10X DIY NiCad/NiMH to Lipoly!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bunky F. Knuckle]

Ok, as I stated in a couple of posts, I plan on going from NiMH's to LiPoly in my Tx!!! So, I'm going to capture it in stills, and share it with you all here.

What we have here is you basic JR 10X. Front, back, and then showing the LiPoly battery. Lipo is a Tanic 2220 mAh 3S pack. And for those who are on the "polite police" bandwagon, I plan on leaving the Tanic Taps installed on the pack. Just a bit of background on me and my history with Lipoly.

I got my first taste of Lipoly by working at RadicalRC. I have seen Lipoly grow to even higher standards than I ever thought!!!!!!! When I started there, we were selling only 8C packs!!!!! The 1200's were the BOMB, back then!!! Upon my leaving there 2 1/2 years later, we were selling 15 and 20C packs. I have handled in that shop in EXCESS of 15,000 packs!!!!! All of which just so happened to be HAND BUILT by yours truly!!!!!! I have built anything from single cell 45mAh up to 10S 6000 mAh packs!!! All of which have never been returned to me, while I was there. I have done some PM's on them, but never a RETURN for a damaged or swollen cell.

So, if you have any doubt in your mind about Lipoly, DON'T!!!!!!!!!! It is cool to be conscience about them blowing up or exploding. Something else that you can do to is to charge your Poly packs as an ION pack, as in ION mode, the charger will not fully peak the pack to 12.6VDC. It will go up to 12.2VDC. I plan on charging my packs in ION mode on my Orbit PocketLader charger. I charge all my packs at 1C, and watch them like a hawk!!!!!!! Have I balanced my packs???? NOPE!!!!!!! Sole reason I do not balance them is that I do not deplete them completely, and I do not over exert (current) them. I have yet to see a need for balancing while observing proper technique while using Lipo packs. I never charge in a container, but I also never abuse them. Do I worry about a pack failure??? NOPE!!!!!!!!!!! Do I worry about packs out of balance?? NOPE!!!! I do not worry about anything..................... I'm also not worried about the warranty on my Tx, as I bought it 2nd hand, and immeadiately changed the pack from NiCad to NiMH. I've been flying it for OVER 5 years!!!!!!! And just recently had the Lithium memory battery in it replaced.

Onto the pics. And yes, I know I'm not done. This is AS I GO!!!!!!!!!! I have to get my butane soldering iron from work. But I did some measuring and checking, and things are going to be TIGHT!!!!!!!!! It will work!!! All I need to complete this is heat shrink for the pack, some solder, and my iron. So, this is it for now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bunky F. Knuckle]

As I said the other day here, I plan on finishing up this conversion from NiMH to LiPoly. Well, it is done!!! Not onto the pics!!!!!!!!!!

First you obvioulsly have to cut the shrink off the pack, unless you request a pack with 22g wire.

Now, just showing you my butane soldering iron. Heats up FAST!!!! A great tool if you solder frequently! But kinda heavy on the butane.......... Now in the warm up stage!!!!

We are going to start by unsoldering the NEG wire.

Now unsoldered!!!!

Now, gonna unsolder the POS lead.

Fully disconnected!!!!!!!

Now, we are going to to install 22g wire on each side. The MALE lead goes on the battery side(servo connector), and the FEMALE connector goes on the CB inside the Tx cassette(I'll show here soon).

Tin them wires up!!!!!!!!!!

Solder the lead onto the POS side of the pack. Then do the same thing to the NEG wire. After you do that, then tape up the bare tabs. Shouldn't have to use too much tape, since I'll be using some heatshrink once I get it all done and checked out!!!

Then we are going to get a start on opening up the Tx cassette.

Onto the next set of pics..............

[Bunky F. Knuckle]

Ok, now that we have the screws taken out of the Tx cassette, we need to seperate the cassette. Once we seperate the cassette, we can now take out the pack, and the CB I referred to earlier.

Here we have is a shotty pic of the backside of the CB.

Next pic shows the good side of the CB. Notice that there isn't a DIODE on this CB. I removed it 4 years back to enable me to FAST CHARGE my NiMH pack!!! The actual FUSE in inside the Tx, just below the Tx cassette(I'll show as well).

Unsolder the battery from the CB. Very basic, simple to do.

Now, what we are gonna do is solder in the FEMALE connector lead to hook up the LiPoly pack.

Now, look closely, see the 6 pins sticking up, about in the middle of the pic?? Look almost DUE LEFT. There is a glass fuse inside the Tx. If it blows, you cannot turn on your Tx, but the Lithium memory battery keeps the memory alive for all your models and settings.

Next pic shows the open backside of the Tx. Nothing new here!!!!

Next shows the pack installed. I do have some trimming to do. There are 2 tabs towards the top of the battery socket there that really need to be removed. Will make installation MUCH MUCH easier!!!!!!!!

Now we have the CB installed. Then we will hook the 2 leads together, and pray that the MAGIC SMOKE stays inside!!!!!!

No W2 affected here!!!!! The Magic Smoke stayed inside the pack as well as all the components of the Tx!!!!!!!

Now, go relax and have a freakin beer!!!! Bud Light for me, please!!!!

This took me overall from the 2 days, no longer than 90 minutes! This includes taking pics, and editing them!!!! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are all here to help!

Thanks guys!!

Bunk~

[tobytorkn]

hey chris, great post! i have a problem where my hobbico elite overcharged my tx battery. i had taken out the battery from the tx and set it to eight cell, 800mah, 0.5A charge rate. i had it charging on the floor of the basement while i was working on some lights in my shop. all of a sudden something told me to go look at the pack, when i got to it all of the cells were swelled and the the whole pack was starting to flex. the charger is being sent back to hobbico. anywho, is there a way for me to do basically the same thing as yours; but in the process test that circuit board to make sure nothing is fried. i don't want to loose a plane because of a battery failure. i also ordered another battery pack from the r/c hobby center in dayton. i just want to have a backup battery to use if at all possible? i thought about doing the same thing as you then testing the battery at 1A, but i'm not sure if all of the prongs are used and if more than 2 are use what do they do in the tx? ps, have i said yet that i want to fly....aaaaahhhh toby....

[Bunky F. Knuckle]

The battery you refer to, was a LiPo, NiCad or NiMH??????? If it were a NiCad or NiMH, you shouldn't have had any issues with the Elite charger. I personally don't use any of Hobbicos chargers, but I'm sure that they are great!!!

It is possible that the Diode has went south for the summer.. If you look at my pics, you'll see a WHITE wire that kinda looks like a jumper wire, 3rd post, on the right. There will be a black cylindrical looking component with a silver band around it, possibly. Or it could even be a tannish color...... Then look at the second row of pics, in the middle and you'll see 2 black marks on the CB. That is where you need to unsolder the component from. Then put a jumper in and resolder.

Without me actually looking at the schematic of that CB, I can tell that there are 4 pins that power the Tx. 2 on the POS side, and 2 on the NEG side.

I'm heading over towards New Plymouth (Vinton Cty) to do a demo this weeeknd. I'll give a run down on it.

I GOTTA fly!!!!!!!!!

[Bunky F. Knuckle]

Ok, I put on 5 flights that were 15 minutes long each, and only dropped .4V!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More flights this weekend!!!!!!!

Edit-------- I also removed some of the plastic inside the Tx battery compartment, and now the battery fits VERY nicely. And the Tx chrage port lines up with the hole in the battery cover!!!!

[macsood]

HI,I know you did this thread few years back but i too would like to convert my pcm10x to lipo. I've surfed the net looking for articles regarding conversion but yours was the only one i could find, so my question is im planning to use 11.1v 2200mAh lipo and in your opinion do you think i would damage my tx, and do i need any form of regulator.Thanks Mac.