My beloved old Kavan starter and it's 14.4V NiCd battery pack
that I've had for 20+ years somehow grew legs and walked away the week before the
Alabaster contest. I've been wanting to try a lighter LiPo
battery for a while, but wasn't sure exactly how to fasten
it to the starter.
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Enter an interesting article I found online at http://www.tri-countybarnstormers.com/Technical_Articles/paint_stick_holder.pdf.
I read the article several times and even built myself a
prototype. It was functional, but didn't protect the battery
very well. |
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| Here are my two completed
Kavan starter / LiPo setups.
The new one is on top and uses a brand new 3S
2200mah LiPo battery pack and a new Kavan starter. The total cost of everything
was about $90.
The bottom one uses an ancient Kavan starter I
bought at Perry for $10 this spring and an old worn
out 4S 4000mah LiPo battery that was given to me.
Total cost - including the Deans Ultra Connector for
the starter - was about $12.
The black uprights on
the old one are painted with cheap black
fingernail polish from the dollar store, so I guess
that's $13!
I plan to use both for the remainder of the year.
Time will tell which one - the 3S (11.1V) or the 4S
(14.8V) - works better and doesn't damage the
starter.
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Here are the materials I used for the new project.
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One 11.1V (3S) 2200mah LiPo battery
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One 5-gallon size paint stirrer from Home Depot
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One small LiPo storage box
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Servo screws
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Not shown is the new Kavan Starter and soft
spinner cone I got from Ron Van Putte at
Shalimar Hobbies ($60).
I bought the battery ($18.20) and LiPo storage box
(90ยข) from
http://www.valuehobby.com/.
The paint stirrer is FREE for the asking in the
paint department of Home Depot. Be sure to ask for
the LARGE size stirrer which is 1/4" thick and 21"
long. |
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I used the end of the starter to mark the circular
cutouts on the paint stirring stick. The length of
the uprights was
cut to match the width of the non-frosted portion of
the lid. I think the paint sticks are made of pine - they are quite strong. A saw and a dremel
sanding drum took care of the shaping.
You can see the
silver #3 servo screws used to connect the
starter to the uprights using tie wraps (plastic
wire ties). They extended throught the uprights, so I
cut them off flush. |
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The uprights
are attached to the lid of the box
using three black #2 servo screws each. |
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Here's the completed box before the battery and
starter were installed. |
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This is the inside of the box with the battery
safely nestled in some scrap foam I had left over
from my transmitter case refurb project earlier this
year. The case is hinged on one side and closes
securely with the tabs at top. I utulized a Dean's
Ultra (T) connector to connect the battery to the starter. |
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Here's the final product with the case closed and
the starter temporarily mounted with tie wraps ready
for final finishing. The final weight of the new one
with the 3S LiPo is just 32 ounces
while the old one with the big 4S LiPo battery
weighs 41 ounces. Both are far less than the
whopping 54 ounce weight of the Hobbico TorqMaster
90 Deluxe starter alone.
You'll notice that the end of
the tie wrap is sticking out at the top right of the
photo if you look closely. I haven't clipped it off yet, so I can easily
remove the starter for final sanding and painting of
the uprights.
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