Relions v. Iron Corps

[Canardman]

I was in the LHS looking at the batteries today. I have been a fan of the Relions for about a year. I have them in all of my aircraft now. I was looking at the iron corps today and would like to know what the advantage of the Iron Corps are. They are a lower Mah rating for a pack that is twice as big (4800 IC 8 cell vs. 5200 Relions 4 cell) Thanks in advance for educating me

[ben_beyer]

No regulators would be needed, you'll get more amps to the servos because of a higher discharge capability, and you can recharge the batteries in 15 min. They also have more charge/discharge cycles if you go with the Iron Corps Extreme (I.E. A123) packs. I have a Fromeco Li-ion pack that's going on the ignition for my EF Extra, but the only reason I'm using it is because I already had. I really liked the Relions I've had, but now I'm all Iron Corps.

[brn2fly]

The bad thing about A123 batteries is you can't use a load meter to check them. They maintain their voltage until they die. You either have to use a switch that has a mah counter on it or remeber how many flight you have flown since the last charge. Ben mentioned the pros, and I mentioned the cons. I am a Fromeco dealer and either will work great you just need to know the limitations.

[ben_beyer]

Thanks Andy! Forgot to mention the cons lol.

I have the new Kodiak switch from Fromeco for the Iron Corps pack going in my EF Extra. I'm putting a 1200maH pack in my profile, but I know I can get 3 flights at least before I need to recharge. I'll have my CellPro charger at the field with me anyways so I'll just recharge every 3 flights. The battery pack with balancer weighs an once less than my 6V NiMH 1200maH pack and was about the same price. I think it was maybe $1-2 cheaper than the NiMH pack.

[bodywerks]

I have a simple solution for my setups. I will simply make up a self-sustaining field charger, using a small deep-cycle battery, solar charger to keep the deep-cycle battery charged), and Fromeco IonCube charger all-in-one. After each flight, I will simply roll the field charger up to the plane, plug it in and press start...
Field charging doesn't have to be considered an inconvenience. Doing it this way allows me to have a superlight battery system (my 42% setup weighs 14.5 ounces for both rx batteries and the ignition battery), and the piece-of-mind in knowing that my batteries are fully charged before each flight.

[Canardman]

Thanks for the info. I think for now, I will stick with my Relions. I run a Smart-Fly reg with them and still have less weight. The biggest thing I fly is a 35% with mid-grade digital servos. I really don't need the extra amps.

One thing tho... ben_beyer said you don't have to run a regulator with the Iron Corps. They are putting out 7.5v, do they not peak around 8.4 like the relions? (7.4v) If so, won't that burn up the servo?

[ATC666]

They will charge up to about 7.4 volts but very quickly drop into the mid 6 volt range.

[Pale Rider]

	Quote: Originally Posted by bodywerks
	I have a simple solution for my setups. I will simply make up a self-sustaining field charger, using a small deep-cycle battery, solar charger to keep the deep-cycle battery charged), and Fromeco IonCube charger all-in-one. After each flight, I will simply roll the field charger up to the plane, plug it in and press start... Field charging doesn't have to be considered an inconvenience. Doing it this way allows me to have a superlight battery system (my 42% setup weighs 14.5 ounces for both rx batteries and the ignition battery), and the piece-of-mind in knowing that my batteries are fully charged before each flight.

Sounds like a good idea, Send a few pics of that setup when you have it done if you don't mind..

[Azhar]

I have a few Iron Corps and was wondering whether you can charge them at higher than its rated capacity. Can someone please advise?

[ben_beyer]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Canardman
	Thanks for the info. I think for now, I will stick with my Relions. I run a Smart-Fly reg with them and still have less weight. The biggest thing I fly is a 35% with mid-grade digital servos. I really don't need the extra amps. One thing tho... ben_beyer said you don't have to run a regulator with the Iron Corps. They are putting out 7.5v, do they not peak around 8.4 like the relions? (7.4v) If so, won't that burn up the servo?

That's a misprint on Fromeco's part. Their max voltage is 7.5V and they drop down to 6.6V shortly after that. I haven't had any problems with mine.

[bodywerks]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Pale Rider
	Sounds like a good idea, Send a few pics of that setup when you have it done if you don't mind..

Will do. I have everything I need except the charger. I set my planes up so that all the charge recepticals are on one side of the plane. They are only JR connectors, so my charge amps are going to be limited, but I have charged through them at 3.5 amps and they get only slightly warm.
My 42%er burns 450-500mah after a round of Intermediate IMAC(2 sequences). It only takes about 15 minutes at 2.5 amps for me to top them off...

[Pale Rider]

Dont worry about the Jr connectors--Ive put 4+ Amps through them constant and they just get warm