What IBEC to buy?
 

So what's up with 42% Products. I have a "Zeus" that has not failed ( yet ). I must be dodging the bullet with it. I have read so much about it failing and burning up ignition modules. They don't sell the "Zeus" anymore and have substituted with the "Thor" and there is also the "Mini-Thor". Are these all junk too? Should I be looking at an actual IBEC by Tech-Aero Designs?

Who makes the most reliable IBEC ignition battery eliminator?

I certainly don't want to lose 2 years of labor and my plane to a junk IBEC.

SPEEDY

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

From my experience

The New Thors (the mini and the larger one) are both good products

The Tech Aero IBEC is a brilliant product.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

The very best Ignition Battery Eliminator is a 4-cell 1,000mAh - 2,000mAh NiMH or NiCd battery for your ignition (assuming it's a Rcexl).

Pros:
Simple
Cheap
Less prone to failures
Works every time

Cons:
Doesn't feed the gadget drive of the owner
Less likely to cause a situation where a new plane is required

:D

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

X2 Ari.....

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

+1
The IBEC by Tech-Aero Designs is the preferred one of that group.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

Speedy,

I don't know who makes the best, but I have 3 years on one made by Wike and have had zero issues. I use them in my gassers with 65 to 72 inch wingspans. At this point I have 3 such equipped aircraft. I would recommend their use based upon my experience and warn against advice from persons who have never owned one.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

I quite happily use an 8/15A switched mode BEC for the radio and a 5A switched mode for the ignition. Both are connected to the single 2600mAH 7.4V Lipo. There is only one battery in the plane.

This is on 35MHZ (Corona), CRRC Pro 26cc rear carb and 70" Yak 54 with 6 digital servos.

If the radio and aerial are installed with the usual care, there is no problem. Knife edge loops head-on with the aerial pointed at the plane.....


As for the best? sorry, never tried it! :D

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

I'm with Lifer on this...
The Wike have zero issues with any batt config...

Added feature is can use TX kill.. Also let you know if ignition is active (on) ...

Zaero chance of feedback and has proper voltage output for all ignitions..

Avalable from Troy Built...

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

I have been offered an exchange on my "Zeus" by 42% for a new "Mini-Thor" IBEC and also purchased a Tech-Aero "Ultra-IBEC. I will compare them to each other and decide which one I like best. I do not do business with TBM.

Tech-Aero "Ultra IBEC" design, which from the ground up is designed to virtually eliminate noise in the wiring from the CDI, and furthermore, not to worsen the situation as a switching regulator approach may easily do. It has dual common mode filter, combined with a low pass filter for the power leads, and also add optical isolation for the signal lead. Linear line regulation is used to avoid introducing any switching noise as always occurs with switch mode regulator designs.

A proven design and a fact that no one has ever reported having a crash that implicates, or even hints at the Ultra IBEC being the cause or even a contributing factor since it's introduction in 2010.

That is a darned good reputation for the Tech-Aero unit. I will still give 42% a chance to prove their IBEC since they are offering a free exchange for the new unit. Both the 42% and the Tech-Aero units have the features you have mentioned.

These are just my personal decisions/deductions and I am not imposing them on others.

MADE IN USA!

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

Speedy,

Please let me know how those IBEF's work out. I will not do business with TBM any further for reasons I'll not go into at this time. I like IBEF's and need an alternative.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

Lifer,
I will do that. I am only one man's opinion but I am always willing to share my own personal findings.

" I thought I made a mistake once......... but I was wrong!" :)

Speedy

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

For those who want the WIKE IBEC and do NOT wish to deal with TroyBuilt
just send an email directly to Bill Wike [email protected] ...

I personally have not tryed the Tech-Aero "Ultra-IBEC".

However I have tryed the 42% stuff and would never even consider them...

I have the WIKE IBEC on a china 50cc, a china 100cc and a DA150..

I have been using since inception and have never experienced any problems...

Plus support is fast, price is reasonable, and product is better with each up grade..




.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

"and product ( WIKE IBEC ) is better with each up grade.."

Interesting comment. What are/were the upgrades?

Just curious.

Speedy

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

Speedy,, I'm not positive on exctly what all was changed but originally
battery type info was required to insure proper one and now it is designed
to work with any battery, Ni, A123, and any Li ....
I not a designer I'm just a user so not qualified to answer that well..

If you send Bill an email I am sure he would be happy to explain full features of product..

[email protected]

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

Thanks for all the info on IBECs. I am thinking of getting the new OSGT33, however, the manual states not to use an IBEC. Why would they say that. The ignition module uses 600 ma at 6000 RPM and it is not active until 120RPM for safety reasons. But I don't see why an IBEC would be a problem????? Any ideas?

Vant

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

CYA, perhaps? Reasonably, as the engines get bigger, the need for weight savings measures likely diminish. 33cc engines can handle more weight, have a bigger airframe, etc.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

I would say that the concern is the 600 mah draw rate and this can be problematic if you do not use batteries that offer high discharge rates since you will be running the ignition and your radio system all at the same time off the same battery(s). This is why redundant dual GOOD and SUFFICIENT batteriess are important as the demand for electrical power increases.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Speedy

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

the best 2 products that I am aware of are tech aero and syassa.both are very very similar and well suited .you will get nay sayers that will think your crazy to even consider an IBEC.but I have the syassa as do alot of others locally and they have not failed once! and what I have read and been told by fellow modellers is that tech aero is an excellent product.I was advised by many that the 42 percent was inconsistent.at any rate either of these as an electronic kill switch are safe and effective.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

I own and use a syassa electronic kill switch and it works very well.I understand tech aero is of very good quality.you either feel comfortable with an IBEC or you dont in which case you have 2 separate life batteries.both work fine its really your own call..,

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

One more vote for the WIKE product. Simple, Reiliable, Inexpensive and includes a couple of nice features including the ignition kill and LED indicator.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

cloudancer03 has a very good perspective here in stating to use what you feel comfortable with. You need to trust your abilities and your equipment.

I tend to lean towards trying new technologies but do not believe in responding to adds like this one:

"Parachute for sale" Used once...never opened!!

I enjoy listening to your comments and am happy that this forum ( so far) has not turned into a heated debate.

SPEEDY

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

thanks..I dont want to downgrade anyone who has a different opinion.but I gotta say when I was looking at my first gasser I got some opinions that almost made me say "screw it" but as I tried to relay to everyone do your homework and makeup your own mind and just do it and dont let know it all's try to intimate you into something you dont really want.both systems are reliable and no matter wehich way you go theres always a risk benefit .I fly 3D and aerobatics for me getting the weight down was important.

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

I love my Tech-Aero.
Been useing them for two years on my scale plane and belive me IF there was any doubt about them I wound NOT be useing them on my scale planes.
One 5000ma Lipo and your good to go.
http://www.tech-aero.net/Home

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

They are the same unit. I was driving back from Todd's shop with Ed the owner of Tech Aero after a successful trial of engine testing on pipe, about 2 years ago. Ed had the IBEC nearly designed in his head on the way back home.

The first prototype IBEC was tested in my test bed using Todd's engine. Everything worked great and am still using the original IBEC today. Basically it was a hand assembled and soldered device but it still works fine. The second prototype went into Ed's 40% DA150 2 cylinder model. I helped Ed test the later improved versions and have one of my planes set-up with the latest SMT robot assembled device.

In reality the practical side is that I can't tell any performance difference between the original prototype and the latest. Sure the latest has settable voltage output to the CDI, as did the previous version, and has improved filtering of spurious RFI, and is lighter, but I never had any issue with the original prototype so I can't tell any performance difference. The latest version was improved such that the unit could be used with the oldest radio systems Ed could find. We tested the unit with 25 year old radio systems from the main manufacturers, in FM and PCM modulations. Understand that the current PCM and 2.4 gig systems appear immune to CDI noise already so Ed hardly bothered with current radios. His intent was to make sure the IBEC would be as bullet proof as possible in nearly all potential applications in the model world.

I'd like to know how the other IBEC makers have tested their product before committing to the market. Maybe the readers of the thread would want to know too.

My other contibution to the device is the shrink tube material that surrounds it. This is about the lightest shrink tubing I could find to fit the board. It reduced the weight of the unit a considerable percentage, not that anyone would notice. The device was super lightweight already at around 19 grams so removing another 2 grams, most folks wouldn't care. Understand that Ed and I compete with our stuff so every gram counts

RE: What IBEC to buy?
 

600ma at 6000 rpm sounds a little high but not terribly so. A 2 cylinder DA 120 for example draws around 850 ma at 6200.....but it's 2 spark plugs.

My IBEC equipped SAP30cc models use around 250 ma per 15 minute flight. The Ignition uses about half and radio the other half.

If you were to break that 600mah down into 15 minute intervals at full revs, you'd get around 150 ma used in 15 minutes. so it's slightly more use than an engine such as the SAP 30cc or DLE 30cc. Makes sense??