Battery Mounting

[Gregor]

Sorry if this is a silly question. The parts are finally starting to trickle in from the black Friday sales. Not enough to finish the setup, but at least a couple batteries arrived so I can do some test fitting.  Looking at the pictures around the net and on the Synergy site it looks like there are a couple ways to route the velcro straps.  The cleanest is what is seen on Matt's model on the Synergy page.

http://synergyrchelicopters.com/models/synergy-e6e7/

The strap is routed through the slots on both sides and attached on top of the pack.  I tried this first and all it seemed to do was craddle the battery between the top and bottom strap.  The pack is sitting above the battery tray and easily slides out.  The battery is contacting the wrong side of the velcro so putting some velcro on the pack would not help.  Next I routed one side of the strap through the slot leaving the loop on the outside.  Ran the strap over the battery, around the other side and under the frame.  The velro attaches on the bottom where its easy to get to.  Not very clean looking like Matt's model.  But at least it holds the pack down against the tray.

OK, what am I missing?  How is Matt's pack mounted?

[Matt Botos]

Gregor,

All of my configurations have soft side Velcro on the battery and hard side Velcro on to bottom plate. Only 1 inch strips otherwise the battery is difficult to remove.
In the pictures you are referring to, I run the Velcro strap through the slot - over the top of the battery - through the opposite side slot - back over top of the battery - then through the loop. This method works but it can be tricky to get the batteries in and out.
An easier method is just looping the strap around the battery and entire bottom frame.

Hope that helps!

Matt

[Chris Sexton]

I gave up on the slots and just run the straps around the entire lower frame.

I also put a 1 inch square piece of Velcro at the very front of the tray and the matching piece in the front of the battery to help prevent forward or reverse sliding should the straps not bite down hard enough.

This is easy to remove because I can just lift the front of the battery up and break the Velcro bond and the rest of the battery slides out with no trouble.

I see in other forums guys are trying out gecko none slip pads to do what I did with Velcro. My issue here is when sliding the battery into the tray it is going to fight you the whole way down.

To each their own i guess. As in most things there are many ways to do it, just what ever works best for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vanillagorilla]

I know its personal preference, but are most people putting in packs separate or making 12s stick packs? 

I like the gecko strip idea if its easy to 'pick it up and over' the gecko strips when putting the pack(s) in - would probably hold them in place well and straps wouldn't have to be super tight....but haven't had chance to see how much room I have w/the TP 4400's....about halfway thru build now.

[Gregor]

Thanks for the replies.  Regarding sticks vs singles, I'll be making them into stick packs.  Seems like its a lot easier to change and handle the packs with that setup.  Esprit Model sells the clear 4  and 3.5 inch heat shrink. 

I saw the GekoGrip thread on HF. It looked like there was clearance issue with the height of the Gekogrip and the two cap screws in the front.  The OP of that thread had found some thicker stuff.  I'll probably go with two velcro pads, one front and one back.  If the Gekogrip thing gets ironed out, the velcro comes off easy enough with some GooGone.

[Jean-Luc Bolduc]

don't bother with the 3.5 inch clear shrink, go for the 4 inch. Much easier on 4000-4500-5000 packs.

[Chuck Bole]

 Yep the 4" Heat shrink works great.  I put a small piece of velcro at the front also. And a small piece at
the rear too, helps the pack stay inplace and keeps the rear of the pack from chafing on anything. On the Thunderpower bal leads it's a simple matter to splice them. Just extract one at a time from the connector,
and solder to the corresponding color wire of the extention, cover with heat shrink before extracting the next one. If you use the pre tinned bal leads, it's just a matter of sliding the tinned wire end into the lead you pulled out of the connector. Just a drop of solder, cover with heat shrink and go on to the next one.
 
 chuck

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[Gregor]

So I'm rumaging around my parts bin and find some elastic velcro straps I had picked up for another model.  I end up fitting these to the E7 and though they are a little wide (and thick) they look like they will do nicely.  I have these on another model and the elastic character of the straps lets you cinch them down snugly but it gives the packs little room to expand.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/117/1532/=f72k4l

I'm using 1" x 12" PN 3029T148

While I'm at it, a quick thank you to Matt for suggesting McMaster-Carr as a good source for all kinds parts, including a variety of velcro straps.