ORIGINAL: mobyal
Thought you all might like to see a comparison of the pnuematic Robart gear, on the left, with the Down and Locked electric conversion, on the right, together w/ all the necessary ancillaries. The Robart gear weigh 4.6oz each while the Down and Locked conversion weigh 5.4oz each; as you can see, the D&L gear are about 3/4'' longer. The D&L control box is 2.5 oz and the battery to run the gear is 9oz. I don't know what all the valves, air nozzles and hoses for the pnuematics weigh, but it does look as though the D&L conversion, if run off a separate battery, may be a bit heavier than the pnuematic gear, but it's not significant. D&L is a simple drop-in; routing the lead will be a bit of a challenge, but no worse that figuring out the air line routing.
I sent the gear off to D&L on the 10th and got them back today. A good bit of time about a week was waiting for the check to clear because I chose not to use Paypal.
Let me know if you have any questions, and I'll try to answer.
Al
I have a set of Down & Locked gear on my Top Flite Cessna 310 twin. I had to send D&L my air actuated Robarts for the electrical conversion. So far so good with them.
I'm currently using a few sets of EFlite electric retracts on different planes. The one thing nice about the Down & Locked units versus the EFlite's is the actual electrical control of the D&L retracts are done using a small, separate, lightweight control box. The EFlite's have all the fragile electrical controls mounted directly to the retract.
The control box for the D&L units can be mounted anywhere. This nice feature means the electrical control box is away from the dust, grime and harsh conditions the retracts themselves will experience. The D&L's can also be ordered with a control box that will allow for progressive electrical operation of gear doors.
I just read an article at the Robart website about their new, soon to be release electric retracts. Appears Down & Locked will be doing all of the electrical construction for Robart. That will mean the Robart electric units will be entirely made in the good 'ol USA.
Joe M.