Greg Covey

This photo shows some of the covering that flew off on the initial flights. It was hot and super humid on Memorial weekend when we tested the model. We lost several of the covering pieces like half of the top decal, the bottom right wing yellow, and one complete half of a cabane covering.

Luckily, the wing covering remained intact and we can continue to fly demos in practice for the NEAT Fair in September. Also, not a single glitch with my Spektrum DSM2 setup!

diablotinxl

Hello Greg, I give my congratulations for the initiative to do a project Giant Electric

I have followed every step of your post and I intend to mount a bulldog pitss 35% with the Turnigy motor

I have seen the test that the engine would be ideal for this operation that a speed of more than 14S lipo. I looked pretty in the world of the internet and found a promising alternative!

follow the link:

http://fightercatracing.com/index.ph...emart&Itemid=1


According to the representative of flight cat, speed 17s - 150 amps for aircraft will be available next week

I hope to work with your project and know that the performance of this engine will certainly close the 22 promised by HP's hk!

big hug and congratulations on your project and coragen always to be a pioneer!


Mario Neto - Brazil

Greg Covey

Hi Mario,

Thanks for following along. It is always fun to try new products so let us know if your new ESC works out. Good luck on your 35% Pitts!

Regards.

diablotinxl

thanks Greg

ca_fingers

hi everyone,
i did some looking around on fightercats website and they have 2 esc's that are perfect for large scale stuff. the 150 amp model that diablo posted is good for 17s and170 amp constant and 220 burst. price is $178 . they also have a 100v 200 amp constant esc that can burst to 260 for 10 seconds. price on that one is $290 .. no mention of a heat sink for aircraft use with the 200 though. seems strange to see such a large esc for so cheap. i might have to try one
CA

diablotinxl

Ca_ Fingers Good afternoon, follows below the email I received from representatives of the cat on the flight speed air-cooled:

Hello, yes, There Will Be air and marine versions. Same price. =) We are working to re-stock the 72v 150 in the next week or two. You Can select special order at the bottom to book an air version ESC.

The 100v is not in production yet, it has just completed testing. When production is ready I will enable ordering on the website. Price is TBD. Please sign up using the "notify me" link on the 100v / 200 product page.


Benjamin


***************************


as was said by Benjamin: we can only hope the next few weeks!

I await news!!

ironJaw

Hey Greg;

I have a few questions for you.

Does the HV160 have a programable battery cell voltage cut-off?

Is the high cut-off voltage at least 3.2 Volts?

Do you think the HV160 is a suitable ESC for an AXI 5330/F3b Tandom motor?

Would the Jetti Spin 220 be a better choice?

Tom

Greg Covey

Hi Tom,

Yes, you can either select the cell count or set it to AUTO. The cut-off voltage is also programmable. The HV160 is overkill for the 5330 motor, so yes it is suitable. A Jeti SPIN 220 would be ridiculous overkill for the 5330 motor. A 90-120amp ESC would work fine. I always used Jeti 90-amp ESCs...back in the days of my earlier conversions.

You can see the various screens from the CastleLink software in my AMP'D column [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=1330]here[/link].

Good luck!

Greg Covey

The Ultimate was test flown by Team Futaba's Devin McGrath last weekend. The conditions were windy and rainy but we wanted to get some flights in before an event demo on the following day. Devin put the plane through some new maneuvers and kept a safe height in the swirling winds. I am happy that the plane seems to be holding together and I don't see any motor issues.

The motor temperature measured around 120-125 degrees F and the coils measured about 160 degrees. You can see my cooling mods on the underside of the plane. Although the motor temperature is not excessively hot, I still plan to create the plywood deflector which will force air across the motor.

I'm still waiting for my replacement decal for the top wing.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/reviews/UltimateTestFlights.wmv]Devin's Ultimate Test Flights[/link] (28meg)

photos by "Papa Jeff" Ring

LDHFlyguy

Hey Greg,
Congratulations on the successful completion of your electric bi-plane.
I really enjoyed following along with the experiments and engineering that went into the build.
When you start a new project, please let everyone that is following this thread know. We'll get the auto email notification for this thread.

I'm currious. I don't believe I've seen any loops or hovers in the videos.
I doubt you have enough watts for hovering; but, how is the bi-plane at looping?

Take Care of Yourself and that Bipe.
Sincerely,
Larry

Greg Covey

Hi Larry,

Thanks, it's been a fun ride and I enjoyed the teamwork in this thread.

At only 7500 watts, I don't have enough power to hover but the previous video where Lynn Bowerman flew it, there were three loops in the 11:37 long video.[ul][*] Loop 1 at 3:30[*] Loop 2 at 6:13[*] Loop 3 at 6:45 with Avalanche
[/ul]
Our flight times are up to 6 minutes now with about 25% charge left in the packs. It seems like a safe amount to have for various conditions and flying styles.

Still no news on larger Castle ICE ESCs or Turnigy ESCs so we'll keep looking...

Regards.

ironJaw

Greg:

Have you obtained by now a feel for what the max sustained amp draw is for the Turnigy?

I can't find it in the lititure.

Tom

Greg Covey

Hi Tom,

I think the Turnigy motor can easily handle more than 10,000 watts. My 7500 watt system, limited by the ESC, seems to not have any ill effect.

I added a vent for improved cooling but have not flown it since. The heat wave takes all the fun out of R/C.

Regards.

Pack Leader

Hey Greg,

I got a few flights on the motor in my Yak with 12s2p Gens Ace 5300 packs so 16,000 total with a 29x10 I was pulling 155 amps and the plane flew great!!

Greg Covey

Hi Dan,

That looks great! Thanks for the feedback on the Turnigy motor in a 12s setup. I'll assume that you meant 12s3p for 16AH.

It looks like it will be a giant scale NEAT Fair this year. I'm looking forward to the event.

At first, I thought you were wearing a smurf shirt. It scared me for a moment.

Regards.

slevin1

My Feedback: (23)

Hi Greg,

I found this:

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...5S_-_OPTO.html

When you go to the website, stay on this product for about 10 minutes and a pop-up will come up offering to sell it to you for $299.99 instead of $316.99

Saul

Greg Covey

Wow...nice find, Saul!

I was the Guinea Pig on the motor, any takers for the ESC?

I'm going to have to study this item for a bit. It certainly has an attractive price for the capability.

Thanks for pointing it out.

slevin1

My Feedback: (23)

Did you see that is also includes a field programmer for the price? How cool is that!!
I AM SOOOOO SYKED!!!! Castle better get off their A** or the Chinese are going to make them obsolete.

Saul

Greg Covey

Yeah, I went through the photos and it looks like they modeled it after the large Jeti ESCs. The programmer looks just like my Jeti 200.

The Chinese have American companies at a disadvantage so I wouldn't be too harsh on Castle because they need to deal with legal voltage limits and real potential for litigation.

One thing I see about the new Turnigy Fatboy ESC is the weight. It weighs 850g (30oz) compared to 210g (7.4oz) for the ICE HV 160. We'll have to keep in mind that we'll be adding almost 1-1/2lbs to the plane.

I see that someone has asked Anthony Hand about the motors they used to test it with. It should be interesting to keep an eye on this new product for a while. One nice thing is that it can't be used for the electric bike projects so the ESC should remain in stock longer.

diablotinxl

new speed by 200 amps himodel

14s!

link:

http://www.himodel.com/electric/ICE_...0A-ICE_HV.html

by by

LDHFlyguy

Wow!
Find me one of these for 360 amps at the same price and I'd be mighty tempted to buy and try one, unless the shipping turns out to be sky high.

ironJaw

Greg:

I have some more questions for you.  When you were running the AXI 5330 Dual, did you notice that one of the motors always led?
Did you notice that one pair of batteries always was discharged more than the other pair?

We found that using the Jetti 90 Advance Plus ESCs that the front motor really carried the load and the rear motor always just helped out until
the front motor batteries started to sag, then it would start to carry the load until the front motor ESC shut the system down.

When we shifted to the Jetti 90 Advance Pro the rear motor always led the front and the reverse activity would take place.  This obviously
detracted from the real capability of the motor and was very frustrating when doing our research flights.

The actions of the ESCs were the same even though we traded positions and even shifted to back up ESCs!

It makes for a good argument to go to a larger single motor such as the Turnigy or the Hacker.

Thanks in advance for your comments

Tom

Greg Covey

Hi Tom,

Unfortunately, my dual AXI testing was 5 years ago when LiPos were just coming into their own light. I was using a mix of old and new 2AH Kokam packs that we called "Pop Tarts" due to their shape. I don't recall having a significant issue but some of my packs were so beat that on the final demo flight at the 2006 NEAT Fair one of the packs started puffing and I tossed it out. My 10s2p 4AH configuration only allowed for 5-6 minute flights.

I would suspect that one of your motors was not aligned perfectly with the other but you reported a reverse situation when using another ESC...very weird.

One of these days, I will bring my 33% Edge 540 down from the loft and introduce it to the latest Lithium technology. It should have much more power than my old 20C Kokam packs.

Regards.

ironJaw

Greg

We are currently using Thunder Power 7800 mAh  25C batteries.

Two in series for each motor.

This gives us Approx. 20 min. of research flying.  No fancy stuff.

Tom

Greg Covey

We had our final practice flights for the NEAT Fair over the Labor Day weekend. The NEAT Fair is in two weeks and the 42% Ultimate is safe and packed away in my trailer. Our emphasis is on a scale flying demo for the fair. Although we tried some new maneuvers that the full scale biplanes demo, like a two-turn flat spin and tail slide, my Ultimate was too nose heavy to perform them. My rule is to keep things as they are when you are going to the big show so we'll stick to our existing aerobatic maneuvers and tout the $572 power system.

I still love the sound of this plane and the way it flies so we'll see what changes are in store for it over the winter months. Notice the air deflector plate on the right side as the plane comes toward the camera after the landings.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/reviews/UltimateNeatFlights.wmv]Ultimate NEAT Fair Final Practice[/link] (30meg)

photos by "Papa Jeff" Ring