Beginner help!!

[Reltub]

Hi guy I started flying helis at the start of this year 2012, I got myself a kds 450sv and know little to nothing about flying and how things work. Have been down to my local flying club and have started to learn to hover my kds and have also bought a hirabo scadeu (however you spell it) nitro heli from a guy there as he said they are better to learn on. I have training pods on both my helis. Problem is I can only fly the nitro heli when he is there because i have no flight box, starter fuel pump etc etc as he said i should use his when we're down there. Lately we havent been down at the same time so i haven't been able to practice! Another problem is i had 3 lipo batts with the heli but they've all bust, so he changed the connections on the heli to hxt and said i can use his battery and charger, but he has neeeded them back and am now stuck with nothing! I have got the £ to buy what i need but am unsure on what to buy! I have been looking on hobbyking as i hear it is really good, so was wandering if someone could send me links to which charger to buy, I was thinking upto 6 or 10 cell as at my local club we can only fly nitro until 5.30 and might move onto bigger powered batts in the future.
So basically i need
Which charger to buy upto 6-10cell
which power supply for the charger
Which batteries hxt or similar with adapters
Recommendation for a flight box, starter 12v lead acid batt etc etc

Thanks

[martin uly]

hi matey,im also new to helicopters started last yr, got most of my stuff for nitro heli off ebay.
12v starter,fuel pump,glow starter .they do flight boxes on there to,other shop i use is midland helicopters they are really good ,they sell anything to do with heli's, look on there website.
charger i use is a core rc , does loads of different batterys
hope this bin some help to you

[Reltub]

Thanks for the reply mate ive been looking on ebay etc also looking on hobbyking it seems quite cheap just too many different batteries and connections on there!!

[vinny155]

if you are serious and are going to stick at the hobby and you have the £'s id go for this charger for a start
Cellpro PowerLab 8 V2 Charger PL8V2

and something like this to power it
http://www.modelhelicopters.co.uk/10...er-supply.html

[Reltub]

Not quite got that sort of money mate, do u own them bits of kit?

[smcb1]

Reltub you need to get some independance. Get your own batteries something like 2200mah that have a 40 - 60 c rating. It doesnt matter what connection is on them coz you can decide which connector to use and then just put that connector on everything. Get yourself a charger that has that has a built in balancer for your lipos.when you have done this you can fly and setup and maintain your own helis when you want to and not only when this other guy is about

[Randall]

Look at ichargers from hobby king they are pretty good or get a second hand cell pro, charging bigger lipos will start costing cash. Maybe just get a smaller charger for now untill you know if your going leccy or nitro. On a 450 and learning you only need a 2200 mah 3s 25c pack or even 20c will be fine until you are doing sport flying, look at the turnigy range from hobby king but avoid the nanotechs for now :-)

PC power supplies offer good watt per £ for a 12v dc setup just make sure you get a good output on the 12v rail. You will of course need to modify it to work but if you can solder 2 wires together then you can do it,
If any of that is over your head just say so and myself or some one can point you towards specific products etc

J


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vinny155]

no not at the moment but if i was going to buy another charger it would be the pl8,but i fly electric all the time,you are flying nitro,i couldnt recomend another brand other than cellpro as thats all ive ever used,if you want a chrger for your flightpacks for the nitro id go for a cellpro 4s or 4s gold,sorry couldnt be much more help

[stanley1]

as with all electrical things you get what you pay for and generally the more expensive things are the better they are. let us know your budget for each of the things you want and im sure people will point you in the right direction

[Reltub]

the connections on my heli are of the 4mm hxt type (i think) which is as far as i know 1 female bullet connector and 1 male. The charger i am looking at getting is HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : iCharger 1010B+ 300W 10s Balance/Charger but it doesn't say that it charges the hxt type? Can someone please tell me what connections i need. Also i am struggling to find batteries with hxt connections as well?? I also ordered a battery from hobby king last week and it came with a xt-60 connection. Could someone please tell me which batteries i need which charger i need and which adapters / connections / power supply i need its driving me mad looking

Thanks

[astra 8vt]

look on ebay for cctv power supplys 12v and go from 3 amp up to 60+ pc power supplys are ok but ive killed 3 now but the cctv ones work a treat

[JoeBailey]

The charger will require a charge lead from the pack to the charger. This can either be bought or home made by yourself. The other plug ( the small multi connector balance plug ) will require a board to plug into. The 1010b shown above comes with a JST-XH balance board. All the turnigy type packs are compatible with it as are many other makes, any battery you buy should tell you clearly in the info what type of balance plug is fitted ( this is the only connector that really matters as its a pig to change). Look on eBay for a 12v power supply as mentioned above the CCTV type are very cheap and do work ok.

You can buy extra plugs for battery's from most hobby shops. Just cut the ones on your new packs off and replace with the connector of your choice. Do this one wire at a time so you don't short out the pack.

I'm not at home to take pics of the various bits of wire and kit I use to show you. I should be able to tonight as I have my charger box with me this week.

I hope this hasn't made the situation worse. It's a mine field out there when starting out and a lot of us forget this.

Regards
Joe

[Reltub]

Thanks for all the replies guys!!! Wow really didn't think it was going to be this stressfull and exspensive to get a decent charger! No wonder all the batteries that came with the kds heli all blown I was only using the cheap charger that came with it! Does any1 know where i can get a second hand cell pro pl8? and also could someone point me in the right direction with the power supply - 1000w is what the charger is but is it better to get a slightly higher supply?


Thanks

[JoeBailey]

The cellpro chargers have a feature that lets you set how much current it can draw from your supply, mines currently running off my cheap and nasty 5A(60w) supply as i'm only charging 450 packs in my hotel room. A 350w power supply will give you loads of charging at home without any problems, your not gonna need the 1300W of a PL8 for a while, I've never even used the 600W @12v yet.

Have a shop around, the PL8 is a real monster of a charger, the 10xp will charge anything and is a lot cheaper.

Even the little bantam bc6ac with a built in mains supply is good for most batteries upto 500 size helicopter packs.

[Reltub]

Thanks for the reply mate the reason im looking at the bigger chargers is so it'll last me but might have a look at the ones you've mentioned.

Thanks