Photopilot

I have had my easyglider for a while now and just got my radio, the new 2.4 ghz Airtronics. I want to now put it all together.

I am away from my manuals now so need to get some questions answered so I can pick up some supplies to get my glider ready to fly tonight.

Which battery should I get? I have a Super brain charger so I can go with Lipo or NiMh.

I hate the look of the foam and the stickers look cheesy. What kind of paint can I use on the plane?

Finally, can you soar a glider in winter? I live near a large mountain, but it is seldom warmer than the 40s now so thermals are out of the question. Should I look for a slope and some wind? What kind of wind would I want for first flight?

Thanks.

PP

Photopilot

Okay,
I got the manual and got ahold of Multiplex, they recommended a 5 cell 1100 Mah , the manual suggested a 1500 mah. The hobby store said a 5 cell would be too many volts so I ended up with a 4.8v 700 Mah. I am a little leery as the shop I went to was the closest one to house and the knowledge, attitude and service left a lot to be desired. I won't be returning unless it is to return the battery.

While surfing I discovered a Norwegian RC glider site and there was a lot of snow in the pictures so I am assuming you can glide in winter. I assume slope soaring not thermaling should work.

According to Multiplex, Krylon with many thin coats works on Evapor.

PP

elmog

I use an 1100 mah 4 cell in my EZ Glider and it's great for at least 2 hours of sloping. I'm running 2 HS-81's and 2 HS-56 servos. I do a lot of aerobatics when the wind is good, so I'm constantly on the sticks and have not experienced a problem. That 700 mah 4-cell should be good for at least an hour. Battery packs are cheap and you'll find that you need the weight in the nose on an EZ glider anyway, so why not go with a 1500 mah? I had to add 2 oz to the nose with the 1100 Ni-mh pack. You're going to enjoy flying the EZ glider as it is one of the most successful Multiplex designs ever. Have fun and soar high!

Photopilot

I was looking at a 1500 Mah, but it was a 5 cell so it had 6 volts not 4.8. Is that an issue? Should I look for a 1500 Mah 4.8V and keep the smaller one for backup?
Thanks
PP

Tall Paul

Your servos must be rated for 6 volts to use a 5-cell battery.
For a glider it's overkill anyway.
There are thermals in winter... just more difficult to find.
The Easy Glider has that thermal built into the front end, also.
I used ordinary spray paint on mine.

elmog

www.batteriesamerica.com sells a lot of different receiver packs and I dealt with them at the AMA show in Ontario. They're good people and do a lot of business. They list a Sanyo Ni-mh AA 4.8v 1700 mah 4-pack for $16.00. You don't have to use a receiver pack with that much mah, but it's good for two reasons: You can fly for a couple of hours and never worry about battery capacity and the EZ glider likes the heavier pack in the nose to balance it out. BTW, Sanyo has a good reputation in the RC world.

PS - I run a Spektrum 2.4 on 4.8 volts and have never had a problem. I think that using 5 cells is overkill unless you have a need to get the most speed out of your servos. They will move a little quicker on 6 volts but that's not really an issue on a thermal/slope machine like the EZG.

jawsmon

My Feedback: (7)

I just received mine last week. The spec sheet that came with it said to use an eight cell 1050 NiMH. I assembled my own and used dean plugs. The plug that came with the glider seemed a little on the skimpy side.

If you go lighter you have trouble with the CG. This battery fits nicely and the CG is right on.


Jawsmon

elmog

A 5 cell pack will actually drain itself quicker than a 4 cell pack. I know this sounds funny, but it's true. More mah gives you more flight time while more voltage gives you more power. If someone with an electronic background would chime in and verify/explain this phenomenom it would be great. It's also going to be harder to fit a 5 cell pack in the nose.

Some folks that fly Spektrum 2.4 radios use a 5 cell pack because they do not want the receiver to "unbind" if the voltage drops below 3.4 volts. The extra 1.2 volts gives them a buffer and reduces the chance of a de-bind. I have not experienced de-binding, even running 4 servos. The 8 cell 1050 pack that they recommend is for powering the motor in the EZ glider Electric. In the electric you would use an ESC with a BEC (battery elimintor circuit) and completely eliminate the receiver pack. This works great and saves a little weight, though not everybody likes BEC's. I've use one in my electric and they're great! I believe Photopilot has the pure glider version, though.

Photopilot

Thanks Elmog,
I knew the 8 cell was not designed for my plane.

I was in SoCal this weekend and went in to visit Hobby People, where I had ordered my radio from, they are also the importer of the radio. I was excited to go right to the store and talk to a knowledgeable source. It turns out the company is a chain, and I chose the one closest to my sisters home which had no expertise, but actually a group of high school students who knew very little outside of RC cars. It seems to be the story of so many LHS I have visited; underage employees and very little expertise outside of RC cars. The sad part was the main store was just a few miles in the opposite direction, I had to look them up and call them to get advice before buying from the store that I drove to.

I ended up with a 5 cell 1600 Mah square pack that fits in the nose of the Easy Glider. I figured faster response time but the 1600 Mah should be able to compensate for the extra drain from the extra cell.

Being rusty on the Ohm law I will use physics to explain the reason 5 cells drain quicker. Work = force x distance. So in order to move the control surfaces faster their must use more force(think about running up a flight of stairs versus walking). I have tomorrow off so after finishing painting I will work on balance, flaperons and then throw it off the local hill and see how it goes.
Thanks for all your help.
PP

I will check out batteriesamerica for the future though.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

4 cell is fine. 5 cell would have been fine too. If you LHS said it was too high, then I presume you are using servos that can't take 6V. You don't tell us what is in the plane so I can't judge, but most servos can take 6V.

Thermals are around all year round. Just had an 87 minute thermal flight in January in NY.

Easy Glider is a great plane. Enjoy it. Once you get used to it, try moving the CG back buy moving the battery back a little at a time. The further back the better it will thermal, up to the point were it gets too hard to handle.

Also does great on the slope. I have the EGE and I slope and thermal it all the time, all year round.

Photopilot

Just got done painting it and adding the battery to it. Even with the big battery all the way up in the nose, still had to add 1/2 an ounce for balance. Setting up my new airtronics was so easy, especially considering I am new to this if you discount my limited experience 20 years ago.

The guys at the LHS were not very informative, and I think did not know what they were talking about. One guy insisted I should put a lipo in there as they are the battery of the future. It did not make sense to pay for a lipo then a lot of lead to balance the plane. It has the servos that came with the glider in the RR version I think they call them the micros and minis. Since someone at Multiplex suggested 5 cell i assume they could handle it.

I plan to go throw it off the local slope 2 blocks away to see how it goes and fine tune the trim a bit. I am still a little nervous about reverse steering when the plane is coming at me, we'll see how it goes. With the flaperons it should be easy to make a controlled landing.

One note though is the ailerons do not move the entire surface uniformly. It seems to flex from where the servo horn is attached and warp the rest of the control surface. Is this normal or a result of the paint that I sprayed down into the styrofoam causing the control surface to be stiff?

I'll report back this evening.

PP

elmog

If you haven't flown RC before I would strongly suggest that you seek out an experienced hand to help you get started. Even people that are very coordinated end up crashing a lot before they get the hang of it. It's a good thing that you bought an Easy Glider to begin with as it takes a lot of abuse and is easily repaired with regular CA when it does get damaged. I'm self-taught but had the advantage of having flown full-scale aircraft before I ever set hand on a RC transmitter. I still crashed a lot but was determined to stick it out and finally it all came together. The slope is actually a great place to learn if the retreival is not too dangerous. Your going to walk down the hill a lot at first, and then you'll notice that your walks are getting shorter and shorter. I fly mostly slope and it's great because it gives me plenty of stick time compared to the guys who fly gas or electric models and are limited to 8 to 12 minute flights. Another great thing about slope flying is that on a good day you can catch thermals and speck out rather easily. The EZ glider is pretty light and makes a great thermal machine--I'm usually only limited to my battery pack duration. Don't get discouraged as it's not as easy as it looks--for most of us. Good Luck and Good Flying!

PS- The stiff control surfaces are probably the worst design feature in an otherwise great glider. I drilled holes about 3/4" apart to loosen them up and others have used a razor blade to cut slots to make them hinge easier. Most probably just leave them alone and fly the plane. It does seem like it might be hard on some of the weaker servos with all that bending resistance, though.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Just flex the surfaces for a while to get them loosened pu.

Photopilot

Too late, flew it crashed it, broke it. Which I knew was going to happen someday, just not on day one.

I have flow R/C stuff in the past, and am an experienced pilot of full scale aircraft, still I knew there will be carnage in my learning experience. I was basically tossing it lightly to try and fine to the trim and controls. I got a few tosses in before my girlfriend joined me in the park and "helped". The landing area was small so I was just giving light tosses off a small ways up the slope. The space was wrong, the hill was wrong, and my idea was wrong. It was basically a series of stall recoveries followed by not so smooth landings, none too rough though. On my last one the horizontal stabilizer caught and broke off taking the rudder with it. The vertical stabilizer broke off clean at the joint, which confirmed my thought it was not on that strongly. Application of the rudder was causing it and the whole horizontal stab to flex in a way I did not like.

It will be an easy fix. I will also flex the hell out of all my control surfaces to get them operating more smoothly and apply some of the fixes if that does not work. I will also contact the local club about getting some help. Problem is: my schedule is a difficult one, I have the new Airtronics 2.4ghz radio, not sure if i can find someone to buddy box with it, and lastly I am just not a patient person. I would love to be able to walk to the park 2 blocks away and fly. Hopefully I can meet up with someone from the local soaring club this weekend to prevent any future carnage.

elmog

Don't feel too bad about crashing your glider. The worst damage inflicted on my EZ Glider was by an instructor who claimed that it was easy to perform a roll in an EZ Glider. I let him have the controls and he spun it in, damaged the nose and broke the tail boom which stripped the elevator and rudder servos. It also cracked the case on my brand new receiver. And he was an instructor. Sounds like yours will be easy enough to repair. Hope you try again soon. Jim

Photopilot

Absolutely,
I contacted the president of the local RC glider club and he goes out on Sundays and has a launcher. We'll see how it goes.

glideher

i have found when beginner rc pilots purchase their new plane, the fear of crashing always sets back from actually learning and progressing, so dont feel bad when you do crash your rc glider or plane, the fear will diminish and your skills will progress faster, something to note all pilots

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

glideher,

This thread is 12 years old.

amahillo

I use a 3s 1800Ah with Multiplex motor and ESC supplied in the RR versión and It works perfect , veru good climbing power and duration .
The temperature os note important for flying