Originally Posted by richard hanson

Nah no real problem here -
If you were storing for a year - maybe -
Maybe Andy has a different take on it - maybe not .

My solution to this is to just keep flying all year.

The other solution is, toward the end of the season, just keep an eye on how much you charge vs. use the radio and slowly work the voltage down toward the 30% charge level that is recommended for long-term storage.

The ratio for me is about 1.6:1 (200mA charge rate vs. 125mA discharge rate). If you are going to be flying infrequently over the winter, you can put in an hour or two of charge and fly for 1.5-3 hours (that's a lot of 15-minute flights), and your battery is still going to be near the safe long-term discharge without having to worry about being too low.

Andy

Originally Posted by Victory Pete

Good point! Can we get a clarification on this please Andy? How does the DX8 LiPo avoid the "Self Degredation" properties of LiPos?

VP

Originally Posted by AndyKunz

My solution to this is to just keep flying all year.

The other solution is, toward the end of the season, just keep an eye on how much you charge vs. use the radio and slowly work the voltage down toward the 30% charge level that is recommended for long-term storage.

The ratio for me is about 1.6:1 (200mA charge rate vs. 125mA discharge rate). If you are going to be flying infrequently over the winter, you can put in an hour or two of charge and fly for 1.5-3 hours (that's a lot of 15-minute flights), and your battery is still going to be near the safe long-term discharge without having to worry about being too low.

Andy

Can you elaborate on the question at the top please?

Thanks
VP

That's exactly what I did, Pete. It's called Battery Management, and it's something you as a pilot have to do - the radio can't do it for you. I gave you two solutions to the problem:

1) Keep flying all year,
2) Run your battery down for the winter and only charge as needed to fly.

Andy

But yet the radio seems to think it needs to manage inactivity. Selective nanny features. Or simply BS the items it doesn't do and praise the ones it does.

Please, which transmitter has a built-in battery management system that will discharge your pack for the winter?

Andy

Didn't say any did, was pointing out how you make out how certain things are user responsibilities yet others MUST be mandated by the radio for some reason since Spektrum deems users too stupid. Selective BS Marketing is how I refer to it.

Originally Posted by flitelab

Didn't say any did, was pointing out how you make out how certain things are user responsibilities yet others MUST be mandated by the radio for some reason since Spektrum deems users too stupid. Selective BS Marketing is how I refer to it.

I call it selective BS complaining.

When I bought my spk lipo it was not too long after that I needed to send my radio in for inspection. So I put my pack on the charger and drop the voltage down to storage level.

When I got the radio back I put the pack back in still at storage level, after seing how long it lasted at that level I would only top of the pack at storage levels during my off peak season. Now that peak season is back I fully charge the pack.

This winter I will be back to charging the pack only with the storage charge feature of my chargers.

+1 for the above

This has been brought up before in the batteries and chargers forum. What I gathered from the discussion was that transmitter Lipos are not "low internal resistence" Lipos and don't suffer as greatly from being stored at full or almost full states of charge. Because they are "low C' rated batteries they suffer much less degradation.

Most respondents have stated that they have experienced little or no loss of battery capacity using low C Lipo packs and not storing at storage voltage.

Otherwise, whats the point of a Lipo transmitter battery if you have to discharge it after every use? PITA.

Originally Posted by Gerry__

I call it selective BS complaining.

I just don't like when marketing drives the justification of features regardless of their usefulness or complaints about them. Make things more optional and not dictated to users because you feel they're are dumb one minute but expect them to be responsible for others the next. I've more than once sen Andy claim features existed due to legal concerns, then months later flip flop on that being a reason. The BS gets tiring.

That and ship a product with half decent QC so your don't need to promote how good the repair process is.

The DX8 is a good radio but far from perfect feature or QC wise, to pretend it is, is being a fanboy. Every product has good and bad points.

Originally Posted by flitelab

Fanboys would. I just don't like when marketing drives the justification of features regardless of their usefulness or complaints about them. Make things more optional and not dictated to users because you feel they're are dumb one minute but expect them to be responsible for others the next. I've more than once sen Andy claim features existed due to legal concerns, then months later flip flop on that being a reason. The BS gets tiring.

That and ship a product with half decent QC so your don't need to promote how good the repair process is.

The DX8 is a good radio but far from perfect feature or QC wise, to pretend it is being a fanboy. Every product has good and bad points.

Well said. I agree with many of your points.

But in Andy's defense, I'm really surprised he releases as much information as he does. He really doesn't have to and I'm sure he walks the fine line everyday on what his bosses think is acceptable and not acceptable to release/post.

He, like the rest of us are trying to keep our jobs(well, I work for myself but I have to answer to customers) and he's also trying to be helpful.

And yes, I do dislike it when fanboys defend their purchase until the bitter end even though it's painfully obvious they are all wet..........just because it's their chosen marque. That type of logic doesn't do anyone any good especially consumers.

Originally Posted by flitelab

Fanboys would. I just don't like when marketing drives the justification of features regardless of their usefulness or complaints about them. Make things more optional and not dictated to users because you feel they're are dumb one minute but expect them to be responsible for others the next. I've more than once sen Andy claim features existed due to legal concerns, then months later flip flop on that being a reason. The BS gets tiring.

That and ship a product with half decent QC so your don't need to promote how good the repair process is.

The DX8 is a good radio but far from perfect feature or QC wise, to pretend it is, is being a fanboy. Every product has good and bad points.

Who are you calling a fanboy?

Originally Posted by seefest

This has been brought up before in the batteries and chargers forum. What I gathered from the discussion was that transmitter Lipos are not "low internal resistence" Lipos and don't suffer as greatly from being stored at full or almost full states of charge. Because they are "low C' rated batteries they suffer much less degradation.

Most respondents have stated that they have experienced little or no loss of battery capacity using low C Lipo packs and not storing at storage voltage.

Otherwise, whats the point of a Lipo transmitter battery if you have to discharge it after every use? PITA.

Thanks for the response, Andy can you corroborate this information?
VP

If being a someone who buys a product and is happy with it makes me a "fanboy"... so be it.

Beats the alternative of being a whiner.

One is certainly happier than the other.

JC

I'd be happy to have a radio that worked as advertised and not have to deal with issue or post to see if flaws are known issues, unfortunately that isn't the case. Sorry for mentioning flaws, fanboys don't appreciate that apparently. I guess you'd prefer those with problems to keep them to themselves and not dirty the Spektrum name?

Again, DX8 is a nice radio but far from perfect, and could be better if they had better QC, but the fact known issues stated as fixed resurface many batches later shows the QC is lacking, it's more about quantity than quality.