montys

My Feedback: (25)

Started my electric sailplane career last week with Aspire EP
RTF.....So far, so good----but have few questions....blades do
not fold when power is cut...just continue to windmill--doesnt
this tend to cause extra drag?? also, once the motor shuts
down, it will not re-start..I would think that a little more run
time would be OK if you need a go-around or just a tad bit more
power on approach. Is this the norm with all electrics? This
plane has Maxx 25 ESC and 1500ma batt, which gives me a
minimum of 12-15 minutes flying w/o thermals (next lesson !!).
No silent type clubs around here, and the half-doz or so flyers
I talked to about my questions had at least a half-dozen ideas.
Even a conversation with "customer support" yielded only
"thats the way it is". I have been flying r/c for approx 20 years--
but never around anyone with electric sailplanes...Appreciate
any info you can pass on to me. Many thanks

Monty

[email protected]

Ollie

Unpowered glider fliers have one shot at landing so they hone their landing skill to set up an approach that will usually allow a landing within a few feet of the target. The best pilots can do it almost every time even without flaps or spoilers. Until you can land precisely on the first try it is best to time your motor run so that you will have enough battery energy left to go around as many times as you think you need. A big field is an advantage for beginners or pilots that are in the habit of taking advantage of another go around.

Some electronic speed controls are equipped with a brake feature that stops the prop so it can fold when the power is off. Check the freedom of the folding prop fit to its pins. The fit should be free enough so that the prop folds when the nose is up. A little lubrication might help. If a short dive and porpoise maneuver doesn't fold the prop, then try the rubberbands. Lacking a brake, the prop and hub can be equipped with a couple of dental rubberbands that will begin to fold the prop. They must be adjusted so that they are slack when the prop is about half folded. That way they won't interfere with the prop opening when the motor starts.

montys

My Feedback: (25)

Hi, Ollie....your rubber band and brake equipped ESC info is
really appreciated...Also got the same advice from Mark S !!
Fly regularly with DDS friend..he doesn't know it, but as of
tomorrow he is furnishing me with dental bands!!ha My blades
are fully able to fold on the ground when nose is raised. Our
field is small, and your advice to time the motor runs for as many
go-arounds as needed is well taken...if only the winds would
stay constant am sure could master the approach/landing
skills in short time...Oh well, three words: practice,practice,practice.............Thanks again, Ollie

Monty

Ollie

Two other tips. To begin the landing approach give a couple of clicks of down to increase stall margin. On final, to shorten the glide if you are a little too high, fly a bit slower with a slight back pressure on the stick. If your approach is a little low, put the nose down momentarily to pick up speed and fly in ground effect which will cut drag and improve penetration. Putting the nose down a little when you are low is counter intuitive but it works. This is the way pelicans stretch their glide when skimming the water.

In other words, on final approach the elevaror of a glider is used somewhat like the throttle on a power plane. Need distance? Add speed. Too high? Reduce speed. The sooner the judgement and correction is made the more effective it is.

montys

My Feedback: (25)

Again, my sincere thanks for your help..Will give it the "old college try" when WX clears.

Monty

AJCK

My Feedback: (1)

Nah, there is an easy and cheap solution to this one (If you have the Aspire version with the microswitch):

Solder a wire on the not used contact/pole of the microswitch (inside the fuselage, the one that gets actuated by your servo).

Attach it to the black wire of the motor (I attached it to the yellow 20-amp fuse).

When the motor is turned off, the switch will short the poles of the motor, and it will stop. And voila, your prop will fold, and your flight time increase to 15 minutes or better.

The Aspire kit that came complete with radio has an ESC, not just the microswitch.

RC-Captain

i have this exact plane i never flew it but i notice when i turned it on to check motor, it ran by itself with out the control or on off switch or the start button being on so i took it back to the hobby shop i bought it from and they told me the esc was bad so i think this is definitely the problem if the prop are not folding and it is spinning when you have the accellerator switch turn off it also should start again when you need to gain more height if these few examples apply i would just change the esc oh yea look at the esc and see if it is melting the shrink wrap around ti if it is then you definitely have a problem with the transistors getting to hot good luck !

sniper887

I have an aspire EP with a 7 cell battery, speed 600 motor and a geared 11x7.5 prop and the great planes c-30 speed control works fine for it

RC-Captain

Well thats the difference my speed control is a eflite max 25 , when i was breaking in the motor it burned up the shrink wrap and the motor wouldnt turn off until i disconnected the battery so it may be the esc cant handle the power from the battery have write hobby zone to find out now that you told me you have a different esc !

sniper887

I bought the arf plane which didn't come with an esc and instead has a switch operated by a servo so I took it out and put in the c-30 instead. So far so good. I still have a lot to learn about actually flying the plane. I dont' get to too often.

RC-Captain

i just called horizon hobby and the tech said he has had quite a few people calling about the esc that comes with the aspire ep, but there has'nt been a recall on them so if you can give me the full name of the ESC you are using then i think i will go with that one instead of buying another dud . lol . Please let me know if the c-30 has pre-installed on/offf switch,safety start button, battery leads,and channel leads . thanks

sniper887

This ESC is called the Great Planes C-30 Mini High Power ESC w/BEC. It comes with battery leads with an installed tamiya connector, motor leads, and a channel/bec lead with a futaba connector. It also comes with an on/off switch, and it has a feature that prevents accidental starts. This requires you to push the throttle stick to full and then back to off before the motor will operate. Here's a link to the ESC on the towerhobbies website:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXUR96&P=7

RC-Captain

Thank you very much but i beat you to the punch. i think i may try to this esc instead , the throttle thing probably acts as the red switch i have to push to actually start the motor so thanks a million i really appreciate your help .