Padawan

A question for TimCouto, I noticed that you didn't use the wing struts on your E-Starter, was there a reason for this?

I'm in the process of building an E-Starter and I had second thoughts about using the struts when I got to the part of assembling the struts. I questioned the fact would they fit correctly on the plane after putting them together. I questioned the fit after already having problems with parts no aligning properly but, I deceided to try them and found that one side fit perfect and the other side didn't. I also found that the suggested epoxy doesn't seem to stick well to the strut mounts as one of them came off and the plane was just sitting there while I was reading the instructions, the strut mounts had been glued on for a week and the one that came out wasn't the strut that was binding, it was the one that fit perfect. I think that I'm going to co without the struts.

ArrowNaughtic

Glad i found this thread........ I bought my gf a estarter 3 days ago and we are almost done building it. I am a electric heli guy and have very limited knowledge of "planks". I will say the instructions do leave a huge amount of self doubt and triple checking and having to logically look at what the part is doing. Overall......... we are about done and I have installed 3 cheap heli servos... Eflite S75's and will be using a Esky 20A heli ESC running a 2S 8C 800mah lipo. thats with the 400 motor that came with the kit. I have to change some of the connections and install a cutoff switch on the fuse somewhere but overall........ The TX/RX setup is a Futaba 6EXH with a R127 RX and it was suggested by one of the plane guys at the LHS to not hook up the ailerons but instead plug the rudder into the ail servo slot on the RX. I undertstand that would effectively make the plane a 3ch but after reading a few of the earliest posts I am having doubts. Sounds like that would make the plane more squirrily.
Just to ease my mind a little does anyone see anything wrong with the current setup? I will do an amp draw on the motor spooling up on the ground and will set the throttle curves accordingly. According to the GWS site the ICS400 speed controller has a 15A cont and 25A max draw. How does one find out what max the motor pulls? I want to keep it fairly low as this is a starter plane for the GF and hopefully she will be able to enjoy it.

As far as hooking up the ail servo and using those......... good idea? Or bad?


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

Time Pilot

One problem you have is that battery is only good for 6.5 amps continous. With the stock setup, there is a chance you will overamp your battery and damage it.

For some headroom, you should have a battery that can handle at least 12 amps, not that you should push that motor that hard.

You don't really need a cut off switch. Most E-flyers just unplug the battery to disconnect power from the system.

I have flown my Estarter with three channels, and it flys fine. I would recommend ailerons anyway as it handles better, but rudder only, will turn the plane.

The best way is to get a watt meter and hook it up between the battery and the esc. You throttle and up read the numbers off an LCD Screen. 15A is more than enough for a 400 motor. That current is hard on those little motors.

This link may answer some of your questions.
http://www.gwsus.com/english/product...em/eps400c.htm

ArrowNaughtic

TY time pilot...........all good info and I do have some 11.1V lipos that will push up to 15A with a constant of 12A so will use those rather than the 7.4V lipos.


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

Time Pilot

If you are going to use those, you may need to change the gearbox & prop. If memory serves me correctly, 3S lipos are recommended with the 400 with D gearing and a 9x5 prop.

Someone correct me if that's wrong, but, ArrowNaughtic, if you need to know, let me know and I will look it up. I've got the info on another computer.

ArrowNaughtic

LOl....always a obstacle with these darn planks. I will see if I can get a gearbox ordered up and also might end up putting a Orion Slo Max motor in it. I have one for one of my helis and if it works okay for that, I may use it in this setup too.
Ty Time Pilot............ I will get the right combo yet!


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Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

hallagon

Did you change out the two big wheels in the front of your E starter and put in the tri system pictured?