Batteries

[richieclarkie]

Can I just interject here. Are you looking to carry on flying helis? Because if you are I wouldn't spend too much on the Twister. Certainly not upgrading to lipos. The Lipos supplied with the twisters are awful and are prone to failure, I sent back 2 which were faulty from new this January.

Stick with what you have got and maybe look at getting a better heli like a TREX if you carry on. There's plenty of free advice available here should you need it.

P.S. I used to think I got 15 minutes on a pack until I timed it and found I was getting 9 minutes!

[Ksanderz]

I think you might be right, until I am able to fly this heli with confidence then I would love to upgrade, the batteries for the Twister are only around £12 so I could purchase another one. Now upgrading that is a different ball game where would I start?
Regards.

[ukhelis]

By far the best place to start is at a flying club. Dont dash out and buy the biggest, and most shiny thing you can find. Spend some time chatting with members and all the nice folk here first. Between us there must be decades of experience. Get some ff done with your existing heli and learn the basics before you go out and dump a £600 heli.

[Ksanderz]

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.
Regards.

[MartinM]

You can all shout me down but I started with a Bell 47 and then the Twister FP 2 years ago.

Now fly nitro and electric 50's BUT still fly the FP in the evenings in doors and at a hall and outside if no wind just to get stick time in before the weekends.

Fitted with a 1200 mah 7.4v 10C Li-Po I get over 15 mins real flying time. I use the Rx battery from my T rex 600 and after 15 true mins flight I put back only 850 mah.

Keep the FP going, add a Li-Po and when ready move on and up but keep the FP !!

Below shows the two together. They cost £11 as i remember.

[Ksanderz]

Thanks Martin,
2 questions,
1. Where did you buy the 1200 mah 7.4v 10C Li-Po?
2.Do I need a balance charger and what does it do?
Regards.

[marktigere1]

I agree with what Martin said.

I started with a Shuttle in 1998 then restarted last year with a Shuttle.

However, I recently purchased a Twister Bell 47 as I don't have a computer running Windows for use with a sim and the weather is rubbish.

The Bell has kept the old thumbs going very nicely over the winter and is even sitting in front of me at work as I type this. (shhhhh, don't tell the boss!!)

I think the Bell is a great way of learning and gives you the genuine adrenaline pump not present with a sim IMHO.

Cheers

Mark

[MartinM]

I have lots of chargers as I run the T-rex 600 and a Swift however, these cells don't have a balance lead so I just charge as normal. I would have a look at the 1-3 cell charges and buy one of those, that was my first Li-Po charger I bought when I moved onto the Twister CP. Next came the T rex 450 etc etc

I think these chargers are about £17 but they run from 12 volts not the mains. It charges 1 to 3 cells .5 to 2 amps charge rate but have a look what on offer. Most do 3 cells so your Ok for your next heli in the small sizes ( CP or a T-rex/Mini Titan.

I have used my FP to learn 'Nose In' and it have been very good value, even when you crash, most times it just gets up and flies again.....

The battery comes from Phil who is on this forum, PM me for more info.

[ukhelis]

Now that is v good advice (using a cheap FP to learn nose in etc). The standard Twister V2, walkera 4 etc are normally bomb proof. Mine was eventually retired after I had had over 15 hrs (I'm guessing) of flying. I admit most of it had been replaced over a period of time, but mostly it crashed and got right back up again.

[MartinM]

I think FP helis are very under rated !! Ok they don't fly well in any wind but for training they are good.

Not moving away from this post but after a few weeks on the FP here is a video of me trying NI on the Swift in my small garden heli patch. Time well spent on the FP and all I broke was the CF flybar and a hub, £ 8 total repairs over a month with lots of crashes !! Training gear use 'just in case' in the garden I can't use the sky to fly out of danger!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjRD7nDkrB0[/ame]

[Jamez]

FP heli's are under rated, and if you stick them on 3s lipo (11.2v) they go like hell. (mine is now on a 3s 1600) it fly's for a least 20 mins but gets a bit hot so i split it to 2 ten min flights. However they are not neccesary to fly them, the 650 nimh packs do well on the twister, and are much less explosive if left to over charge or the parameters are set wrong.

[MartinM]

"FP heli's are under rated"

They sure are, value for money when it comes to training or just getting good stick time in with Nose IN, Sides in etc etc in some ways better than a sim but I use together (no, not at the same time)