Jim Beagle & his Fokker D VII (photo Mike of Warren, MI via RC Groups)

More Mid-Am Photos

A look down the flight line from the transmitter impound (Mark Wolf photo)

Don Belfort's Fleet (Mark Wolf photo)

Bugatti Drive System (Mark Wolf photo)

Jim Maughan's Mountain Models Dandy GT (Jim Maughan photo)

Keith Shaw's Bugatti on the ground (Jim Maughan photo)

CzechMate landing (C.J. Wasocki photo)

A Cutlass (Alan Biggerstaff photo)

Bonus Movie Video      For those of you with fast Internet access, you can see Ken Kaiser's video of Keith Shaw's CzechMate and Stomo at: CzechMate Video and Stomo Video Return to "What's In This Issue" Update on Hobby Lobby "Delivery Issues" From: One of the respondents to the poll in the Ampeer Hi Ken,      Perhaps Hobby Lobby listens to EFO surveys after all!      I recently swallowed hard, held my breath, and ordered Hobby Lobby's new V-Diamond ARF plus motor and speed control. All the pieces of the order were packed and shipped the same day as the order, and everything arrived at my house in 3 days for a shipping cost of $7.99! What a turnaround from my original "complaint" of several months ago, and good for them! (and it's an excellent flyer too!)      Just thought you would want to know. Return to "What's In This Issue" My Foray into Li-Po Land By Ken Myers      As Ampeer readers know, I have not been an early adopter of Lithium Polymer batteries. I purchased my first Li-Po battery, a Kokam 3S1P 2100mAh 20C pack about three years ago. It has never been used. Shortly after that, I purchased an Astro Flight 109 charger.      Ken's tip #1: Never buy Li-Po cells until you are ready to use them! ALL rechargeable cells start to "die" from the time they are manufactured.      The battery sat around for a long time and then this past spring I asked Keith to put some taps on it so that I could check the voltage of each cell. I had become aware of how important the voltage of each cell is and that balancing the cells is necessary!      After Keith put the taps on for me, he gave it a charge, and today, July 19, 2006, the cells are reading 4.00v each and they have been sitting around for at least six months since that charge. I will be getting a project started for this pack soon, before it is dead on the shelf.      Ken's tip #2: Each cell of the pack must be tapped so that a balancer can be fitted to the pack. Unfortunately each manufacturer/supplier taps them differently. Good luck!      Last fall I purchased an ammo can, drilled a hole in the top (vent for thermal occurrence) and two holes in the side for some 12-gauge wire to pass through with Anderson Power Poles (aka Sermos connectors) on each end. I only use APP connectors. I do not fly tiny planes, less than 250 sq.in., nor high current systems, so APP connectors work just fine for me.      Ken's tip #3: Charge Li-Po cells in a fire safe container. NEVER become complacent in their charging! Charge in an area with NO combustible material present.      I didn't intend to fly Li-Po batteries this season. I had ordered my original 16 cells for my Fusion from www.cheapbatterypacks.com. They are the CBP 3300 NiMH cells. When I decided to order a second pack for another project I was working on, the cell was no longer available. I decided that I would purchase 16 Elite 3600mAh cells, since they were the next closest cell in capacity and price at $4.60 each. The pack would cost (16*$4.60)+$9 shipping or $82.60. Fortunately, as it turns out, they were not available when I wanted them.      On the RC Groups site I ran into a reference to True RC. He (www.truerc.com) had a 5S1P 4000mAh 10C for $85 + $5 for taps and $5 for shipping or a total of $95 at my door. The bonus was that the taps are setup to use with my Astro Flight Blinky balancer right out of the box. Since the cost was not a whole lot more than the NiMH cells I crossed my fingers and purchased the pack. In the meantime the motor for my other project came and I found out that it was best not to run it on a 5S pack. The True RC 5S has been flying in my Fusion since then.      I needed an affordable 4S pack for the new motor, a TowerPro 3520-7 and remembered talking with Mike Gray of Skyshark RC at Toledo about his batteries. (www.skysharkrc.com) I ordered his 4S1P 4000mAh 10C pack for $84.95. That price included taps that matched the Blinky and shipping.      On the fifth flight of the Low-Stik with the Skyshark 4S pack in it, I tried to fly with the wrong plane selection on my transmitter. The resulting "crash" destroyed the ARF's fuselage, but, worst of all, created a dent in one of the cells. Dang! The dent was caused because I used a nut, not blind nut on the firewall, and the combination of the nut and slight protrusion of the screw cause the dent in one cell upon impact.      Ken's tip #4: Make sure that whatever the battery is going to slam into during a crash has no protruding parts! Li-Pos are fragile!      Ken's tip #5: Check and double check that you have the correct plane selected on programmable transmitters! Carefully check that all surfaces are moving in the correct direction not just moving!      I ordered my second Skyshark 4S 4000mAh pack. I have been flying that new pack, as well as the dented pack to this date. The dented pack has required a lot of extra work to maintain, but it is still going strong and doing a good job. It was flown again just last night, and shows no difference in flight when compared to the "new" pack.      When I did the AF 19 direct review in last month's Ampeer, I purchased a Skyshark 3S1P 2100mAh 15C pack, again with taps and shipping, for $49.95. (Their price has since gone up to $59.95.) It is also doing well in that application.      I have my static amp draw set to 32-amps to 35-amps using the 10C 4000mAh cells from both suppliers and in the 25-amp range for the 2100mAh pack. I am not expecting more from these cells than they can provide, and      I am very happy with the price and performance to date.      I have kept a battery log and here is some of the data that I have collected so far: 3S 2100mAh, 21 flights, average amp draw 8.75 based on Ah input via the 109 charger, cost per flight $2.38, average Ah returned to battery 1.424Ah 4S 4000mAh #1, 15 flights, cost per flight $5.66, other data unavailable because of bad cell 4S 4000mAh #2, 14 flights, average amp draw 16, cost per flight $6.07, average Ah returned to battery 2.465Ah 5S 4000mAh, 14 flights, average amp draw 13.4, cost per flight $6.79, average Ah returned to battery 1.805Ah      It can be seen that I am not taxing these batteries. I do not fly to the Low Voltage Cutoff (LVC) of the ESC. I have no desire to see how long I can fly. I was doing about 8 minute flights on each battery, but now I have settled on two five-minute flights per battery charge for each of them.      Ken's tip #6: If you constantly fly to the ESC's LVC, use Bob Kopski's LCDC or at least a commercially available type like the FMA Cell Pro Discharge Protection Module (DPM).      I will keep you posted on my adventures in Li-Po Land as they unfold. The most interesting thing will be what happens to them during the "winter" layover. Return to "What's In This Issue"

To Reach Ken Myers, you can land mail to the address at the top of the page. My E-mail address is: KMyersEFO@mac.com
EFO WEBsite: http://members.aol.com/KMyersEFO/