Electronics

[Ashley Warnes 1]

Being new to rc planes, I was wondering if anyone could inform me of any good set ups for electronics on a small budget. I found that lipo batteries are quite dangerous and didn't want to waste my money on anything that may break or explode just after buying it.

As i understand it i need to buy:

-a battery

-an ESC and

-four servos

Thanks

Ashley

[Dylan Reynolds LaserCraft Services]

Firstly welcome to the forum.

The set up you require is all dependent on the model you wish to put it into, there is no definative answer to your question, in that a given motor, will require a specific range of esc and battery set up, and there are hundreds of different motors out there. It's the same with servos, it all depends on model size, control surface usage etc.

As regards lipo batteries are dangerous, yes there is a risk with them, but they tend to only be dangerous if abused or put into extreme situations such as a crash. Don't be put off by the dangerous tag they have been given.

Your best bet is to join your local club, get some lessons and be guided as to what plane to buy by your instructor. Once a plane is chosen it may either come with everything required or it will certainly tell you what is needed to complete it.

Feel free to keep asking questions, we are all here to help, as is your local club.

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

Welcome to the forum Ashley......good advice from Dylan there..

I'm sure the forum members will be able to help you out with your request for info but first we really need to know a bit more about what you are planning to do with it...what model its for...that kind of thing. ...

Model flying has never been cheaper..or indeed more expensive. By that I mean you can buy/build small electric powered foam models for literally a few 10's of pounds or indulge to the tune of several 10's of thousands of pounds with a multi turbine powered large model.....the choice is yours (or more likely your wifes....)

[Ashley Warnes 1]

Thanks,

Am planning tobuild a balsa wood, howard hughes engineering lightwing. It has a wing span of 30 inches (762mm) and is 369mm long. My planned weight is 130g before electronics. It has rectangular wings that are about four and a half inches wide. It is a high wing trainer/sport plane and was planning to have 4 channels-aeillerons, rudder elevator and throttle. It is 1:13.06 scale to the prototype and the plans I have are made by' Derek Buckminster'

I have a budget of around £70 to £80 pounds for the whole plane and have sourced the balsa and hinges for £12 so have maximum £70 left to spend on the electronics and other bits such as landing gear.

Thanks

Ashley

[Dylan Reynolds LaserCraft Services]

Looking at that spec I'm sure you would have plenty of budget for servos and electrics such as motor, esc, battery, don't forget you will need fittings such as horns, some sort of push rods/snakes, clevices, covering, props (always have a spare) etc.

Do you have radio? Battery charger? Battery checker etc? and a watt meter would be very useful but not essential to begin with.

I would suggest maybe 9g servos, these can be picked up very cheap via the likes of Hobbyking.com (UK warehouse).

As regards motor set up some of the guys on here are more qualified to make sugestions as I am only in the early stages of this electrickery myself.

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

The Lightwing is an Austrailian homebuilt as I understand it.....high wing & not dis-similar to a Piper Cub or an Auster......power requirements will be quite small then...is it for indoor flight??

Do you have a transmitter at all or do you need to buy one? I wonder if finding a dead Kyosho Minimum model & raiding the electronics from there might help.... Micron Electronics specialise in small stuff I wonder if you might find what you need there....

Is there no guidance on the plan as to what electronics you should fit??

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

Ooo & don't forget Microaces too......some good stuff there...

[Ashley Warnes 1]

I don't have a radio or anything however I do have a battery charger which takes AA and AAA batteries.

The plan doesn't come with any guidance as to what electronics should be fitted.

Thanks to everyone so far who has posted. I will try and find out more details about the plan.

Thanks

[Dylan Reynolds LaserCraft Services]

To be honest you are going to struggle if your budget has to include the radio, there are some cheap ones out there, but to be fair I personally wouldn't go for anything below the Spektrum DX5 level or Futaba's equivalent which are going to cost around £50 new (without receiver). Combo packs are available for a little more.

You are going to need a dedicated Lipo charger as well. An AA/AAA charger just isn't going to be much use to you. Basically to keep weight down you are going to have to go the Lipo route and these HAVE to to charged with Lipo chargers, although a budget one isn't going to cost much more than £30.

But don't be put off, these are one off buys, and since you are building from a plan, build the plane, and save for the radio for when its finished.

Another good thing to do, is introduce yourself to a local model shop, a proper one mind where the staff know about rc planes, explain what you are doing and they can go through it all with you and you get to see what it is you need.