Super 60 servo/ flight battery

[Hunter]

Hi All

    Just getting back into r/c aircraft, and have a Ben buckle super 60 to build

  I was hoping someone could recommend suitable servos,  have so far  looked at the Futaba su300 & su301, just need some recommendations on which one, the su300 are cheaper and I think they will do the job.

  Also what size flight battery, I assume a 6 volt system is in order?

 I look forward to your advice

 much appreciated 

mark 

[GrumpyGnome]

Welcome back!

 

Your model going to be ic or electric?

[Hunter]

Hi,

      It will be ic

[Hunter]

40 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:

 

Edited January 6 by Hunter

[David Davis]

I've had three Super 60s, two i/c and one electric. You don't need anything more fancy than Hitec HS311 standard servos at about £14 each. 4.8 or 6volt rx battery will be fine.

 

Don't over-power it. A 40 four-stroke is plenty.

[Hunter]

Thanks David, I shall look into that, they are alittle cheaper only just!

     What would you recommend for flight battery mah 

mark 

[Jon H]

6 minutes ago, Hunter said:

Thanks David, I shall look into that, they are alittle cheaper only just!

     What would you recommend for flight battery mah 

mark 

 

In the old days a 700mah nicad would fly one of those all weekend. 1200mah is the smallest standard pack these days and it would be more than adequate. 

[David Davis]

1 hour ago, Hunter said:

Thanks David, I shall look into that, they are alittle cheaper only just!

     What would you recommend for flight battery mah 

mark 

 

If you're a confirmed Futaba man Hunter stick with what you know. I have had very good service from Hitec and Savox servos.

[Hunter]

Thanks all I’ve taken all onboard! 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

All said, 3k plastic geared servos 4.8v /6v battery pack over 1000mah Nimh,,,,

[Cuban8]

Go for a five cell Nimh pack. The extra cost and weight penalty are negligable, especially on a Super 60, but the extra reliability is well worth it. As has been said it doesn't have to be huge capacity wise - 1200 to 1500mA/Hr is loads. Buy a decent RX switch and avoid these cheap Futaba/Hitec or whatever  'compatible' cheapies like the plague including the ones with the charging port. They are a lottery as to the quality of what you'll get, accordingly many will say they are fine......not in my experience I'm afraid.

One of the forumites recommended one of these https://sussex-model-centre.co.uk/collections/electrical-switches/products/etronix-power-switch a while back when I questioned the quality of a lot of the cheap mechanical  RX switches on sale. I've had one for a while now and have full confidence in it.

Only slight snag is it's best to disconnect it from the supplying battery at the end of flying - no real hardship if planned for when installing. Most likely case of 'radio failure' is a dud power supply so really make sure what you use is as robust as possible including the charging regime and regular capacity checks. Fit and forget your RX battery is asking for trouble. Even the cheapest four button chargers can check for on-load performance and capacity so you can monitor if your RX pack is becoming tired before it finally goes to sleep.......usually when you're flying!

All very easy and non technical to do. Good luck and enjoy the model.

Edited January 7 by Cuban8

[Hunter]

Thanks Cuban, I Intend to go 6 volts, and shall be investing in one of those rx switches, as I seem to remember someone else complaining about reliability of said switch’s! So thank you for that.

going to have a look at those hitec servos hs311’s as most seem to think there pretty good

[Engine Doctor]

As already said around 1500 mah is fine. Dont be tempted to for higher mah bstteries. Anything over 2000 to 2100 mah are more prone to failure from vibration and are not made for higher drain usage. 

[Don Fry]

From memory, a junior 60 uses about 50 mah of battery per 20 minute flight. It’s a long time ago, used a 500 mah pack. Flew all day. 

[Hunter]

Good information thank you, I’m certain I will have further questions, once build starts in earnest!

if anyone has any further advice regarding servos batteries ect ect I’m always pleased to hear from them 

Much appreciated 

 

[Engine Doctor]

14 hours ago, Don Fry said:

From memory, a junior 60 uses about 50 mah of battery per 20 minute flight. It’s a long time ago, used a 500 mah pack. Flew all day. 

Hi Don yes 500mah were very tough and Nicads. I think  Nicads have a better power delivery curve that would slowly drop and you could feel or see the slower servo responce  wheras Nihms go go go go then drop voltage hence the higher capicity. Also our radio have changed . In Nicad days it was 27 then 35 meg radio in the UK  and radios didnt brown out like 2.4 but would gradually as said give slower servo responce and gradually reduced range. 

Some of our radio buffs might be able to explain it better ?

[Don Fry]

3 hours ago, Engine Doctor said:

Hi Don yes 500mah were very tough and Nicads. I think  Nicads have a better power delivery curve that would slowly drop and you could feel or see the slower servo responce  wheras Nihms go go go go then drop voltage hence the higher capicity. Also our radio have changed . In Nicad days it was 27 then 35 meg radio in the UK  and radios didnt brown out like 2.4 but would gradually as said give slower servo responce and gradually reduced range. 

Some of our radio buffs might be able to explain it better ?

Doc, fair enough, I’m not too interested in tech, and nowadays even less with telemetry warnings from the plane shouting at me in a desirable accent, but, first line of my post, a J60, ( trundle flight mostly but rudder only rolls and loops also), use about 50 mah of battery per 20 minutes of flight. I also think NiMh batteries are poor things, but that still allows 2 hours of flight, to take about half the power from a 600mah battery.

Note for pedants, measurements of power use relate to the numbers given by the charger, to return the cell to full power. I ignore power losses in the charger, batteries, and the principles of thermodynamics. 
I also dislike adding weight for no reason. Just because it will carry a big wight on the CG , to help in blustery weather, does not mean it flies better like that. Dream, warm summers evening, no wind, scantily clad young ladies serving beer, rolling yer fags, as you carefully waft it along. 
My view, 2025, all power bits, weather glow, or electric, inc fuel tank, batteries, go in front of the windscreen. Then a 600 mah life battery to power it all, and a pair of HV 15, 20 g servos, behind the wind screen bulkhead, controls to the tail, 10 kg fishing trace. It is tight to fit, it will go it, and with care on a light back end, try balsa depron laminate on the elevator fin, I bet it would not need a gram of weight to put in the nose. I admit, I like light airframes.

[Nigel R]

5 hours ago, Engine Doctor said:

Hi Don yes 500mah were very tough and Nicads. I think  Nicads have a better power delivery curve that would slowly drop and you could feel or see the slower servo responce  wheras Nihms go go go go then drop voltage hence the higher capicity. Also our radio have changed . In Nicad days it was 27 then 35 meg radio in the UK  and radios didnt brown out like 2.4 but would gradually as said give slower servo responce and gradually reduced range. 

Some of our radio buffs might be able to explain it better ?

 

ED

 

The discharge curves of nicad and nimh are nigh-on identical (at least all those I have seen). Nimh simply have more capacity. With the same load, a nimh would actually drop voltage slower than a comparable size/weight nicad.

 

Graceful failure of 35MHz operation (in several ways) may have been "useful" but it was only a by-product of the nature of the (broadly) analogue design and not a deliberate feature - I'll take a configurable low volt (and poor signal strength) telemetry warning from modern 2.4GHz kit any day of the week.

 

The less said about brown out and 2.4GHz the better, or someone will come along and mention Spektrum and that'll be the end of the thread 😆

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Be careful how and what you use and install as battery and switch, see what happened later on, "Have you been flying today", when my phone gets to download the photos.🤢

[GrumpyGnome]

Lots of opinions on most things 🙂

 

I prefer NiMhs to LiFes..... my limited experiences with LiFes have been less than perfect

 

Some telemetry seems to be a waste of time - like the constant "timer start", "timer stop" a colleagues set chirrups (to be fair, I'm sure he could turn it off quite easily. Others I find really useful - like an altitude warning if I get near our NOTAM limit, warnings of low voltage and poor signal, reminders if I've left my model in an incorrect flight mode. I personally think displaying it on a screen is utterly pointless...... others may disagree of course.

 

Never added ballast to a power model, but found it very useful on slope soarers, increasing stick time.

[Don Fry]

I will say, switch. A good switch costs money, if it’s cheap, it’s rubbish, if it’s expensive, (it might still be rubbish) but if it’s a throw switch, or the maker says it fails open, try it. But never cheap. Or you have forum mates, trusted reviews. Lots of switch posts out there

[PatMc]

6 hours ago, Engine Doctor said:

Hi Don yes 500mah were very tough and Nicads. I think  Nicads have a better power delivery curve that would slowly drop and you could feel or see the slower servo responce  wheras Nihms go go go go then drop voltage hence the higher capicity. Also our radio have changed . In Nicad days it was 27 then 35 meg radio in the UK  and radios didnt brown out like 2.4 but would gradually as said give slower servo responce and gradually reduced range. 

Some of our radio buffs might be able to explain it better ?

Fashion, belief in myth, grasping at straws, gullibility ...  

[Don Fry]

7 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:

Lots of opinions on most things 🙂

 

I prefer NiMhs to LiFes..... my limited experiences with LiFes have been less than perfect

 

Some telemetry seems to be a waste of time - like the constant "timer start", "timer stop" a colleagues set chirrups (to be fair, I'm sure he could turn it off quite easily. Others I find really useful - like an altitude warning if I get near our NOTAM limit, warnings of low voltage and poor signal, reminders if I've left my model in an incorrect flight mode. I personally think displaying it on a screen is utterly pointless...... others may disagree of course.

 

Never added ballast to a power model, but found it very useful on slope soarers, increasing stick time.

Totally agree, turn the rubbish off. But low battery warnings good. Somethings wrong if it even dips into this area. I ballast this sort of model, same reason you ballast a soarer in the wind, helps it to penetrate the wind. Also note, lose the weight first, nice in calm, get wind, attach weight on CG. That’s logic.

[Frank Skilbeck]

Had a Super Sixty years ago, it was powered by OS25, Irvine 25 two strokes, OS40 FS and PAW35, yes I used it to mess around with engines. It used Fleet standard servos with a 600 mah 4 cell AA nicad. So nothing fancy required servo wise, but I'd stick with a known brand due to the IC vibration. I'd avoid AAA flight packs, I've used these on similar sized IC models https://www.componentshop.co.uk/6v-1600mah-2-3a-nimh-hump-rc-battery-pack-vapex.html

[Don Fry]

I’m in a pugnacious mood. Allegations of vibrations in an airframe made of wood, a natural vibration damper, causing problems with cheap servos.

I would suggest, address addiction to cheap servos. At what price point is it possible to make a servo, and feed the producer, and his workers.