Another flight report on the LR-1:
Glow version was again a goopy mess after a couple of flights. Nothing new there.
Electric Aveox version. OK, I think I finally understand the ESC rating when they say rated for 80 A continuous, 120 burst.
I think I fried the P80 ESC today. Hopefully it was just a thermal shutdown, but it still wasn't working when I tried it just before leaving the field. And it had that smell of burnt electronics [:@]
I flew one flight with the apc 7x7 and the 3S2P Maxamps 2250 cells. Everything was REALLY HOT! The batteries were at 168 F, this is after a minute or two to walk back to the pits and take the wing off, so it might have been near 180 or 200 up in the air. It melted a couple of small holes in the heat shrink on one end of each 3S pack.
The ESC was around 140 but showed no signs of distress.
I flew another flight (half hour later) using a apc 7x6 prop and 3S3P TP 2100 cells. This setup still drew 97A initially then settled at 93A .
Here is where I learned what the ESC rating means.
I flew mostly at 1/2 to 5/8 throttle, and only burst to full throttle for maybe 3 times at 10 seconds each time. I thought this should be OK with the Phoenix 80. WRONG!
I think that when I propped the system for 93A with the 7x6, even at partial throttle, the ESC will still "effectively see" the full load of 93A. I had read that several times before, but then I couldn't figure out why the ESC is given a burst rating then?
I think that the BURST rating means that the ESC is ok to run at the higher Amp rating ONLY in burst mode. ie: 10 seconds on, then completely off for the ESC to cool down, then 10 seconds on, then off, ,etc.
Should I treat the battery discharge ratings the same way? Burst rating is only for burst mode of on and off, NOT running the pack at 15C then burst to 20C, since if I proped for 20C, the pack will "see" 20c even at partial throttle.
I had been running it at partial throttle of, lets say 60 A, but the ESC was still seeing 93A, so after the second flight, it gave up and died in the air.
I landed the deadstick ok. No damage to plane.
So for other than BURST mode, I must match the ESC to the maximum amp draw. I guess I have to go looking for a P125 now if I want to run this thing at speed. I think 3S3P of the Maxamps 2250 cells will be ok for 100A continuous (at around 20 oz. batt weight) or get the Prolite 3S3P pack.
At least it was fast. Several pilots watching both the glow and elect. versions fly all agree that the E version was faster. Both have same pitch props, 8x7 for glow and 7x7 for E. although the Aveox spins faster than the glow (19700 vs 16500 for glow) and the E version has less drag.
Speed is FUN (& $$$) but my learning curve is just getting off a flat line
