Posts: 31
Joined: 10/24/2006 From: mason city,
IA, USA Status: offline
Ive been flying my Commander II for a while and I have her down pat. I was thinking of gettin the swift, but before I buy her will the wall charger that comes with the Commander work with the swifts? Maybe just get the peak charger? What does everyone else use? Any help would be great, Thanks.
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Align 450se, blade cp pro, Team Associated T4, Commander II
Welcome to the thread! I can only give you my views and these are personal. Charging: I'm not familiar with the wall charger for you plane but the swift is the cigar lighter type for car. Its Ok but I want a charger in-house so have a mains trickle charger - Ok but the ideal (for me) would be fast charger for house and use cigar type when arriving at site. I have 6 packs from 850MaH up to 1350MaH for 4 planes (Swift, Zagi, ME262 monster and the Stryker f27b). F27b is best. Because of number o packs the trickle charger struggle - I need to upgrade. As regards the swift there is a thread "Aerobird Swift problems....". Take a look then decide whether or not to buy (very informative, people are coming to some decisions!!!). Read it, dare you. Nice to converse with someone new - "Fresh Blood, Igor!!)
Posts: 31
Joined: 10/24/2006 From: mason city,
IA, USA Status: offline
Hey thanks! Sounds like you know your stuff so ill ask you. I want to start learning with ailerons. Is this the plane for that, or should I start somwhere else? Im not a fan of sims, and I would rather bust it then fix it, call me crazy. Keep it it old school. Also im used to one wing, how does the two piece wing hold up on the swift. I guess it doesnt matter this planes looks awsome, but im just curious. Thanks, P.S Whats your last name? Im a Forbes (Spe-Expecto)
quote:
ORIGINAL: tam popo
Welcome to the thread! I can only give you my views and these are personal. Charging: I'm not familiar with the wall charger for you plane but the swift is the cigar lighter type for car. Its Ok but I want a charger in-house so have a mains trickle charger - Ok but the ideal (for me) would be fast charger for house and use cigar type when arriving at site. I have 6 packs from 850MaH up to 1350MaH for 4 planes (Swift, Zagi, ME262 monster and the Stryker f27b). F27b is best. Because of number o packs the trickle charger struggle - I need to upgrade. As regards the swift there is a thread "Aerobird Swift problems....". Take a look then decide whether or not to buy (very informative, people are coming to some decisions!!!). Read it, dare you. Nice to converse with someone new - "Fresh Blood, Igor!!)
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Align 450se, blade cp pro, Team Associated T4, Commander II
Posts: 485
Joined: 3/15/2007 From: Minneapolis,
MN, USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: Jiggawatt
Ive been flying my Commander II for a while and I have her down pat. I was thinking of gettin the swift, but before I buy her will the wall charger that comes with the Commander work with the swifts? Maybe just get the peak charger? What does everyone else use? Any help would be great, Thanks.
CIIs wall charger is for 6-cell 7.2v 900mAh NiMH battery. HZ says charge time is 3 hours so I'm figuring the wall charger would have an output of 450mA. The two battery choices for the Swift are the 8.4v 1000mAh NiMH and the 9.6v 900mAh NiMH. The CII wall charger (output at least 7.5v) is not sufficient to charge the 8.4v and 9.6v batteries used in the Swift as NiMH batteries will absorb more then their rated voltage during most of their charge cycle-except for the last few minutes. So for instance a 9.6v NiMH battery will accept as much as 12 volts and 1.8 amps during a 45 minute "peak" charge cycle. It is always best to let your NiMH batteries rest for 2-3 hours after use before recharging again. And if you are letting them rest then it shouldn't be necessary to always "peak" charge them in 45 minutes. I prefer a C/50 rate (90 minutes) as you do a top-off final peak charge for a few minutes just before field use for mazimum power.
It is IMPORTANT that you don't fast/quick charge a new NiMH battery. It is generally recommended that a new NiMH battery needs a first time trickle charge that can last up to 15 hours before the battery is ever "peak" charged. C/10 is the general rule of thumb "trickle" rate for NiCD and C/50 seems to be the "trickle" rate that is more appropriate for NiMH. The average fast/peak time (after first-time conforming trickle process) for a NiMH battery is about 45 minutes. When you charge a new NiMH battery it should be charged for at least 3 hours and probably for more like 8-12 hours. NiMH battery manufacturers are suppose to do a full performance conditioning before shipping, but some may short this step, so it is recommended that the buyer do a C/10--15 hour slow trickle performance conditioning before ever fast/quick charging. If a battery is rated at 1000mAh you would charge it for 15 hours with the variable amp setting of 100mA(0.10A). It is recommended that NiMH batteries be fully discharged about every 3 months. HZ says that their variable rate(up to 1.2A) car charger that comes with the Swift does not provide enough oopmh at 1.2 amps to fully "peak" charge the optional 8-cell 9.6v NiMH battery. They say you need to buy their variable rate 1.8A car charger to fully "peak" charge the 9.6v battery for maximum power output.
You may want to invest in a charger designed just for NiMH batteries ($60) that can slow charge, peak charge, discharge, and recycle charge. Such a charger would allow you to use both a 110v AC source or a 12v DC source.
< Message edited by Swift427 -- 4/13/2007 10:25:14 PM >
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Never Give Up, Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old, and Never Ever Die Young
Posts: 31
Joined: 10/24/2006 From: mason city,
IA, USA Status: offline
Swift, so how do I know whether to trickle the battery for 3 hours or as much as 15hours for a 1000Mah? Well the charger indicate that to me? I dont want to overcharge the battery and not even use it. And what do you mean by c/50 rate. Thanks for the info,much appreciated.
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Align 450se, blade cp pro, Team Associated T4, Commander II
Hi again! Read Mr Swifts427 comments on batteries/charging - its all there! I rekindled the flying bug only 5 months ago and decided, for personal reasons, to go electric. Reasons: Little prepping for flight, ease of finding flying site, no regimentation, low cost - I just love electric. Retired aged 55 so can go out every day (weather?). Advice? just do as you are doing now - research! Thanks to web you can narrow choice of plane down to avoid buying an expensive dog. I have 4 planes (total cost with ancillaris £500). Buy your main plane with interchangeable TX/RX minimum 3 channel FM. its possible to get a budget one for £ 50 or less!! But buy a complete package from a reputable manufacturer (read test reviews on RCUni) and ask questions if needed. Airlorons: they're jut a means to an end. Flying under control is the goal - how you get there and with what form of control (airlorons, elevons, rudder, elevator etc) is the answer. Think of this: There are standard planes out there with low weight cameras/video fitted. The plane you're interested in, can that take off with that gear. If it can thats a good start. The f27b is great because of one simple fact - its easy to fly (fast) co its lght weight, powerful, tough and importantly only has 2 moving surfaces - elevons, not the 4 working sufaces of the swift. And my surname is the most common Welsh name ever!! sorry about the sermon - its good for insomics like myself
As for the brushless in the SWIFT, sure...spenging up to $120 on an ESC controller and motor is alot. My reasoning is that I could re-use this setup in other planes that warrent the cost - like the PZ Mustang and Spitfire. Hell, I even put the same bushless in the Challenger. Imagine the sound of a Stryker C in the Challenger. I had to build a tiny circuit board with a microcontroller on iit to convert the motor signal to something the ESC could understand. Hopefully, I'll sell them on EBAY on in this forum in the next 2 weeks. I do HW Engineering as a profession and I had these professionally made at a PCB house. OK, enough sales pitch
I will be the first to admit, when I started flying the Swift, I found it frustrating. The challenger was much easier to get airborn. No refernece to their skill levels; in my opinion they both fly in a similar fashion. But it was that the Swift was much heavier thatn the Challenger, given its motor. SOme would say that aeilerons make the difference but I as long as you aren't doing aerobatics, they fly and turn about the same. Now that the bushless is in there, I would have to say that the SWIFT is probably one of the most fun planes in my hanger. I run it at half throttle most of the time and dogfight with my buddy who has the challenger and sonic module. The Swift is now graceful, easiy to fly, guaranteed had toss launches, and does not require a circuit board to use the same electronics.
Forgot to answer question on wings - here goes!! Do you drive to site or not, can you get plane in boot with wings on? Do you drive Ferrari or SUV? Reason for questions is the wings are sometimes a sloppy fit in fuse so might need packing of some sort. This is important: If you take wings out of fuse at any time put something/anything around the servo wires to stop them popping back into/out of fuse - you'll have to fish around for them if you don't put something on wires to stop this happening - try elastic bands or similar (this has been detailed on aerobird problems thread). If you undo the four screws in bottom of fuse to get access replace them with same thread size cup hanger style screws - you won't need a screwdriver at site to undo them again. Make sure battery is as far back as possible as a start to trimming for flight - push right up against b/head (circuit board). To keep battery from moving/falling out use velcro strip on bottom of battery and recepter velcro inside fuse bottom. This applies to almost any plane as long as it doesn't affect heating of battery. These are minor things and just make life easier and apply to any plane you might buy. "Igor, I think we have created a monster! _________________________________________ Great Wall of China, Hadrians Wall, Machu Pitchu, K2 etc - all great launch sites!
Posts: 485
Joined: 3/15/2007 From: Minneapolis,
MN, USA Status: offline
John,
I'm taking another path with the Swift that is less expensive, but will provide a noticeable improvement in thrust. Will have modifications and test flights done in a couple weeks.
Going to checkout your Challenger link. Thanks for your good suggestions.
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Never Give Up, Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old, and Never Ever Die Young
Posts: 485
Joined: 3/15/2007 From: Minneapolis,
MN, USA Status: offline
After reinforcing the wing sockets, shortening the wing spar for a tighter squeeze against fuselage and implementing a lock-down device for tightening wing spar to wing during flight I came to the following realization --- The 2 middle openings in the wing socket for the spar and servo connector can actually be enlarged into one larger opening. This makes it much easier for inserting and retrieval of excess servo wire and the 3-wire connector. Ninety percent of the wing support/stress during a crash is around against the outer circumference of the wing socket. I've also made some other modifications to the wing socket and wing ends that are a great improvement with very minimal increase in flying weight.
< Message edited by Swift427 -- 4/14/2007 7:34:58 PM >
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Never Give Up, Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old, and Never Ever Die Young
Posts: 238
Joined: 2/11/2007 From: Austin,
TX, USA Status: offline
Servo wires!!!!
Yea, the design stinks. I cut a small hole in the fuse about 0.5 inches below where the wing mates to the body. I pulled the servo wires out this hole. I then took the servo wires from the wing and have them come out about 1 inch back from the end of the wing that attaches ot the fuse. Simply losed up the 2 screws on the wing closest to the end, pull the servo wire and connector out some, and then tighten the screws up again. The yello plastic piece on the sing will clamp down nicely and hold the servo wire out about 1 inch from the end of the wing.
This way, the servos sort of "hang" in the wind when you fly but it does not impact flight. Makes putting the SWIFT together and apart again a sinch. No more fishing for wires inside the fuse.
John, Hiya! Questions cos you're the tech guy here. I was told that the swift circuit board was same as Spitfire, in other words it would accept LiPo if jumper 3 is lifted out. Is this true. Reason for question I might put rx/esc into new f27b+ i'm building (b/less, 2200 Mah Lipo etc) or will I have to use a b/less esc 30A I have spare. What are your thoughts seeing as you have had both planes. Saw your Challenger notes - good. But Scooper sure has a transport/storage problem. And my wife complains about my 4 planes. Having small operation Thursday so can't fly for 4 weeks. Flying sofa 4 weeks then off to spain to test fly a bar stool for 2 weeks. Getting ithdrawal symptoms so buying a Silverlit thing for the lounge flying!!
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RE: Official Aerobird Swift Thread - 
