I was wondering how many folks use the DSC feature on most high end radios and how many charge or test their airborne packs in the airplane? The real question I guess is do we need the charge cable on the switch harness anymore?

Jim O

Hi Jim

Must have for receiver battery load testing between flights.

Dick

No need. It just adds weight. I never charge lipo's in the plane. If I want to check voltage then I just unplug the battery and check it directly. I always remove the charge cable, so it would be nice to have just a switch and a regulator.

Acutally, after thinking about this I decided to make an ammendment. If you are a glow flier you might want to keep the charge cable to check battery voltage. They don't normally have to pop their planes open during the day so they'd probably like to keep the charge cable. I am an electric flier so I could do without the charge cable.

I fly eplanes and never charge the lipo rx packs in the plane. I use a regulator and just unplug the lipo from the regulator to check the voltage between flights.

Woodie

Hi Jim.....
I never have used the DSC feature in any airplane.
As far as charging....I stopped using the harness when I changed to LiIo for radio power.
I have always removed the charge connector/DSC from your regulators and re-shrink them.
I started using a Deans Ultra on the battery direct charge lead with 18awg meter wire to the battery...re-shrink the battery too.
The second heavy battery lead goes to the regulator.
I have always charged in the airplane.

Now that I am about to change to LiPo for radio power.....uhhh...I'll probably remove the battery....HEH

I don&rsquo;t use the DSC on my electrics as none of them have a switch harness. My largest electric is a Vanquish, so the radio gear in all of them is powered through the throttle connector from the ESC.</p>

On my fuel powered planes, the DSC is convenient for binding the JR/Spektrum receivers. When switching transmitters, it saves having to dig the receiver out and disconnecting the power plug, which normally is on the receiver&rsquo;s bind connector.</p>

Allan</p>

I don't think the current breed of 2.4gHz radios actually have a DSC port. I am keeping the charge port because my F3A plane does not have a removable canopy but the battery is loaded through the chin cowl and I don't have access to the radio bay.

No, the Spektrum/JR 2.4GHz receivers don't have DSC. But if you have a JR type switch harness that has a DSC lead, it can be connected to the receiver battery/bind connector. The binding plug comes with both a male and female connector for that reason.

Allan

I recently built up a switch harness without the DSC/charge cable for a pattern guy and it looked pretty good and was of course lighter. However, I am an advocate of checking your battery but I must admit since I went to Lithiums I got away from checking. They are so predictable it seemed like a waste of time but I realized that I should be testing for the unpredictable so I put one of Radio South's voltmeters in the plane permanently so I have no excuses.

I guess I'll keep making them like I do now and let folks cut off the stuff they don't want like Dave does.

Jim