TREX 600E batteries

[DonutCity]

Sorry for all the noob questions but I'm trying to figures this stuff out. Ok, I understand that there is a separate battery that powers the receiver and the servos (the kit comes with a 7.4v 1100mAh 9c) and of course a battery to power the motor. I'm guessing that I need a charger and balancer dedicated to each battery. What chargers and batteries work well together and have compatible plugs? Are the plugs something I have to change myself to make it all work together? Does the receiver battery require recharging often??

Thanks in advance...

[Danimal]

Your absolutely right your going to need to get charger/balancer for your lipo battery's. But you don't have to get one for each battery. There are several vary good quality chargers on the market that can handle most or even all of your needs in one unit. It really depends on how much your willing to spend.Some of them can get pretty expensive. I like to recommend getting the best you can afford because it will be the only maintenance tool you have your battery's.
I use a Bantam e-station BC6 balancing charger for everything I need to charge. It will handle NiCd, NiMH, LiPo' Lilo, LiFe Lead-acid batterys. And since I'm in to all kinds of different RC stuff I need to charge several different types of battery's and this one charger is will do them all.
http://rcaccessory.com/index.asp?Pag...ROD&ProdID=241

What ever charger you get you will need to make sure that you have the appropriate balance plug to go with your LiPo's. You can get balance adaptors to go from just about any charger to just about any brand battery.

[DonutCity]

Once again Danimal, thanks for your sharing of knowledge. I looked at the charger you have and that might be a perfect fit for me. So I'm guessing that charger has an AC cord built in that you plug into the wall and then assuming you have a correct match with your connecting plugs you plug the batteries into a charging/balancing wire??

[Danimal]

Hey Donut
The AC/DC capability is a really nice feature of that charger. You don't need a to buy anything else to power the unit like some of the other high end units. The AC cord just plugs in to port on the left side of the charger and then in to any wall outlet. When at the field you can use the built in DC leads to power it from your car or any 12 volt DC power source.

[Danimal]

Oops I forgot to mention that you do need to determine what type of balance plug you have on your LiPo packs and get the appropriate balance adaptor board that you see listed on the bottom of the page. When doing a balance charge the charger uses both the balance lead and the main power leads plugged in to the charger. You can do just a basic or fast charge using just the main power leads without the balance plug. It also has a storage feature for your LiPo's that will give your battery's the perfect charge for long term storage.

[uneverno]

oohh,
thanks for the board tip Danimal. I have the Triton JR with electrifly's balancer. It took quite the amount of research to figure out which leads went where from the balancer because the plug didn't match my batteries.

I rewired everything for Thunder Power's which seemed best for my smaller heli, don't appear to be for the T-Rex. I'd hate to have to rewire all my packs again...

[DonutCity]

Ok, I think I'm learning here - the e-station BC6 (giving selecting the compatible plugs for the batteries I go with) and adding a compatible balancer "board" will take care of all my battery charging needs... Am I close??

Thanks.

[Danimal]

Ya I think you got it. Just be sure that you pay close attention to the style of balance plugs on your packs. There are several different popular plugs on the market and different brands of battery's may use different styles of balance plugs. As well as different size plugs for the different size packs of the same make. For instance your T-Rex 600 came with a 2s RX pack that will have a small balance plug with three wires to it. Now to run the motor your going to need a much larger pack that will have a bigger balance plug with more wires. I'm just assuming that since your kit came with an RX pack it will have an Align style plug on it. If you chose to go with an Align 6s main battery all you would need is the Align balance board. It will take care of the different size plugs. But if you chose to go for a higher end battery like Thunder Power or Flight Power they use the TP style balance plug that will not be compatible with the Align board. If you find that you windup with different styles of balance plugs you can get adaptors from places like Heli Hobby, Heli Direct and Heli Pros that will allow you to balance just about any type of battery. Most of my LiPo's have the TP style plug so that the board I bought. For the few that have the Align plug I use an Align to TP adaptor.
For the main power leads most people prefer to use Deans Connectors. I use them on every thing I can. It just makes things so much ease to have only one style of main plug. When out at the field all I take is a single main power lead with a Deans connector on it for fast charging. Then when I get home I do the balance charging.

Hey uneverno
Those balance boards are only for the Bantam e-station chargers. I don't think you could use them with your electrifly balancer. But I'll bet you can find a TP to electrifly adaptor on one of the sites that I mentioned earlier that would save you the trouble of reworking you battery's.