First large electric plane in Sweden IMAC cup.

Rollout picture late December 2009. -5 °C and some wind. Too cold for maiden flight...

2010 will be my 3rd IMAC competing season. Started low cost in the Basic class 2008 with a cheap 78' Extra 330 and 10s5000 'no name' setup. I end of 2008 season, I felt I couldn't keep up with competition due to the fact I was running electric. I simply couldn't get as many training sequences per hour as my friends running gas engines. The battery account was also quite loaded as a number of packs popped during the season, even after only some 50 cycles. So, autumn 2008 I bought a used 50 cc wood machine to be used during 2009. But I never really liked the concept, as the dedicated electric flier I am since last 15 years. Actually I 'killed' the gas plane in the middle of the season and changed to my back up plane, a 2 m SebArt Sukhoi 29S-140 with 10S5000 and Plettenberg XTRA30EVO. However, with the unusually windy conditions on the competions that year, this small and light plane (5 kg) was not really up to it. So, what to do? 1. Larger plane---YES! 2. Electric again---ABSOLUTLY! 3. Wood or composite?---pro and cons 4. Increased availability---in some way. The result become like this: 1 and 3: Composite ARF Extra 300L 2,3 m (91') A very well proven plane, a few numbers larger than my gasser (a YAK) and with better wind penetration fot those windy days we has a lot of here in south of Sweden. 2. Electric with no compromises, a 1 number larger motor then really needed was choosen, the Predator 25. Any risk for a tail heavy plane was then cleared out. 4. Here I was looking a lot on the LiFe (A123) cells. At time for decision, the new generation of fast charge LiPo was not very well known to me and not 100% proven among users for hard cycle life what I could judge. I contacted the Swedish 'large electric' ambassadour himself 'Jocke' and he convinced me, the EON-X should be up to the task of 100-eds of cycles and fast charge capability. I completed the setup with an 18 Amp/66 VDC programmable industrial AC-charger and a portable 1 kW generator for flying at those fields not having 230 VAC. The complete setup: C-ARF Extra 300L 2,3m EON X30 5s3800+6s3800 parallel with 5s3350+6s3350 (total 11s7150) Motor: Plettenberg Predator 25-8 Prop: Folding RASA 25'x12' (effective size 26' x 12.5' due to the large motordiameter) ESC: Shulze FutureXL 40.160, single cell monitoring, 160/210 Amps. Servos: 3x Hitec HS7955TG + 2x Hitec HS7975HB Rx: Spektrum AR9100 with dual slave receivers. BEC: Castle Craettions ProBec 10/20 A. Back up Rx battery: 2s1100mAh A123 cells over a 16 A Schottky diode. Essential modifications: Wing tube changed from std alu to carbon (Graph Tech) Wheel pants in full carbon (Graph Tech) Main gear exchanged to lighter and more flexible carbon type (my own production) Rudder and elevator got ball bearings for absolute zero slop. Now I'm really looking forward to a test flight and the first competition! This is 23rd of January 2010, still some -5°C and an iceing wind outside. Stay tuned!

Energon Solutions Buyout FlightTech Distribution!!

We can now confirm a management buyout of FlightTech Distribution.

Energon Solutions Ltd now owns the FlightTech business along with its UK distribution hub and will offer quality RC brands with the same high level of service that you have come to expect from FlightTech.
Energon Solutions Ltd is spearheaded by David House and Andrew Kirby together with the dedicated team from FlightTech Distribution. All telephone contact details with us remain the same. Main access to the website is now www.energonsolutions.co.uk and primary email contact through info@energonsolutions.co.uk

'We are now fully up and running and look forward to an exciting New Year ahead, bringing new and innovative products to the hobby world with passion' Andy Kirby - Director

TrakTech Dark series

20A charge, Dark Series 5000 40C

Time to test some of the new TrakTech Dark series car batterys, hard case 3600 35C and 5000 40C with a whopping 5C charge rate. Since they arrived on the market i have been testing these in my 1:10 and 1:8 brushless buggy, also static running cycles with my test equipment. One of the 40C 5000 have now 52 cycles, been charged at 20A only, it shows no sign in capacity loss or raise in IR, one 3600 sample i have only charged 5C with now 36 cycles with same great results. The tests have also including taking some packs apart to see the construction, design and qualety, they have moved up one level in this category also, nicley built, and the cells are firmly protected against vibrations and abuse that happens in cars, specialy buggys with all the jumps during a race. Now i live in Sweden with alot of snow, so as you can understand the packs and the cars getts kind of wet after a run, they have manage to stay alive during this abuse also, so i can say they are water and splash resistant, but ofcorse not 100% waterproof. From my old car batterys comparing with these, power went up aprox 30%, comparing with newer batterys rated 30-40C power after running in and good conditions went up aprox 10-15%... not bad! With 7,4v Dark 5000 in my 1:10 buggy max speed is 90kmh (max burst 120A) 1:8 buggy its 90+kmh. Heat after a discharge? well there is none, they get bareley warm at all. 5C charge is no problem, they handle this just as good as the EON-X30 that i have logged and monitored hundreds of cycles on several sizes and configurations. Jocke www.wattsup.se