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Posted by: greggold
05-10-2023, 10:14 AM
Forum: General
- Replies (3)

John Hopke (in my opinion the best of the online RC bloggers) has a new video that shows how to assess the condition of your lipos.

The idea is you measure the number of mah during a discharge that goes from 4.2v to 3.6v, using a 2C current. This number should be above 85% of the nominal capacity, if not, he recommends discard the lipo.

The video shows a dedicated RC discharger being used to measure the percentage of nominal capacity, however I think most lipo chargers (that can discharge) can give you the measurement (of mah required to discharge).
The video is doubly worth a look as it explains several important points, such as why the discharge stops at 3.6v.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwvI5I2x900

The testing has a focus on 4S or 6S, 4000mah capacity lipos, and I think the smaller lipos I use (3S, 1000 or 1300 mah) may have higher internal resistance, and possibly should have a discard figure of 80 and not 85%.

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Posted by: greggold
03-10-2023, 10:48 AM
Forum: General
- Replies (2)

I am not a fan of RC simulators, and prefer whatever RC time I get to be expended at the field. However I have dabbled with flight sims (on a mac only a limited range of sims are available, the one I have is AeroflyRC9) and one of my favorite models is a indoor F3P aerobatic model called Elanor. Its the best aerobatic trainer you can imagine, allowing the pilot sufficient time to apply correct controls for each manoeuvre. You fly in a different flight regime where the balance of gravity and drag are altered. 

Yesterday at McCoy I saw an Elanor-type model in action, it is an original design, built and flown by Steve. Its a brilliant plane.

Here is an original Elanor in action in 2014. It has 2 counter-rotating props.     
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHP5JF3k1bw

Here are various F3P vids:
https://www.pauzuolis-rc.com/events-list...-in-alytus
(you have to scroll down to locate the videos)

In  RC Groups there are threads and a forum for indoor aerobatic models, with posts mostly consisting of people searching for suitable parts.

Fortunately there are now practical F3P kits by RCFactory on sale:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthre...ATILE-CLIK

https://www.rc-factory.eu/letadla/indoor...lite-red-2

The kit price is Euro 73. If you buy it with the full equipment set it costs Euro 155. I have a superlite rc-factory model which I found took longer than an average RCFactory foamie to build, but its not more difficult. I fly it in a local oval at sunrise.  I found I did not need to buy the equipment set, as you can source your own suitable servos, motor, prop etc. In Australia Micronwings is a good source of small rc parts, eg 3gm servos:
https://micronwings.com/product/servo-em...m-digital/

Note you can fly indoor models outside, if you get up early enough when conditions are still calm, and you can fly them in a backyard or anywhere.

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Posted by: greggold
29-09-2023, 01:13 PM
Forum: General
- Replies (2)

I do not have an outside garage to store and charge my lipos, the hobby workspace is inside our house.
I recently found a useful item at Bunnings, its a Craftright steel toolbox (159mmx137mmx385mm) for $15 that has a clip to keep the lid shut, and can hold 6 or more lipos. I now have 4 of the craftright boxes, 2 other metal boxes that look similar, and a medium Batbox which is a fairly pricey item. I divide my collection of 2S and 3S lipos between the 7 boxes, and I also place the removable lipo battery from the electric lawnmower in a box.

The storage is just one aspect of preventing a lipo fire, I am sure most points are well known but this article covers them fairly well.
https://dronebotworkshop.com/lipo-safety/

I generally charge 12 lipos for a flying session, so I use 3 dual chargers (mainly ToolkitRC M6D, that have no AC connection and run off a separate power supply, and are considerably cheaper than AC power models). I choose the ToolkitRC after trying several other brands over a long period. Thus 6 lipos are charged simultaneously, and as the article recommends I charge at 1C. So I hang around the workroom for 2 hours while the charging takes place. I always check individual cell voltages several times during balance charging, and the IR at least once. 

I keep welders gloves and a fire blanket handy, in the hope I could wrap up an igniting lipo and throw it into the yard in time. I have a fire extinguisher ready for other items that may have caught fire. And the room has a smoke detector. I do not pretend these measures ensure perfect safety, the aim is just to make it as safe as possible.

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Posted by: greggold
19-09-2023, 02:47 PM
Forum: General
- No Replies

The betafpv rx has 5 sets of pwm pins.
I have not used the betafpv rx with 2 aileron channels (I used a y-lead). However Florian is using this rx on his superextra with 2 ailerons plugged into the rx.

The number of sets of pwm pins is not the number of elrs channels, I set the number of channels to 8. When I run the elrs lua, I get packet rate 100 Hz full, telem ratio 1:32, switch mode 8ch, model match off. 

In the mixer you leave ch 5 empty, and set one aileron to ch 6.  This ch6 aileron then plugs into the 5th set of pins.

As a general rule, leave ch 5 empty in the mixer. It is the elrs arming channel, and arming is best managed with the same switch you use for throttle cut/throttle armed, using a special function entry.

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Posted by: rcpilot
18-09-2023, 04:23 PM
Forum: For Sale
- No Replies

2 Brand new canopies for Trex 700
These are made by Fusuno, nicely finished. for T-rex 700N. Will fit 700E as well.
They look similar but a little different color scheme.
Un used.
$60 each
Pickup schofields

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Posted by: rcpilot
18-09-2023, 04:14 PM
Forum: For Sale
- No Replies

Very Little Use excellent shape, Align 700M Heli motor 510KV
Currently running similar motor in my logo600 on 12s and it does an excellent job.

$60
Pickup schofields

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Posted by: rcpilot
18-09-2023, 04:02 PM
Forum: For Sale
- No Replies

Herr / Sig Cloud ranger. Kit built, in mint shape.

Details here.
https://www.htdirect.com.au/products/sig...-sighrr508

The plane, with motor, 30A ESC, Hobbyking servos x4, one 1300mah 3s battery.

Will make a nice aileron trainer, kit alone is $200

Selling for $150

If required, a MODE 2,  DX6i radio with receiver is also available for extra

Pickup schofields.

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Posted by: rcpilot
18-09-2023, 12:54 PM
Forum: For Sale
- Replies (1)

Selling a Durafly Tomahawk FPV wing.
Details here.
https://hobbyking.com/.../durafly-tomaha...mini-class...
Comes with motor, prop, ESC and servos.
$50 pickup from schofields    

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Posted by: greggold
15-09-2023, 12:01 PM
Forum: General
- No Replies

ELRS telemetry can cause confusion for flyers migrating from other RC equipment where for example RSSI is a percentage and a positive number. These 2 videos are useful guides to the differences in elrs telemetry.

One principle is that RSSI is better understood when you take account of your packet rate. When I run my lua script on my Radiomaster, it shows typical values for an airplane flyer:
packet rate 100 Hz (full) (-112db)
telemetry ratio 1:32
switch mode 8
Tx power 100mw (dynamic) 

Notice (-112 db) after the packet rate, that is the limit for RSSI, any lower will mean a failsafe. This limit is different for different packet rates. Bardwell recommends a buffer of around 10 db, so I set my RSSI warning for an rssi of -102.

Bardwell on RSSI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnWdIssBk-c

Bardwell on Troubleshooting Failsafes (using telemetry)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4EcxopG-Qo&t=700s

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Posted by: greggold
13-09-2023, 12:17 PM
Forum: General
- Replies (4)

Arming - or not arming - has been a lively debate that has led to progress: John Hopke has now produced a definitive guide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARCfafma1rM

Some airplane flyers regard elrs as a drone rc system, with unnecessary features/requirements such as arming. They think plane flyers should stick to real airplane rc systems such as Spectrum and Futaba. Well they are right elrs is a drone system, that developed out of the need for fpv drones to maintain a rc signal with a decent rx signal to noise ratio at 20 km. The thing is, this elrs rc signal is also better than the legacy systems for flying line of sight planes at 200 m in noisy radio environments.

It is integral to elrs that channel 5 is for arming, it only has two positions, armed or not armed, unless you choose a special elrs tx mode which the video explains. However you do not need to worry about ch5 or special modes.

The video gives examples of calls for help, such as this: my betafpv or RM rx has 5 sets of pwm pins, I am using ch1 rud; ch2 ele; ch3 thr; ch4 left ail; ch5 right ail. Everything works except the right aileron, which only goes full up or full down, and nothing in between.

The solution is simple, but not intuitive for plane flyers who think 5 sets of pwm pins means 5 channels... but that is not true with elrs. You simply re-map the right aileron onto ch 6 in the mixer, leaving the R ail servo plugged into the 5th set of pwm pins (if this point or the next para confuses you please ask a club member who uses elrs for help).

Ch 5 remains empty in the mixer, but you assign a switch to arm or disarm ch 5. If you use a throttle cut/thr-active switch (which is always active when the plane is in the air), this switch is set in a special function to override ch5, so that whenever the thr is active, the plane is armed.

The bottom line: the video explains what being armed means, and reasons why you might want to be armed. Most plane flyers will want to use the elrs dynamic power feature and this works better if you are armed. A comment under the video by alanpaul1234 explains why dyn power works less well if you are not armed.

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