Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Hi guys

Will be building a field box soon and am shopping for power panels.

The two im looking at are:

Hobbico Deluxe Power Panel II

Hobbico Accu-Glow II

The Accu-Glow has a few extra features such as battery level LEDs, glow plug health etc, but is significantly more expensive! Should I buy it and be done with it? Or do basic power panels suffice even with more advanced planes?

cheers

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

The basic ones work just fine. Good Luck, Dave

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Personally, I don't do power panels. My starter has it's own battery.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...C/starter2.jpg

My electric fuel pump clips to the side of my flight box and has a small 3S lipo (sealed in an old Hitec plastic servo box) attached to it.......pumps 6+ gallons per charge. Finally, I use a rechargeable nistarter for glow plugs. That's it. My recent trend has been toward simplicity. A big 7 amp hour battery, power panel, and cords all over the place is more than I want to deal with. I know this doesn't answer your question, but I had this pocket full of pixels just aching to do some work. :)

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Yep , the basic one is plenty.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Now, before you spend a lot of money on a power panel you have time to consider a couple of things worth considering.

With a power panel, you need a heavy lead battery to drive it.
The lead battery often takes a special charger. Lot's of chargers that'll do both NiCds and LiPos won't do Pb.
The panel and the battery make your flight box extra heavy.
When you drive a starter from the flight box, the power cord can be a hazard.
When you drive the glowplug starter from the flight box, that cord can be a hazard.
Starters and glowdrivers on cords can be inconvenient and at least one will be a hazard for sure.

Portable starters offer useful, convenient flexibility. You can restart models that cut off taxiing out. A newbie was doing touch and goes the other day and killed the engine on landings every so often. With a portable starter and glowdriver, it was lots quicker clearing the runway starting it where it sat. And safer.

It usually costs less to go portable.
No panel to buy. No cords to buy. No special charger to find/buy.

As for safety............... think about it. You hook the glowstarter up that has a cord back to the power panel. Gotta situate the flightbox so the cord doesn't get picked up by the spinning prop. Now the cord to the starter goes WHERE...... ok, move the flight box so the starter cord won't swing into a spinning prop. The glowstarter cord does WHAT when you move the box. The engine starts and the vibration flips off the glowstarter while you're trying to keep the starter cord out of the prop. Want to NOT have to keep up with all that? Go portable. And save some money doing it.

You got the luxury to think it over now.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

I use something similar to this:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...rgency+battery

as a power pack. It is a backup for my electric starter for when I use it on the larger engines, and will adequately power my Triton, ICE, and Sirius field chargers.

I have a small inverter that connects to the power plug (similar to a cigarette lighter socket in your car or truck) that I use to charge my glow drivers.

Other than that, and fuel, and a small portable plastic tool/parts box, that's just about everything I carry. Most of that stays in the car.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

And a hand-cranked fuel pump isn't a big deal. They're not too heavy. And face it, you're not going to be pumping hundreds of gallons of fuel at any given time. How long does it take to hand crank full a 12 oz fuel tank, less than a minute? Less then 30 seconds?

What I typically see at the field. Pilot usually carries the glowplug starter in his pocket.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Yup, knew it would happen. Every time the subject of power panels comes up, an imagined safety issue with cords is used to justify personal preferences.

Dealing with the glow driver cord is simple. Put the box on your left side and route the wire under the wing. Cord is nowhere near the prop. If the cord isn't long enough, use a few feet of lamp cord to extend it. If it happens to come loose during starting, having it routed around the back of the wing will cause it to fall back and away from the prop. Contrast this with self contained glow drivers that can be under powered, frequently end up needing charging, etc. Also, I've seen a number of glow drivers pop off during starting and end up striking the prop. Scary if you ask me...

Starter cords? Who needs electric starters? Learn to properly prime your engine and you don't even need to bother bringing a starter to the field. Think of the weight savings! ;) My engines often start with just one flip, and usually within a few flips. If you do want to use a starter, simply develop a routine for routing the wire along a path where it won't be near the prop and where you won't trip on it.

Developing, and using, safe routines is way more important than what equipment you do or do not choose to use...

Switching for electric pumps? Again, who needs them? A manual pump is fine for everything but the largest tanks. I have a couple electric pumps, but I only use them for boats since the tanks are large and I've often only got a few minutes to refill. For planes, I use a manual pump.

Another advantage I see with using the power panel and a 12v battery is I only have to maintain one battery. Prepping 2 or 3 planes for flight is enough work, I would not want to have to deal with the hassle of charging separate batteries for a starter, glow driver, and electric pump. However, that's just my personal preference. An added bonus is if I know I'm going to put in a long day at the field I can bring a charger and power it from the flight box battery.

So, AustFLYER, decide what features you think you will use. On my power panels (I use the Deluxe), I only use the glow driver at the flying field. At the pond I use the glow driver and fuel pump switch. Oh, and others have used the glow driver charging jack when their battery died. ;) The Accu-Glo does have a few features that appear nice, but it doesn't seem like it really does anything more than the Deluxe one. Are those niceties worth the extra money to you?

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Along the lines of what Chuck said, I very rarely to never use the power panel on my flight box. I use a chicken stick to start my engines. I only use an electric for starting cranky engines (particularly cold days or starting new engines), and when I hook it up I have a banana plug on the side of my flight box with heavy gauge wire directly to the battery posts. For fueling I use a hand crank pump. I used to use electrics but the durability of those are questionable. The electrics seem to last only about a season before they give out. I now use a hand crank pump from Hanger 9, and it's been going strong for going on the 5th year of use. I have a rechargable glow driver so that I don't need to worry about that on the panel.

If/when I ever build a new flight box I probably won't even put a power panel on it as I just don't use it that much.

Ken

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Radio South has an excellent glow driver with LED's on the front of the small 2" x 2" bright yellow box. It contains a NiCd rechargeable battery pack and comes with a wall wart to charge overnight. I use it, and use it, and use it, then remember that maybe I ought to charge it so I do. The LED's show the condition of the glow plug. Very nice unit and very portable, takes up very little room.

That, and the Sears portable emergency jump start gizmo that I bring, is very useful because I connect my field chargers to it (Ice, Triton, and Sirius) and charge both TX and RX batteries off of it. I also have a pair of banana plugs that I can run an extension for my electric starter if needed (as Ken mentioned, cranky engines (like that crap Evo 100 that I had.. past tense), cold days, and so on) but my OS's all start with one flip, even that is not necessary.

What does that leave? Fuel pump? Manual crank attached to the 2 gallon portable thingie I bought from the LHS recently, takes care of that. Those electric fuel pumps just don't last for some reason. I've tried several and after a while, they leak, so I dump them and always go back to the trusty manual pumps.

I used to have a field box that I thougth I might need wheels for, it was that big and heavy. I've since returned to basics and take as little as possible. It's more fun to fly than it is to tote all that junk from and to the car (and don't for get that you have to load that stuff before heading out, and unload it when you return home).

Keep it simple.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

My power panel: $9.99 [8D]
Starter jack, glow starter jack (im not using) , voltmeter with a test button :D
No pump, did I say small :D

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHCA1&P=7

Alex

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

thanks for the input guys...what a great forum this is!

well one question has been answered - if anything, dont bother with the high end panel.

now as for panel/no panel i see many pros and cons here. i do like the idea of only having one battery to worry about, but the convenience/portabilty of stand-alone glow heaters/starters is also worthy of consideration...

ill also stick with my manual pump given the question marks over the reliability of elec pumps.

im leaning towards portable gear at this stage...get a small batt to strap to my starter, and get one of these batt powered glow drivers...

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

I use the same power panel as Alex7403. I use the battery only to run my starter. I keep the box on the ground to my right, and after I start the plane, I set the starter down on the low shelf on the right side of the bench. The wires never get near the prop. I use a very cheap D-cell powered glow driver which is big, bulky, and red, so it's easy to grasp. I carry the glow driver and a piece of broomstick wrapped in tape in my pocket for re-starts near the runway.

I use the hobbico 7A sealed battery in my field box, and I have not recharged it this season. For me, the voltmeter on the power panel would be unnecessary.

When I get so that I can reliably start my planes every time with the stick, I will take the battery out of my field box. For now, I can do it when the engines are warmed up, but that's about it.

Edit:

Oh yeah, I use a cheap, hand crank fuel pump, I think it's the Hanger 9 model. Like they said above, it is not like you are pumping hundreds of gallons. I also love it because I can count how many cranks it takes to fill my tank (usually ~40 cranks for an empty 8 ounce tank). Then I can count how many cranks to top off between flight (usually ~20-25) and it gives me a good feel for how much fuel I am burning vs. how long my flights are.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

I've got an older version of the Hobbico Deluxe on my field box and I like it. I'm a real hold-out and use a glow driver with leads that plug into the panel as well as the starter. Never got into the "wireless" glo-driver trend. I like the voltage gauge which shows the plug isn't dead and that it is receiving voltage. I use a zinger (like fly-fishermen hang gadgets off their vests with) attached near the plug clamp that retracts the driver and wire automatically out of the way when I unclip it.

I have a Dave Brown hand pump for fuel (and one for gas, too). Simple and reliable. I know two pilots who shot fuel into their eyes accidently with electric pumps.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

I use a 12v, an electric starter with alligator clips, rechargeable glow stater, and a manual pump. The reason i did it this way is I already had a 12v battery when i started flying planes, so I used that. I already had a rechargeable glow starter, so i used that. So i had to decide, do I want a powerpanel, electric starter (bannana), electric pump or electric starter (alligator) and manual pump. I saved some good money not buying the electric pump and powerpanel. I used that money for fuel.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

I use the Sig Fieldboss power panel and really like it. It has an automatic glow driver built it (I don't like having to adjust a knob) and doubles as an Expanded Scale Voltmeter for checking the remaining "oomph" of your TX packs and RX packs. I don't use an electric fuel pump.

I have one of those field boxes where the power station detaches - all I carry out the plane is the 12v battery and the panel. Pretty handy. The analog scale on the power panel also reads the level of the 12v battery.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

I'm into KISS (keep it simple, stupid). I use a lawn tractor battery that I carry in an old milk crate. I connect my starter directly to it. I use a glow stick and a Dave Brown hand crank fuel pump.Total investment $25 for the battery and $10 for the glow stick and about $10 for the pump. The setup has never failed me. I charge the tractor battery using a 12V 1A wall wart from one of my kid's old toys.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Checked out your homepage, SWEEET!

Love bikes, Love RC.

(Unfortunately I have only one trainer I have yet to solo, and Sadly, I haven't been on a bike in 17 years.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

thanks again for all the help guys

i think i might get the hobbico deluxe II panel, use my starter that plugs into the panel, and a portable glow stick.

this way i can halve my wires, and the panel's built-in glow stick charging jack can be used to keep the glow stick topped up.

question though...is the meter/glow heat knob on the panel a good thing? if im using a glow stick, I wouldnt get the benefit of this feature...

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Yes, the meter/knob is a good thing. When I change to a different type of glow plug I always readjust the knob so I get a nice orange, not white, glow.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

hmmm.....is this adjustment of the heat essential?

lots of these guys seem to be using the glow sticks without a problem...

and what does the meter show? how much life is left in the plug?

cheers

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

What it shows depends on the panel. The good ones show current through the plug. If you turn up the knob and see no current you have:
1. dead battery
2. loose connection
3. dead plug
Once you know what current the plug of YOUR choice typically draws for the heat you want you can set it for that current.
The glow stick can't be set. Freshly charged it may give more heat than you want and when the battery weakens it may not give enough to fire the engine. The knob also lets you give a little extra current to help with a flooded engine.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

thanks mate...using the panel seems quite advantageous

this is what im looking at

http://i22.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/b3/0d/9d00_1_b.JPG

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

Ha! I've got you beat. My power panel is a Ni-Start glow battey. That's it. Fits in my pocket.

I've been flying a lot of electrics lately but when I do fly glow, that Ni-Start is all I need to get any engine running, even the four strokes.

RE: Power Panel - how advanced do I need to be?
 

When you first start out , a power panel is cool , but once you learn to tune your engines, a glow driver and a chicken stic is all you need.