Understanding G-S Electronics
09-18-2002, 01:34 PM
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Understanding G-S Electronics
I am considering a 30% or 35% plane. I have many 25% and want to progress to larger scale aerobatics.
I am not totally understanding why the large scale uses two receivers, and multiple batteries. I assume for safety and additional juice for those thirsty servos. How are they wired? Are the servos powered separately from the receiver source?
I am not totally understanding why the large scale uses two receivers, and multiple batteries. I assume for safety and additional juice for those thirsty servos. How are they wired? Are the servos powered separately from the receiver source?
09-18-2002, 02:31 PM
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0tter:
You will probably get all different answers to your question. Most of these answers are going to boil down to safety and personal choice. Here are my opinions on your question .
On 30% to 35% scale planes using two redundant battery packs and switches on your servos/receiver is desired for safety. Now, there's different ways of doing this. You can get what is called a isolator and you can isolate your receiver from your servos. This will enable you to use a 4.8v battery on your receiver and a 6v battery on your servos. This isolator will also help with radio interference as the receiver is actually separated from the servos. Using a redundant 2 batteries and switches here (even though hooked up to a isolator) is good practice. Other wise hooking your receiver and servos together and using two battery packs and two switches are the standard way. (No isolator.) The difference between these two arrangements are a personal choice and a safety issue if you find your having RF interference. My personal choice here is, I use a I4C products isolator and run one 4.8v pack on the receiver and two redundant 6v packs & switches on the servo side. This way the receiver has it's own pack drawing very little current from the 4.8v pack and the servos get the benefit of 6v packs making them operate at their peak. The isolator also keeps the interference from the servos working out of the receiver.
Now for the two receivers. Again this is a personal choice. (My opinion) is to use two receivers for any plane that's 40% or over. The size(s) you stated 30% to 35% I would use just one receiver, although a lot of guys like to use two. It's not necessary to use two, but again this is a personal choice and a redundancy issue.
Wiring: I would use all 22 gage wire for your servo & receiver hook ups or better. (Better meaning wire gets thicker or heavier and will let more current flow the smaller the number gets. An example would be 22 gage wire is better, thicker and heavier than 26 gage. As the numbers get higher, the thinner the wire gets. An example is 26 gage wire is thinner and lighter than 22 gage.) 22 gage wire seems to be the standard for large scale planes as it can carry the current flow without much (or none) RF interference. Do not use a higher number (such as 26 gage) in a large scale plane! You will only have problems!
Again, these are some examples and opinions. You will see, hear and read all different ways of wiring up your large scale plane. Some good, some not so good. I hope I have given you the basics here and something to think about. Wiring up a large scale plane is not hard, it all has to do with safety and what will fly the plane safely. You can go over board on redundancy here, but some of it is not needed and some is. I would check around the message board here, read as much as you can. You'll soon see that the majority of guys that have been flying the large scale planes safely without crashes caused by miss wiring, etc will pretty much wire their planes the same over and over again. You'll see this by reading and then you can decide for yourself what you want to use in your plane to be safe.
Welcome to giant scale! You'll find some excellent answers to your questions and concerns in these messages. And I hope I helped a bit and didn't confuse you further!
You will probably get all different answers to your question. Most of these answers are going to boil down to safety and personal choice. Here are my opinions on your question .
On 30% to 35% scale planes using two redundant battery packs and switches on your servos/receiver is desired for safety. Now, there's different ways of doing this. You can get what is called a isolator and you can isolate your receiver from your servos. This will enable you to use a 4.8v battery on your receiver and a 6v battery on your servos. This isolator will also help with radio interference as the receiver is actually separated from the servos. Using a redundant 2 batteries and switches here (even though hooked up to a isolator) is good practice. Other wise hooking your receiver and servos together and using two battery packs and two switches are the standard way. (No isolator.) The difference between these two arrangements are a personal choice and a safety issue if you find your having RF interference. My personal choice here is, I use a I4C products isolator and run one 4.8v pack on the receiver and two redundant 6v packs & switches on the servo side. This way the receiver has it's own pack drawing very little current from the 4.8v pack and the servos get the benefit of 6v packs making them operate at their peak. The isolator also keeps the interference from the servos working out of the receiver.
Now for the two receivers. Again this is a personal choice. (My opinion) is to use two receivers for any plane that's 40% or over. The size(s) you stated 30% to 35% I would use just one receiver, although a lot of guys like to use two. It's not necessary to use two, but again this is a personal choice and a redundancy issue.
Wiring: I would use all 22 gage wire for your servo & receiver hook ups or better. (Better meaning wire gets thicker or heavier and will let more current flow the smaller the number gets. An example would be 22 gage wire is better, thicker and heavier than 26 gage. As the numbers get higher, the thinner the wire gets. An example is 26 gage wire is thinner and lighter than 22 gage.) 22 gage wire seems to be the standard for large scale planes as it can carry the current flow without much (or none) RF interference. Do not use a higher number (such as 26 gage) in a large scale plane! You will only have problems!
Again, these are some examples and opinions. You will see, hear and read all different ways of wiring up your large scale plane. Some good, some not so good. I hope I have given you the basics here and something to think about. Wiring up a large scale plane is not hard, it all has to do with safety and what will fly the plane safely. You can go over board on redundancy here, but some of it is not needed and some is. I would check around the message board here, read as much as you can. You'll soon see that the majority of guys that have been flying the large scale planes safely without crashes caused by miss wiring, etc will pretty much wire their planes the same over and over again. You'll see this by reading and then you can decide for yourself what you want to use in your plane to be safe.
Welcome to giant scale! You'll find some excellent answers to your questions and concerns in these messages. And I hope I helped a bit and didn't confuse you further!
09-19-2002, 03:13 AM
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Wow, thanks for the input!
One more question, when using two receivers, how are the servos wired? E.x. the rudder may have multiple servos. Are they connected into one lead (Y harness) then split (another Y harness) into both receiver rudder channels so both receivers are sending a signal? How about a throttle where you would have one servo. Again use a Y harness and draw from both receivers?
I really appreciate your input!
0tter
One more question, when using two receivers, how are the servos wired? E.x. the rudder may have multiple servos. Are they connected into one lead (Y harness) then split (another Y harness) into both receiver rudder channels so both receivers are sending a signal? How about a throttle where you would have one servo. Again use a Y harness and draw from both receivers?
I really appreciate your input!
0tter
09-19-2002, 11:51 AM
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0tter:
Thanks. It's hard to respond to a question like that, because everyone has a different opinion on how it should be done. And it is true that there are different ways of hooking things up and they all work. Whether one is better than the other is a debatable question (which I didn't and don't want to start).
Any way, yes, you are on the right track on the rudder/servo question. Some guys will split the receivers into two working units, IE: Rudder, Throttle, Elevators on one receiver and ailerons, kill switch, smoke pump, etc. on the 2nd receiver.
Now, some guys will use it as described above, then 'Y' to both receivers for redundancy. This way if one receiver goes out the other will pick up the whole load, rather than just having half your plane operating. (But some will say that having half of the controls operating is better than none.)
Again, it gets into the opinion thing of which way of doing it is right, only you can decide which way of hooking the system up will suit you. But yes, you are on the right track and kind of answered your own question.
On ailerons and elevators, you always (most always) use two separate channels to hook them up, then 'Y' to the two receivers if you want. IE: Your left aileron will go into the aileron channel and the right aileron will go into a Aux channel then get mixed together (flapperions). Then get 'Y''ed into both receivers. Same with the elevators. This gives you a greater control over the surfaces while adjusting them.
Did I confuse you yet? I confused myself!! :spinnyeye
Thanks. It's hard to respond to a question like that, because everyone has a different opinion on how it should be done. And it is true that there are different ways of hooking things up and they all work. Whether one is better than the other is a debatable question (which I didn't and don't want to start).
Any way, yes, you are on the right track on the rudder/servo question. Some guys will split the receivers into two working units, IE: Rudder, Throttle, Elevators on one receiver and ailerons, kill switch, smoke pump, etc. on the 2nd receiver.
Now, some guys will use it as described above, then 'Y' to both receivers for redundancy. This way if one receiver goes out the other will pick up the whole load, rather than just having half your plane operating. (But some will say that having half of the controls operating is better than none.)
Again, it gets into the opinion thing of which way of doing it is right, only you can decide which way of hooking the system up will suit you. But yes, you are on the right track and kind of answered your own question.
On ailerons and elevators, you always (most always) use two separate channels to hook them up, then 'Y' to the two receivers if you want. IE: Your left aileron will go into the aileron channel and the right aileron will go into a Aux channel then get mixed together (flapperions). Then get 'Y''ed into both receivers. Same with the elevators. This gives you a greater control over the surfaces while adjusting them.
Did I confuse you yet? I confused myself!! :spinnyeye
