E-flite Intelligent Li-Po Balance Charger

Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | E-flite Intelligent Li-Po Balance Charger

 E-flite’s new Intelligent Li-Po Balance Charger works with 1- to 5-cell Li-Po

and Li-Ion batteries and ensures longer battery life and better performance.

 

Large 2-line backlit LCD

Polarity protection prevents damage

Adjustable charge rate while charging

Safety timer to adjust maximum charge time (up to 720 minutes)

Capacity cutoff (100-9900mAh)

Temperature cutoff (20-80o” or “normal”; don’t select 90- or 120-degree CCPM.

Radio setup with governor
Using a speed controller with governor is perhaps the easiest way to operate thrust reversing; the only downside is that the aircraft’s propeller is always spinning.

Normal mode
Before entering setup, you will need to find the flight mode switch; this is a 2- or 3-position switch usually located on the top left-hand side of the radio. Move the modes switch to normal mode or position zero. Now enter programming mode and select “pitch curve.” For flight mode zero, set the VPP for forward thrust only, therefore the pitch curve should start at 50 percent or 0 degrees pitch at low, and escalate to 100 percent at high. Next enter “throttle curve,” and set the throttle to 50 percent across the board; the governor will do the rest.

Stunt mode
For this mode, you want to achieve maximum forward and reverse thrust. This should be set so that the flight mode switch is in position 1 for stunt mode. Now access the pitch curve screen; the desired curve should be set from 0 percent at low (on the left side of the screen) and 100 percent at high (on the right side of the screen). This setting will allow maximum servo travel. At center stick the pitch needs to be 0 degrees.
 Next, enter the throttle curve, and once again set the throttle in V configuration with 100 percent at low, 50 percent at center and 100 percent at high. Because the governor is intended to maintain a constant rpm, you can’t use a straight pitch of 80 percent or better because there would be too many rpm at center stick, with the blades at 0 pitch.

Radio setup without governor 
The second way to set up VPP is without using the governor. This is a little harder to set up but it is used by many pilots. The advantage of working without a governor is that the prop/blades will slow to a stop at center or low stick depending on which mode you’re in.

Normal mode
Again find your flight mode switch and move it to normal mode or position zero. For flight mode zero, the VPP will be set for forward thrust only. Enter programming mode, and select “pitch curve.” Set the pitch for 60 percent across the board, with approximately 5 degrees pitch on the propeller. Now access the throttle curve, which should have the default setting of 0 at low to 100 percent at high (these are the settings you want). This should provide a fixed-pitch, variable throttle, just like a normal plane.

Stunt mode
In stunt or 3D mode, the VPP needs to achieve maximum forward and reverse thrust. In this setup, the flight mode switch will be in position 1, or stunt mode. Now enter programming mode, and then access the pitch curve screen. The desired curve should be set from 0 at minimum on the left side of the screen and 100 percent maximum on the right side of the screen. This setting will allow maximum servo travel. At center stick, the pitch needs to be 0 degrees. Now enter the throttle curve menu. The throttle configuration without governor is going to be in a V shape, starting at 100 percent at low and then dropping to 0 to 50 percent at center and back up to 100 percent at high. With this setting, the throttle will be 100 percent at each end of the stick’s travel and off when the stick is centered. This setup creates a variable-pitch/variable-throttle setup.

Keep in mind that these are just the basic radio setups. Every plane will require more refinements to these setups. Achieving maximum forward and reverse thrust can be done in either the pitch curve menu screen or the endpoint adjustment screen. Enjoy!
—John Reid

For more information and photos, check out the November 2007 issue of Backyard Flyer!

Updated: July 16, 2015 — 9:52 AM
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