All my packs are 6V NiMH packs and all of my servos are either Hitec or Futaba. I am also using Futaba 148 receivers. Have not had one iota of trouble with the 6V pack and any of my electronics.

Roger, I use Krylon 'Fusion' paint. Its made for plastic, comes in a spray, sand and recoat in about 15 min. Get it at K MART. Sand the inside of the canopy to give the paint some bite. Don't worry, the scratches dissapear. By painting the inside it results in a shiny exterior, as shiny as the acrylic canopy can be with no worries of scratching. Also the canopy glue does not affect it.
On the servos, as Coo mentioned, I always ran Futaba with 6 volts and no trouble. Joe

Thanks you guys - good info and I'm sold on no regulator. Joe, what grit sandpaper do you use to sand the inside of the canopy?

120 grit.

Guys, what voltage read is your stopping point for 5 cell 6 volt NiCd pack? When using 4.8 volt , 4 cell NiCd's I usually stop flying when the voltage reads 4.8 volts and then recharge. On another thread guys are saying that at around 5.2-5.4 volts on a 5 cell 6 volt pack the cliff drop off point is between 5.2 and 5.4 volts. Meaning, the voltage begins to drop quickly at this level. At what voltage read do you guys stop flying and recharge a 6 volt pack?

Roger, never checked. In a normal outing it never came close. Oodles of power left. I will look into this. Joe

Roger,

I have converted to 6v NiMH packs also (see what Joe started). The NiMH packs seem to have a softer hit, unlike Nicads that spike real high when they are peaked. I am told that this is what causes those servo jitters. You should not have any problems just converting to 6v and you also gain the redundancy that if a cell goes bad there is still enough power at 4.8v to get you home. I use Hitec equipment exclusively and so far have never had a problem. I'm thinking about a JR setup though when I can afford it. I really need to have dual channel capability for a split elevator set ups.

Joe, on my earlier PM to you, the nurses think another week or two in regards to mom. Any news on the Cline yet?? I put away a few bucks for that just in case!! My UCD should be done by Sunday. Then it is just up to what happens with the family issues as to when she goes up. Is that YS 110 installed yet?? By the way, are the mounting holes the same as a Saito?? I know the YS 120 that I had was the same as my Saito FA-120.

David, How did the Sullival tailwheel set up work on your UCD?? We are all anxiously awaiting your report on the Cyclone.

Matt, I'm still waiting for the mailman!! What's up??

JW, Reports and more photos (Twist) please.

Roger..

..got a 6v " Voltspy 2 " little thingy...with all the tiny little diodes blinking at ya [:-] on the Cyclone set up...delicious...wouldnt leave Terra Firma without one ...this little chappie is switchable from 4.8 to 6v..got a couple in stock...PM me if ya want one ..gratis...my contribution to this new beastie..

Stoney

...Sullivan tailwheel..magnificent..just drilled little pilot holes into the bottom of the fuse...a couple of drops of CA in each ..let dry then drive ya screws in ...rock solid [:-]..if you'r real twitchy you can mount on top of a 1/16 or 3/32 ply plate too.. Sullivan and Du-Bro make some lovely stuff

Cyclone's just sitting, waiting, watching me ..[:-]...she's looking superb now she's finished ...weather dont look so great this w/end but ya never Know

Dave, that is most generous of you and I thank you for the offer. I like to use a tester on my batteries and do so frequently. Call it a comfort thing that makes me feel good. I know when I put the tester on line exactly how many volts I have left and so far this has worked for me.

Speaking of volts on the 5 cell packs, I have a question that I am debating on another thread and could use some good horse sense from you guys with more experience with 5 cell NiCd packs.

Here goes: Le't say you are using 4.8v on a 4 cell Rx pack as the minimum no fly level. I know you can go lower and this is a conservative level, but for comparison sakes let's just stick with this minimum level for a minute.

Then on a 5 cell pack you would have to adjust this minimum level up to say 6v as the minimum in order to use the same logic. Correct? So, If I flew a 5 cell pack down to 4.8 v. as I normally would with a 4 cell pack, wouldn't this be the same as running a 4 cell pack down to 3.84 volts, which would looking for trouble. Correct? Or, because you are using a 5 cell pack can you use a lower minimum no fly threshold because of the additional cell? Or do you simply use the same logic regardless of the number of cell?

Now go have a cold one and let me know the answer once you figure all this out. I'm simply trying to find out what the minimum no fly threshold is on a 5 cell to feel comfortable that I have a good margin of safety.

Roger, 5 cell @ 6 volts. When it reads 6 volts its time to taxi back. 6V * 1000 mih will retire before a 6V * 2000 mih. Joe

Thats exactly what I thought. Thanks, Joe. You know, this is a very important issue for those who have not used a 6 volt pack before. Had I not stumbled on this I would have just automatically thought that 4.8v would have still been on the conservative side as I watched my airplane go Bye Bye. Man, this really is something you need to be aware of. This is my first time using a 5 cell 6 volt pack and I just get that twang in my belly thinking about how innocently I could have walked off this cliff. Is there anything else about 5 cell packs I need to be aware of? I understand that they lose power faster than a 4.8 simply because of the power drain to support increased speed and torque. I also understand that I need to have a charger and tester compatible with 6 volts. No problem there. Not using a regulator so I am past that issue. Anything else?

Roger, you can no longer use the wall wart charger that comes with flight packs. I use a Super Nova field charger which will identify the battery and cell count and automatically charge at the optimum rate, once done it will trickle. Also it will cycle the battery by drawing down power to a safe level and then recharge. Triton makes a good one as well and is a little easier on the wallet. In a battery I look for milli amps, voltage is the rate or flow. Simply put, its the volts that push the current to its destination. Joe

Roger, if you were comfortable using 4.8 as a cutoff on a 4 cell pack, why not use 6.0 on a 5 cell pack?
At least until you get some testing in on your pack.
Ed M.

Ed, I think we are all together on the issue. What I failed to think about when converting from a 4 cell to 5 cell pack is the added 1.2 volts and how this would impact the voltage read out when checking voltage. Had I used the same minimum voltage as with a 4 pack it would have been disastrous. 4.8 volts on a 5 pact will most likely put you into the ground as I understand it now. My concern was for those like myself who have never used a 5 cell pack. Those people, including myself until this exercise could have easily not made the mental adjustment and had serious problems. I don't know why I didn't connect the dots on this until a pilot on another thread told me about the voltage conversion. He went so far as to suggest that you put a 6 volt identifier on your plane so you don't forget and innocently fall back to thinking a 4 pack logic.

For you guys who may have been using 5 cell packs from the get go this may sound pretty elementary. I simply have always used a 4 cell pack because the guy who originally taught did the same. I thought converting to a 5 cell 6 v.pack required special voltage regulators and that it was some complicated process electronically. It never dawned on me that is was as simple as adding one more cell and that was it. At least thats all I believe thats involved other than a faster power drain because of the increased speed and torque.

I can't wait to see how the added power effects servo response and what if any impact is noticed by the added torque. Wild thing, here I come.

Roger, one of the only stumbling blocks in this conversion, that I've noticed here, locally, is, accompanied by the misinformation supplied by our LHS is, some of the new converts use the supplied wall charger with their system. They were under the impression that if left on longer to charge, that it would eventually reach 6 volts. Also, still reading the new 6 volt battery on the 4.8 setting of the voltmeter. As you have surmised, disaster waiting to happen. 6 volts now require 6 volt support equippment, yet the conversion works comfortably with your radio gear. Joe

When I first converted to 6V I did not have a proper charger and was told that I could use my 100ma Futaba wall charger that came with my 9CAP. I was charging 1650mah packs. I found that the wall charger did in fact work fine. I had to leave it on quite a long time as much as 36 hours, but after charging the pack it did in fact read 6.4 volts. I actually used the wall wart for several months with no issues. I would fly five or six 13-minute flights and my voltage still remained above 6V. I've since aquired an Einstein XL that I've been using to charge abd cycle my packs and I now have an Accu-cycle Elite on backorder that I will use once I get it. But the bottom line is that the wall charger worked fine with my 6V packs.

Coo, back in the day....... before the onslaught of such sophisticated chargers, it was common practic to charge any custom 6 volt packs with the TX side of the wall charger. Price paid was consistant monitoring, yet much quicker. Joe

Joe, I probably wasn't clear in my explanation of charging. I did not use the TX side of the charger. I used the RX side of the charger that came with my 9C. The 9C I bought came with a Futaba 600mah 4.8 volt RX battery pack and a wall wart that chargerd at 100mah. But it didn't have any problems charging my 6V 1650 packs.

Coo, as usual, you were very precise in conveying that. I just thought I would comment on some old tricks. Joe

Gents ..

Took both the UCD & Cyclone to the field today ..more and more puzzled questions about the UCD......Did i build it from scratch ..[:-]..was it an ARTF...? ...people genuenly dont seem to know what it is..

Anyway ...No flying allowed..[X(]...the full size boys were having a" Fly in "..we knew this actually but thought we'd be ok down the other .." Non active " end of the fied..not so.

However, every cloud has a silver lining ...bumped into a couple of chaps i had,nt seen for a while ...now in charge of ferrying some airplanes arround ... Peter got the guided tour while i caught up with all the news... another great Day... Pictures ..In cockpit of a Harrier GR3 ...you know the others...

Fantastic, that biplane is for me. Peter always manages to get up close and personel. Obviously the big boys don't understand the status of R/C or it would be them taking the back seat. The world is actually that large, as no one recognizes the UCD? Dave, you will be known as the exotic one. Joe

David, Matt, JW, please check your inbox. Thanks Roger. Joe

Great shots Dave. Looks like a fun day with plenty to keep you busy. I love air shows, but don't get too many in Huntsville Al. we had the Blue Angels last year which was a real treat. they come here about every three years or so and always put on a wonderful exhibition.

I'm with Joe on the exotic element of the UCD. You can be the crowd pleaser now and this plane will make you look like you really know what you are doing.

...This may take some years..

But ....Tis Fathers day ...i shall be waited upon hand and foot ...maidens shall attend my every need...a visit to peruse the wares of Messrs.." Tower & Hobbies" seems in order..

...Sweetheart .." Can i ..."

..." I'll tell you what you can do , you can clean the Tropical fish out.......AAAARRGGGHHHHHHH [:-]...Worse than Drapes... or Dentists....Women .....Assassins of Hope.....And its Raining[:-]

Quick edit ..missed this pic yesterday...first time out this year for the RR Spit...New 5 bladed Prop... Paint job & Oil change..sort off..

Add another UCD 60 to the fray, nice man at innywood, gave me a deal I could not pass up on
at Weston Park, yesterday.

Quick look in the Box, well impressed,

Wow think I will build it quicker than reading all this tread , it's massive.

now the question is, to read or Build [sm=bananahead.gif]

Xup