Hi All,
Let's post our grocery-list of necessary equipment, both in-air and ground support.
As always, there will be several ways of doing this, and more input is better.
We are doing this with an eye toward giving the E-newbie a look at the entire territory.
If you have cost estimates handy, put 'em here.
Dean
Dean,
Here is what I have been using in my Stock Brodak ARF P-40, and will use in my Vector 40:
AXI 2826/10 .................................................................... $98.00
Castle Creations Phoenix 45 ESC ............................................109.00
Contact: Randy Smith @ Aero Products, He knows CL and Elec. :-)
Thunder Power 4S2P 4,200 mAh, 14.8V, Slim, Battery ............... 200.00
Charger, Multiplex HT9253, Very good unit ............................... 100.00
The BEST is the Thunder Power 1010C @ $190
Contact: Hobby Lobby (nice people, Elec. experts)
JMP Timer, excellent product .................................................. 30.00
Contact: bsdmicroc.com great people to deal with :-)
Radio Shack 12 Volt 24 Amp Switching Power supply ................. 85.00
(This is a small, light weight unit with fan, but quiet)
Contact: Any Radio Shack store
Props: Please Read the excellent answers to my Prop question on this forum :-)
Please do not be shocked by the cost of electric flying. It is really not much more than a well equipped IC wet set up.
When we buy our batteries, we are just purchasing our "fuel" in advance. At approx. 350 flights per $200 battery, that comes to $0.57 per flight. The Power Master CL fuel I use is $19.00 per gallon. This comes out to about $0.148 per oz, or $0.67 per 4 1/2 oz flight. There are some variables in the above est. but over all they should be very close to our relative costs. ...... Of course, your milage may vary. ;-)
I have used most of the above Electric equipment for more than 3 years in Electric R/C flying. It all is perfect for CL. The Multiplex charger is an excellent charger, and is a great "bang for your buck". This is all we really need for our batteries. But, the Thunder Power charger is a jewel and combined with the Thunder Power Balancer and it's data link, it is perfect for our large CL batteries.
If someone wants to get into Elec. CL flying, all they need to do is buy the parts listed above, buy their favorite Brodak ARF (or build their own) and they can be flying Elec in a few days. NO special knowledge is required to just fly the stunt pattern with elec power for 95% of us. The above system is the one tested and used by Will Moore who writes the excellent Electric column in the PAMPA NL. Will wins contests in the Expert class with this system. Will is the one who recommended this set up to me, and helped me get it up and running. I think that Bob Hunt also uses a similar system. .......... Kim uses a larger system, but his is still no more expensive than a good quality modern .70 size IC piped system.
Test equipment is a "nice to have" item, but with many others creating "turn key" systems for us, you don't really need test equipment. If you stick with a "tested" plane and system, a tach and temp gauge is enough for most flyers. :-)
Please remember, in Electric, we just buy our "fuel" in advance. The batteries cost less per flight than glow fuel. This is true for small and large CL planes. :-)
Thanks to Dean, Will, Kim, Ron, Mike, Linheart, and many others, it is schockingly easy to get quietly into Elec. CL flying. I hope many CL flyer's try it in 2007 :-)