Mike Johnson

Now that's interesting, I have found that after a few cycles the A123's come up to a much better capacity and discharge rate? Mike

Tom  You still need to look at the link, you would only have to solder on the power leads, once you had split the pack for a 5 cell set up, and you can get the 36volt pack (10 cells) for about £60.00,   I just thought that splitting a 10 cell pack in two was easier than soldering each individual cells.  Where did you get your cells?  the cheap Chinese clone LiFe packs they are not A123's and don't live up to the standard of them, i.e. loose capacity quickly and die very soon after being used as you would an A123.  Mike

As f As far as I understand the legislation if the unit does not have the CE mark on it then it is illegal in the UK unless a letter is obtained stating that the unit complies with the UK legislation.  If you go to the GBRCAA site there is a very informative thread there on compliance. Mike

That is exactly the problem, once you have set up your aircraft control movments etc, you must rebind with the controls in the position that you want for fail safe.  Mike

Go onto e-bay and buy a 36volt De Walt battery they have 10 A123 cells in them, they are already joined to make up 36volts and with a bit of ingenuaty you can break the pack apart and only have minimal soldering to do, then go to BRC hobbies and buy the ballance leads you will need occasionally to ballance the pack, I will look up the web site that shows how to do this and post it later.  Mike  That was quick even for me: http://www.slkelectronics.com/DeWalt/hints.htm

The way that most Cub's fly with masses of adverse yaw and needing lots of rudder in the turn, I doubt if 2 degs of side thust would even be noticed, I have a 1/5 scale DB Cub with an Enya 90 in it with no down or side thrust and beside the fact that it fly's just like the real thing (Pig LOL) I have never noticed the need for any adjustments, lets face it I don't do many vertical climbs with it, but it does climb with excess speed, flying it around at scale speed does not seem to be a problem.  Mike

Myron  As it has given you wash out at the tips, its no bad thing, will inhibit its 3D ability a bit, but fly it and see, at least it is wash out and will only slow the tip stalling tendancies.  Mike

Well last week end I went to the Bartons Point fly in on the Isle of Sheppy in Kent, what a wonderful day this was, lots of trade people there, but flying not selling anything it gave me a chance to see how good some of these guys rearly are.  Steve Hummel from Weston Uk maidened my 2.1 M Composite Edge fitted with a Plettenberg Evo motor and 10S LiPo's I am glad Steve did it, as the C of G was to far forward and the prop was to big for the motor, great time watching the trade flying for fun even the arrivals where treated with hillarity, one foamy prop hanging over the top of another that had just fell apart and hitting it back and forth with its rudder.  Mike

Please also be aware that Futaba only rate this servo for 4.8volts, even though I have been using them since the came out two years ago on a five cell pack, without problems.  Mike

Mike

I used to go up to Portmoak many a happy hour or so sitting on the ridge, did my 5hr in a Swallow I was lower than everything else all day not supprising in that thing, then at Aboyne I got my Gold height, Gold distance in a Skylark 4 from Challock too Peterbough and not quite back, so no goal.  I than had a share in a Libelle and an ASW 17 later changed to an ASW 20 they where some machines, but in the end it came to me in a flash of inspiration that I was flying something around that cost more than my house.  And not only that the Abinitio's kept trying to kill me, or that's how it seemed.  Mike

John Thanks for the reply, I was only trying to help, I used to instruct at Challock, Lasham and Booker, perhaps we met at some time.  I know how difficult it is to put something like this together and can only applaud the effort put into this and bing it to the web, congratulations on what is proving to be a very interesting and helpfull thread.  Mike

LowNfast & John  In full size aviation the elevator is an attitude control and the throttle is an altitude control, any change in speed occured by the elevator is a secondary effect of the elevator who's primary effect is attitude, as it is a secondary effect perhaps this needs changing too "what is the primary and secondary effect of the elevator"? or even better "what is the primary effect of the *********** control surface"  Example: What effect does rudder have on the aircraft. Yaw is the primary effect, but as a secondary effect it will roll the aircraft due to the increase in speed/lift of the outside wing.  Hope this helps, trying very hard not to be a smart a***.  Mike

The reason that Graupner dropped Spektrum I think is that Spektrum would not supply them if they where going to stock XPS because of the conflict of interest, they also no longer stock JR for the same reason I think, Graupner have a long relationship with Multiplex in this regard.  I did not say the Graupner have dropped the 400 mhz gear only that it had been withdrawn from the web site, I don't know if they have dropped it or not, only that it has dissapeared.  Mike

Your welcome, just wanted to ensure that others don't make the mistake I did and belived the hype given out by Jim Drew of XPS, trouble is Graupner did and I think are begining to regret it.  Mike

The Assan system is a single channel system that does not hop as opposed to the Spektrum which is two channel and the Futaba which seems to use them all at one time or another, seriously the Assan makes no false claims about its ability, but is only a single PPM channel system.  I have to admit I fly on a DX7 and a Futaba Zap with a Spektrum module with absolutly no problems of any shape, although if I was going to make the decision again I would probably go with the Futaba FASST sytem only because technically it seems to be more fail proof, I just wish it had smaller antenna like the Spektrum.  Mike

The Graupner IFS system is the US XPS system, to cut a long story short, its like flying on PPM the only difference is that instead of glitches you get lockout, very scary on a 2M F3A plane, Graupner gave my supplier a full re-fund after pointing out the various threads reporting trouble with the XPS system, I have now heard of others getting re-funds without the trouble I went to, it is also interesting to note that the 400Ghz system that XPS was bringing out and was advertised on the Graupner web site has now been withdrawn from the Graupner site.  Mike

Well I took the 5 question test and got only 30%, I thought that can't be right, so I took the 10 question test and got 90% at that point I quit whilst I was ahead.  Mike

Timbo  Sorry for not comming back sooner, but I lost the thread in my favorites for some reason.  Thank you for the information very good detail and will do the mod asap.  What is needed from someone hint hint, is a plug in board of some kind to allow this to be done on say a Futaba FF9 with a LiPo battery, perhaps just a board with a sounder whith plugs either end one for the battery the other for the Tx connection.  Mike

All my old receivers are fine, its me that needs the service.  Mike

Eric  I have one of those fans inside the plane to keep the lipo's cool, I only switch it on once I have landed by a Tx switch,  mainly because the max temp I have seen is once I have landed, due to no airflow over the batteries.  Mike

Don  What do you need? I may be able to help,  I use Deans plugs and sockets on my A123 and XHjst ballance leads, these are on two and four cell packs I have made up from DeWalt 36volt batteries.  Mike

Tom  Its on advice from FlightPower that you should wait for the pack to cool down before charging,  The Bantam 902 has a heat sensor lead that you can put on the pack and it will cut the charge off or never start it if the pack is over 80deg C, this seems to agree with FlightPower's recommendations.  Mike

John  Sorry the thread lost some direction in there, afraid I can't help on the Pro Peak as I don't have one, so it would only be supposition on my part to comment, I will have a look at one and give you my opinion, but in my experience the Tenergy or DN power are two of the best with I think its the ORCA for balance charging anything up too four cells.  Tom  I have just read through the spec of the new Graupner Duo Charger it has the ability to charge through both outlets separately at 180watts, so as I have my 10S packs as two 5S I could charge each 5S pack at 8amps each pack at the same time, or more sensibly at the 1C rate of 4amps each pack, that is the optimum rate of charge and will give the quickest turn around of the discharged packs, now all I have to do is make up a cooling cell to put the batteries into when the come out of the plane so that I can charge them as soon as they cool down.  Mike

Tom  I already have the Bantam 902 which can charge 12S, unfortuantly it is only a 300watt charger so on 10S (42volts) it can only charge at 7amps, I will have a look at the Cellpro and see what it can achive, thanks for the heads up.  Mike  EDIT: The Cellpro is also only a 300watt charger so the same 7amps is only achivable on 10 cells, most of the manufacturers will quote a 10amp charge rate, but they are talking about a lower than 10 cell count, still it was worth a check, thanks again.  Mike