Someone11-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

I'm putting in the Rx & Rx battery for my low wing sky tiger and I have a question. For the Rx, hitec gave me a red foam sheet to put around the reciever... should I use this with rubber bands wrapped around it and then tie it down with rubber bands and a hook system made of paperclips or should I just use the velcro strip they give me and then just stick it to the exposed wood w/o the foam sheet wrapped around it. Will it be okay withouht foam wrapped around it?

The reason I ask this is because it's a very tight fit, and it would be much easier if I could just use the velcro backing and "tape" the reciever onto the wood.


Thanks for your help!

-Brian

flap

Use the foam.

TerrellFlyer

The foam is to help the receiver in a wreck and more so to absorb the engine vibrations,it will work either way,may not last as long without the foam.

Tattoo

The velcro will work just fine for normal operation, however, if you should ever crash, your Rx will have no protection from whatever it may hit or what may hit it. As an combat pilot with a ton of crash experience, the only Rx that I've ruined was one that didn't have foam and was just double sided taped in place (similer to velcro). I've not scrimped on using the foam since, and have not lost and Rx since. I've even had Rx's spit out of the plane in a mid-air and fallen from altitude...and the orance wrap provided by Hitech saved them in the ground impact. Use the foam

FunK

I always thought that the velcro was to attach the foam around the RX.

You would wrap the orange foam around it and use the velcro instead of rubber bands (to hold it in place). Granted you don't get the best seal between the velcro and the foam due to the texture, but a drop or two of epoxy fixes that. This way, the RX can be removed easily from teh foam and the foam can be reused.

Make sure it's wrapped in the foam and then either strap it down, or create a "free-floating" setup for the RX so that it is suspended (with Rubber Bands) and not touching any portion of the airframe (this is not necessary but I've seen it on more expensive rigs).

Giant Scale

I like to wrap the receiver in a piece of 1/4" foam (hold it in place with electrical tape). Then mount the receiver in the plane with either a couple of velcro strap or some cable ties. This give a very secure installation. This method also works well with battery packs.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Something else to consider...

You said it was a tight fit. If your Rx comes into direct contact with the wood anywhere (or if it should shift there) the vibrating wood could vibrate the Rx.

Is this bad?

Well considering that you Rx works on vibrations of the crystal (it does? Yes, it does. Remember the word "Frequency"?) Then the vibrations (if they hit the right frequency) can render your Rx "deaf" to your Tx.

Don't ask me how I know... It was a long time ago.

Giant Scale

Hey MinnFlyer..what kind of engine do you have in your avitar..its seems to have unlimited vertical?

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

You only need foam to insulate the receiver if you are mounting it to the frame. I have seen guys secure the receiver with rubber bands and the receiver didn't touch the frame. In a setup like that, foam is not needed.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Actually, it has a very small engine. But the Avitar weighs next to nothing

Someone11-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks for the help. I think I'll go with the orange foam they give me then. Since Funk came up with the idea of using velcro on the foam, I'll use that. I just thought that it wouldn't stick that well to the orange foam hitec gives you - but then you said to use epoxy... I'll try it.

I don't understand how a "free floating" Rx held by rubber bands would operate? Any pics Geistware?


Thanks for yoru help guys!

-Brian

Ernie Misner

Actually, it has a very small engine. But the Avitar weighs next to nothing

Off topic, but what is the Avitar? Any info available??

Ernie

TerrellFlyer

Couple of my 300's have the receiver suspended on rubber bands,but in a crash there is still no foam ,only wood and earth to greet the receiver.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Definitely use the foam to wrap the RX. Like Minnflyer said, vibration is a killer. Not just to the crystal, but vibrations are deadly to solder joints. They can only take so much vibrations before the solder joints fail and crack. Then you have a receiver that is shorted out and dead, which is followed shortly thereafter by your plane being dead. Best insurance is to wrap the receive in foam and isolate it from vibrations.

LoboFlyer

Some crashes are so bad the foam only helps marginally

"My eyes! The goggles do nothing !" (Ranier Wolfcastle - The Simpsons)


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Someone11-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

What about the Rx battery? If I didn't have to wrap that... it would help! Can I leave the RX battery unwrapped?

CaptKAOS

My Feedback: (7)

I would wrap the battery too.....computer mouse pads make good wrapping material......thin....but effective.......

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

It's nice to wrap the battery, but not essential. If you only have room for one, wrap the Rx!

PS, here's a pic of an Rx suspended with rubber bands

OIL CAN DAN

My Feedback: (5)

I use a peice of 1 3/4" pipe wrap. its foam and preformed in a round with a split down the middle. Just open it up and insert your receiver, and the natural shape clings to the receiver, with the wires out the slit. It works great in my spads and never had a receiver go bad.

David Cutler

I mount both Rx and battery on a piece of ply, screwed to 1/4"square ply, using 1/4" foam and small plastic electrical straps.

Great access to the crystal and connection, and very good insulation from vibration.

David C.

Someone11-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks for the pics and help guys! The thing that I have trouble with is room... I have to have the battery and Rx as close to the tank as possible, because the wing servo gets in the way if it's any further back. I can stack the two on top of eachother (Rx battery on bottom in orange hitec foam + Rx on top of battery) but I'm not sure if that will be okay??? I'll try to post some pictures tonight.

Thanks again!

-Brian

Someone11-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Here are the pictures of what I'm dealing with. As you can see in the plans there isn't much room because of the alieron servo. Also in the plans is a square shaped battery pack, not a flat one like mine.




-Brian

FunK

I don't know how much room you have in the fuse between the former, but can you put the battery (supported by foam) under the feul tank? It looks like you have a hatch on the top. Perhaps you can pull out the tank and put the battery underneath?

It may end up being a real pain to swap batteries but if you have a quick charger (or don't swap batteries) you could leave it there and charge the battery while it's still in the plane. I do that on one of my smaller planes (.15 combat plane). After the battery was in place (and I installed dual aileron servos) I was unable to remove the battery without taking off two two servo horns. The good thing is I don't need to. I just charge the little 600Mah 4.8V battery after every three flights.

If you can do it and not cause too much hassle I would give it a shot. That way you would have alot more room for that RX and plenty of room to mount it the way you like. Take into consideration the CG. You don't want the battery too far forward cause it might make it nose heavy.

Also, MinnFlyer, that pic with the RX is pretty sweet. Just one thing, I always thought that you would want to have the rubber bands cross at each end. That way there is less chance of hte RX slipping out when the bands get a little sloppy. Granted, the way you drew it (what program - Visio - Photoshop?) should work just fine.

Someone11-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

The problem I have is that the plane is very nose heavy! Thats why I wanted to put the Rx battery further back towards the servos... you can see the pictures of the paperclip hooks I made at first to hold the Rx battery, but then I realized that the wing servo would get in the way. Would I just have to use a weight in the tail??? If I did put the Rx battery under/over the fuel tank w/ foam on each side would it be okay... could it have negative effects on the battery over time? Again, the biggest problem I would have with that is it being wwwaaayyy too nose heavy.

-Brian

Ernie Misner

Hi Brian,

I am wondering why a sweet plane like the Tiger is coming out so nose heavy. Are you using a larger than recommended engine? Perhaps the balance point you are using is not correct. Is it near the spar? You could drop C Goldberg a note or a call or an email and find out what the heck is really going on. If the plane truly is way nose heavy - one cure is to cut open a hatch or find some other way to mount the battery aft of the servos.

Where there's a will there is a way! Best of luck,

Ernie