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Laser Engines - Technical questions


Jon H

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1 hour ago, Andy Stephenson said:

Heads up for the BMFA annual bonanza of overpaying for ancient engines.

Lot355 is a very early Laser 180 vee twin. Given the stupid high prices bid for lots in this auction last time, I expect this to be no different.

 

But they wont post stuff. Makes it a waste of time in my view. 

 

As for the 180v, bin it and buy the 200 they have on there instead. Its still old, but at least its still supported. 

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10 hours ago, Jon - Laser Engines said:

 

But they wont post stuff. Makes it a waste of time in my view. 

 

As for the 180v, bin it and buy the 200 they have on there instead. Its still old, but at least its still supported. 

But collectors don't care if its supported or not despite your good advice.

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At Jon's request, I've split some off topic posts into a new thread. Please bear in mind that this thread was set up for the express purpose of contacting Jon directly with technical questions relating to the use and maintenance of Laser engines so for anything else, either use the new thread [below], a relevant existing thread or start a new one.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jon / gents,

 

I would like to have measure engine temperature on my Lasers. Maybe not as a permanent solution but more like testing that the baffling is doing its job as expected and so on, for peace of mind.  Anyways, do you gents have any experience on telemetry sensors such as this one or similar:

 

https://futabausa.com/product/sbs-01t/

 

It may be  difficult to keep the wire sensor close to the cylinder head, though. Maybe the optimal solution would be to have a tab on the copper glow plug washer to which you could attach a temperature sensor. And thus get a more reliable reading.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen any sensor like like that on the market so far.

 

Any thoughts or first hand experience on some set-up to measure engine temperature? 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Artto Ilmanen said:

Jon / gents,

 

I would like to have measure engine temperature on my Lasers. Maybe not as a permanent solution but more like testing that the baffling is doing its job as expected and so on, for peace of mind.  Anyways, do you gents have any experience on telemetry sensors such as this one or similar:

 

https://futabausa.com/product/sbs-01t/

 

It may be  difficult to keep the wire sensor close to the cylinder head, though. Maybe the optimal solution would be to have a tab on the copper glow plug washer to which you could attach a temperature sensor. And thus get a more reliable reading.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen any sensor like like that on the market so far.

 

Any thoughts or first hand experience on some set-up to measure engine temperature? 

 

 

That Futaba sensor looks similar to one Jeti offers for their system. I have never used the Jeti temp sensor so can't offer any first hand advice, but attached is an image copied from the Jeti manual for that product that might give you some ideas.

 

Dick

Temp sensor MT300.jpg

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Thanks Dick,

 

You are most likely referring to this:

 

https://file.espritmodel.com/documents/pdf/jeti-mt300.pdf

 

extract from the manual:

"..Before tightening moisten the silicon tube with alcohol or white spirit in order to improve its sliding ability on the cables. Put the measuring object, for instance an engine cylinder, through the loop and tighten the loop strongly by means of the silicon tube in order to obtain a tight contact between the loop and the measuring object (for instance with cooling fins of an engine cylinder). After evaporation of the alcohol the silicon tube will firmly hold the loop tight. In order not to damage the sensor the dia. of the loop should not be smaller than 20 mm."

 

Maybe this setup could work. I'm not sure if there are any Futaba FASStest compatible sensors other than genuine Futaba, though. But the principle of mounting the sensor can most likely be similar no matter what make sensor in question.

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Artto Ilmanen said:

......................... I'm not sure if there are any Futaba FASStest compatible sensors other than genuine Futaba, though. But the principle of mounting the sensor can most likely be similar no matter what make sensor in question.

 

 

SM Modelbau in Germany make sensors that are compatible with Futaba, but are mainly aimed at electric models. To get a temperature sensor you would have to use their UniLog 2 with their add on temperature sensor. Not a cheap solution, but different. 

https://www.sm-modellbau.de/UniLog-2-und-Zubehoer     scroll down the page for their 300 degree temperature sensor

I use quite a lot of their gear and it all works well for me.

 

Dick

 

Edited by Dickw
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3 minutes ago, Dickw said:

SM Modelbau in Germany make sensors that are compatible with Futaba, but are mainly aimed at electric models. To get a temperature sensor you would have to use their UniLog 2 with their add on temperature sensor. Not a cheap solution, but different. 

https://www.sm-modellbau.de/UniLog-2-und-Zubehoer     scroll down the page for their 300 degree temperature sensor

I use quite a lot of their gear and it all works well for me.

 

Dick

 

 

Thanks Dick!

 

I will have a look on these

 

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Artto, I have been think about this for some time as I fly quite a few twins and was interested in using real time telemetry at events where tuning time is limited. Plus with flying slots its start and go + other noisy 2 strokes making a pair of Lasers (on the down wind leg) almost impossible to hear.

 

Not sure measuring cylinder head temperature will tell you/me much as I suspect ambient air temperature and model air speed will determine the temp, plus if its hot/cold what does that mean? Possibly more reliable with a twin, but probably quite slow to register a temperature change from "normal"

 

Perhaps somewhere on the exhaust might be more responsive?

 

I am now thinking for a twin perhaps a comparison of prop RPM might indicate something going wrong?

 

What are you trying to achieve?

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I use FrSky temp sensors to monitor the difference in temp between the 2 cylinders on my Laser in-line twins. Whilst I've not seen a big variation if I did then I could execute some low throttle dives to try and cool things down before landing. I have found them useful to tell me if my cooling ducting is working and as they are FrSky they are inexpensive too!

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