Originally posted by Desertrat
Great thread guys. I really appreciate the discussion.
Michael Glavin: Question about the powerbox; Agreed, you need to have both batteries sharing the load when you have a lot of servos. I like the idea of the powerbox eating the amperage instead of the receiver. Where is the battery redundancy in the system? It would seem to me that if one battery failed, the other would then be forced to pick up the load for both, and total power failure would then be imminent right?
Having just lost a 35% due to battery failure, I can tell you this is a sore spot for me, and my new 40% will have some form of true redundancy on all systems. Tell me more on why the powerbox is better than two receivers, I'm just not convinced.
Thanks
Roger
Redundancy is achieved by utilizing two batteries. The batteries are isolated from one another. BUT if you have a scenario that dumps the batteries there is little to nothing that can save your model other than luck and getting down before the lights go out! Of course this scenario gives cause to the two RX system with independent power supplies. IMO this is an unlikely event but I am sure that it has happened. I'd be willing to bet that if it did happen it would be somethingthat was modeler introduced, i.e. wiring, chafing or improper setups.
RX's in todays world rarely fail if there properly cared for. Two RX's does offer some perceived value in this regard. The real reason the two RX systems offers redundancy is, the two independent power sources. If you utilize a power jumper from one to the other RX you have increased the odds in your favor two fold, IMO.
Simply put the power supply connector that failed in Aero330LX's outing would not have been realized until such time that the model was on the ground and proper systems checks were employed with a single RX system utilizing two power supplies or with the use of a power box device. I guess redundancy is in the eye of the beholder.
One of many reasons I believe the power boxes excel is the ability to regulate, isolate, amplify, offer failsafe on features, eliminate wyes and allow the use of extensions to each servo used in multiple high current draw applications from a single signal source (no more mixing in many cases which can lead to lag time between servos/surfaces). Together with the use of programmable servos the sky's the limit, IMO...
Of course there is something to be said for the current handling capabilities of these devices! Which is sorely addressed in most other scenarios.