Converting to electric
06-09-2014, 10:12 AM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: freeland,
MD
Posts: 57
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Converting to electric
Folks
I realized I have not been flying much this spring and all I need to do to fly is walk out of my house, go to my hanger get my junk and cart it to the airstrip on my farm. I have come to the conclusion that I have gotten lazy, Often I pick up my son's foamy supercub, plop a lipo battery into it and stand in the doorway of the hanger and fly around with an occasional loop or roll. It is soooo easy.
Thus, I would like to convert some of my planes to electric. I would like to start with my trainer, a Tower Hobby 40.
I have absolutely no experience with electric except for the foamy so I need help and recommendations
What motor to replace the 46 that is in the trainer, what prop to go with motor, what battery to go with the motor, what other stuff, How do i mount the motor,etc etc/
Also I have a few other planes that I would consider converting so how do I know what motor replaces the Nitro engine that is in a plane
thanks
Irvin
I realized I have not been flying much this spring and all I need to do to fly is walk out of my house, go to my hanger get my junk and cart it to the airstrip on my farm. I have come to the conclusion that I have gotten lazy, Often I pick up my son's foamy supercub, plop a lipo battery into it and stand in the doorway of the hanger and fly around with an occasional loop or roll. It is soooo easy.
Thus, I would like to convert some of my planes to electric. I would like to start with my trainer, a Tower Hobby 40.
I have absolutely no experience with electric except for the foamy so I need help and recommendations
What motor to replace the 46 that is in the trainer, what prop to go with motor, what battery to go with the motor, what other stuff, How do i mount the motor,etc etc/
Also I have a few other planes that I would consider converting so how do I know what motor replaces the Nitro engine that is in a plane
thanks
Irvin
06-10-2014, 06:52 AM
#2
My Feedback: (2)
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 4,109
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi Irvin,
The primary issue when converting a glow plane to electric is usually battery access. There are a wide variety of electric motors available that are direct replacements for the equivalent size of glow engine. You can go to Tower Hobbies or Horizon Hobby and find a RimFire .46 brushless outrunner or an Eflite Power 46 motor. If you read the reseller's information about the motor, it will almost always provide a recommended amperage rating for an ESC and a recommended range of propellers.
Your Tower Hobbies 40 trainer could be converted easily enough using a RimFire .32 brushless outrunner, a motor mount, a 60 Amp brushless ESC, a 12x6 electric prop, and a 4S 3200 MaH battery pack. The issue you'll have is having to pull the wing off the plane every time you need to change the battery. You may also find that many glow planes don't have enough ground clearance to use the recommended size of electric propeller. Converting the Tower Trainer 40 to a tail dragger would likely solve this, but it would require a fair amount of re-engineering the plane. You could also cut a battery hatch into the fuselage in front of the wing saddle while you're moving the landing gear.
I've seen the Tower Trainer 40 converted to electric before by one of my club mates; it turned out to be quite a nice flying plane. Good luck and good shopping!
The primary issue when converting a glow plane to electric is usually battery access. There are a wide variety of electric motors available that are direct replacements for the equivalent size of glow engine. You can go to Tower Hobbies or Horizon Hobby and find a RimFire .46 brushless outrunner or an Eflite Power 46 motor. If you read the reseller's information about the motor, it will almost always provide a recommended amperage rating for an ESC and a recommended range of propellers.
Your Tower Hobbies 40 trainer could be converted easily enough using a RimFire .32 brushless outrunner, a motor mount, a 60 Amp brushless ESC, a 12x6 electric prop, and a 4S 3200 MaH battery pack. The issue you'll have is having to pull the wing off the plane every time you need to change the battery. You may also find that many glow planes don't have enough ground clearance to use the recommended size of electric propeller. Converting the Tower Trainer 40 to a tail dragger would likely solve this, but it would require a fair amount of re-engineering the plane. You could also cut a battery hatch into the fuselage in front of the wing saddle while you're moving the landing gear.
I've seen the Tower Trainer 40 converted to electric before by one of my club mates; it turned out to be quite a nice flying plane. Good luck and good shopping!
06-11-2014, 06:35 PM
#4
There's a whole separate sub-forum here on that.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/glow...nversions-132/
Not sure why there isn't one on converting electric to glow or glow to gas . . . rubber to electric?
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/glow...nversions-132/
Not sure why there isn't one on converting electric to glow or glow to gas . . . rubber to electric?
06-11-2014, 08:44 PM
#5
My Feedback: (2)
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Omaha, NE
Posts: 4,109
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The gap in the RimFire line jumps from a .32 replacement to a .46 replacement. Unless you're planning on putting the Tower Trainer 40 ARF on floats or carrying camera equipment on it, a .46 motor is overkill for the airframe.
