Seagull Edge 540 60 e-conversion
 

I'm considering this plane as my next electric project. I'm wondering if anyone has converted this plane to e-power?

Here are my thoughts for power:

Eflite Power 110
CC 85a high voltage ESC
8 or 9s 2p A123 packs (made from DeWalt packs)

My immediate questions are:

Can the hatch be set up to accommodate the batteries (easy access)?

In this size plane would I run a UBEC for servo power or will adding a servo battery/switch be a better choice?

Thanks for any input.
Bob

RE: Seagull Edge 540 60 e-conversion
 

I'm interested to see what you come up with as I'm considering the same conversion, primarily because I already have charger, balancer and batteries for my T-rex 600.

the motor you've chosen seems good but may be a bit of an over kill, I'd be very careful with full power on that. My understanding is that 150 - 175 watts per pound is all that is needed for good aerobatics and mild 3D 200 watts for full 3D unlimited vertical.

Let me know how it goes I've thought about using the A123 batteries as well but the problem is where to mount them along with flight time. I'm looking for 15 min. and I think the number of batteries for A123 are more that the frame can handle if I do any real aerobatics.

Do you have a All up weight yet?

Hatch- depends on you building skills. What type of flying are you going to be doing? Since the wings were not designed to take the extra mass of the batteries they may need some attention. I would think that anywhere other than the engine and fuel areas for batteries other than lipo's may be too week and need to be reinforced.

for my Heli's I use the BEC but it's probably best to have an isolated battery for the servos one for redundancy two longer flight times

RE: Seagull Edge 540 60 e-conversion
 

I'm not sure of the AUW yet but I would guess over 9# with the A123 cells. I estimate a 8s2p M1 pack coming in at about 43oz. That seems like a lot of weight for this plane when I think about it. I really don't want to go lipo since I already have a few untouched DeWalt packs lying around waiting for conversion.

I think you're right about the overkill comment. That set up would be approximately 200watts per pound. Too much for my ability and flying style preference. I'm mainly into IMAC type stuff with the occasional blender or inverted flat spin thrown in. I'm not a "hucker".

Maybe a Power 60 on 5s or even 6s would be a better fit for my style of flying and this plane. That would get the pack weight down to about 28oz (for a 5s), which may be a better fit for this airframe. I would think that would give me 7-8 minutes flights. I'll have three batteries so that short of a flight time doesn't really concern me that much.

The batteries you mentioned that you have on hand, how much does one pack weigh?

RE: Seagull Edge 540 60 e-conversion
 

Maybe check out the new E-Flite power 90 that will be available soon.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...odID=EFLM4090A

I think this will be a very good match to that airframe and weight. And runs on 6s to 8s. Lighter motor and less weight in batteries than the power 110 you were thinking of.

RE: Seagull Edge 540 60 e-conversion
 

I think that would be way too much weight for that plane. Since you are using the HV controller why not use a 12s1p a123 pack. You could prop whatever motor for 35-40 amps and still have plenty of power and good runtime.

RE: Seagull Edge 540 60 e-conversion
 

I'm thinking you are correct. In fact the more I look into this, I'm convinced that 2p on A123 isn't the way to go. I do however want to stick with 10s to make things simpler - that's the way they come out of the DeWalt packs (so it doesn't take more than one DeWalt pack to make a flight pack), and my charger will handle up to 10s.

I'm thinking 9s (or even 10s?) with the E-Flite 90. Suggestions welcome please.

RE: Seagull Edge 540 60 e-conversion
 

I have this Seagull Edge with an electric setup. This is the motor I used; [link=http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=2097]Link[/link] I am using this with an OMERC 100A ESC and Polyquest 8S 4350 packs. I am currently using an APC-E 18x10 prop and it is pulling 65A and 1800W. I gave the plane its maiden today and it has plenty of power, good verticals and pull out. Airspeed was a little high so I think im going to go with an 18x8 or 17x8. After a 4 min flight the packs were barely warm and only took 1500mah out of the packs so looks like flight times are going to be 7-8mins. I am very impressed with the setup, here are a couple of pics;

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...70348Small.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...70349Small.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...70346Small.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...70351Small.jpg

RE: Seagull Edge 540 60 e-conversion
 

Wow that's cool higgy. I've never heard of those motors but the price is great.

How do you like the way your Edge flies?