I am fairly new to electric and am having some problems with my IFO. I am using an acro 280 and a Jeti 110 speed control. I was getting 2 minute flights with an 8 cell 220 mah nicd and 3 min. flights with a 7 cell 350 mah nicd pack. I don't know much about electric but this doesn't seem right, especially if hobby lobby is selling a 7 cell 110 mah pack in the combo. My guess is that the 110 speed control is taking away the power. I think it draws ll amps.
Second, the engine just stopped working today. It would rev up to 1/4 throttle then the auto brake would shut it off. I can see sparks inside the engine in the back and a little smoke.

I am confused. Can anyone help?

Thanks

Anybody, or is there atleast a place where I can get help?

Im surprised nobody has answered this one. Im curious........

sounds like maybe you are over proped, what size prop are you swinging, that would be one reason why your motor is smoking, and short flight time, try runing a smaller prop, also what voltage is the motor rated at, the speed controller really has nothing to do with the run time, or motor burning,

also if you are over proped the motor will draw alot of current, and with small batteries if you draw too much current the batt voltage would drop dramatically, therefore the speed controller will shut of... i hope this helps

Thanks for the reply.
The motor is rated at 6V drawing 8.5 amps. I'm using the 4:1 gearbox and the apc 10x4.7 that is reccommended by hobby lobby but I guess I'll have to try an apc 9x6 or something.

No longer support RCU

the acro 280 is a much much hotter wind than the normal speed 280 hence you would need a MUCH smaller prop,..or prefferably a higher gear ratio. 2 minute flights with 220mah cells would indicate over 6 amps which is way too much for those cells. The stock gearbox most places sell with the IFO is a 4.0 ratio, and that motor will pull 8.5 amps with a 9X6 on 7 cells with a 5.0 ratio. If you have a 10X4.7 slowfly prop on it and the 4.0 gearbox,.. it's simply a big mis-match in motor/gearing/prop, probably drawing over 10 amps, which that motor won't handle for long without releasing it's magic smoke, as you've seen . First off, you'll need larger cells to deliver the current for that motor (which is probably burnt up now due to the high current and smoke you noticed). That motor needs the 500AR cells which are a bit large and heavy for an IFO. So,.. a couple choices,..get the proper gearbox with 5.0 or higher ratio, and go down to a 9X6 prop (might be Ok with 10X4.7 if you gear it higher at 5.0), and get some larger cells to handle the current, or,.. get a normal speed280, which will draw about 3.5~4 amps with your present gearing and prop (less power, more duration, but within specs on the motor). The acro 280 is a 4000KV motor, whereas the normal speed 280 is about a 2300KV motor, hence the huge current that burnt up the acro 280 since it was used with too low a gear ratio and/or too large a prop. the 4.0 ratio and 10X4.7 prop are recommended, but with a speed 280,.. so I wouldn't blame hobby lobby unless someone there specifically sold you the acro 280 in place of the normal graupner "speed 280". Yes, the acro is called a "280", but it's a much hotter motor, hence you'd need different gearing/propping/cells.

Hey thanks, that's just what I needed. THe thing is, I got all this stuff from a hobby dealer. THe guy is an electrician and has an IFO himself, but he said he didn't know much about e-flight either so he just set out all of the different components I could buy for the IFO and let me choose which ones I wanted. Little did I know that the acro 280 was much different than other 280's other than that it's a ball bearing motor. I think the engine is screwed probably since it now only runs up to 1/4 throttle on a fresh pack.

Anybody want it- $5 plus shipping
SO what other 280 would be a gould choice (long duration, good thrust, not much over $20)?

Thanks again guys.

i fly mine with a 370 motor and 4.43 gear box.11.47 prop
batts are 8 cell 720 mah,nimh.10 minute flights,takes off vertical
out of my hand.keeps that power for a good 4-5 minutes

Say it looks like I have another three choices for a 280 motor.

1. The Mega Mig 280: 20 watts, 3.3 amps, 8 oz. thrust
2. Speed 280 Race Motor: 58 watts, 5.8 amps, 12 oz. thrust
or 3. Speed 280 sport: 57 watts, 5.7 amps, 10 oz. thrust.

All with 4:1 gear ratio's
I would prefer the two highest thrust motors but they both have high amp draws and a size 10x7 prop is reccomended. Will they not burn up if I use a 10x4.7 prop. The prices are all basically the same so which one do I get?

Check out wildrc.com. Dan can fix you up...........John

you can use the smaller props without hurting anything, the only thing that will happed is that you will get less amp draw (longer run time), and less thrust.... with eletrics its always a balance of power vs. run time....