Hi,
I'm about 99% done with my Sig Extra 300xs and I have a few questions.

1) My Saito 180 muffler tip doesn't protrude low enough through the plane's cowl and I'd like to some how extend it so that exhaust escapes away from the plane and not in the firewall area. Is there a longer bolt-on muffler that will fit the Saito that will not hinder performance or cooling?

2) I need to add weight to the plane for balance and I've heard of people using redundant battery packs. Is this recommended and can someone explain the wire routings?

Thanks

Andre in Livermore, CA

Andre from Livermore
A redundant battery pack is a very good Idea, whether for balance or peace of mind. You will need a pack of equal size to your main pack and a separate switch/charge jack for this pack. Then simply plug it in to an unused servo port on your receiver then you will have to charge each pack individually.
As for as the exhaust for the 180, I think you can buy aftermarket header pipes to lenghten your standard ex.

Thanks Bold!
Regarding battery redundancy, if one pack fails, then the second pack automatically takes over? Stupid question..but I assume that both packs are running at the same time??
I've heard that adding extensions to existing muffler pipes can lead to overheating?? Any truth to that?
Thanks
Andre

assuming you just use a Y cable for the battery packs, then they both run in parallel all the time. should a battery pack fail with a broken joint (open circuit) then you will be ok, if one fails with a dead short, that pack will kill the other one also. (fairly rare to fail that way but it can and does happen)

Two packs with equal number of cells will also be paralleled if they are just plugged into any two open slots in the Rx. This would be the first choice over using a "Y" connector. The packs will drain fairly equally and if one should fail the other will keep things working as normal. It's also important to use two separate switches/charge receptacles.