Posted by James Roan on October 25, 2011 at 3:50pm
Hello everyone!First off, to warn you, I'm a complete beginner.I have a few questions before I go ahead and order the 3d robotics quadracopter kit.What kind of battery should I get?I'm looking for an inexpensive one that preforms well. The ones at hobby king are not a in stock, and from what I've heard, they don't restock quick.Also, I need a charger, but I have no clue what a good one is and how much it would cost.Finally, what radio do you recommend?I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars, but I don't want it to be crap. And do I REALLY need a 7ch radio, or can I get by with 5 or 6?Thanks in advance to all to answer my questions,James
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With your choice of a radio... this is a hard one to answer well. It is not just the number of channels that is important it is also it's features. This would include safety features, throttle curves and control sensitivity adjustments that improve flight. Like many people they buy low and then find they like the hobby and that the cheap will not work as they grow.
If your hobby will just stay small and your budget is small then something like a Turnigy 9 will work and it is cheap. If you think you hobby will grow invest in a better radio with some better features.
I find people are a little overly cautious with LIPO's, as long as you charge them on something metal or ceramic, I dont think you will ever have an issue with your house catching on fire because of them! I have been charging most of my lipo's at 2c, even the ones not rated for it and haven't had any swelling in about 100 flights. I like to use these lipo's, they are really cheap and I get the full capacity out of them so I have no complaints. The only thing im not a fan of is the low discharge rate but I ALWAYS run 2 of them in parallel so that's approximately doubling the 20c to 40c.
I really like those yello YKS batteries, one of my turning packs got all puffy after a really big crash and this one didnt. Call it luck but I have always had great experiences with these. Currently I run 4 of them in parallel on my big y6 (the 4000mah 4s variant).
A 6ch radio will suit you fine, 4 for roll/pitch/yaw/throttle and 1 on a variometer for switching modes. And if your going to get a telemetry downlink you can do most of the mode switching on the computer itself.
I bought two different batteries just to try how they perform compared to each other.
From what I can gather, it's a very decent charger, but if you're not familiar with charging LiPos, you should read about that before using it (with a bad charger and bad settings, you can blow up your battery pretty easily). I didn't get a manual with it, but the same software is used in some other chargers and you can use their manuals (google should find them).
I bought the Futaba 7C radio. It should be a quality brand, although more pricey than Turnigy. I don't think you really need 7 channels, 5 or 6 should be enough. Someone else might want to confirm this.
Replies
Also, while i'm asking questions, does anyone know when the 3d robotics kits will be restocked?
With your choice of a radio... this is a hard one to answer well. It is not just the number of channels that is important it is also it's features. This would include safety features, throttle curves and control sensitivity adjustments that improve flight. Like many people they buy low and then find they like the hobby and that the cheap will not work as they grow.
If your hobby will just stay small and your budget is small then something like a Turnigy 9 will work and it is cheap. If you think you hobby will grow invest in a better radio with some better features.
I find people are a little overly cautious with LIPO's, as long as you charge them on something metal or ceramic, I dont think you will ever have an issue with your house catching on fire because of them! I have been charging most of my lipo's at 2c, even the ones not rated for it and haven't had any swelling in about 100 flights. I like to use these lipo's, they are really cheap and I get the full capacity out of them so I have no complaints. The only thing im not a fan of is the low discharge rate but I ALWAYS run 2 of them in parallel so that's approximately doubling the 20c to 40c.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2200mAh-3S-11-1V-20C-RC-Lipo-Battery-Trex-4...
I really like those yello YKS batteries, one of my turning packs got all puffy after a really big crash and this one didnt. Call it luck but I have always had great experiences with these. Currently I run 4 of them in parallel on my big y6 (the 4000mah 4s variant).
A 6ch radio will suit you fine, 4 for roll/pitch/yaw/throttle and 1 on a variometer for switching modes. And if your going to get a telemetry downlink you can do most of the mode switching on the computer itself.
I'm a beginner too, but little bit ahead of you (about to have my first test flight soon). I bought this charger:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=... and these batteries:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=...
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=...
I bought two different batteries just to try how they perform compared to each other.
From what I can gather, it's a very decent charger, but if you're not familiar with charging LiPos, you should read about that before using it (with a bad charger and bad settings, you can blow up your battery pretty easily). I didn't get a manual with it, but the same software is used in some other chargers and you can use their manuals (google should find them).
I bought the Futaba 7C radio. It should be a quality brand, although more pricey than Turnigy. I don't think you really need 7 channels, 5 or 6 should be enough. Someone else might want to confirm this.
Hobby King has hundreds of different kinds of LiPos. They're ALL out of stock??
Everything you need is listed right at the top of the manual.