isabel
Posts: 29
Joined: 9/3/2006 From: Montreal,
QC, CANADA Status: offline
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Hi there, here'a a little bit more info as you asked. After about 1300 flights we started to need a bit of maintenance on the plane - a few hinges started to feel slack, we glued those back. The only thing that wore out before that is the wooden dowels that hold the hatch down, however they were changed to metal rods in the newer kits. It's still flying great, used it in a contest last weekend. All in all I find this very satisfactory, lots of planes would have desintegrated before then, especially since we fly it in the rain, snow, etc. For the radio, we bought a Spektrum 2.4 Dx-7 specifically for this plane but it turned out to be defective (loss of signal every time we shook it!). So we stuck with our existing Futaba 9cap and waited for the module for the first year we flew the plane. We got the 8-channel module and receiver about a month ago, it has been working great. To be honest, I like the module system, it allows me to use the PCM receivers as a backup in case I ever had a problem during a contest, and I can fly my other planes which still have PCM without lugging 2 radios around. As for the batteries. We stuck with the Nimhs because we already had some, are familiar with their behavior, we have the chargers for them, and a good local supplier that makes us custom packs. But we might go to lipos in time if we get a charger and fire-safe box for them in time. Or A123's. And yes, our powerbox is probably equivalent to the smartfly products. Its functions are: managing two batteries (drawing from the fullest one; isolating one if it shorts out), beeping/flashing warnings of 1 or 2 low batteries, a fail-safe switch (pin), configurable voltage regulation, and some channel splitting to avoid Y connectors. In my opinion the weak point is the wiring between the powerbox and its switch, it has failed several times for us, apparently it's not a widespread problem but it's been one for us. Since it's a fail-safe switch even if the wiring breaks the receiver will remain on, but, the possible problem is that if the switch is in the off position but in a failure (so staying on), you can be duped into taking off with the switch in the off position. Then if the vibration forces a contact again, disaster looms... yes, it has happened. To counter-act the problem we have, we changed how we mounted the powerbox & switch (hope to reduce vibration) and we ensconsed the stress points of the connector with Shoe Goo.
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www.peneloperc.com - all about IMAC
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