Sailplane P300 Battery Upgrade
03-28-2016, 02:00 PM
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Sailplane P300 Battery Upgrade
Hello all,
I am new to the group and have a couple of questions regarding the JetCat P300 turbines. My project is a full size 15 meter sailplane with twin Jetcat P300 turbines installed for self-launch and sustainer flight. My flight operations are a bit different then in the RC airplanes. Each turbine start is followed by 10 to 15 minutes of full thrust for takeoff and climb out to altitude . This draws the energy from the batteries fairly quickly with the start sequence, run up and high demand on the fuel pumps. The battery consumption appears to be somewhat high with the larger turbines and I would like to upgrade to larger batteries that will support my usage. My goal is to be able to provide 10 strong starts for each turbine without the concerns of running low in energy. Currently I have been using the 7.4V 2S LIPO 4400 maAH batteries, or the 9.9V 3s LiFi 2100 maAH batteries, one for each turbine. After a couple of runs the batteries appear to run low in energy. When this happens the following start sequence may/will fail with a low temp fault. i believe the internal glow plug is not receiving enough voltage to light the fuel and continue the start sequence. Being a full size sailplane, I have enough room to install larger heavier batteries with sufficient lasting power.
Thanks,
Chris
I am new to the group and have a couple of questions regarding the JetCat P300 turbines. My project is a full size 15 meter sailplane with twin Jetcat P300 turbines installed for self-launch and sustainer flight. My flight operations are a bit different then in the RC airplanes. Each turbine start is followed by 10 to 15 minutes of full thrust for takeoff and climb out to altitude . This draws the energy from the batteries fairly quickly with the start sequence, run up and high demand on the fuel pumps. The battery consumption appears to be somewhat high with the larger turbines and I would like to upgrade to larger batteries that will support my usage. My goal is to be able to provide 10 strong starts for each turbine without the concerns of running low in energy. Currently I have been using the 7.4V 2S LIPO 4400 maAH batteries, or the 9.9V 3s LiFi 2100 maAH batteries, one for each turbine. After a couple of runs the batteries appear to run low in energy. When this happens the following start sequence may/will fail with a low temp fault. i believe the internal glow plug is not receiving enough voltage to light the fuel and continue the start sequence. Being a full size sailplane, I have enough room to install larger heavier batteries with sufficient lasting power.
Thanks,
Chris
03-28-2016, 05:48 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2002
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Chris, do the math, figure out how many milliamps your using per flight when you recharge. You can buy more battery packs and put them in parallel configuration to keep the voltage the same but increase the amps. I prefer 9.9 volt packs as more volts draws less amps. You can check with Jetcat , the P300 had a starter generator option to charge the battery inflight. Jetcat just came out with a brushless starter generator system and that upgrade may be available for the p300.
04-04-2016, 09:50 AM
#4
Umm.... I don't remember the specific sizes and prices but IIRC the JetCats are now available, or should be shortly, with a starter/generator setup very much like full scale turbines. I think it was probably developed in response to the needs of the drone folks in Germany.
