Using “Hookers” (to Secure Batteries)

And, get your mind out of the cyber-gutter!

Text, photos, and video by Tom Hintz
Posted -

After watching a FlyingRC.net video a viewer sent me an email asking if I was “using hookers only” to secure battery packs in my planes. This exchange included him trying to explain by saying the “hook” side of this common fastening system had the stiff fibers while the “loop” side fibers are soft. The explanation was becoming worse than the question. After a little back and forth I found out this fellow is from Great Britain and he was talking about the hook side of adhesive-backed hook and loop fasteners. He was correct and I was relieved. I had heard of two countries being separated by a common language.

Being One-Sided Works

I had tried using the hook side of this adhesive-backed hook and loop closure system applied to the floor of my battery compartments and the loop side to the battery packs. However, when removing the battery, the bond between the hook and loop strips was stronger than the surface of the wood or the adhesive bond to the wood and the hook side pulled up, often with a thin layer of the light ply of which many battery compartments are made. The hook and loop strap was still holding the battery in the plane but it could slide forward and back a bit and when it did, the CG (center of gravity) changed as well.

Simplicity Rules

I accidentally applied the hook side to both a battery and the floor of a battery compartment. I didn’t notice the error until I removed the battery which lifted out too easily.
I placed the battery back in the plane and tried to move it front to back and found it would not move while in full contact with the other hook side in the plane. After securing the hook and loop strap that held the pack against the wood, and now the opposing hook strips, I found that I could not move the battery. Release the strap and the battery lifts right out.
The “hook” fibers are around 3/16” tall so when pressed together, they interlock laterally which prevents movement. With the strap holding the battery down, that interlock is extraordinarily strong and to date I have not had a battery pack move. Not even a little bit.
I now use the “hookers only” system in all my electric planes. I used this concept in my new Flex Innovations Mamba 60L, which is capable of violence in the sky yet the 6S, 5000mAh packs I use to power it do not move at all. I had used this battery securing system to hold the receiver packs in my Hangar 9 110” Timber and when that went into a tree wide open, I found that the batteries had not moved. The plane was destroyed around them, but the packs remained where I had put them.

Structure Integrity

The only issue that could fail this system is using it in a structure within the plane that is not capable of withstanding the potential G-forces that could be exerted on the battery packs in that airframe. For this reason, looking the structure over closely makes a bunch of sense.
Also, I have not tried using non-adhesive-backed hook and loop material glued into the plane. The simplicity of using adhesive-backed material, for me, makes this a non-issue.

Conclusions

Once again, blind luck turns out to be one of my better traits and allowed me to find this more simple than dramatic technique for securing large battery packs. The fact that it works so well and does not require an understanding of advanced physics puts it firmly in my wheelhouse.
As always, you must be the final judge on whether this system will work in your application. RC’rs are creative folks and just might be able to come up with a set of circumstances that makes this concept unreliable. Think about what you are doing and always error of the side of caution. Your plane and/or the folks at the field could be in harms way if your battery comes loose or falls out altogether.

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