RE: Tech-Aero Regulators
 

If the extension is between the battery and the regulator, a voltage drop across it does not affect the output voltage of the regulator.
If the extension is between the regulator and receiver and there is no current flowing in the extension there is no voltage drop. So either the voltage must be set lower or the pack isn't staying 100% charged. It doesn't matter but make sure you check the backup so there is always some charge left.

Jim

RE: Tech-Aero Regulators
 

Jim,
From what I read it's not the output voltage of the regulator but the voltage that the regulator is receiving thus the extension between the battery and the regulator would have some voltage drop (according to Ed). I gather that once the received voltage from the battery is the same, they will be used equally but BUT, I do agree with you. How would the receiver know that the power is unequal if the regulator is sending the same regulated voltage....hmmmm.

Either way, I check both packs every flight. I'm very careful about doing that. I'm going to go and hook up my handy dandy Ed Alt programmer again now and double-check the numbers. I did originally set both to 6.0V

RE: Tech-Aero Regulators
 

If the output voltage of one regulator is slightly higher, its battery pack will provide the power most of the time.

The use of dual regulators actually prevents the other battery from kick in unless the voltage of the pack is dropped lower than the output voltage of the other regulator, which does not happen often with pattern load.

The above is based on a discussion with Smartfly tech support rep.

RE: Tech-Aero Regulators
 

Correct but even in Ed's examples, he is saying that if you have two batteries of different mah but the regulators are set to the same voltage, the receiver will draw the higher mah battery primarily.  What I don't understand though is that the regulator, regulates thus providing the exact same thing to the receiver.  So....how does one get drawn down faster than the other if the regulator is providing the exact same voltage to the receiver.  I just got lost.  Dang it!

RE: Tech-Aero Regulators
 

The output voltage of the reg is not exactly the same?

RE: Tech-Aero Regulators
 

The output voltage of the two regulators is what determines if they share the load equally, unequally, or not at all. The dual regulator setup that I use and that most customers use is for equal load sharing. The two main reasons for that are that you are getting use from the weight you are carrying, and you also have a positive indication that everything is working, based on what you observe each flight. The regulator's output voltagehave to be within .005 volts of eachother,or less in order for this to work well. If anything fails on either side, the other keeps it all going, without any loss of power whatsoever when that occurs.

If all you are interested in is an emergency backup without equal load sharing, what I call a hot standby, then the precision of the regulators is notas important. But why carry that weight unless it's doing something for you? Viewed another way, if you want to carry about 1000 mils of useful capacity, just carry a couple of 480's, not a 1000 and something else.

RE: Tech-Aero Regulators
 

Ed,

Yes, I am for equal load sharing. That is ideal. The trick is to make sure both regulators output identical voltages all the time (or within 0.005v as you mentioned). Otherwise, one pack will get used more. In the extreme case that the battery is deeply-over-discharged (lower than 3.2v/cell for TP), it could become useless. Even though the plane is saved because of the backup, the main pack is ruined.

This is the worse scenario for equal sharing mode. I was hoping that the regulator will not allow the pack to drop below 3.2 before let the other to kick in. But the capacity of each pack in equal sharing should be the same and its capacity sized as if there was only one pack in the system, if the condition that equal voltage from the regulators is not guaranteed all the time.

For hot-standing, the backup pack can be of a lower capacity (minimal of one flight), assuming the voltage of the main pack is checked before each flight.

RE: Tech-Aero Regulators
 

Long before you damage the primary pack, it will have discharged to a low enough voltage that the backup will pick up the load. In the extreme case, if you are running the regulators at 6.0 volts, you can see the primary will eventually begin to drop off below 6 volts when loaded and the secondary will clearly pick up the load. At that point there is no damage to the primary. However, if you are running that imbalanced and for that long, you will have lost any redundancy.

When running an imbalanced system, it is important not to fly to the point that you have depleted the primary past the point of supporting one more flight. Of course if you use the motor batteries as your primary, this is not a problem.

John