Maudib

My Feedback: (51)

The only "single" thing that could fail is the regulator in the SuperReg... if one batt fails, it's isolated from the other.

As I mentioned earlier Regs do not play well together, so it's not a good idea to use two regulated packs into one receiver. Something about one ends up drawing the most power and you find one pack is drawn down real low and the other hardly at all. That is what I was told from Rich at Smart-Fly.

NeoGenesis

My Feedback: (27)

No....hence the term redundant in my previous post. That's the reason I went with the Turbo reg instead of the Super Reg. It's supposed to be fully redundant. It has dual battery inputs, dual regulators, dual outputs. A failsafe pin or slider switch controls the unit. With testing on mine, if you plug in only a single pack, you see unregulated voltage across both input ports, and regulated voltage across both output ports. I obviously can't test to see what happens if a Reg fails, but seeing the amount of power they are supposed to handle, most planes will never tough that much amperage. It was designed to be fully redundant. I'm pleased with what I've seen so far. As I stated in one of my previos posts, I'm installing it in my AM 33% Yak. Overkill.....yes.......but I like for my systems to be as failsafe as possible while retaining a reasonable cost. That a tough line to draw, but I liked where this product fell.


Be sure to visit www.smart-fly.com and read the descriptions for yourself if your thinking of one. It may help it explain it better than I can.


Neo Out!!

NeoGenesis

My Feedback: (27)

But if you check your voltages after every flight, which good practice should have us doing........it would be enough to save your plane and would be caught before the next flight.

Also, if Rich at smart-fly told you this, why would they be producing a product that does just this?


Neo

Bob_S

I'm not disputing that someone said that but it seems to negate the selling point of their TurboReg, right? That system is 2 batts, 2 regs, 1 load.

In any case... in any system with a single point of failure you can have serious problems. I haven't heard of anyone have a problem with 2 batts into 2 regs. I'm not saying that it isn't possible, rather it just isn't likely. If you want to reduce the chance of a crash from a reg failure then you need 2.

From the way this thread is going it also sounds like you need to make sure you have good air movement over/around the reg.

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

I have set up a lot of planes in the past few months.. I have seen the gamut as far as regulators go ...

MPI - MAXX is a good company, unfortunately, I have had multiple problems with their regulators... they are fine for sticks and small planes, even intermediate IMAC planes.. but I would not use them in a GS app with more than 4-5 servos.... and not even then if I am running only one battery!

Duralite - excellent product, similar construction to MPI, but heat shrink is hollow allowing airflow ... beefier overall w/ much better current + fail safe switch.. nice product but they are a bit bulky and weigh a lot more than the Smart-Fly regs. Overall a close second to Smart-Fly though.

Smart-Fly - well made, light, simple with excellent quality wiring...

Fromeco - built like a tank, plenty of power handling.. don't like the flag switch .. cumbersome if you want redundant switches... excellent product though otherwise, Kurt will make custom configs to order - a big plus!

Powerbox Sensor 12 (dual reg / switch in a single housing) - best solution if you want a clean install... more $$ than two regulators though.

On larger planes there are solutions like the Powerbox, Emcotec, Smart Fly expanders, etc... the options are expanding!



My choices:

#1 Powerbox Sensor 12 - elegant two-circuit solution... for about $40 more than two regulators you get a very simple, easy to install redundant switch and regulator.. best product out there at this time for the $$ I literally can control my entire aircraft power with one switch! Use this product on 28%-31% planes with 5-6 servos max!

I have installed 4 of these so far in various 50cc planes... and one in mine. Love it!


#2 Smart-Fly - best overall small regulators out there... HD wire, weigh next to nothing, good customer support and fast response! Other excellent products as well, not as elegant as powerbox, emcotec, etc.. but not as expensive either and made in the USA. Local Phoenix businessman.. I give him all the business I can!

#3 Fromeco - as good as Smart-Fly but slightly heavier due to large heat sink... bullet proof product though.. look cool too!


My prefered setup:

I use a powerbox Li-Ion Competion in my 3W 106 powered 102" QQ Yak and a Powerbox Sensor in my DA50 powered 85" QQ Yak.

I use a Smart fly 5.2V regulator on my DA50 ignition.. the 3W does not need a regulator.


The powerbox sensor is worth looking into ... $120 for a very compact and light weight solution. Lends itself well to foam sided planes like the QQ and EF Yaks... only one hole to cut and it gets rid of one of the major groans of regulators.. finding a place to mount them and deal with all the wiring... !


Well ... what do you know.. another Sensor 12 just showed up in the mail from Gerhard as I write!!
DP

marzo91

My Feedback: (57)

Rob, After I healed, I checked things out closely. At a low idle, or if you wiggled the regulator, the servos would go wild; max out both ways. They would even go nuts if I squeezed the regulator. The servos acted like they do when you have a dead battery. I think the power was being interupted or cut off. The reg. was less than a month old. MPI said my installation was too ridgid. They claimed vibration ruined mine, not heat.
The installation was not too ridgid. The servo load was even light. 4 JR 4721's, 1 JR 8611, and 1 537 for the throttle.

ben beyer

My Feedback: (23)

Well, glad to see you still have you hand. Any nerve damage?

babflyer

My Feedback: (2)

the three Y's I talked of earlier were because of dual battery,dual regulator setup. I already have one Y to get everything pluged in so If each reg had 2 leads that would mean 2 more Y's. I thought that if the MPI regulator failed it failed in an "on" condition and things just wouldnt power up the next time you tried to power up the system. Thats a major bummer about the hand. I opted to stay with 4.8 volt nicad on the ignition after hearing of startup /ignition problems with regulators.

Diablo-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

All this talk about "iffy" regulators makes me want to go back to using 5-cell NiMH without regulators. The better solution would be to design the servos to work off a higher voltage range, let's say 4-9 volts. Like the new 3W ignition has done. Then we can dump the regulators and still use Li-ion. Anyone listening?

NeoGenesis

My Feedback: (27)

I have a feeling that is coming. Most major engine brands have lithium copatible ignitions with their engines now. Also, look at he Hitec 5995 robot servo, it runs off of 12volt. It's coming, just a matter of time.



Neo Out!!!.

marzo91

My Feedback: (57)

(Not to hi-jack, but) Ben, I didn't get any nerve damage. It cut a lot of soft tissue and one artery that goes to my fingers. They couldn't repair the artery, so they tied it off. I lost some flexibility due to scar tissue in the tendons. The most lingering pain was where the wooden prop hammered the bones all the way to my elbow. My entire arm ended up black and blue, and embedded with toothpick-size splinters.

RobT

My Feedback: (17)

I am glad you are ok. I hate to see someone get hurt in this hobby.

Rob

sweetpea01

My Feedback: (10)

My setup is basic.

ED heavyduty switch to TBM 4800 Lithium.....then a MPI normal regulator direct to battery port.

Then the same setup direct to aux 5 channel as my backup.

I don't use regulators on my smoke or ignition batts.....

Flyjets

My Feedback: (51)

Guy's

Wasn't this Thread about MPI Regulators not all this other stuff?

If U want to talk about Redundant system please start another Thread.

marzo91 I am glad ur going to be OK I know first hand how painfull hand accidents can be.

Ian

ben beyer

My Feedback: (23)

May I suggest looking into a Smart Fly system Sweetpea. I know it's obviously working for you now, but I don't think that's going to last on a plane that big.

dirtybird

My Feedback: (5)

When you add a regulator you are introducing another single point of failure that can distroy the whole airplane. If you really think you need it you should probably add two in parallel. I would add another regulator,switch, and battery. Complete redundancy of your power system. Then you could add Smart Flys isolator to prevent a short in one system from affecting the other.

sweetpea01

My Feedback: (10)

I think I'll stay with what I got. Everything has been working fine for too long to just throw it away because other people fried their stuff.

For all I know they charged through the regulator first or overcharged their batts or didn't have airflow going over the regulators.

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Hey flyjets... not to pick the fly S*** out of the pepper but isn't commenting on the discussion about a mangled hand not about regs either.....

Gotcha!

DP

budgetdude

My Feedback: (6)

What about his system would lead you to that conclusion. I run the exact same setup with no problems, very simple.

u8racing

My Feedback: (9)

I called Smart Fly today, the only differance between the Super Reg and the Turbo Reg is the current it can pass, the Turbo Reg does have two reg in it, but there tied together so it's NOT 100% redundent. And that straight from the main man.

ben beyer

My Feedback: (23)

I used to run that same type of system, but what if a battery shorts out? It could affect the radio system and causes glitches. That's why I put in a isolator and plus I have a single regulator so it's not pulling from one battery. The MPI regulators will last a long time, but will eventually go bad and I'm scared of having an erratic airplane that could possibly hurt or kill me or someone. As far as I'm concerned, anyone can kill me in this hobby and i'll be fine with that, but i'm not going to take a chance at hurting or killing someone else.

Oh, and remember opinions are like @$$ holes, everyone has one. Sweetpea doesn't have to change his system because I recommended he does, but it's up to him. It is just my opinion that for a 35% Aerotech Edge, I would want something a little better, but that's just me. He may not like my brand of coffee so to speak.

NeoGenesis

My Feedback: (27)

He's mis represting his producton his site then. To be frank it's got me a little peeved. Here a quote from the description of the Turbo Reg.

"The TurboReg has dual regulation elements for redundancy"

It's obviously not redudndant from what your saying. I think I'll be giving them a call.




Neo

Flyjets

My Feedback: (51)

The Title is MPI Regulators.

I am removing all information not related to MPI Regulators.

If you want to talk about other Regulators please start another Thread.

Ian

pcsol

My Feedback: (2)

Boy did this Post title catch my attention.
Hot topic !
I really don’t like coming into an open forum and pointing fingers because it tends to cause a chain reaction but I'll relate to you all my story..
A while back myself and one of my flying buddies did have failures with this particular brand of components. I lost a 37% Sukhoi from the wings forward when the plane shut off on a low pass. Post investigation turned up a bad regulator. Not three days later my buddy had a failure with his CA 34% Extra, fortunately for him his failure occurred during taxi out of the pits, he was standing over the plane doing a run up when he lost all control over the plane. It was a kind of amusing looking back at it because he was stuck standing over the plane at full throttle yelling for someone to hit the ignition switch (Not so amusing for Marzo).....
Part three ( a servo reverser) failed when I was assembling a Sig mayhem. Had put it all together and everything was working great. Did a few more things and came back to check something on the elevators, they had stopped working! Bad reverser.. Pulled it all apart, checked all the circuit joints etc, It was just dead. Another plane saved from probable disaster.
I contacted the manufacturer / distributor about the failures and they were very sympathetic and offered me a replacement in both cases.
After poking around on the universe I could only find one post were someone actually came out and spoke about a problem, specifically related to a regulator. He PM'd me and sure enough, same brand[>:] I also received four PM's from different people that had read the post and had identical ,or almost identical failures and also wanted to know the brand, they were all with this brand.
I ‘m still uneasy about coming on here and pointing fingers , sometimes that just gets ugly and I'm not one to argue the value or differences between brand A or brand B. I suppose in hind sight it could have spared a few airplanes..
I will not use anything on my fuel powered aircraft from this manufacturer again..

AcroJo

My Feedback: (1)

Thats the feature why I went with the MPI HD adjustable. Don't know how it works, but their claim is that it does. Joe