CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
How long does it take to charge that same battery when it's dead?
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DMW
How long does it take to charge that same battery when it's dead?
Great question.
45 minutes.
I answered that question in my first write-up for the Cordless FLEX Finisher and PE14 here,
Battery Time - FLEX Cordless Polishers - Real World Detail by Mike Phillips at Autogeek
I think I went through 3 and a half batteries to machine polish the Jaguar. I posted a bunch of videos to my FB page for the process here,
Mike Phillips Facebook Page
Have to scroll down a ways on my FB page as I've already been busy adding more fresh content.
:)
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
35 min is really good I feel! What speed were you polishing on?
Also does the battery just die or does it fade over time?
Thank you in advance!
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dr Oldz
35 min is really good I feel!
I'm good with 35 minutes per battery for solid polishing work. I very methodically did 8 to 10 section passes for each section buffed on the car and I counted out each pass. Counting out passes is my new Best Practice and there's good reasons for doing this that I now teach in my classes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dr Oldz
What speed were you polishing on?
Speed 6 all the way. I don't get the guys that do correction work at slow to medium speeds? Even if a tool will correct at speed 4 or speed 5 so what? I want to get the job done fast, not slow. It already takes a LONG time to compound an entire car. It already takes a long time to polish an entire car. Why would I want to get the job done slower.
Here's my quote when it comes to the topic of using slow to medium speed settings for correction work,
There's something to be said for speed -Mike Phillips
What I mean by that is even if you can correct paint on speed setting 4 for ANY tool on the market, it's my experience I can peel paint off the car faster at the max speed. My goal is always to get the car through the entire process as fast as possible, not as slow as possible and for this reason there is something to be said for speed as in doing the correction work on the fastest speed not anything less.
The above of course in in the context of using any orbital polisher. I normally do my rotary work using low to medium speeds, rarely do I do rotary work on high speed. Of course, a rotary is a completely different animal than any orbital polisher.
And the above all said, there's a million ways to skin a cat, (sorry PETA, just a cliché), and by this I mean, everyone can find an approach that works best for them. I understand some guys are not in a hurry and in some cases, physical limitations mean an easier time using a slower speed. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dr Oldz
Also does the battery just die or does it fade over time?
You will feel a slow down in power when you get to the last LED light bar in the battery check panel. Bob Eichelberg says this is normal. When I get down to the last light bar I try to buff an area that I can run the polisher till the battery actually dies and then swap out.
For everyone reading this into the FUTURE, (I never type for the present), it's very rare that any car detailer would buff for 35 minutes SOLID. Most of us, me included take a moment to,
- Wipe off compound or polish residue.
- Dry clean a pad.
- Swap to a new pad.
- Drink some water.
- Interact in some way.
So in most cases, by the time you run a single 5 amp battery completely down your other battery will be fully charged and ready to go. If you don't ever want to be without immediate power, simply buy a third battery and take all the stress out of your life.
:)
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
Also just to add....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dr Oldz
What speed were you polishing on?
Anyone that has used any poliser for any amount of time, I'm not talking about talkers here but walkers, knows as you work around the curves and panels of a car you tend to work or move your hands around the body of the tool and this is specifically when you have the Speed Lock - locked in so you don't have to mess with holding the trigger in while buffing. When doing this, I found sometimes I accidently adjusted the speed setting.
Question: If I'm on speed 6 and I accidently adjust the speed setting, I don't move the speed setting to a higher speed.... so what's the opposite of a higher speed?
So to prevent any accidental speed adjustments while working around the car I placed some 3M Blue Vinyl Tape around the body of the CBEAST to lock the speed dial in at the 6 speed setting.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...ll_the-Way.jpg
When I buff out cars.... I'm a machine -Mike Phillips
:buffing:
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
Thank you for the response, Mike.
This tool looks extremely awesome. Personally I love the 3401 and to make it cordless is amazing!!
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dr Oldz
Thank you for the response, Mike.
This tool looks extremely awesome. Personally I love the 3401 and to make it cordless is amazing!!
I love the CBEAST.
I prefer the speed of the corded Beast but love the absolute convenience of not dealing with a cord. For the Jaguar, I only had to polish it to remove the swirls. I kept it simple, BLACKFIRE Polish with Lake Country HDO orange foam polishing pads.
Had I needed to compound the paint I may have switched over the corded version, I don't know, I'll have to wait until I'm in that position.
I have a car my wife and I are prepping for the Boca Raton Concours d’Elegance, it's a 1965 Buick Skylark Grand Sport - a very rare car. This is one 3,077 cars that came with the 4-speed transmission. It's also a numbers matching car with 50,300. original miles. It has the original paint, which is a single stage metallic. It's gold in color but it's going to bleed silver all day long.
Might have to use a free spinning orbital on the horizontal panels to be safe but will likely do the sides with the CBEAST.
:)
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
Along with everything else you posted, the two that stand out to me is your number of section passes and running wide open. In the USAF on jets we called it BTW. Your 8-10 section passes and running wide open confirms what I've always believed based upon reading your posts and my personal experience.
Thanks Mike.
Re: CBEAST Battery Life aka the FLEX Cordless 3401 by Mike Phillips
Quote:
Originally Posted by
custmsprty
Along with everything else you posted, the two that stand out to me is your number of section passes and running wide open.
In the USAF on jets we called it BTW. Your 8-10 section passes and running wide open confirms what I've always believed based upon reading your posts and my personal experience.
Thanks Mike.
Full speed is also how I drove my drag boat for 20 years....
https://www.autogeekonline.net/galle...artermilem.jpg
:laughing:
