New to rc, just saying hi

synjan

Junior Member
Hey there i'm new to flying rc, been a fan of flitetest, Edd at E.A + RCmodlereviews for about 6 months, I've tryed to learn as much as i can from all the great vid's out there. I am hoping to to order my first rc plane this week (from hk) and am in 2 minds between the Bixler and the ANX.
I have a HK-T6A V2 2.4GHz transmitter and receiver Mode 2 from ebay (no battery yet) a hotglue gun (12 gluesticks) and an soldering iron (need solder)
I am trying to make a list to order soon, are there any noob lists on the forum? eg. must have tools to get started?
 

zev

lumpy member
well, you need an exacto knife, a cutting board, but mainly a battery charger. I suggest the turnigy accucell 6.

as for bixler vs axn, the main difference is wingspan, so if you want to fly in a smaller place, jet the axn. if not, I would go for the bixler.
 

synjan

Junior Member
Thanks Zev that's helps a lot. Think i'll go for the Bixler i'm in windy ireland (my thinking bigger is better?). I was stuck on what charger, i'll get the turnigy accucell 6. when they say "power supply not include" what do i nead? I have a good knife will get new blades
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
If you plan on charging from the house, Hobbyking has this one that is plug and play(this one is from the UK warehouse but make sure it works on your countries current) and the charger also comes with leads to hook up to your car battery at the field.
 

synjan

Junior Member
Sorry for the late replay, i think i'll go with the turnigy accucell charger it's a bit cheaper, i dont have a car i'll be charging from home. but thanks for the info
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
The Turnigy comes with those leads so even if you don't need it right now, you'll still have the option to use somewhere you only have 12vdc power.
 

synjan

Junior Member
ok got set back becouse of funds but it's pay day, got the bix 2 arf , 30A ESC 3A UBEC and the turnigy accucell charger in my cart.

what's the bigest batteries i can use (for longer fails) will trim the inside of the
nose if neaded ? do i nead plug's for anything batteriies, ESC, motors ect.
 

synjan

Junior Member
you should see the smile on my face, i'm like a big kid. i got the wrong plugs :p. i'll pick some up tomorow. will any 12v dc do for the accucell 6 ?? eg. 12v from an old router or printer? i got 3 turnigy 2200 3s-35c.
 
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xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
Any 12v source will power it but it needs to have at least 6 or 7 amps output also...
 

knife-edge

Senior Member
The biggest ive fit in my bix 2 is a 3000 3s, however, it is more economical to just buy a few 2200 3s, plus then it will balance better. Also order or find some velcro to keep the battery from sliding around. Also for the power supply, all you need is a 3a power supply if you want to charge at 2a. Yes 6a is better, but only if you are charging at 6a
 
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rcspaceflight

creator of virtual planes
Since you said you are flying in a windy area, you want to fly heavy. The big heavy plane will cut threw the air better and handle wind better. Oh course, you don't want it too heavy.

Knife-edge is right. Your power source for your Turnigy Accucel 6 must be 12v, but the amps depend on how many amps you're charging at. I first powered mine with an outlet converter that I had laying around and it worked fine for my small batteries, but I needed more amps to charge my bigger ones. Since a 3cell battery is about 12volts, then you need your power source to supply at least as many amps as your battery is. 1000mah battery equals 1amp, so you'd need at least a 1amp power supply in that example. If you have a 4cell battery, then you need a power supply with more amps than your battery. Use what you have, if the charger comes up with an error, then you need to go and buy a bigger power supply. It is better to have too many amps than not enough.

When using a power supply, make sure the +/- are correct. Some plugs have the - in the center, some have it in the outer.
 

synjan

Junior Member
Thanks Xuzme, had to buy power pack, the shop's round here dont do xt60 plugs so just ordered some from HK, i'm off all next week so hopping to have the plane ready by then.
Thanks everyone for your help/input it helped a lot
 

xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
I apologize...I assumed you'd want to go for the full capacity for possible big batts in the future, but I should have clarified that if you only plan on charging at 2 or 3 amps, then that is all the amperage you need on your supply. The accucel will handle up to 6A and the power supply HK sells for it is 7A...

I am glad it worked out for you though and hope those plugs get there in time!
 

synjan

Junior Member
got my 12v Local, i charged + discharged 1, charged + used the storage setting, whats the diff? and how low v's should i go on discharge? i cant the the male xt60 plugs in uk, i found that out today when the plugs i ordered yesterday came and were female. so ordered 2 bag's of xt60 male plugs. should i just cut and re-plug with local stuff?

i missed rcspaceflight + knife-edge last post's last time round. sorry. yeah i got the "maplin" switched mode ac to dc adaptor. output 12V dc 5v up to dc 15v. the Accucel 6 got very hot on discharge last night the batt was fine.
 
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Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Discharge will bring the pack all the way down to what the charger wants to call empty.

. . . But lipos don't like to stay empty. They also don't like to stay full (picky lil nippers!). The storage optoin usually discharges to around 40% what the charger wants to call empty.

So what is empty? depends on the charger, and *some* will even let you set it, but usually above 3.2v per cell (NEVER below). 40% is usually somewhere between 3.8v and 3.9v (IIRC). In normal use, keep the *at rest* voltage above 3.7v, which is roughly 20% capacity. I have the ACC6, but I've never tried to see if I could adjust the charge voltages.

As for when to use these settings, if you expect to fly anytime in the next week or two, you can leave them fully charged, just don't forget about them. If you don't expect to use them any sooner than that, it's best to put a storage charge on them.

Discharge is a maintainance tool. If you're having problems ballancing/charging them, many would recomend running a discharge/charge cycle to revive it. some would recomend a periodic discharge/charge cycle, but if they've been cycled regularly with use, and you're seeing good performance, I'd argue it's only adding to wear-and-tear for no benefit. Batteries in storage sould be charged/stored, but shouldn't need to any more than once in 6 mo.

In a discharge or storage, the charger is dumping battery power as heat. for the ACC6, I beleive it's up to 1A -- that's ~12 watts for a 3s battery. Very warm is perfectly normal.
 
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synjan

Junior Member
thanks Craftydan i'll find the discharged 1 and charge it now

..the charger Screamed at me :( .. had the red/black in wrong way..
 
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xuzme720

Dedicated foam bender
Mentor
I'll echo what Dan has put in, the only thing I would say is that the lipo's aren't as cycle hungry as the old nicads were. Unless you have a real bad issue, you shouldn't need to manually discharge them beyond a storage voltage.
Also, it's normal for the charger to heat up during discharge as it's converting energy to heat in order to discharge, mostly through resistance...

As far as your plugs go, it's a completely personal decision on what types to use, however, it IS common practice to use female on the battery side and on any component that outputs power, like the motor side of an ESC. This reduces the likelihood of a short while the energized connector is not connected.
 
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Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
..the charger Screamed at me :( .. had the red/black in wrong way..

That's a feature, not a bug ;)

I've had my ACC6 complain before when I gave it the wrong cell count. I appreciated the warning, because I like my house smoke free!

It's always good to double check connections before hooking up the battery. Also, it' just too easy to short two banana connectors together, so make the battery's charge connector (XT-60) the last thing you plug in, and the first thing you unplug.
 

synjan

Junior Member
got my plug's ect all done. next is to setup the Hobby King Receiver and speed Controller, i know i have to do something with setting the throttle throws ect. i'll look into that tomorow. i know FT hav vid's on it. Dose anyone know of any vid's for the old HK 6c tx without the servo's switch's?? i got it to make sounds but was not sure what i was doing.

my plug's look bad but they are heat shrink covered ans safe.
found a good vid for the tx
 
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