zope_pope

Hi guys,
I have been having a small glitch when my elevator is under load. The aircraft is a 1.20 DP Ultimate Bipe. I am running 4 standard servos in the ailerons, a micro for throttle, a 1/4 scale servo for rudder, and a digital high speed high torque for elevator. Could it be causing a voltage spike that makes my rx drop the signal? I have a voltwatch and immediately after turning on the airplane and moving the controls, the light drops yellow. I usually dont have a glitch on the first flight out, but the second and third I most definately do. I am currently running a single 1400 mah 4.8v nicad. I am wondering what you guys recommend for battery solutions for this bird and what charger.

Adam

Rodney

Make sure you have heavy duty wiring between your battery and the reciever and also between the receiver and the servos, especially the ones demanding the higher current. Unfortunately, many of the switch harnesses are made up with to small a gage wiring and this can cause many problems when you start drawing the higher currents. One way to test for this problem is to power your servos, at least the high current users, from a seperate battery and switch assembly. To do this, break the positive lead between the receiver and servo and patch in the new power supply direct to the servo thru another switch. Keep a common ground between both power supplies but; if the receiver and servo shares a common ground wire, make sure it is a heavy gage wire.

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

I have done studies checking my voltage drops. I assume that your voltwatch is plugged into the receiver. If this is true, then look for your switch, and it's connectors to be the problem. I tested a standard switch at 5 amps and saw over 1/2 volt drop. THE wires on your battery is also a problem. If you have a volt meter, put it across the switch, receiver on one end and battery on the other. Put it on volts and move the controls around. If you see a voltage, then you are loosing power in your switch and connectors. THe best switch I have found is the MPI HD switch. It has a bypass for the ground and the positive goes across both blades of the switch's contact.

zope_pope

Cool, I will have to go try this, but as far as batteries go should that one be sufficient? Also i read a long time ago that one needs to have a charger that will charge atleast at 10% of the capacity in order for it to get a full charge. I have not been doing this, could this be an issue? I plan on getting a high quality charger too so I was wondering if you had any recommendations. I hope we can finally put this glitch away in my favorite plane as I am scared to even take it to the field. Thanks.

zope_pope

I also may need to check the servo extensions and make sure they are heavy duty because the four aileron servos in the wings have pretty long extensions. The larger servos are connected directly to the receiver, so I am not sure if the stock wiring of the servo may be at fault. Thanks for your input. I will pick up a heavy duty switch this weekend and check the results. I will let you know. But I do believe that possibly I am at fault for not charging the battery 100%. I remember doing a longer charge than usual (just to make sure) on my maiden day to the field and experienced no glitches on 4-5 flights. All along this may have been user error. :P Let me know what you guys think.