How long should I be flying?

Riker26

Junior Member
Just a quick question, so on my Sport Cub S BNF Trainer, the manual says to set a timer for 5-6 minutes before you come down. Now I'm pretty sure that's just a precaution just to be safe. I've seen on YouTube people fly for about 11 minutes with the Sport Cub S before coming down, so just how long should I be flying for?
Thanks.
 

BridgeInspector

Flite Test Groupie
There is no set on stone time. Many factors effect the flight time.

Temperature - cold zaps batteries
Battery condition - older batteries have shorter run times usually
Wind - fighting wind can reduce flight time
Throttle management - using WOT (wide open throttle) can zap a battery fast.
Flying style and skill - loops, rolls multiple elevation increases, etc.
inside vs outside


All that said.
I usually get about 8 mins on a 160mah battery outside with lazy circles. About 5 mind under agressive flght.
I have used a 300mah battery and flew 24 mins inside but was cut short of finding total time by a 3d plane that found my elevator with its prop. About 20-30% throttle most of the flight.

image.jpg
 

Capt_Beavis

Posted a thousand or more times
I typically fly my 1s batteries until I get bored or LVC hits. Maybe set the time to 6 min and make sure you fly closer in if you feel like stretching it. You don't want to hit the LVC when you are a football field away.
 

HarleyRev

Senior Member
you can get a simple battery alarm that will plug into the balance port on the battery. This will alarm and tell you when the battery is used up, use the radio to time it as well after that. They are cheap , around$3 to $5 dollars, small and light weight.
 

mesolost

Junior Member
Another way to tell is take a full battery voltage reading and write this down. Next, go out and fly like your running for your life for about 5 minutes. Land and check your battery voltage and find the difference between the 2 values then get out a calculator or a pencil. Then we do some math. Take your starting voltage and subtract 3.3v per cell. This will give us the "most we can use" value. Example on a single cell starting at 4.7v minus 3.3 gives us 1.4v we can use. Lets say after 5 minutes I then have 3.9v which is 0.8 volts used. How we calculate the max time would be voltage used over time flown equals max we can use over max time we can fly. Sounds complicated I know but it looks like this. 0.8/5=1.4/x We can calculate this easier than eating a piece of pie. Simply multiply your max voltage we can use by time flown and divide this by the voltage we used which looks like this. (1.4x5)/0.8=MAX time we can fly or 8.75 so now I know I can fly aggressively for 8 minutes 45 seconds so then I'll set my timer for 8 minutes to be safe. ^_^ I hope this helps you figure it out.
 

SlowJeff

...and Master of none
you can get a simple battery alarm that will plug into the balance port on the battery. This will alarm and tell you when the battery is used up, use the radio to time it as well after that. They are cheap , around$3 to $5 dollars, small and light weight.

No balance ports on the tiny batteries that come with a Sport Cub S.
 

AkimboGlueGuns

Biplane Guy
Mentor
You can probably bet on around 8 mins safely. The little 1s planes usually depend on how you fly them, so if you're conservative with the throttle, you get more flying time.
 

Montiey

Master Tinkerer
you can get a simple battery alarm that will plug into the balance port on the battery. This will alarm and tell you when the battery is used up, use the radio to time it as well after that. They are cheap , around$3 to $5 dollars, small and light weight.

The Sport cub S uses a 1s micro lipo, so no balance port.
 

krinaman

Senior Member
Just a quick question, so on my Sport Cub S BNF Trainer, the manual says to set a timer for 5-6 minutes before you come down. Now I'm pretty sure that's just a precaution just to be safe. I've seen on YouTube people fly for about 11 minutes with the Sport Cub S before coming down, so just how long should I be flying for?
Thanks.

Most likely they are flying on a 500mah battery.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/airplanes/batteries/500mah-1s-37v-25c-lipo-battery-eflb5001s25

Will fit snugly into the battery area and you just need the adapter wire.

On the standard 150mah I go 5 - 6 minutes. But it really depends on flying style. I'm sure it can go longer especially when cruising around at half throttle but I have a handful of batteries so no reason to run them till they die.
 

AdamV

New member
I flew mine today, 10mph wind, the included 1s 150mah battery lasted 5.5 mins before the motor started sputtering. I usually take it down at 5 mins with the 150s. I also fly it with a 500mah battery (though i don't recall how long it lasts) but its not as agile.

As for the 500s, i go with: http://www.amazon.com/Tenergy-500mA...F8&qid=1434081148&sr=8-1&keywords=tenergy+500

You don't need an adapter, it's prime eligible and several dollars cheaper.
 
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