Apparently E-Flite has dropped pricing on some of their ARF’s. Even new ones, such as the RV-9 and SU-26m, which have dropped from $169 to $139.  I’ve confirmed on the Horizon website. Good, I always thought their smaller ARF’s were overpriced.

http://www.e-fliterc.com

http://www.horizonhobby.com

-Zeke

On labor day Eli and I strapped his flycamone v2 and and the “How High” altimeter to my Pulse XT 25e.  It gives a topsy-turvy overview of the airfield and surrounding commercial area.

Pulse XT 25e as piloted by *rider from Zeke Gibson on Vimeo.

-Zeke

Hrmm

So, awhile back, someone who will remain anonymous crashed my TC from about 5′ off the runway. The landing gear ripped off, the fuse got all busted up in several places, cowl destroyed with the motor ripped off the motor mount! Ouch. The wing appears to have suffered some minor damage, I need to cut out some of the covering and investigate. All electronic gear survived, with the exception of the motor.

Ouch! The gear is good though

Busted!

//UPDATE// Bummer – it was announced recently that Xcite is shutting down operations. Guess it’s tough for a small mom & pop shop to do the pack assembly, Q/A, customer service & order fulfillment. Shucks.

Reading quite a bit  of  Internet chit chat related to lipos,  I ran accross this US-based lipo manufacturer. Of course the cells come from overseas, however pack assembly and customer service is done in the US. 

One nifty feature – they have a heat sensor which will indicate if the battery is overheating – displaying temps of 140f-180f.

I ordered up 2x 2500mAh 30C 4s lipos. They arrived in perfect condition with all cells balanced @ ideal resting voltage ~3.7V

You can order with or without knockoff Deans connectors, and choose your balance tap.

I’ve been charging these with a cellpro 4s, at this time I have 5 cycles on each lipo.  Time will tell what the cycle life ends up being for my applications, so I’ve been noting each discharge / charge cycle.

In the Pulse XT 25e and Diamante 25e, this battery packs some serious punch! It’s noticeable over my FlightPower Evo 25C. Each aircraft has the same power system, and draws ~60 amps at full throttle.  So, I’ve been discharging @ roughly 24C max. Should be gentle on the packs.

I plan to use the micrologger v3 onboard the next few flights, to get accurate performance statistics. I’m really curious about how well they hold voltage under load. So far I’ve been happy with these lipos.

Xcite 4s lipo