem with one of my ssc planes, rx pack takes a prop hit and shorts out. Lucky it missed the tank and did not pout fuel to the fire. Not really trying to single out the battery issue, more that other groups are doing some testing with e-combat.

It is kind of fun to stir Lee up though, keeps things from getting boring!
Lou Melancon
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Post by Lou Melancon »

Cap'n,
My guess is that somehow the pack was "shorted" in the collision and went into meltdown.
Lee Liddle
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Post by Lee Liddle »

Fire extinguishers should be on hand at any model airplane competition where crashes can occur. That, of course, would include all of them, but especially events like combat and pylon racing.

I`ve had lipos cut wide open a couple of times flying combat and I`m still waiting on the big fire. So far nothing. I did smoke an esc in Fla last Dec due to a hit which killed the motor...shorting out the esc. The smoke trail looked pretty cool.
crash_out
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Post by crash_out »

I've been involved in electric flight for a long time, and with lipo's since the Kokam 1020 and Qualcomm cell phone days. I've had plenty of packs puff, and lose all the power they've had. I've purposely cut them open, and smashed them with a sledge hammer. I haven't had one of mine burn, or even get hot. I have seen more than a few NiCD and NiMH packs burst inot flames or at least violently self destruct.

On the other hand, I saw a Spirfire go in at my first SEFF, and it burned for several minutes, as each cell in the pack individually popped.

Nitro fuel burns, almost completely invisible. A glow engine can sling a piston straight up into your skull. A prop attached to anything can cut you wide open. And an improperly set up charger or violent reaction can cause any battery to become a bomb.

I think lipo batteries get a bad reputation. Yes they are dangerous. But the danger lies in how they are used. I have only heard of one lipo fire that was reported "to not be the result of anything." ie, the battery, for no apparent reason, started burning. I think later it was established that there was a user/pilot error that caused it.

The point is we take precautions, and we take risks.
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boiler
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Post by boiler »

A year ago my finger twitched as I set the charging rate on a NIMh pack. It exploded because of a 5A charge instead of an Auto charge. I take more care now in what the display reads after pushing start.
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Ed Kettler
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Post by Ed Kettler »

NATS 2006 I had a NIMH pack overheat and burn through the wing during charging because I didn't check the setting
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o1moregil
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Post by o1moregil »

I haven't burned no batteries, but Ive burned a cupple of servos conecting them to the charger lead thinking it's the battery[:o)][V]
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