Olly Giles

I was having the same though recently and came up with the following: I bought a cheap metal briefcase thing from B&Q and got some Kingspan wall insulation we had lying around and cut holes in it for the battries to sit in. I lined the bottom of the holes and the top of the block of kingspan with EPP foam to tidy things up and add extra protection. I then 'borrowed' some thick foam from a friend and cut a sheet to sit on top of the whole arrangement to keep everything in place. workes a treat  

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is the reviw of the wind not in there?

ye sorry guys i was imagining things. its definately 20x0.8=16A Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 25/05/2011 09:25:12: Its 20C rated NOT 25, so the figures are actually 20 X .8 = 16A, incidentally, its never a good idea to discharge at the absolute maximum rate, as this will definitely shorten their life. It quotes here that it has a 20C-30C discharge rate. Does that not mean it will sustain 16A happily with bursts of 24A?

Well the lipo in the photo is a 2 cell (7.4V) 800mah battery. The red JST plug is called the discharde lead; this is the wire that the current flows through to power whatever its connected to. The little white JST-XH plug is called the balence lead. Most lipos require 'balence charging' where the voltage in each cell is kept equal as it is being charged. For this to be done you need a dedicated lipo balencing charger, these are very common nowerdays and are in pretty much every model shop. if you have a fairly modern computor charger the likelyhood is that it can cope with lipo. When charging both leads need to be connected. The C rating is the rate at which the battery can be charged or discharged. Your battery is a 20C discharge rate; meaning that it can put out 25 times its capasity i.e. 25x0.8A=20A with ease. The charge rate of your battery is quoted at 5C this means that you can charge it at 5x0.8A=4A. HOWEVER i only really charge at 1C (1x0.8A=0.8A in your case) as chargeing at higher C ratings decreases the life of the battery. If i want to fast charge i go up to 2C occationally.If lipos are discarged to far you hasve whats called a deep discharge and to put this simply the battery dies. Most dont reccomend going below 3V per cell. Also if Lipos are discharged too quickly they first get very hot, then baloon and then catch fire. The catching fire usually happens when the battery is shorted or damaged. A similar process happens when charging too fast. The sort of thing that your battery could power is smaller electrics and small powered gliders. I use similar batteries to power my radio gear by using a voltage regulator to drop from 7.2V to 5.5V, this saves a considderable amount of weight compared to using a NiMh.The thing i would most stress is treating your lipos like you treat your glow fuel; with respect. You know not to run your engine on a prop thats too small or have a fag while filling the tank, similarly you know not to charge your lipo at 20C or to try and draw 300A from it. I'll admit it is all a bit of a black art at first but its easily learnt.

sorry i was thinking of a 4 cell.

Im not sure what the maximum voltage is for your transmitter but generally transmitter NiMH battries are 9.6V but when fully chargerd are at about 11V. Compare this to a 3s lipo is rated at 11.1V but can get up to in the region of 15V which i would say is a little high. LiFe battries are rated at 9.9V for 3 cells so would be a similar voltage to the standard NiMH . Take a look.

Im looking at getting similar servos for the PA addiction X they reccomend HS82MGs but being a poor student i have to shop arround. anyway the lads at the uav lab reccomended tower pro servos as being good quality for the money. as they test quite a few servos im confident in their advice. however if anyone has had actual experience id be very interested.

ye but 2011 is much better than 1951.

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I have seen these Xoar props mentioned a couple of times in reviews of larger electric planes. I was wondering if anyone can compare how they perform against APC-e props? And are they worth trying? All my electrics use APC-e.

I just googled the motor and it says normal current draw is 3.5A max current is 8A. So assuming your using a 7.2V lipo do P=VI. So at 3.5A draw the power will be 25.2W and at 8A draw the power will be 57.6W So your more than doubbleing the power of your model.

Im probably repeating what tony said but try the following: Turn the model on with the throttle in the fully open position (but make sure you restrain it first) , the model may make a beep to say that it is live and then reduce the throttle and see if the motor starts up. If this is the case the throttle channel needs to be reversed. This is because alot of ESCs enter their programming mode by turning on with the throttle in the fully open position and will not start untill returned to the closed position.  Check where the trim is on the throttle channel. The ESC may be sensing an open throttle and hence not starting up. Set the trim to the centre would be the best thing to do. There is no 'special' reciever needed for electric flight, the only reccomendation is for 2.4GHz radio with electric flight to reduce the risk of interference. But to be honest i use 35Mhz with some of my smaller electrics without any troubble.  

Definately look at the flair scout series. I had a Maganatilla built for me 10 years ago which i learnt to fly on. It has survived being dumped in a pond, hitting a horse, a head on mid air and a fire and still flies fantasticaly well to this day. I have also just finished building the SE5a; the build was very enjoyable and taught me alot about model construction It also flies very nicely. Both of them have 40's and are superb aeroplanes to build and fly.

I had a look for this too. It says the uk distributor is gliders distribution but i cant find it anywhere on their website or in their magazine ad. youll have to call em i think 

i use furniture polish after using flash wipes to get the worst off

I agree with john. Its impossible to fly two controlled, precise and axial rolls without the use of rudder. My humble apologiesfor posting missleading information BEB.Edited By Olly Giles on 15/05/2011 17:04:12

The rolls on the B test are meant to be flown at a speed where there is a definate input of rudder and elevator. Im flying the B schedule in a comp in a couple of weeks; while practiceing a couple of the gbrcaa guys pointed out that my rolls were too slow, hence i was performing two concecutive slow rolls, rarther than two concecutave rolls.  To respond to Phil's question, i think you should go for what ever style of flying enthuses you the most. For me F3A is the best of the bunch, i enjoy progressing from being able to fly a manouver to being able to fly it perfectly. Having said that i do enjoy breaking out my foamie and hovering 1" from the floor. Each dicipline brings its own challenges and crowd of people.With regards to a model, if pattern/F3A is your thing You Cant get much better than a Sebart Wind (i saw you were a leccy). 3D: Seagul do a nice extra 300 and Yak in a 70 size. and eflights yak 54 cz looks ballistic.

Thats RAF wittering. I was gliding there today.

I was at RAF wittering last weekend supposed to be gliding but the weather wasnt playing ball. but just as we were admiting defeat and walking to the car the lancaster passed over the west end of the airfield about 500ft above our heads heading south. shame i wasnt up there with it, made the trip worthwhile.

Went (full size) gliding today. Was very windy at RAF wittering which made things 'fun'. I just hope we get nice weather for the world cup in two weeks......

I think Colin has hit the nail on the head.   Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 13/05/2011 14:21:07:Posted by Olly Giles on 13/05/2011 13:51:42: Stick to reviewing things that fly guys.   So the mag should not review a new flight box? Or a starter? What about a model stand, can that be reviewed? What about tools - a new type of Dremel say, not allowed? A prop balancer? A battery chager?   For your benifit BEB i'll explain implicitly what i meant: It is the resposibility of a magasine to judge what it's readers will find interesting and informative to read. So a 3 and 1/2 page review of a product that has little to do with the focous of the magasine is a mistake, especially if in the introductory paragraph the writer invites the majority of readers not to read any further. In my opinion this appeals to the minority of readers and the review would be best placed in the 'shop window' section with a paragrph or two. Hope i have clarified things. Edited By Olly Giles on 13/05/2011 16:18:17

I think everyone has a point. But a battery powered trolly isnt Radio Controlled, nor is it a Model & it has nothing to do with the Electronics of r/c aircraft. I realise that it would appeal to those of advancing years but like Nick said a powered golf trolly with a bit of modification would do fine. Stick to reviewing things that fly guys.