TechyJoe

I have an older Wattage Extra 330L with the Speed 480 motor and gear drive. This plane is very underpowered with the stock setup and I have only been able to get the plane airborne once. I've read all the forums on this plane and everyone says to go with a brushless motor. Brushless is a little out of my price range so I was wondering if I can just install a larger gear drive and a larger prop (9x4 etc.). I am running the stock motor using a 12v, NiMh 1100mah battery (207 grams) and a 15 amp ESC. I have also contemplated purchasing a cobal 400. Can I use a Cobal 400 with a normal gear drive or must I use planetary or not needed at all? Any input before I go off spending more money would be appreciated.

Matt Kirsch

My Feedback: (21)

The important question is, what prop and gear ratio are you running now?

IIRC, the Wattage Extra originally came with a direct drive 480 motor, no gearbox.

Don't waste your money on the Wattage Cobalt. You'll then need to buy a new ESC because it draws close to 20 Amps, and a new 8-cell 9.6V battery because 10 cells, 12V, is too much for the motor.

Just musing here, but you should be able to spool up a 10x7 prop on a 3:1 gearbox with that motor and a 10-cell (12V) pack. If that doesn't make the plane fly...

I just recommended the Astro 803G on 10 cells with a 10x7 prop to a friend of mine who bought a Wattage Extra on inventory reduction. The numbers showed power at 160 Watts, which is 80W/lb on a 2lb airplane. At $209 for motor gearbox and controller, and able to use the battery you have now, it's a veritable bargain you might consider saving up for.

Greg Covey

The original Wattage 330L came with a geared Speed 480 motor which was really a long can 400. Although the power was adequate, the high wingloading required exceptional skill to keep from stalling.

This exceptionally cute Extra has a high wingloading by design. The frame is rather heavy and the small wingarea combined with a thin performance airfoil makes for a challenging electric power setup.

After many tries, my final design using the Mega 16/15/7 motor with a 3-cell Kokam 1500mAh Lithium pack and a 10x7 prop was the best. It was light and powerful but you still have to remember that it was an Extra...not a 3D floater.

Wattage acknowledged these shortcomings by making the other two planes in the series, the Giles 202 and CAP 232, with a 4" longer wingspan.

TechyJoe

The original gear drive came with two pinion gears. One, I believe is 1.77:1 and the other is 2.5:1. I have been running the motor using the 1.77:1 because I lost the other lower geared pinion. Anyway, I recently tried a 9x6 APC prop on this gear drive and the ESC was cutting off the motor so I assumed that the prop was just to big. In reality, I think it was just caused from a battery which needed cycling. Anyway, I just purchased a Master Airscrew 9x4 prop and tried it. This seems to be a better fit for the motor and draws about 8 amps of current. However, I think I'm going to purchase the 2.5:1 pinion from Wattage and use it. This should give me a little more power to turn the larger prop.