need help

[Alvin Espley]

HI! NEED A LITTLE HELP,i have just brought a super HET tucano from the overlander stall at cosford LMA show and plan to fly it using nimh packs,but the pack i brought with the model is a tornado 3300 pack and it weighs about 515 grams,it just seems a little heavy for a 1 meter model,havent yet flown it would like some advice before i do..

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Hmm, yes is that 4s Alvin? Did Overlander recommend the pack?

David.

[Alvin Espley]

Hi david, the pack is a tornado trc 3700 9.6 sub c pack constant discharge rate of 25-35 amp, the guy on the stand did tell me that would be a good pack for the model, the motor i plan to use is a brushless bm2409-12,he also recomended a7x5 prop,would like to here your thought on this set up.The main problem im having is that the model had no instrution manual,so i downloaded it from the HET website, but there is no mention of max weight for the model or balance point, so im just a little unsure ,would welcome any heip!

[Helidel]

David

A 4S for a Nimnh ?? tut tut!!

[Helidel]

Alvin

I've flown the Tucano but on a 3S1P 2100 mA Lipo. It, with your brushless motor will be a super combo .. but make sure your ESC suits Lipos.

It's not a 1st plane though, quite quick if you don't keep control your left stick!

Derek

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Sorry Derek, must read SLOWLY next time ...

David.

[Alvin Espley]

Hi Derek! right stick for me im afraid , no i have been flying a few years now but im just getting into flying electrics,seems a lot to take in what with all the different battery packs motors and speed controllers,but im enjoying learning...

[Tom Sharp]

The 3700 sub c cells are heavy but they do produce a significant amount of extra power compared with earlier 3000 and 3300 types.

[Rob Owen]

I have just finished building the 1200 Overlander Tucano, on the box it says the flying weight is 1200g but mine comes out at 1600!!!!. This is even having used the battery up front to aid with the C.O.G. Overlander suggest balancing the model without the battery therefore allowing any type of pack to sit on the C.O.G. This would have made it even heavier!


Has any one else weighed their tucano and if so what do they come out at? Personnaly I can not see where I could save 400g's

Think I may even ring Overlander to see if this is a mistake.

Any replys welcome

Cheers Rob

[Helidel]

Haven't got my Tucano now but it weighed in at 1400gr all up.
My setup was: 3S1P 2100 20C Lipo 8 x 6 APCe prop
I got about 7 mins flying (I don't use full throttle much!) and only used 2/3rds battery, and could get another 7 mins after about an hours rest.

Depending on your setup and how you fly you should get a similar performance.

Helidel (Derek)

[Rob Owen]

Cheers Derek

Feel a bit better reading your post as I am using the 3300 3S1P so it is slightly bigger/heavier.

Rang Overlander today as well, and they say that it will fly with no problems at that weight anyway.

[Brian Ingrey]

 Hi Alvin and other members, read my thread on the Fly Electric and Li-po's regarding my experience with my Tucano. Sorry that this is a bit of a late reply but if any of you still have a Tucano to fly then it is worth noting that even a 3700mAh  3S 11.1v li-po pushed right up to the front of the fuz.will only just bring up the correct C of G which is on the main spar. Overlander told me that the original model was designed for 2400Nimh or larger and the model would balance easier by moving the the heavier battery to obtain correct COG forward or back as the case may be. The 3700mAh li-po is much lighter and therefore needs to be as far forward as possible. The flying characteristics are great and the model does look great in the air. I followed the recommendation of using the HET 2912-10 vector motor,Jeti40amp ESCswinging a 11x7E propellor. Have no idea what the AUW is 'er indoors hid the scales' . Be interested to hear from anyone else on this topic as I think this is a great model and cheap at the price.

[Alvin Espley]

thanks Brian

i have had many flights with my tuc and its got to be one of my "fave" models it does fly really well on the tornado 3700 nimh and hand launches are easy, i get about 12 mins with a bit of throtle management but make sure to set your timer tho as you do need some power for landing as power off glide does resemble a paving slab 

[Brian Ingrey]

 Rob,read your post let us know how your model flies. Have you used the same motor and ESC as fitted to my model? Be interested to hear and as Alvin says you NEED flying speed to get down safely,this is definately not a 'floater' but it does look good in the air and is something different to the usual collection of RTF's Has anybody else got a Graupner Micro Show Flyer. My other favourite E-flyer but if anybody can finish it in 3 hours as per the review then I take my hat off to you. I fitted HS56's and for a start all the sevo boxes had to enlarged plus setting up the elevator servos, did my head in but worth the effort because it flies a treat. Happy Flying!!

[Rob Owen]

Only just got round to flying the Tuc for the 1st & 2nd time today...........work & weather conspiring against me until now.

 Have to agree that you need to get the battery as far forward as possible to aid the COG, I have built a tray for it to slide onto right behind the motor.

Anyway, it flys really well loads of power, worked out to be about 430 watts

 (11.4  x 38amps (peak static current) on a 11x 7 prop) looks great in the air and seems very aerobatic, however I have a problem and any suggestions are welcome.

On the 1st flight although there was loads of power, after about 2 mins the motor cut and would not restart, the guy test flying it made a great deadstick landing and after some head scratching we reconed that the battery probably had not been fully charged, connected up the 2nd new battery which had been charged last night, this time after about 3mins flight.......and I was now flying it, again the motor cut so quickly handed the trannie back to test flyer & he managed to sort of pancake it in.

Fortunatly there was very little damage, infact I have repaired everything this evening.

Question is WHY the short flight times?

Is it because the batteries are both new? 

Could it be because I have 4 servos on the Tornado 40amp speed controller? It is the one Overlander recommend and said should be OK with 4 micro servos, even though the instructions say it will only do 3!!!

Is it possible the thermal cut off in the speed controller is activating, even though it is cool to touch immediatly after landing?

Should I fit a UBEC?

Will the pilot need an ejector seat...................?

Do Pemptapeptides really work............?

Any help greatly received, as I am new to this.

Cheers Rob

[Helidel]

Hi Rob,

I can only offer the following:

Your problem doesn't have anything to do with the battery being new.

How did you test for the peak current (38A)? If using a wattmeter etc run the setup (on no more than 3/4 power) until the LVC operates, keeping an eye on the ESC - motor and battery temp. if the ESC reaches its thermal lmit it'll be b*****y hot! The other items should be quite warm. Operate the servos, if possible.  (watch out for the prop!!)

You should get at least 5-6 mins)  

The Overlander ESCs used to always measure the battery voltage on connection and then set the LVC, which meant an incorrect value could be set unless the battery was full.I don't know what the BEC can handle but if Overlander recommends this ESC for the Tornado it should be OK.  

How is the ESC set up .. reduce power I find is the best, then you always have a few 10 second bursts for landing.

Fitting a Ubec will only cure the problem if the Bec in the ESC is cutting out.

No ejection seat will cure the problem.

Pemptapeptides will only work if Senna-pods don't!

(apologies to Overlander if their ESC has evolved)

 Helidel 

[Rob Owen]

Hi Helidel

Thanks for the reply.

I got the amp reading using a "Grupner" clamp style meter. You are correct, the Tornado ESC does set the LVC on connection according to the battery voltage, so only a fully charged battery sets the correct LVC.

Should I really only expect to get 5-6mins on a fully charged 3300 or 3700 Lipo battery, incidentally I did measure the voltage of the battery packs this morning and the both read over 12volts, obviously this was with no load, but I shoud have thought that even on load they would have still been over 9volts.

I should have also mentioned that as soon as I had collected the plane after the 1st flight, without disconnecting the battery as I know this would have reset/lowered the LVC, we tried the motor and it still had loads of power, infact it felt just as much as before the flight.

Unfortunatly the 2nd landing/arrival has resulted in the motor barrings being knackered, as I foung out this morning on running the motor up, so I cannot try your suggestions at the moment. I am going to ring overlander (They are very helpful and friendly by the way) tomorrow and see if they have any suggestions.

 You never know it may be a faulty ESC.

 Will keep you posted.

I am not trying those SANTA-PODS..... they make you smell of burning rubber!!!

Cheers Rob

[Helidel]

Rob,

A Wattmeter or better an Emeter is a must if you are going to continue with electric flying.

FYI I use an Emeter and can do anything needed for setting up and fault finding, as I use quite a few Hyprion ESCs it can be used to set the ESC completely in a couple of minutes without any external power or connections! (so easy I can do it )

I get the following:-

Banchee        Axi 4120/14 motor - 4S 3700 mA 20C lipo - 14 x 7 APCe prop. - max draw 50A and get at least 3 7 min flights without recharging!!

Katana 30E   Hacker  A30-14L motor  - 3S 2170 mA 20C lipo - 13.6.5 APCe prop - max draw 37A and again, as my timer is set to 7 mins, I get the same results as above.

I've never reached the LVC and often only re-charge to about 20%. As I fly 3D and pattern and rarely use full throttle.

Helidel 

             
 

[Rob Owen]

Spoke to Graham (Who incidentally designed the Tuc) at Overlander today, he told me that the ESC I have is 2 generations behind the one they recommend/use now, I get the feeling he thinks it may be faulty and has asked me to send it to him to check over. I recon that I will be getting a newer one by return. told you they are nice people at Overlander. He even remembered the coversation we had a few weeks back about the COG & weight.

Asked what flight times I should expect, He says about 8-10mins should be about right depending on the use of throttle.............or should that be "Wattle" when talking about electrics?

Watch out for the next thrilling episode of "The Tucano Diary"

[Helidel]

Not "waffle" just keep your excitment and throttle under control

I'll keep a watch out

BTW are you far from Norfolk?

Helidel 

[Brian Ingrey]

 Flying all day on Thursday.... Micro Show Flyer would not rotate as grass to long -should have hand launched!! Model cartwheeled resulting in broken fuz. Fly Yak 54 with Fuji 32cc petrol and 18x8 carbon prop.Maiden flight engine and everything checked at home all well,motor sweet as nut. Took off flew for about 5mins shook my left leg to expel any unwanted deposits and decide to do a stall turn.Great, motor cut (don,t panic Mr Manwearing) did'nt think I could make the last 90 deg.turn with resulting tipstall so landed on the last bit of grass straight into a woodchip pile taking off the undercart and a few creases in the epoxy fuz + 1 broken carbon prop(Ouch) Enter farmer with 8 gang mower cuts the grass really short like a bowling green.Look at MSF and mutter a few choice words. Late Lunch and time to reflect on my happy day's flying thus far. Well might as well make it three in a row (and a bonus) Out with the TUCANO all charged up mate hand launches and up and away she goes. Clubmates look on in awe at the speed and presence of the model (not my flying). Another 3 flights and my faith in human nature is almost restored.  The moral of this story is fly the bloody Tucano FIRST!! My mate has the red version and he loses power as described in the above threads..I think the ESC is the problem? My set-up as described on my previous thread works a treat and on a BEC system using 2mini servos Rudd.& Elev. and 2HS56's for ailerons. This really is one good model.

[Rob Owen]

Latest.. Stop

"Spen Bearings" in Cleackheaton come up trumps.. Stop

Only £10 for 4 replacememt bearings!!.. Stop

2 new bearings fitted.. Stop

No more "Grumbling & Grinding" noises.. Stop

To be continued.. Stop

Have to agree with you Brian, there is something very appealing about the way the Tucano looks in the air. Got the same reaction from the guys who were at the feild the night I 1st flew mine......................well up to the point it crashed then the smart ar5e humor started about "Short landings" Hope you have managed to fix up your planes OK, the Yak sounds rather nice! 

I live in Leeds, so not really that close to Norfolk.

I know a couple of DJ's Chris Norfolk & Tim Good, they sometimes go out to gigs together, yes you've guessed it on the bill they are "Norfolk 'n' Good!!!"

[Rob Owen 2]

Have been on holiday for a couple of weeks and have just got back to find a new, improved 40amp ESC sent as an exchange by Overlander. I don't know how other people have found them to deal with, all I can say is they are very nice people to speak too and a thoroughly decent company to boot.

Will let you know how things go wsort everything out.hen it is fitted, as I am self employed I am now up to my eyeballs in work, same every time I get back of holiday, so it may be some time until I get a chance to

[Eoin]

Just a quick query. Could someone tell me where the Overlander Tucano (1.2m) is available (mail order to ireland needed.)  I cannot appear to access it in most of the online shops

Thanks

Eoin

[David Ashby - Moderator]

This'll sound obvious but I assume you've tried Overlander direct ?

www.overlander.co.uk