Mini review Emoli from bigerc.com

[swatson144]

Having had a desire to try the emoli cells out without a large investment I decided to have a look a the packs offered by Big E-RC. They have a plethora of available built packs in many formats. This precludes the need to buy a V28 pack/packs and tear them down to build your own. Before this I couldn't bring myself to spend the equivalent of a pair of lipo bags to see if I liked them.

The format chosen was 3s1p for testing in a Corona. Total cost was 54.95$ about the same as a decent lipo bag pack (bought in pairs). Hopes are that the cost will be lessened by a longer and happier life span, with about equal performance and enjoyability, and the ability to charge in less time will reduce the total number of packs needed for a great day.

Mike Charles (owner of bigerc.com) is a pleasure to do business with and a "stand up" vendor, with quick shipping. I will gladly buy from him again.

1st impressions.

The pack arrived in a well mangled flat rate USPS priority envelope. Wrapped in 2 layers of bubble wrap. The pack itself arrived in good shape, with nary a scratch. Since the shipping charged was 4.05$ US it was as expected and fair shipping. No gouging there.

The 2" length of the 14g wires was surprising and a bit disappointing though the wire itself is of good quality (GS Racing 14 AWG ultimate). The normal length of a pack this size is 3.5-4".

The cardboard insulator is intact on the individual cells, and is a point of discussion for some. It is mentioned only for informational purposes.

The general build of the pack is a bit unrefined with a single layer of electrical tape insulating the connections on the ends of the cells. Probably adequate but not a real confidence builder.

The positive + wire is soldered to the end of the cell with no strain relief except the single layer of electrical tape. Probably adequate but will bear watching to see how it holds up against fatigue. A few pennies more wire would have allowed it to be secured between cells like the hyperion/PQ(w pin moved)/apex/commonsenserc/etc balancing tap wires.

My blinky showed that all cells arrived in balance.

The shrink wrap is the same as expected on good quality LiPo packs.

Total weight is ~ 315g.

Overall I am pleased. If I like the performance of the pack in my use I'll happily purchase more. This pack was purchased with no discount and no mention of a review. It is a production consumer pack.

Pics of the pack next to the ubiquitous Apex MK3 pack for comparison.

Steve

[swatson144]

1st flight is in. Winds were only about 9mph so I can't really comment on how the extra weight helps in the wind. The kids from the church school were out on the play ground adjacent to where I normally fly (church lot) so I passed on flying and just walked it around the block with a little FF and some leaf blowing. It seems performance was there, though I'll need to get used to the extra weight. An extra 140g is noticeable though it'd be a 200g diet for the stick pack folks 8) .

Flight terminated at 9v LVC (forgot to change that :oops: ) at 13:13 battery temp was 109F. Total put back was 2705 mAH. There was no difference between start and cutout and it sure cut out so timing flights will be mandatory for these packs. Flying fine and then the motor won't turn. It was expected and I was low and slow after 9mins. Coronas auto like a brick. :P

The second flight. This time I flew as best I know how. The lot is a little small and hammering it around pretty good I got 13:35 on the pack. I had reset the LVC to 6V and the HrPolyX lipo alarm to 3.0V/cell. When the alarm started I was settling to the ground within seconds. It's looking like The TX timer can be set for 11 mins count up, and 12 mins count down on the test machine. After the 12 min alarm It'd be prudent to be practicing nose in hovering or just landed. For the foreseeable future this test pack will be run until it won't hover any more. Power was good to the point I got scared and brought it in low and slow probably around the 12 min mark.

Steve

[swatson144]

reserved for followup and further info.

[Big E-RC]

Thanks steve for the review. I have to admit i was a bit shocked when you emailed me informing that you reviewed it.

I'm very glad that you addressed these issues. This is my first step on the vendor side of the hobby and i'm still learning.

From here on i will lengthen the leads to a full 4", route them better to prevent flex at the solder joint and use a higher quality tape to secure them in place relieving the solder joints of stress. Also i'll cover completely the ends to prevent accidental shorts.

I'm glad the pack is working well so far and i look forward to the rest of the review.

,mike (mcharles13 on other boards)

[swatson144]

No problem Mike. I just got my 5th flight in on it and all is well. Winds have been terrible this last week and I haven't been able to fly since Sun.

Nothing at all wrong with the packs and with the little nitpicks I made addressed the packs will be even better.

Temps are now in the low 50s and I see no lack of power. Around here I probably won't know more about cold weather performance until Feb.

There has been a lot of views but no other replies if any one wnat's to chime in with Q's or their experiences please do, as the review itself will be in the 1st three topics.

Steve

[swatson144]

10th cycle so it should be pretty much broken in.

winds 9/9 mph 50F
geared corona with mega 16-15-3 PHx-25A
3s emoli

just general medium hard flying. I started chilling out at the 9min mark and was pretty much just hovering waiting for the alarm and the pack to dump after 12mins.