fun2fly24

This is my setup... Does anyone know what is wrong? thank you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA_Um...ACg65ACuUAPiSw

TomCrump

Well done !

I'm not an electric guru, so I can't offer any help.

I just wanted to compliment you on your excellent video. Your presentation clearly explains your problem.

I'm sure that help will be on the way, soon.

If it doesn't, try asking your question, here. http://www.rcgroups.com/power-systems-13/

AMA 74894

My Feedback: (1)

Don't go to the dark side! there are plenty of folks that can help you here

your video does indeed show and explain your problem very clearly!
I do a fair amount of night flying, I can tell you that the lights SHOULD NOT have a noticeable effect on power.

a couple of questions:
(silly question but i HAVE to ask... are you sure your flight battery is fully charged?)
do you NEED (or want badly) for the lights to flicker / flash / do different things in flight besides just light up?
are the lights / controller from a particular manufacturer?
for the battery, how many cells?

jetmech05

Good video. Ok the LED's are a load. So every time they come on they rob a bit of power from your motor. The best fix is a separate battery for the LEDs.
you may try a bigger mAh battery it may have enough to power the motor and the LEDs together. You see electricity is lazy it will only give you enough to get the job done no more. So you can go with a higher capacity battery.
both solutions add weight to the airplane. Good luck

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I too am not an Electrical expert, but I don't think the size of the battery matters, ,I think it's a voltage drop issue. it would seem the function of blinking is controlled by taking away power (not adding power), likely into a capacitor, so when that happens its robbing power from the whole system, thus the motor cuts out too. Likely that voltage drop is triggering the BEC circuit to shut down the motor. I fear you'll want to run a separate small battery for the lights

AMA 74894

My Feedback: (1)

this is why I'm asking for more info...
I do a good amount of night flying..
My Son's Bixler runs a 3 cell 2200 Lipo, and there is NO noticeable difference in power (or in flight time) with lights on or lights off.
Everything in the airplane (including the LEDs) are powered by the same Lipo.
the biggest difference I can see between the OP's setup and mine is that mine has no controller or regulator, the LED's are wired directly into the ESC (I tap power off the ESC from the wires connecting the battery to the ESC)
You can see from the pic's, they are BRIGHT. I'm thinking either:
1) the OP's battery isn't up to the task
2) the battery wasn't fully charged
3) the LED's he is using have a HIGH forward voltage requirement (they need a lot of volts to light up)
4) the controller itself requires high voltage

count me among the 'not an electrical engineer' types, but I have have a fair amount of practical experience...



pics:

jetmech05

My thinking of a larger capacity batt is more power available. We all agree there's too much load.
The best is a seperate battery as I said above

jester_s1

There's no way LEDs should be pulling enough amps to drop the voltage on a good lipo. If I'm understanding you right, the motor drops RPM when the lights are off? And the controller for the LEDs is plugged into your flight battery, I assume via a Y connector of some kind? I've never even heard of an LED or any other kind of controller that makes lights go off by drawing more current. There are a few things for you to check though. You'll need a multimeter with leads to hook it up inline to your wiring. The meter can be had for about $5 from Harbor Freight, and the leads will be super cheap if you can do basic electrical soldering.

1. Check the voltage and amp draw to the LEDs when they are on and then again when they are off. Use the slowest blink setting so you can get a good reading.
2. Check the amp draw for the main battery with lights on and off, motor running full throttle and off.
3. Find out if the LEDs can run on straight 12v DC power. If they can, see what happens when you bypass the controller and power them straight from the battery. A steady LED is probably going to be your best bet anyway for flying the plane. See how that affects your motor.
4. Find out what brand and model the components in your system are. Is the LED controller made for RC, or is it for another application and re-purposed for RC?

AMA 74894

My Feedback: (1)

completely agree, EXCEPT from what I got from the video, the motor RPM's drop when the LED's are fully ON.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

fun2fly24 said the opposite,, the motor cuts off when the lights cut out

jetmech05

I just listened again the motor drops rpm when the lights are on.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I misheard the first time,, had the volume down too low,, you're right he says "when the lights flash on"

fun2fly24

I charged the batt and i dont need it to blink but i noticed everytime the lights turned i only had like 50% power. thanks
Fun2fly24

fun2fly24

Thank you soooo much!

fun2fly24

the motor loses power when the lights are on.

fun2fly24

lights on=motor cutting

jester_s1

That makes a lot more sense. Do the testing that I gave you above and see what you find.

azalner

My Feedback: (8)

Your LED's are drawing way too much current. Unless they are specifically designed to be ultra-bright, they typically draw around 25 mA each. Each LED should have a current limiting resistor wired in series. Does yours. The resistance is calculated based on a constant voltage. It seems to me that you have some sort of variable voltage regulation. Can you describe that in more detail or give us a part number. Also remember that linear voltage regulators also are notorious watt wasters.