Well, as mentioned before, I decided to order some LiPo batteries for my rc plane - Hobbyzone’s Super Cub. I’ve heard good things about the Cub-LiPo combination so I ordered some batteries that I can use in my next plane as well.
I chose to order a couple Enerland 11.1v 3S 1200mAH 20C batteries from a guy on Ebay. If you don’t know what all that stuff means this might help.
So why go LiPo? Well I’m hoping that the upgrade gives me:
- more power
- lighter weight
- longer flight times
- a newer technology
Bottom line though, I just want to fly faster. 
The new batteries are a different shape than the current batteries I have. In order to make room for the new batteries I had to move some of the electronics around a bit in the battery compartment.
* Check out the photo link for a view from
the bottom as well.
In the photo on the left you can see some of the internals (taken from above the fuselage). Below the two servos you can see the taped over ACT eye I described in another post.
On the right hand side of that first photo you can see the receiver/speed controller which I had to move from the top of the battery bay and velcro to the side wall of the compartment.
At the bottom of this photo you can see where I cut away the plastic battery compartment (the reason I had to move the receiver) to make room for the longer battery (as I plan to stand it up).
Connector Upgrade
I also had to change all my connectors to Deans Connectors which should actually increase performance by itself.
If you’re holding off on a LiPo upgrade I recommend that you upgrade the connectors at the very least. The aluminum connectors that come with the plane just don’t work well.
Stay tuned for a flight review.
18 Comments
all these articles are making me want to get a RC plane. i’d be too afraid to crash it tho. maybe when you get a thousand dollar one, you’ll let me fly this one ;.)
Haha don’t be scarred buddy. This one practically flies itself.
I’m going to teach my wife and my dad with this plane (if the wife doesn’t destroy it first).
If it survives them will you give it a shot?
fo sho. when u gettin an upgrade? sounds like you’re puttin a lot of time & money into this one.
I’m buying parts here and there… The monster purchase is going to be a radio in the neighborhood of $200. I can’t use the radio that came with the Cub in any other plane (lame proprietary electronics).
I figure in 2 or 3 months I’ll have all the parts for the next plane.
Jason - any news on the lipo action?
How did it turn out?
Fellow SC flier itching to mod.
Ah, great to see interest in this topic! Well I promised a follow-up and never delivered. I’ll write up something this weekend about this.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sounds good, thanks!
Liked your eDVR mod too, nicely done. Just wish they were a bit cheaper, or had more ram.. but still might get one to play with.
Yeah those cameras are surprisingly pricey but I haven’t found a reasonable alternative that delivers the same video quality.
Oh and to quickly answer your question about the LIPO upgrade: I love it. Not the drastic change I expected (the 8cell delivers nearly the same juice) but definitely an upgrade to consider!
I love it when people ask me about my cub - it get’s me excited about it again. Guess what I’m doing for lunch today!?… I’ll post an onboard video if I get a chance to fly.
Groovy,
I might order one from a canuck shop I just found that has it for 80$CAN.
Did you adjust the CG after adding the cam to the cub?
I’m running 3 7cell packs (stock one) as I had 2 from a firebird fuckup (ok freedom) so that worked out nice.
But I would like more zip and air time. I could get a 3S lipo that would be handy for a future plane also instead of buying more nimhs for it in the 8 cell ones.
I also thought of buying another hobbyzone small nimh pack and upgrading my 3 7 cell packs to 8..
Take it easy.
I didn’t have to adjust the CG for the cam, it’s light enough that if you probably place it anywhere in the ballpark of the current CG it shouldn’t affect flight.
I bought a freedom as well but after reading the rc forums I returned it the next day and picked up the cub. It sounds like you’d agree that was a fortunate move.
I think you’ll be very pleased with a LIPO; it will definitely give you more zip and air time over even the 8 cell.
Good to know about the CG - I’ll keep an eye on it before/after just as a reference, but yah it looks perty light.
My first plane was the FF and had a lot of trouble with it, I wasn’t learning how to fly a plane, I was learning how to fix a crappy plane in mid air.
Crashing, death spirals on it’s own, etc. I was then told about the SuperCub and I’ve been only flying that since, and 22 flights later, no crashes just one rough landing in heavy wind that popped out the carriage.
The cub is an excellent first plane for sure, a joy to fly, not easy to stall, recovers easily, looks great. For the money it’s groovy.
So cool about the lipos! Pull the jumper, and GO LiPo!
Any reason you went with a low mAH battery? Weight/size? Or just cost? Just curious. I’d likely get a 3S 2200mah 20C or something so that I could use it going into the future.
I could also wait for your write up.
Ciao.
Yes very cool about the LIPOS! I went with a low mAH strictly because of weight… The price reduction is a nice side effect but honestly, I can run my cub for what seems like 40 minutes (I haven’t timed it) on a full charge.
Holy crap! Sweeeet.
*runs to investigate pack prices/sizes*
I should probably have real world data on hand before I start making such claims
I any event you will get a lot more flight time… I bought my batteries from this guy at a great price: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZhwansoolQQhtZ-1
Cool, sounds good.
Ordered one of the cameras too.. I blame you.
Have a good weekend!
Hi Jason. I was just wondering if you had to do anything to modify the cub before installing the new lipo? I plugged in an 11.1v 3S 1050 mAH 20C lipo into mine and it blew my ESC within 8 seconds (literally! heard a ‘pop’ and then saw a little puff of smoke).
Hi janderson, I didn’t do anything to modify the cub besides pulling the jumper (which is only for the battery’s sake). It sounds like perhaps your ESC wasn’t up to par to begin with. I can’t think of anything besides a defect that might cause what you described. Sorry about your unfortunate outcome.
I’ve blown two SuperCub ESCs in 4 flights. I didn’t even do a WOT.. just kept it in the middle mostly. The Hobby Shop won’t take them back because I modified the connectors.
One Trackback
[...] little while back I wrote about buying and installing LiPo Batteries as a means of upgrading my R/C plane, the HobbyZone Super Cub. Since then I’ve made a good [...]