OK, I made the plunge and invested in Lithium Ions

[Al Czervik]

I've noticed since I started in this hobby a year ago that I buy first then consider if I could afford it after the purchase was made. I did a fair amount of asking around about if Lithium Ions would be a good investment before I made the plunge and bought a lot of Fromeco stuff to get me started. I got some great advice here too.

Currently I'm flying a Funtana 90 and have a QQ 73' Yak I'm putting together in the next month or so. The plan is to top out with a 86' QQ Yak next year hopefully.

I decided to move up to Lithium Ions because I noticed my 4.8 v Nicads with my reasonably high torque servos needed to be charged every four flights or so. I'm working six days a week lately and don't have time to deal with that crap with what little time I have to fly. So I hope to start flying with the Litium Ions this weekend and have a few questions:

*I bought a JR Chargeswitch (JRPA004) so I could hook the "8 Ball Checker" into the side of the fuselage.

--Do you guys ever charge the batteries with the Fromeco Charger while keeping the battery inside of the plane and going through the chargeswitch? The instructions did not advise this....

AND WHAT DOES the smaller switch do underneath the main Off/Charge-On Switch on the (JR Chargeswitch JRPA004)

-Is it ok to store the batteries inside of the plane if you're flying every weekend or so..ie, not long term storage?

-What is the smallest plane you've put a dual battery set up in? Is it possible to be too safe? I was at least thinking of this with the QQ Yak 73'.

-My Fromeco 3 out charger uses a DC input. I was advised to get something that could hook into the 12 V DC out on my Xterra to provide the juice to charge the batteries...I was wondering what power source you guys use for doing this...

**Fortunately my SUV has these outlets in 3-4 different places in the vehicle. I just don't know if I want to hang out 3 hours in my car to get them to charge. I could get an AC to DC adaptor/converter power source but that is another 100 bucks right now.

Lastly, I can only run my setup in the Funtana 90 at 4.8v due to the 9252's not being rated to work at 6 v. So I got Jaccio Voltage regulator that brings it down to 5.1. I'm going to assume that I'll be able to fly all damn weekend without any charging!...we'll see.

Anyway, if you have any insight on my questions..I'd appreciate the feedback.

-Brad

[Shakes]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Purple Bird
	*I bought a JR Chargeswitch (JRPA004) so I could hook the "8 Ball Checker" into the side of the fuselage.

	Quote: Originally Posted by Purple Bird
	--Do you guys ever charge the batteries with the Fromeco Charger while keeping the battery inside of the plane and going through the chargeswitch? The instructions did not advise this....

I do.

	Quote: Originally Posted by Purple Bird
	AND WHAT DOES the smaller switch do underneath the main Off/Charge-On Switch on the (JR Chargeswitch JRPA004)

I think you are talking about the switch that closes the cover over the charge jack?

	Quote: Originally Posted by Purple Bird
	-Is it ok to store the batteries inside of the plane if you're flying every weekend or so..ie, not long term storage?

I don't think its a problem as long as the plane doesn't get too hot. It probably gets hotter sitting out at the field in the sun that is does in the garage. Mine stay in the plane week to week.

	Quote: Originally Posted by Purple Bird
	-What is the smallest plane you've put a dual battery set up in? Is it possible to be too safe? I was at least thinking of this with the QQ Yak 73'.

The smallest is a QQ 85" Yak. I'd be careful of the weight in the 73" Yak.

	Quote: Originally Posted by Purple Bird
	-My Fromeco 3 out charger uses a DC input. I was advised to get something that could hook into the 12 V DC out on my Xterra to provide the juice to charge the batteries...I was wondering what power source you guys use for doing this...

I use the external power supply recommended by Fromeco. It has never been a need to charge at the field with these batteries. 10-12 flights per charge easily. I don't fly that much in one day. Fromeco has several links to dealers at the bottom of the page that sells their charger - this is one of them. http://www.buyreliant.com/psupplies/ps14.htm

	Quote: Originally Posted by Purple Bird
	**Fortunately my SUV has these outlets in 3-4 different places in the vehicle. I just don't know if I want to hang out 3 hours in my car to get them to charge. I could get an AC to DC adaptor/converter power source but that is another 100 bucks right now.

Never had a need to charge through the vehicle at the field. The AC 12V power supply I have works fine for charging at home.

	Quote: Originally Posted by Purple Bird
	Lastly, I can only run my setup in the Funtana 90 at 4.8v due to the 9252's not being rated to work at 6 v. So I got Jaccio Voltage regulator that brings it down to 5.1. I'm going to assume that I'll be able to fly all damn weekend without any charging!...we'll see.

Yep! Definitely. You can fly all weekend with 5 8611a or 5 5955TGs too.

[sweetpea]

I'll answer also.

1. I charge in the plane through the switch
2. I leave my batts in the plane all the time no matter how long they sit (LIONS not LIPOS)
3. I use an external 20amp/12V power supply for my charger


as a note....I use TBM cells and a triton charger, but in reality the cells are probably the same and the charger doesn't matter......12v is 12V