Philip Lewis 3
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Posts posted by Philip Lewis 3
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It will be interesting to see whether the Welsh tourism industry suffers as a result of this.
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10 minutes ago, Peter Jenkins said:
Makes me wonder how I learned how to start a diesel engine on my own aged 13!
Yes likewise, God forbid any car maintenance on a REALLY big engine, as I remember it from a young age (and without radio control) keep well clear of a running prop and to stop it throw a rag at it!
Any club that said I needed to be accompanied to test an engine would not be one that I was a member of.
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I certainly wouldn't want to get any near to that but the key is in recharging, look at what you are putting back in compared to the pack capacity (which you can chck by discharging on a charger a fully charged pack) and which will tell you what you took out.
Slightly off topic but if using a 2 cell LiFe in a TX pack also be aware that the RF board needs at least 5 volts and below that doesn't transmit, the TX screens can look fine but the TX isn't generating any signal!
Having used both for many years now I'm not sure of the LiPo versus Life debate, (if you use HV servo's that is) but to me the debate of lithium (either) over NiMh is which often occurs is very clear and I won't even read a reply that contradictes that.
I ought to add that I don't and never have charged batteries in planes, I just don't have any need to and it's easier to take them out and charge them but I appreciate my exoerience isn't the same for everyone.
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2 hours ago, Martin Harris - Moderator said:
The problem is how you measure this in flight - I find that my telemetry alarms under heavy servo use e.g. during flick rolls when set to detect a low battery but to be honest, I never get remotely close to using my battery capacity and put up with the “false” alarms.
Depends on what radio you are using, I get the same with snap rolls but setting it to be only active when that low voltage persists for a 2 second duration fixes that issue.
Problem with LiFe batteries is that the voltage is very constant but then at the end falls of a cliff.
Used to use LiFe all the time, never had one fail and never wore one out either, currently using small 500 mah LiPo's due to using HV servo's, used to power a receiver and servo's they seem to last forever as well.
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First off do not get them from Axi (or any other motor manufacturer for that matter), no one makes bearings apart from bearing companies, not even the big car manufacturers so you are simply wasting money paying their mark up.
Taks it apart, measure the OD and ID diameter of the three bearings (likely to be two at the front and a bigger one at the back and the thickness, those are the dimensions you will need, I use SMD Bearings in Oxford, no need to trawl through the website just give them a ring (far easier and they have always been really helpful), they will ask you whether you want branded (typically Eizo) or budget, the difference is pennies so go branded.
The other thing they will likely ask is whether open shielded or sealed, these motors use shielded bearings but you can check by seeing that there is no rubber seal but that there is a metal shroud which shields the bearing meaning you can't see the individual ball bearings.
Whenever I have taken apart Axi motors I have always found the grub screws to be really tight because they use thread lock liberally so use a really good hex drive so as not to round it off.
Other than that, it's a really simple process, cheap and very rewarding to do.
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1 hour ago, MattyB said:
However, if you do that the ESC will generate more heat and be less efficient than if the motor were propped to allow its max power to be generated at the 100% throttle setting. Whether that could cause it to fail in the long run though is more complex - see my previous post on that point. Since no-one is going to have any conclusive data to say how likely that is, I just choose to avoid doing it in case it could cause a failure, no matter how unlikely that may be. YMMV.But going back to my previous post even if you propped the motor to allow it's max power to be generated at 100% throttle how much of an average flight would be flown using 100% throttle (or full power) anyway?
Surely even in a properly set up system as you desribe most of the flight is going to be flown at part throttle anyway?
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22 hours ago, Adrian Smith 1 said:
The ESC is supplied with a fan unit which can be attached to the ESC.
I am not sure if this is a gimmick or not as I have not fitted one before to a couple of other HW ESCs and they have been ok. Any thoughts or views on that if you have used them before?
I would say that the fan is principally for use when fitted in a Heli where it is very common to have a fan on the ESC for additional cooling, (and the default was after all for a Heli set up), because in a Heli there is virtually no airflow over the heatsink, provided you have reasonable airflow I don't think you will need or benefit from it in a fixed wing plane.
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USB C isn't always 5 Volts, my laptop USBC intelligent charger is 19 volts, stupidly I lost the charger that came with mine so now have to charge it with my normal chargers (which means taking it appart), it won't charge off 5 volts though but can't remember what I used without taking it appart again.
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Because technically the esc is working hardest at part throttle switching the voltage on and off, at full throttle it just lets it straight through but is still switching the fields, however, who flies around at full throttle anyway whatever the endpoint is set at?
In my opinion it's fine, it's simply doing what it was designed to do and all of my planes are on a reduced throttle because the motors as stock have a surplus of power, been like that for 3 years now and not had an ESC failure, the ESC though would run a little warmer because of the increased workload.
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Charge the battery fully then check the voltage with a multi meter, then as Mike has said adjust to the same voltage in Open TX, I would have thought 6V would be a more appropriate cut off (but I don't use NiMh batteries for anything so don't really know).
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I agree, Hobbywing ESC's are pretty good quality, I've had quite a few of them with no issues, they are a very good and reputable mid range ESC and have very good motor compatibility and work with motors perfectly well where other ESC's just won't.
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Might also be worth trying that ESC in another known good set up, i.e. where everything works but you just substitute the ESC, you haven't done anything to the ESC have you like disconnecting the red ESC lead that plugs into the reciver? It won't work if you have on an OPTO ESC.
I don't know this particular ESC but many expensive ESC's have both overcurrent and over temp protection so in theory cannot be blown up by the user as they protect themselves at all costs (going to a low power setting to allow you to land). That might make it easier to get a refund, also as you say if you have multiple purchases with the shop with no problems then you are much more likely to get a fair hearing.
If supplied new with no connectors then I can't see how a refund could be refused simply because you had soldered on something required to make it work, I also can't see how soldering on connectors could no matter now badly could render a good ESC to a no longer working ESC.
I really ought to add to that I have never had any dealings with Leeds Model Shop but I have never heard a bad word said about them, anyway, good luck.
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I wouldn't expect soldering on connectors to invalidate any warranty, after all how else could you even test it?
I would give them a ring and explain the situation.
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If you have not set failsafe to anything particular then it is likely that the default failsafe will be to hold last position, in other words the controls simply remain where they were when the signal is lost. You can quite simply verify this, just hold over to full any control surface you like (or more than one) and turn off the TX at the same time and see what happens to the control surfaces.
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19 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:
Take the prop off first!
No need to take the prop off as it's IC so engine won't be running and won't do anything no matter what the TX commands.
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Check the motor is OK with another ESC, doesn't matter if it is a low spec esc say a 6 cell max just use a single battery the motor will still work anyway, just not at a speed that would fly the plane.
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23 minutes ago, toto said:
Hoe else can you explain the two transmitters talking to each other ?
I beleive it is likely that they are talking to each other wirelessley, the same way your phone/laptop/tv talks to the router in your house, you do not need the internet to do that.
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58 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:
Nah, we were bored watching flying fish! 🤣
You calling my plane a Tuna?
The beauty is in the lines they fly not the looks of the airframe, man and machine in perfect harmony.
A case of horses for courses but it's a very varied hobby aeromodelling, and all the better for it.
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There you go then and even better knowledge gained for the next time it happens, I love a happy ending!
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They have been aware of this issue for years and have done precisely nothing about it.
Given what they have been up to for the last few years not sure I would give them another chance anyway.
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That's correct, chrome remembers passwords so IF the website asks for one chrome will volunteer it (you can click on the person icon at the top and then the key to se what passwords it has stored).
But when you tick the remember me box on whatever site the site places a cookie on your PC so that it recognises you and will let you straight in without a password next visit and therefore chrome doesn't need to volunteer one for you.
That is the part that is not working for you.
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What you describe is normal behaviour for the Chrome browser, Chrome remembers your passwords for you, what isn't is that the website itself isn't remembering you which it should be if you ticked the box, website seems to be working for everyone else so it must be your end. Have you somehow disabled cookies because that would make the website unable to recognise you when you come back.
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47 minutes ago, leccyflyer said:
Do those who are using a separate lipo for the radio side take that RX pack out of the model when not actually flying, or are they leaving that pack in the model between flying sessions?
I use separate RX LiPo packs in all my planes, OK I also have no choice as they are all 10 cell and the ESC has no BEC but I would anyway, I've had a few ESC failures over the years and they some were spectacular, one in particular (started by the motor going dead short and burning up at the same time) melted every lead off the ESC and what was remaining was just char so even if it had a BEC it wouldn't have worked even if it hadn't melted the battery connector wires off.
Yes I always but always take the two LiPo batteries out, (two batteries using isolated supplies) and I also set them to storage charge after flying, I only use two 500 mah LiPo's in a 2 M plane and they are good for six flights. Surprising how long LiPo's last when only being used in a low power situation.
I would also never dream of charging them in a plane either, I don't use a switch, just unplug after every flight and use sprung XT30 connectors, I'm using HV servo's so run unregulated.
Might seem a bit much but these are expensive airframes.
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I'm of the mind that there are two schools of thought on this, those that don't realise how dangerous LiPO's CAN BE and those that are paranoid about them.
My (considerable) experience with a lot of high capacity high cell count LiPo's is that I can't see what would literally cause a LiPo to suddenly combust, there would have to be some outside circumstances.
In my experience LiPo fires are almost universally caused by misuse, charging at the wrong cell count, shorting out the terminals or whatever, I certainly having set fire to a small RX 500 mah pack by shorting the terminals wouldn't ever charge any in a house or for that matter anywhere where the fire would cause any damage other than to the LiPo or charging equipment myself.
I also always keep my LiPo's at storage charge only which at least would limit the potential energy release.
All batteries are potentially dangerous if misused inccorectly, a battery after all contains stored energy and if unreleased the wrong way can be dangerous.
IMHO you just need to be careful but not paranoid about them, having said that there is a container ship on fire due to a suspected electric car malfunction, not a LiPo but stil a lithium battery.
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charging Li-on batteries
in Gadgets and Electronics
Posted
You think that's a rip off then take a look at the cost of a genuine Futaba replacement!
Why anyone pays these vastly inflated prices for what is after all only a battery is beyond my comprehension.