[kip51035]

I am still waiting for an answer to the question " What would I need to buy if I wanted to take a ten pound aircraft out to the field and fly five or six flights in 3 1/2 to 4 hours and what would it cost landed at my door?". This time read the question, stick to the facts and no formulas that do not mean anything. Above all keep it friendly!!!!!

[Michael Hyatt]

If the plane was rtf, it'll include a battery and charger. If it's arf you'll probably need a battery and charger.

It's impossible to accurately answer that question without knowing more about the type of plane, glider, warplane, 3d, seaplane, etc.

More importantly the specifications of the motor and propeller used.

If you provide the above information, we can do more than just guess.

Without that information, it's purely guesswork.
We'll use a lithium polymer battery as an example.

It might work on a 3cell, but more than likely a 4 to 6cell battery. The cost on that, will depend on the size(milliamps, mah) and C(discharge, 15c, 20c, 30c, etc) rate as well as the c(charge, 1 to 5) rate. (1c charges the battery in an hour, 5c will charge the battery in 12~15 minutes).
Using a 4cell, 3000mah, 25c discharge and 5c charge rate, $38
You'd need a charger, of 2 to 6 cells, $23
With the above charger, you'll need a power supply, i.e. $25 with a slight modification you can't get better than an old personal computer power supply. Or, use a $10 unit.

If you are going to the field in a car, you have the necessary power supply, your car battery. Otherwise you'll need a car, motorcycle battery or large lipo to run your charger at the field.

So, for under $100, you'd get 5~6 flights in 4 hours. As I said, that's pure guesswork. I'd prefer 2 airplane batteries for almost uninterrupted flying time which could be 10~16 flights depending on your aircraft.

The above guesstimate is the minimum cost, you can spend way more than this just by changing a battery or charger. As an example I'd prefer a dual power charger , that plugs into the wall.

[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

Ok Kip! I will put the question back in your ball court. A battery is good for about 300 recharges so how much would it cost for glow fuel, glow plugs, starter, starting battery, engine, fuel tank, fuel lines, tach etc to fly 300 flights?

A little tough to pin down, lots of variables!

I fly both as I find small electrics to be cost & time efficient but I use glow engines on the larger ones for the same reason.

Merv

[Old School Flyer]

Cliff you ask the question like we own you something....... anyways
You never said what type of flying are doing, scale, sport, 3D ?
Do you have charging capabilities at the field?
Just to name a few.

I have a 3DHS 71 SLICK electric, the power is wicked, its my go to airplane, but at a cost......
its 9.5ibs runs 8s 4500mah, gets me 6mins at best. This airplane shows the weakness of battery packs quick. Some I haven't got 30 flights and they are smoked while the others are going on strong. A quality set of batteries will start about 160 bucks each flight pack.
The bird, servos, motor, speed control etc goes for 1000ish. good FAST charger 150ish.

[davidmc36]

I kept the battery from my car when it got run down in the winter and I did not want to trust it for early morning cold weather starting since I am reqd to be on board maintenance ACA for our flights. Instead of returning it for 8 dollar recycling refund, I kept it.

I-Charger cost me 150

Motor for 11 pound C182 (IMAA) 140. (And that is a high quality Scorpion considered by many among the most efficient motors on the go, not some HK junk)

Castle Ice 100 ESC, again high quality, 120

I would only need max two batteries at 50 each (HK Nano-Tech which are surprisingly not junk, and are much more trusted than GH at our field) 5S 5000mah to do five or six 10-plus minute flights in 3.5 to 4 hours.

Cost of airplane, radio etc. of course is irrelevant.

So that adds up to just over 500 beans and I can do that for 500 or more flights of each battery over it's life-span.

If you want to go for more budget stuff, some of which will be pretty close to as good, you could do it for a lot less. You could also easily spend 3 or 4 times that much if you want. What I gave you is a real world example that I actually do, no bull or guesstimates.

For charging at home I got two 69 amp power supplies for 50 bucks to my door.

So tally up for us what it will cost, support equipment included, for 1000 ten minute flights of the .90 glo, which would equal the performance of my Scorpion, in the C-182. It is obvious that you would be able to do the 5 or 6 flights in the 4 hour window.

Another thing that I like about electric is that I can use any type of decal, paint, trim tape etc. including water transfer decals to dress up my E-Planes.

[Mannywest]

Guys, you are going off on a tangent, Acording his previous thread, he has a seawind with 71" wingspan and the weight is about 10 lbs. It has a .91 nitro engine and he wants to chane to electric. So if somebdy can give him an HK part # for a motor and esc and recomend a batt. Maybe give him a guesstimate f the flight time per batt.
Don, if you want to fly 3-4 hrs you would need a large number of batts 'cause you won't get much more than 10 min. of tme per batt. Eventualy you will run out of batt unless you have 1/2 doz. chargers along.
I don't know if this helps to clear things up.

Manfred
__________________

Altitude is the pilots best friend.

[davidmc36]

Originally Posted by Mannywest

Guys, you are going off on a tangent, Acording his previous thread, he has a seawind with 71" wingspan and the weight is about 10 lbs. It has a .91 nitro engine and he wants to chane to electric. So if somebdy can give him an HK part # for a motor and esc and recomend a batt. Maybe give him a guesstimate f the flight time per batt.
Don, if you want to fly 3-4 hrs you would need a large number of batts 'cause you won't get much more than 10 min. of tme per batt. Eventualy you will run out of batt unless you have 1/2 doz. chargers along.
I don't know if this helps to clear things up.

Manfred
__________________

Altitude is the pilots best friend.

Not a tangent at all.

My real world example is an 11 pound airplane with .90 equivalent motor, Scorpion 4020-14:

http://www.scorpionsystem.com/catalo...s40/S-4020-14/

I quoted an ESC and battery.

As far as this thread goes kip did not ask about continuous flying, he asked about 5 or 6 flights in a 3.5 to 4 hour span, which I addressed. I can get an easy 10 min flight with this set-up.

As far as HK equivalent goes, just take the Scorpion stats and the ESC size and get anything you want that is rated the same.

In the other thread I think that I mentioned the only drawback that I see to electric flight is in the event that you did want to fly non-stop, which is for sure not normally done, eventually your charging time would catch up with the flight time. You would need many, many batteries/chargers to fly non-stop for very long.

[Michael Hyatt]

@ Mannywest, Kip is not the person with the seawind.

Don, if you want to fly 3-4 hrs you would need a large number of batts 'cause you won't get much more than 10 min. of tme per batt. Eventualy you will run out of batt unless you have 1/2 doz. chargers along

Not true, with a 5c charge rate battery, it'll take 10~15 minutes to charge a battery

If Kip is still trying to flog that dead horse( electric for nitro ), so be it. The thread was closed due to trolling. Let's keep this one on topic.

Donald was the owner, and he went with seawind electric conversion

Those specs were,
Motor: Rimfire Brushless Outrunner 50-55-500kV
ESC: Castle Creations Phoenix 80
Main Battery: Electrify Power Series LiPoly 6S1P - 2 ea 3200 mAh 3S1P in Series

[kip51035]

It is a very simple question. I have this aircraft that should gross out at about ten pounds. I am not into 3D. I need everything to power the aircraft so I can go to the field and fly four or five flights in an afternoon. If you do not think I have the aircraft, go to the trades section and have a look at my Zlin Z50 for sale. I do not know what motor to use, what ESC to use, what battery to use, how many batteries I need, what charger to use, what power source I need for the charger. Is there any particular reason you guys will not help me with this? I am also contemplating building an indoor model that looks like a basic ultra-light aircraft, But frankly I do not know what all those letters and numbers mean on the motor. Is there some kind of publication I can use for reference.

[Michael Hyatt]

The answers are simple too.
Motor @ $40 is a 5055-500kv.
That means 50mm diameter, 55mm length of the bell and 500 rpm per volt. Another example is a 2730-1300kv ... 27 mm diameter, 30mm lenth, and 1300 rpm per volt. An easy way to understand Kv is, the higher the Kv, the smaller the prop. The lower the Kv, the bigger the prop.
Electronic speed controller (esc) @ $30 Since the max amps for the motor are 55amps, it's always best to add 15% so a 65~70amp esc should be okay.
charger @ $30 Plugs into your 110volt wall socket at home. It also runs off of car or motorcycle battery at the field.
Since the motor is 3~8 cell, either of the following will work
battery 4cell, 3000mah, 25c discharge and 5c charge rate, $38
Or, Turnigy nano-tech battery 3000mah 6S 25~50C @ $38
If you look carefully at this post, you'll notice some printing is in blue, those are links to the items described. The 10 lb plane is mostly covered, motor, esc, charger, battery.

If you need it, I can do it for your ultra light
motor
esc
battery
Charger is the same as above