Andy48

I generally fly with a static thrust about equal to or somewhat greater than the weight for every model I've built, even my Flair Sopwith Pup. Its a dead easy rule of thumb and works every time. All mine are electric, and its really very simple, you don't have to fly on full throttle!

Better still to have an arming plug.

I've got a Wot 4 mk 2 electric. Firstly the electric conversion kit comes with a huge chunk of metal to get the balance right except it didn't. I ended up with a larger heavier motor, and running it on a 5S battery simply to get the balance right without even more weight upfront. It certainly goes well with that setup, and flown a tad more gently will fly for over 20 minutes at a time. I do have to take the wing off to change the battery.

You'll need to hurry up, there's only a week of winter left.

Turn one servo round through 180 degrees and put the servo arm on the other side.

This sounded interesting. https://electrek.co/2022/01/05/doe-stanford-researchers-bring-dead-lithium-batteries-back-to-life/ One day we might get chargers capable of doing this.

Use brown Gorilla glue, it works well with both epoxy and polyester provided you lightly sand the bits to be glued to provide a good key and get rid of any moulding release agents. It does foam so the pieces need clamping together.

Some winter reading for you Viv. OpenTX Documentation

I fly electric and set data logging to start when the throttle is opened.

I've got an older one. Takes ages to find a signal though. Are the newer ones any better?

I clip mine to the neck strap. The arming plug is only inserted when I'm on the flying patch, and removed before leaving the patch. I keep a spare in the flight box.

In that case I'd experiment with different props, checking the current draw before buying any batteries.

Steve, I think your view of performance is over simplistic. There are more factors to consider rather than just battery voltage and current. 1. The Tundra is a very draggy plane, and as drag is proportional to the square of the speed, thus adding more power will probably not result in any noticeable performance gain. 2. Adding weight, in effect reduces performance, hence above comment also applies. 3. What do you actually mean by "performance"? Go faster, longer flight time etc. 4. If you are after a longer flight time, don't fly on full throttle, once you get above 2/3 throttle with an electric plane, the current consumption rises dramatically with very little to show in terms of performance, linking in also with point (1) above. 5. Perhaps also consider battery life. Higher "C" ratings are generally better here, as is a lower current consumption. I fly with a 5S 4000 in my balsa Wot 4, together with a larger motor and ESC, mostly to get the balance right. Its obviously a much heavier plane. I can easily get a 20 minute flight out of that flying at 1/2 throttle. It will take off easily from grass with less than half throttle too.

Yes, very common, most chargers and battery checkers have lousy calibration. If in doubt I always use a decent accurate multimeter.

Personally, I wouldn't use it. Each cell voltage should be within a couple of hundredths of a volt of the rest after balance charging. Could try balancing it again, some chargers have a time cut off and it may have stopped the balance charging due to this.

Maybe life is too short, but a friend of mine burned his shed down trying to charge an unbalanced battery.

Time for the recycling bin methinks, after discharging each cell fully of course.

Just to muddy the water, not all the losses are due to heat. The noise the motor/propeller system generates represents a loss of efficiency too. Dick's graph is very appropriate too, though in my experience peak efficiency of a motor/propeller system seems to be generated at about 3/2 max power a bit earlier than the above graph, and drops off significantly above that power. The difference to Dick's graph may be accounted for by the fact that I am looking at the efficiency of the whole system rather than just the motor. Thus when specifying a motor, it is always better to go for something more powerful than needed bearing in mind that running it above that 2/3 peak reduces efficiency, and also considering there is a very small weight penalty fitting a larger motor.

I actually use both current and voltage sensing. Voltage sensing warns of either a used battery you are putting in again, or a battery near the end of its useful life. The current sensor provides the "fuel gauge" to see how much of the battery capacity I have used. Personally I always set my planes up so the max current is well within the motor and ESC rating, so that is never an issue. Flying any electric plane at max power gobbles up battery power disproportionately and reduces the battery life.

Sorry, but its reinventing the wheel, as the author indeed acknowledges! FrSky already have had a simple battery monitor the FBVS-01 available for many years. Instructions for connecting it to an analogue port on any of the Frsky receivers is here in section 10: https://openrcforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=8724&sid=9dc6426169be09d97d2ebde9807da217 However, it is a rather crude device, and using the more common Frsky FLVSS is a far better way to go as it measures the voltage of each cell, not just the whole battery voltage. Thus you get considerably better security for your planes, as a failing battery will often have one cell much worse than the rest, and under load the battery voltage might look fine, but in reality one cell has a worrying voltage drop. The FLVSS is cheap enough, and considering it can be moved from model to model very simply it seems a no-brainer to me.

Thank you. ? Bit out of date now, but the number of transmitters OpenTX now supports makes it difficult to keep it accurate and stop it becoming unwieldy with so many variations.

I would firstly suggest you update to the latest version of OpenTX, lots of changes including to telemetry. Sample eepe may not be commonplace now with most having updated. On the current version there is an option of a telemetry screen which shows each cell voltage. Very simple to do, you just add the extra screen.

ON OTX I use the left slider for flaps. Full control from 0 degrees flap to 180 degrees flap. Centre ident gives me half flaps.

Not sure what this has to do with having a poor mobile reception. The OP link is talking about removing the old fashioned telephone exchange and using the internet for the phone instead through the land line, be it copper or fibre. The aim is to convert all copper lines to fibre. Our "land line" phone simply plugs into the internet router. As for nuisance calls, we have phones which block all those automatically. If anyone else dials us, they are first asked to leave their name. We then pick up their message, and have the option to reject the call, accept it just once, or accept them as friends in which case they don't need to leave a message next time they phone us. Works well.

Just spotted this: Flsun Q5 for under £140 shipping free from the UK. https://www.banggood.com/Flsun-Q5-3D-Printer-Kit-200+200mm-Print-Size-Supprt-Resume-Print-With-TFT-32Bit-Mainboard-or-TMC2208-Slient-Driver-or-Colorful-Touch-Screen-p-1591796.html?rmmds=detail-topright-recommendation&cur_warehouse=UK Have been really pleased with mine. Can't go wrong at this price.