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Battery Tray Ideas

Old 10-22-2012, 03:16 PM
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can773
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Default Battery Tray Ideas

Hello all

Wondering if folks would not mind sharing pictures of their battery trays in their planes?

Specifically looking for how people have installed batteries when they sit on top of the landing gear plate and there is not much room to wrap around them with Velcro.

Thanks!
Old 10-22-2012, 06:33 PM
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Jason Arnold
 
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Default RE: Battery Tray Ideas

Hi Chad,

This is how I did it in my Spark Dynamic. I believe the gear mount is the same as your model. The plate is secured with only three screws and the ESC and Safety Switch is also fitted to the tray. The front of the tray fits into a CF slot epoxied to the fuse side. Made a balsa template first and then had a dremel party with some 1.6mm CF sheet.

Regards,
Jason.
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Old 10-22-2012, 09:20 PM
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VerneK
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Default RE: Battery Tray Ideas

Hi Chad,
Here's the tray in my Xigris which is probably laid out pretty much the same as your Caelestia. The tray itself is 1/8 carbon/nomex from ACP. I pre-install the nomex cross brace at the rear of the tray and cloth it in with 2-ounce cloth. Where the tray attaches to the vertical landing gear supports which are carbon/1/8 lite ply, I use a push pin to poke little holes in the lite ply and also to the underside of the carbon tray that will act like little nails when I join the two with cabosil and resin or Hydrosol, if you prefer. I also cloth in the tray where it joins the vertical landing gear supports at the front of the front support and rear of the rear support from underneath. You'll need an acid brush, dental mirror, and good sense of humor when you do it. Obviously, everything involved is roughed up with 80-grit and cleaned with alcohol beforehand. I've been doing it this way for awhile now and never had a tray come loose or a battery eject. Hope this helps and makes sense.

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Old 10-22-2012, 11:10 PM
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Jon Wold
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Default RE: Battery Tray Ideas

Here's my Elexant with a Gator tray (F3A Unlimited) that sits above the landing gear plate
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerowol...in/photostream

You really only need a few millimetres of clearance above the landing gear plate.
Old 10-23-2012, 12:42 AM
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Default RE: Battery Tray Ideas

Hi Jason,
Very neat, well thought out and well executed.
Do you know what weight the tray is.

Brian
Old 10-23-2012, 01:21 AM
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Jason Arnold
 
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ORIGINAL: serious power

Hi Jason,
Very neat, well thought out and well executed.
Do you know what weight the tray is.

Brian
Hi Brian,

Thanks for that. It's the result of a number of hours procrastinating...

The tray weighs 51 grams. I could have trimmed more out at the Dremel party but decided to save weight in other areas and neaten things up. If you look close you'll see that the Spin99 output cables have been shortened and the Safety Power Switch is hard wired to the ESC. This eliminated two pairs of bullets which is 12 grams straight away. You'd be surprised how much copper wire weighs too.

An unintentional benefit of this mount is that the ESC heatsink is in direct airflow. That was a fluke!

I don't use velcro on the bottom of the packs either. I only use some 1/8" neoprene foam with DS tape. The batteries don't move as the neoprene seems to grip the pack.

Cheers,
Jason.
Old 10-23-2012, 01:29 AM
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Default RE: Battery Tray Ideas

Jason,

' An unintentional benefit of this mount is that the ESC heatsink is in direct airflow. That was a fluke! '

Fluke maybe, but that is where all ESC's should be - right in the air flow.

Brian
Old 10-23-2012, 01:40 AM
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Jason Arnold
 
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Default RE: Battery Tray Ideas


ORIGINAL: serious power

Jason,

' An unintentional benefit of this mount is that the ESC heatsink is in direct airflow. That was a fluke! '

Fluke maybe, but that is where all ESC's should be - right in the air flow.

Brian
Well yes, that is correct. Don't get me wrong, when the ESC was on the floor it still received cooling air it just has a more direct flow now. It lines up perfectly with the holes in the nose.

Having the ESC & SPS on the tray also puts the weight closer to the model centre line. This includes the packs...

Cheers,
Jason.

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