Capt. Yossarian

This might be an interesting question, at least I've not heard of it done.

Basically I have a bad 4 cell receiver battery in a .40 size glow plane. I have plans to meet some buds at the field tommorrow early and would prefer to avoid having to wait for the hobby shop to open to get a new battery.

I also fly electrics and was wondering if I can use a 3 cell lipo with a 30Amp speed control without connecting the motor and just use it to run the RX and servos?

Basically use the speed control as a volt-limiter. Is that going to cause problems having unconnected motor leads?

Thanks for any advice.
Dave

DMcQuinn

My Feedback: (13)

This should work fine, although I have never actually done it. The speed controller should not care that the motor is not connected.

Capt. Yossarian

I would think so too DMcQuinn. But you do not forsee any problems with the volts dropping too fast or something odd like that? I'll just tape the motor leads to make double sure they can't touch each other and cause a short.

If this works ok, I should be able to fly for a week without recharging haha.

JohnW

My Feedback: (6)

I'd try to verify somehow that the BEC in the speed controller can handle the RX/servo load. On the groud before you fly, I'd stall out some servos and verify the BEC doesn't overheat or shut down. If it passes that test, I'd say yer good to go.

Capt. Yossarian

Good idea. What do you mean stall out a servo?

The plane is a pulse 40 xt and I believe it's all analog servos, maybe the two aileron servos are digital, I'll double check that.

Again, please explain stalling out a servo. This is a big help, thanks.

Dave