MIFFRocket
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Looking for a recommendation on a LiPo battery to use for my Estes series II launcher. Need a little more kick than 6 C batteries at this time. Thanks!!
LiPo battery for launcher
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ThreeJsDad
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A 3 cell Lipo will give you just over 11volts. Check out Hobby King for a 3 cell Lipo and a cheap charger. You will need a balancing charger. I am heading the same way. I have three 3s 750mah lipos that were intended for a helicopter I have. I never flew the helicopter because it scared me a little....LOL I would imagine even a 750mah would last for quite a few launches.
I am going to run a wire out the bottom of my hand held launcher to the battery as they are not tiny.
I am going to run a wire out the bottom of my hand held launcher to the battery as they are not tiny.
I have an old ElectriFly 1250 3s pack in my primary PSII controller. I had to make an adapter to go from the connector on the pack to the PSII controller's JST connection. There is a similar thread about this here somewhere, in which I posted a picture of this.
I would recommend 3s....and since boatgeek is getting good results with "just" a 180 mAh pack basically anything that will fit should work just fine. I have even fired the infamous Aerotech Copperhead igniters with my setup.
Ah - found the picture....
I would recommend 3s....and since boatgeek is getting good results with "just" a 180 mAh pack basically anything that will fit should work just fine. I have even fired the infamous Aerotech Copperhead igniters with my setup.
Ah - found the picture....
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ThreeJsDad
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boatgeek
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I just open the back and pull the battery out to charge it. Our TARC team gets dozens of launches on a single charge. That’s flying CTI, which doesn’t take much current to fire the ematches and they pop and go dead pretty fast.
Likewise I take it out. Once a season is really all I need to charge that battery.
ThreeJsDad
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That is awesome. I had no idea they would last that long. A 750mah 3cell gives about 5 minutes in a RC Plane.
Well....that depends a great deal on the plane, the power system, and how heavy-handed you are on the throttle. A 750 mAh pack in my Mountain Models EZ Scout would be good for probably three times that. I could easily fly my MM Dandy for nearly an hour on a battery like that. But that's another discussion.
In the launcher situation remember that you're only providing power at ~40mA for the LED and the beeper and then for ~2A for a second or two to fire the igniter for each launch.
In the launcher situation remember that you're only providing power at ~40mA for the LED and the beeper and then for ~2A for a second or two to fire the igniter for each launch.
NateB
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I use an iCharger 206B for charging Lipos, but that comes from my airplane and helicopter too. For launching rockets, I use a Cobra system with a 14.8 volt LiPo which charges through a wall wart. The system comes from firework displays and is probably overkill solely for rockets.
ThreeJsDad
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My DX7 had a built in charger that used wall wart. That reminds me, Hobby King has a Lipo designed to be used in TX's that has an internal charging circuit. I cannot remember the cell count though.
With respect to what I use to charge that old 3s 1250mAh pack in the picture above.....I've been flying electric airplanes since the early 1980s and have LOTS of chargers. My favorite for up to 4S and about 4000 mAh is the FMA Direct Cellpro 4s family of chargers. Though these chargers have been around since the early days of balance charging LiPolys (mid 2000s) one member of the family is still available: https://www.usastore.revolectrix.com/Products_2/Cellpro-Multi4_3/Cellpro-Multi4_1183
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ThreeJsDad
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ThreeJsDad
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I have the little Horizon EFlite charger for four individual 1s cells that runs on 4 D cells. I use it for micro RCs and also to charge the three 1s liPolys I use to power the LEDs in my night flyer rocket.
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ThreeJsDad
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I have a circuit for charging 1s lipos that runs on a USB source such as a power bank. I just ordered an ALT that can run on 1s so that will be handy. I need to get a charger for the 3s packs so I can use them with my launch system.
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I use a Turnigy 1000mAh 3S 20C LiPo pack in my PSII controller. Fits the same as picture posted by ThreeJsDad. I also have a Turnigy E3 2S/3S compact charger. So far has worked fine. The PSII uses the small JST 2pin connector which seems rare now.
JST connectors are getting more rare but can still be found in receiver packs. I picked up 2 Turnigy 950 mAh packs in 3s for $19 ea on ebay & a JST parallel pigtail for $3.That gives 3s 11.1v (12.6v fully charged) with 1900 mAh capacity. I believe Estes says 1000 mAh minimum. 950 probably would work fine, but there was plenty of space for 2 batteries.
That should be enough to fly a bunch for a whole flying season.
That eBay seller had better at least have given you free shipping. Those batteries are less than $11 directly from Hobbyking: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy...398&indexName=hbk_live_magento_en_us_products
That eBay seller had better at least have given you free shipping. Those batteries are less than $11 directly from Hobbyking: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy...398&indexName=hbk_live_magento_en_us_products
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