leccyflyer
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Posts posted by leccyflyer
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Thanks gents - you've just given me a few jobs for this afternoon.
My venerable Wot 4, which must be coming up to 20 years old, as described above - which needs her replacement lightweight built up tall splicing on and some modifications for lipos - since she needed all the weight of a 16 cell NiMh pack to balance properly.
I also recently picked up a Wot-4 waterplane on floats from the estate sale of a clubmate who passed away last year and needs the same electrification process. I've taken the glow motor out and replacing that with a brushless outrunner would be another nice job to make a start on this afternoon.
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Posted by Michael Barclay on 03/05/2020 10:51:15:Posted by Michael Ramsay-Fraser on 03/05/2020 10:45:56:
If anyone is under any false assumptions about how inept the government has been in this matter please read about Exercise Cygnus carried out in 2016. This exercise revealed how under prepared the NHS would be in the event of a pandemic. Ventilators, PPE shortages and NHS overwhelmed within days was the outcome. Recommendations were made. Did the government take action? Watch the death figures rise and guess the answer.
Government doing their best? Don't make me laugh.
Can you name one government that was prepared for this?
Lots of givernments in Asia were very well prepared for this and their death tolls confirm that. They acted quickly, had PPE to spare throughout the population and put social distancing into operation immediately that the threat became apparent. So they have far fewer deaths than the 300+ per million population that the UK is suffering. Pre-lockdown, by at least two weeks, the widely publicised data and projections indicated that a delay of even one day would cause many more deaths from the virus. That was not acted on - sporting events and mass gatherings continued, it was stated that as these were outdoor events they didn't carry a huge risk.
The UK was slow to react and ill prepared WRT PPE availability to the health service. The only reason that our government is not recommending masks for the general public who are out and about is to prevent further strain on the PPE shortage for the health service and care homes.
In the context of this thread it is completely unrealistic to expect to be able to get back to normal in a matter of weeks and to be flying again any time soon. Yes it's frustrating, but looking at it pragmatically, hundreds of fields were closed for several months during the foot and mouth outbreak and we routinely have had long spells when bad weather has severely curtailed flying.
In model flying we are somewhat fortunate in that it is a multi-faceted hobby, so productive time can be spent in the workshop, even if we can;t get out flying at the moment. If you're a fisherman, footballer or mountaineer and you are locked down there's far fewer outlets, short of trying to hook a goildfish in the toilet bowl, abseiling down from the landing, or practicing keepy-uppies in the garden. Stay positive and make the most of what we have, in the way of workshop time. This too shall pass.
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I loved my Uno Wot trainer that had an OS .25SF fitted and was so much fun, with plenty of power in reserve, but can;t really vouch for what one would be like with a .32 SC in there by direct experience. My Uno Wot was fully aerobatic within the limits of my meagre skills then, but a lovely stable flyer. I particularly enjoyed the bunts with the Uno Wot and I think you would have a very capable and enjoyable gentle sports aerobat with your planned set up.
My Wot-4 in her I/C days had a OS 40SF fitted rather than a .46 though, so the relative comparison between the two might be slightly relevant. You'll be fully familiar with how the Wot-4 flies and, just as an opinion, unless you;re into the prop-hanging things, for normal everyday less than crazy aerobatics the Uno Wot is oerfectly capable, but probably doesn't have as wide a flight envelope as the Wot-4 that can do almost anything.
The Wot-4 was subsequently converted to electric and the Uno-Wot fuselage still sits there, a little fuel soaked around the firewall, but one day I'll electrify that as well,
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Erfolg - doesn;t the existing battery have leads? If so, just cut the lead short at the cell and splice it to the leads from a new battery -one at a time mind. No need to be soldering directly to the battery tags.
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Yep - the one Ian shows looks like a decent ,match that should do the job. I ordered some RX packs from Vapextech NiMh receiver packs from component shop via ebay recently and they arrived promptly and look fine.
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More light aircraft activity this weekend, had a couple of quite low flying light singles over yesterday afternoon and at least three this morning. No sign on the CAA website that the COVID-19 regulations on GA have been lifted, so I guess that they might have been some form of commercial flights or, as Peter said, engine tests?
That put me in mind of the scene in Battle of Britain when Michael Caine refuses permission to the bloke who played Hyacinth Bucket's neighbour for an instrument check flight.
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Li-Ion is a generic term for lithium ion batteries which can have a liquid or gel and LiPo is a generic term for Lithium Polymer batteries- which have a solid polymer and organic hydrocarbon based electrolyte. The Li-Ion battery most often has a hard shell a,, whilst the LipO has a soft pouch. IIRC the Li-Ion arrived first in the UK hobby industry with Perkins 700mah 2s1p and 1400mah 2s2p offerings, supplied complete with a charger, before LiPoly batteries really took off, so to speak.
Since Erfolgs charger is charging to 4.2v you can safely assume that it's a LiPo when sourcing a replacement. It certainly isn't any type of LiFe cell, such as the A123.
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The A123 LiFe cells are 3.3v, 2500mah capacity and cylindrical cells, with or without solder tags.
The 1s 200mah Lipo cells, which would be labelled 3.7v are a small, rectangular package - most typically like this with a built in connector as described by Geoff S - sometimes they might be a bit larger, with a JST connector on a flylead.
Perhaps Erfolg can let us know whether the battery he has is anything like the ones above?
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However A123 cells are 3.3v, and you said 3.7v., which doesn;t add up.
If you are looking for a replacemen 3.7V Lipo there are lots of 200mah 1s lipos that would fit the bill - just weigh and measure the battery to get the dimensions and weight right. If it's a little helicopter then the battery weight may well be critical.
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A123 cells are LiFe cells, rather than LiPo - your charger should have a setting for LiFe cells as they need to be charged differently.
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I concur on the great service also available from Stan at PMP - used to always visit his stall at the shows and he was always super helpful.
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I'd just like to let folks know about the superb customer service I've received recently from T9Hobbysport, which goes well beyond the norm.
My models are split fairly well between Spektrum radio for the powered models and Frsky which I use for all of my gliders and a smaller number of powered models. I'd fettled a couple of gliders and discovered I was right out of Frsky receivers. so ordered up a couple from T9.
The package arrived promptly and the postie did his usual, putting it on the step, knocking on the door and stepping back. My wife opened the door and brought the package as he asked how we were doing. With Covid19 I've been giving any deliveries a spray with disinfectant and then leaving them a couple of days on the floor.
So a couple of days later I emptied the package and found that only part of the order was there, the two receivers were not there. I contacted T9 to see if they had been missed off the order by mistake and Richard got back to me straight away to confirm that they had been sent. He also suggested weighing the package to see if the weight agreed with what they had weighed to get the postage. We did that and the weight was nowhere near the weight that had been sent.
I asked Richard to hang on until I'd had a chance to ask the postie if a couple of little black boxes had been rolling around his van, or in the bottom of his post sack and it was a couple of days before I was able to do that. However there was no joy from the postie and I can only assume that the RXs must have gone missing in transit somewhere further back on their journey.
Richard immediately offered to send replacements for the missing Rxs. I said that I'd prefer if I made another order for some other bits and pieces and suggested to just pop one replacement RX in the package, that way we'd split the loss. He wouldn't hear of it and the T9 folks had already sent the receivers out before I made the second order by post and they just arrived this morning.
The communications and customer service from Richard and T9Hobbysport have been second to none and I cannot praise them enough. -Highly recommended.
Edited By leccyflyer on 25/04/2020 11:47:56
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Well the interface, leads and CDs I ordered from eBay arrived yesterday and it took just a few minutes to get them up and working with my original Phoenix flight simulator set-up, as already installed and my DX7. Everything seems to work fine, just needed the TX calibrating after a first very wild ride. I'd forgotten all about Aerofly and it all works fine with that as well. I haven;t installed any of the other software supplied.
We used to use a brilliant Multiplex simulator many years ago, I've almost certainly still got the discs. That had all the then Multiplex discs and was great fun as it included some games in there, including combat and a decent slope simulator. I doubt it would just be plug and play with Windows 7, but maybe it could be made to work with a DOS emulator?
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Posted by gangster on 24/04/2020 15:29:13:
Whilst on the face of it the importance of flying a toy aeroplane and hitting a ball down a hole are about the same and really do not even count for anything in the current crisis. The difference however in terms of economic importance could not be further apart
so many livelihoods, jobs Nd businesses are in peril at the moment. A golf club is a business, members on average probably pay 10 or 20 times as we do for a year’s subscription Golf clubs employ a lot of people Admin,waiters green staff etc etc and there is the pro also trying to make a living . That is a lot of families food and mortgage at stake. Those jobs need to be there after the crisis. They need to be there now as well, people are allowed to work if they can.
Sure some of our fields will take a year to get back if they are good but,unless you are a prima Donna modeller, most models will fly from a strip that has grown a foot long and had a couple of cuts with a rotary mower. A golf club green cut to 4mm cannot be got back without a lot of work and that could be a long time out of action
So what’s more important guys playing with toy aeroplanes or food on families tables and roofs over their heads
if this is all we have to whine about we are indeed very lucky.
No whining here, just a bit of good news.
In our particular case it is the maintenance of a field that has been in annual use since the 1970's maintained by regular mowing to something close to a cricket wicket standard, An electric fence keeps out the catlle, but a call from a neighbour earlier this week let the chairman know that they had knocked down the fence and were on the field.
The timely arrival of that permission allowed the electric fence to be repaired yesterday and the field to be cut today, within officially approved guidelines. The letter outlined a set of very sensible precautions to ensure that could be done safely. The permission was framed as a measure to prevent damage to the facilities and also sounds eminently sensible to me.
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Good news from the SAA which has sought and obtained official permission from the government for clubs to maintain their flying sites during the lockdown, in order to preserve the utility of the field and for them to be available once the lockdown finishes. It;s based on the fact that golf clubs have been permitted to continue to cut their grass and maintain their facilities, and applies to a range of sports.
Well done SAA.
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About the only things flying over these past few weeks have been the Air Ambulance and the police helicopter. I saw a contrail about a week ago. With no GA activity the normally very busy skies are eerily quiet.
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I've got a few of the circular discs on models with one central aileron servo and torque rods, with a Z=bend at the servo end and a clevis on the torque rod end.
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Perhaps drill a small hole through the floor of the fuselage and put one dipole pointing vertically downward. Route the other backwards along the side of the fuselage, tidying those servo leads so that they are on the other side instead. The two aerials will then be at 90 degrees in a vertical sense, not in the same horizontal plane, not potentially masked by the mass of the battery and not next to the servo leads.
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I tried to get my Phoenix simulator up and running over the weekend, but haven;t been able to find the USB cable to TX cable since my house move. Looking online I've now ordered one of those knock-off USB cable set ups that aims to emulate the various means of linking your TX to the computer. Will see how that works.
The slightly annoying thing was that the full set of expensive pukka Real Flight CDs, adds ons, transmitter and lots of models from when I last used the simulator years ago don't work and won;t even install with the modern versions of Windows. The system wouldn't even recognise the Real Flight TX, even with the 9 pin serial port put through a USB adaptor. I use to take this set up to the club, running ot on the big screen via a projector, but none of it will work with my current PC. - which itself is at least seven years old.
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Posted by Peter Miller on 13/04/2020 11:16:19:
Why on earth pay money to have your numbers printed?
Anyone with a computer can print them out for themselves.
If you haven't got a computer just what is wrong with a ballpoint pen?
Exactly. The argument against a ballpoint pen is that the numbers will change in July, if the EASA regulations are adopted - which they might not be. However there's always Tippex or a wee drop of white pain and then write in the new number.
I read somewhere, it might even have been in RCM&E of someone putting their number on lolly sticks, attached to the inside of the airframe with velcro and my immediate thought was that was complete overkill. A sticky label, or even a printed non-sticky paper label, attached with double sided tape or a smear of glue ought to be fine. In the event that the number changes, it ought not be beyond the wit of a modeller to remove and replace the label.
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If you;re not going to use the battery there is no need to charge it. It should have been shipped at storage voltage of around 3.85v/cell, so you can check that with your Battguard and if the cells are all at that same voltage, just store the battery until you need it. No need to charge the battery from time to time.
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Hobbyking price is half the price at that eBay shop - when they have them in the UK warehouse.
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Posted by Martin McIntosh on 11/04/2020 12:30:09:
On checking, mine are in fact labelled `HobbyKing`, not TGY but they all state on them to charge at 1.5A. Never had a problem with them, and you can take the Rx packs down to zero V without damage as long as they are recharged straight away.
Maybe an update since I bought them.
One thing I really like is that you can leave a tranny unused for a year without worrying about the pack going flat.
Hobbyking do print charge at 1.5A on the battery, but some other vendors recommend a 0.8C charge for optimum performance.
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I'm using the Hiobbyking 1500mah 3s1p LiFe packs. Their recommendation of for a 0.8C charge rate. The first one I had I missed that and charged at 1C, then I inadvertenlty let it discharge, due to leaving the TX on by mistake on the bench. The pack puffed up and it was only on the replacement that I noticed the 0.8C advice.
The big question, WHEN
in All Things Model Flying
Posted
The thread is dealing with very real issues which affect model flying..The desire to constantly close down threads simply because some people don;t want to read them should be resisted.I don;t know about anyone else but if I make an on topic post on a thread discussing a serious issue I don;t want that thread shut down because someone else makes an off topic post. The thread should continue to discuss the topic at hand, which is when we can expect to get back to model flying again.