Topic: 1/4 Scale D B Sport Scale Sopwith Pup Build

Well done me old plonker sparra..fantastic maiden....just got to get mine in the air now Iv'e seen yours fly..hope mine goes as well as your did...

Hi Alan.

Seems like the built in censor has corrected a famous london sparra into something the wasnt quite meant to be. Apologies if it infeerred that you were plonker...this certainly wasnt meant that way.

As for heavy lifting we always used                  Hands on...." Grolsch"

Regards

Rick

Hi Alan.

Seems like the built in censor has corrected a famous london sparra into something the wasnt quite meant to be. Apologies if it infeerred that you were plonker...this certainly wasnt meant that way.

As for heavy lifting we always used                  Hands on...." Grolsch"

Regards

Rick

No worries. it wasn't taken in any way other than squaddie talk

Alan 

I'm new to RCMF but want to say I am enjoying reading this thread on the Sopwith Pup.  I just got my Toni Clark Pup kit delivered and this has gotten me excited about the build. 

Jim

Sadly my Pup is no more,  had 15 or 16 flights with it and a couple of months ago I took off and it banked right with no response to control inputs.

After the crash we established that the RX Battery was the culprit.  Although the battery was fully charged after 10 min of flying and crashing the battery was found to be dead.  Two of the cells were faulty, this was a brand new battery 5000 Mah bought from Ripmax.

One or two guys from the club confirmed that these high capacity batteries can be problematic.  In the future I am going to stick to no more than 2500MAH of which I have a couple and have had no problems.

Alan

Oh BU**er, sorry to hear that.  Is it beyond repair?? What looks bad is often retrievable?

We have all been there but it doesn't make it any easier does it?

I get obsessive about batteries, Crikey, you would think that by loading a 5 amp hour battery on board, all potential battery problems would be sorted.  Was it a C cell type? Ni cad or NMH?

Anyway, really sorry to hear of a fine model going in.
stu k

The only thing intact was about the 1/3 of rear fuselage, the rest Matchsticks, completely destroyed the RX and 3 servos, Engine survived, salvaged what I can the rest went into the bin.

Almost forgot to mention the Battery was NIMH

Alan  

Hi Alan
Sorry to here about your loss.
I have had problems with NIMi's going ti*s up  when using a delta peak rapid charger designed for NICAD's . I have found NIMI's don't like being overcharged and the delta peak detector didn't always work properly; cooking the battery.  Fortunatly for me I found the problem using a SM services battery checker, which puts the battery under load. NIMI's show an increased tendancy to self discharge when they are about to fail. I was finding batterys testing OK at home but well down after a journey to the flying site, half an hour later. I now charge using a trickle charger which seems to have cured the problem

Alan 

Hi Alan
Sorry to here about your loss.
I have had problems with NIMi's going ti*s up  when using a delta peak rapid charger designed for NICAD's . I have found NIMI's don't like being overcharged and the delta peak detector didn't always work properly; cooking the battery.  Fortunatly for me I found the problem using a SM services battery checker, which puts the battery under load. NIMI's show an increased tendancy to self discharge when they are about to fail. I was finding batterys testing OK at home but well down after a journey to the flying site, half an hour later. I now charge using a trickle charger which seems to have cured the problem

Alan 

I have been using an  Multi-Charger with various settings for digfferent batteries Lipos, NICADS, NIMH and even 12 Volt Gel batteries, but must admit  before the crash I did use fast charge. Must stick to trickle charge in the future

Alan

Hello Alan,

Eddie Stocker here, I cannot access my normal membership account so I've had to create another  .

Regarding fast chargers, I have used only one in the past, and from my experience, it would do one of two things; it would either cut off much too early or drop to a slight trickle that was as useful as a handbrake on a rowing boat.

I was gutted when you told me that the Pup was no more, you made a really nice job of it.

I have known of some quick chargers just boiling the cells.

Hope to get my old account up & running again soon (it's now down to the techies to sort that out for me).

Regards,

Eddie.

Very annoying when that happens.  As I am using Multiplex radio, I normally use a Multiplex RX Switch which has 5 LED's.  3 x Green 1 x Amber and 1 x Red.  When fully charged the first of the Green is lit when you switch the RX switch.

After a few flights it may shift to second Green Light and later to 3rd Green light.  That is when I stop flying before it goes to amber.

With a scale model it was not possible to fit that type of RX switch, although I did manage to do so in the Hurricane it was tucked away in the cockpit where I can see the  state of the battery at a glance.

Unfortunately Multiplex stopped making them now because the new 2.4 Ghz TX communicates with the RX and displays the state of the battery on the small screen and an audible alarm if the voltage is low so that you can land instantly.

Alan

I have a few NMH and only use a Mainlink delta peak charger, have not used anything else for 10 years.  Batteries get cycled to check capacity if they haven't been flown for a while.

I haven't used on board monitors up to now but have moved to batteries of higher and higher capacity, minimum  2.1 a/hrup to 5 plus. When I think back to how a 600 ma/hr battery was the norm for everything, I go quite pale!

Batteries are a bit like servos, the scary monsters make use use bigger and better, 'just to be on the safe side'

If you have had a newish large capacity battery go dead on you, I think that you have had a raw deal, it should have been quite safe.  I guess that RX battery telemetry is one of the benefits of the latest gear. (not that I am likely to be using it soon, still happy with 35 meg.)

I have always felt happy with my charger, I like that fact that I can see the weather on the day and then choose a model to suit, fast charge and away. Will deffo cycle everything after the winter before taking them back into use though.

Tough deal about the Pup, it can always happen, but when you have done everything right.. sickener

stu k

The battery in question was brand new only had 15 flights,  bought in the early Summer only to go wrong late summer.

Never had problems with any other battery in the past some of which are 4 years old. This one must be a faulty one.

Alan

Did the battery go "open" or "short" circuit?

Just wondering if two batteries in parallel would have saved your plane in this case without a battery backer.

Did the battery go "open" or "short" circuit?

Just wondering if two batteries in parallel would have saved your plane in this case without a battery backer.

Short circuit in this case  we checked the rx switch and that is working fine

Alan

Short circuit in this case  we checked the rx switch and that is working fine

Alan

So a second battery in parallel would not have save your plane.

Sorry to ask but just gathering information about how reliable my battery installations are. I rely on two in parallel without a backer...

So a second battery in parallel would not have save your plane.

Sorry to ask but just gathering information about how reliable my battery installations are. I rely on two in parallel without a backer...

No not in this case one would have destroyed the other anyway.
Alan

I rely on two in parallel without a backer...

A couple of diodes needed there then Mr Sheep.

Si

A couple of diodes needed there then Mr Sheep.

Si

Ah, two welsh poems eh... 

What about if the diodes fail 

What about if the diodes fail 

And so the story goes on. Spent most last season messing with all sorts of set ups. Gone back to the single battery and two parallel switches on 95% of my stuff. The Pup has two 3200ma packs just cos I needed weight in the tail after fitting the 80 twin , that has Diodes in line but in parallel pairs. The cub is the same set up for the same reason.
will there ever be a perfect set up , some will argue there is and some won't. You need to feel confident in what you have , and do with it.

I ditch my switches and battery's every two seasons now on my better stuff. Waste of money perhaps , makes me feel better so that,s all that matters.

Si

Remember Occam's razor; keep things simple theres less to go wrong.

Alan

Remember Occam's razor; keep things simple theres less to go wrong.

Alan

with you 100% there.