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Remember that rc models can potentially be dangerous if out of control. Always take care to obey local regulations, rules and law. Furthermore it is the modellers responcibility to take suifficient safety precautions.
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Radio control plane .guide 1.0
The best r/c model plane guide on the net
Welcome at rc-plane-guide.com
This page is a guide to the exiting world of rc plane models. The content on this page is highly useable by beginners in rc planes due to the beginners guide, flight school, buyers guide and the model reviews. The primary content on this page is fixed and rotary wing (helis) rc model aircrafts. However other reviews and tips might pop up in categories like rc boats, rc cars, rockets, rc parachutes, onboard video camera systems and so on. If you have comments to this homepage do not hesitate to contact.
batteries @ cells
Introduction: Electrical model planes has for a long time been something that was not feasible to the average modeller, either due to the high cost or the rather low performance in terms of flying time or power. This has however been rapidly changing in the last decade. The most influential things that have changed the market in electrical radio control planes (and other radio control hobbies) is definitive the new batteries consisting of Li-ion or Li-Polymer (LiPo) cells. Check out the description of the most common cells types in the content below:
Li-ion and Li-Polymer cells: These cells have increased the energi capacity to weight ratio significantly, thus making longer flying times possible. While these cells have been used in many years in mobile phones and other equipment without high current requirements, they were not used in radio control models due the higher currents used. The Li-ion and Li-Polymer cells have however changed to the better in terms of peak and average current performance for the benefits of the rc modeller. For the mayority of electrical planes today you will have the most joy out of using Li-Polymer cells. Shown on the pictures below are a couple of examples showing typical cell configurations.
These (Li-ion and Li-Po) cells does however require more sophisticated charger equipment than the old Ni-Cad and Ni-Mn cells. These chargers are however also quite cheap today, so there is now reason to skip the benefits of these cells. The reason that the cells need more sophisticated charger equipment, is found in the fact that the cell voltages must be kept within certain voltage llimits to prevent destruction or bad performance. Always check out the specific manufacturer technical details before dealing with these cells! Most cells will over time develop a different voltage and capacity rating. This means that if you have e.g. 3 cells connected in series you risk that two cells are over charged while another is under charged. Therefore it is recommendable to use a balancer during the charging of the cells. The balancer is an electronic circuitry that prevent the indivicual cells in reaching over voltage. The balancer is typically connected to a dedicated connector on the battery, allowing easy setup and maintenance. While the balancer can be a stand-alone circuitry, it can also be build into the charger. The picture below shows a range of different capacity and cell count Li-Polymer batteries.
From left to right the size is: 360mAH once cell, 730mAh 2 cells, 750mAh 3 cells, 1300mAh 3 cells and finally a 1500mAh 3 cells. Shown on the picture below is the batteries seen from the side.
The weight of these batteries are from left to right (connector included): 10gr., 30gr., 50gr., 80gr., 105gr. Also shown on the two above pictures is a micro rc receiver weighing only 5 gr. The midlle battery is already fitted with a balancer connector, which enables a balancer to be connected quite easily. Connecting multiple cells in parallel and series should be done such that each stage in the serial connection is wired in parallel. This ways you only use one balancer per stage, instead of one balancer per cell.
NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) and NiMH (Nickel Metal Hybride): cells are older technology, but they are still used in many parts of the radio contol modelling world. This is mainly due to their ability to deliver high currents for long time. So if you want plenty of amps and dont care so much about the weight, then you should go for NiMh. This is one of the reasons why these cells are still widely used in radio control cars. Good flight performance and low weight usually goes hand in hand, so for radio controlled airplanes it is the obvious choice.
Cells and batteries, whats the difference? Well it is quite simple: a battery is a combination of two or more cells connected either in series or parallel (or both). Connecting in series will increase the voltage of the battery, while connecting in parallel will increase the current that can be drawn (and capacity) albeit at the same voltage. So if you want to increase both voltage and capacity, you should do both. Connecting cells in series and parallel can be dangerous if you do not know what you do. So please consult your local hobby dealer or an experienced modeller for advice, before getting into action.
About the.Authors
The authors of the content on this page is long time dedicated rc modellers and flightfreaks in general. This is to ensure that high quality content is published thoughout www.rc-plane-guide.com. Radio controlled models are however about having fun, from the time that you begin building of flying your first model untill you become a seasoned rc junkie with plenty of tips to share. Thus we will from time to time bring reviews that are based on a rc model beginner. This is to ensure that we do not overlook stuff that could halt the newcomer to the rc world, while being a simple problem to the experienced modeller.