raron455

My Feedback: (38)

I posted this in the regular radio forum but have not had much luck, and I know that a lot of turbine guys fly with the spectrum power safe receivers so maybe I can get an experienced answer.
I have a Spektrum AR 9110 power safe receiver in a boomerang elan I just bought,, the receiver powers up through two large leads on top of the rx with ec3 connectors. It also has a special switch that plugs into the switch port of the reciever. This switch is a fail on switch from what spektrum says. I can also say this for a fact, if I remove the spektrum switch and power the recievcer up, it comes on and works just like every other receiver out there. NOW,,,MY question, Do I have to use that switch,, I am updating this jet, and installing two new fromeco batts with the power switch from DreamWorks, this regulates the voltage down to 6v
I am wanting to power the plane up and shut it down the same way i do every other one I have, with my main switch. SO Do I have to use that spektrum switch or can I just leave it out?
here is the switch I use in my jets,


　
and here is how I have it wired up without the spektrum switch, it works fine I just want to be sure I don't have to have spektrums switch in there,,

Thanks fellas

rcjetsaok

My Feedback: (7)

Not familiar with the power switch you want to use, but I would say just leave out the power safe switch. The receiver will be on all the time and the switch you want to use will just open the circuit between the batteries and receiver and turn it off..

Dan

raron455

My Feedback: (38)

Thanks, i didnt think I had to use it. Here is the powerswitch I use
http://www.dreamworksrc.com/catalog/...ctronic-Switch

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Power Box makes great stuff but you're taking out simplicity and adding cost and complexity for no reason IMO

raron455

My Feedback: (38)

How do you figure?? JR servos in the plane are rated at 6 volts, fromeco batts are over 8 volts. That spektrum rx was in the plane, he had dead life packs in the jet, had to buy new batts, prefer fromecos, figure leaving the spektrum switch out makes things simpler,,

wfield0455

My Feedback: (7)

The switch you are using, unless I'm thinking of the wrong switch, defeats the purpose of using a PowerSafe receiver. The Powersafe receiver is a power distribution system that is capable of handling 30A total current from the servos. I just looked at the Dreamworks website and the switch I looked at, which appears to be the one you show is rated for 2x4A or 8 Amps total. If one side of the switch fails, the other will only be able to handle a 4A load and will probably almost immediately fail as well. Also, since the Powerbox is a power distribution system with built in battery shares, etc Spektrum says that you should NOT power a powersafe receiver for extended periods of time via a servo port. I only mention that in case you're planning to power the receiver via a servo port since the switch you are using has JR style connectors instead of EC3s.

Personally, I would recommend simply using A123 batteries, with 14 or 16 gauge wires and EC3 connectors. The A123 batteries don't need voltage regulation, just connect them directly and use the soft switch provided..

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

What Wayne said

Len Todd

AR 9110 is not a powerbox guys! It is just a powersafe Rxer with two EC3 battery connections, multiple remote Rxers and a switch.

You do not need the AR 9110's switch to operate the Rxer. You only need it to shut off the Rxer. However, I would not use the switch you selected to replace the OEM's switch. I have had two of these Push Button type switches fail on my AR 9210s. They fail safe. But they do fail.

Secondly, the switch you listed is not rated for your application. There maybe a few switches out there that would suffice. But, the tip off here is the use of the JR connectors and the light gauge wiring. That switch you listed is not rated for the application you describe. I am not sure I have seen a switch with two circuits that meets the necessary current rating.

I would just plug the batteries directly into the Rxer and use the given switch or, ... plug the batteries in directly and not use any switch. Smartfly has a couple setups that accomplishes fail safe switching with multiple batteries. Maybe swap out the OEM's switch with one of Smartfly's Pin & Flag switches?

All this being said, now there is the voltage issue. I solve that by using nothing but High Voltage servos and 2S LiPo. Others like the LiFe option, but they appear to forget that 6.6. volts is greater than the 6 volt max. spec on low voltage servos. It appears to work for most folks. Then again, ... who in our game knows for sure when a jet crashes that the extra .6 of a volt did NOT cause the servo to eventually fail? Rule of thumb from my biz is never operate outside of the design specs. To do so is challenging the safety margin. In industry you learn that fast. In our hobby, apparently not so. But we all are risk takers. Otherwise we would be sitting home watching TV all year long!

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Its not a powerbox, its a power distribution system. The main battery inputs provide the power to the servos And receiver via separate power bus'. The "soft" switch only grounds a small relay to close the battery input, so even in the off position, its constantly using power.

putting a powerbox regulator switch in place is defeating the purpose. The only advantage is the regulator. Personally i would of gotten the A123 fromeco batts and ran them directly to the ec3s and used the stock switch.

If you really want to use the powerbox switch, use a regulator (non powersafe) rx

wfield0455

My Feedback: (7)

I never said it was a powerbox, I said it is a power distribution system and that is exactly what it is. Unlike other Spektrum receivers, which also use additional remotes, there is no receiver in the Powersafe itself, only servo decoders, battery share, control logic for the soft switch, etc. It's sole purpose for existing is to provide a simple way to get lots of power from the batteries to high current digital servos which is exactly what a power distribution system is intended to do. Servo matching, and other additional features that the power box / smartfly units often add, while very convenient, have nothing to do with power distribution.

As for the 6.6V vs 6.0V, both Hitec and Horizons Service Centers have directly confirmed that Hitec, Spektrum and JR servos that are rated for 6V operation are perfectly safe to use with an unregulated 2S, A123 pack. Since they are the ones that would deal with any warranty issues, for those servos, that was good enough for me but everyone needs to decide for them selves.

gunradd

My Feedback: (9)

In simple terms you took a redundant system and installed a switch and made it not redundant. If that switch fails your done so you are taking all the benefits of using that power safe receiver out of the system. You could run two switches in the system one switch to each battery and that would be allot better.

gunradd

My Feedback: (9)

Also BTW the soft switch is not some magic switch that spectrum uses. its open or closed like any other switch. It just works opposite and open circuit is on and a closed circuit is off. So your new switch will work in the stock receiver spot but off will be on and on off.

2walla

My Feedback: (10)

You are bottlenecking the system and cutting your redundancy but it probably would work fine . If you want voltage reduction I would run two sahara regulators and use the supplied jr switch. I do have a couple of planes i only fly a few times a year and I have heavy duty switches with large wire and deans connectors between each battery and the powersafe receiver. The supplied switch is fine. Just remember to check that the third wire is removed. I have used a pin and flag on a few setups too and prefer it. Also be careful using any other switch other than that supplied as if it has the third wire hooked (or that can short) to anything it can cause you to loose bind in flight.

Greg G

My Feedback: (5)

The Spektrum AR 9110 has two battery inputs and it is designed to use the 'highest' voltage input of those two. It might be wise to find out if there are any issues if you feed both inputs with the same regulated voltage all the time.

Personally I used 2 x A123 with EC3 directly and stock switch.

raron455

My Feedback: (38)

Ok, Thanks for all the advice, here is where I am at,,
1. I called Horizon, after holding for 26 minutes I got a tech rep on the phone, I asked him about the spektrum switch, he stated the same thing LENN TODD said, you do not have to use it, but when the receiver is plugged in, its default state will be powered up unless power is cut from another source. (just like the normal spectrum recievers)

2. I think some are confused, I am not putting voltage into the receiver via the servo ports, I soldered EC3 connectors to the output leads of the switch, and am powering it up using the two large input wires. This allows me to turn the receiver on/off with the powerbox switch.

3. The powersafe receiver was in the plane,, I personally do not care for them

4. The switch is a redundant switch, it is two different circuits with double everything, So I don't believe the redundancy has been removed,

5.The switch is rated at 4 amps per circuit,, Personally I believe if any plane is drawing a 4 amp continuous load, you have some serious problems in the setup. I believe the highest load on this plane will be landing with full flaps and crow,, I use a fromeco current meter when setting my planes up, it measures load when setting throws, I can assure you it will be nowhere near 4 amps on the ground, more like 2-500mah, and in the air it will have force on it, but nowhere near 4 amps. If your subjecting servos to that load, they will smoke anyways and you will have problems regardless.

A lot of the things I have read are personal opinion, and everyone has theirs and is entitled to it, And a lot of this stuff is actual fact as well. That is why I asked this question here, I knew I would get some Personal experience, and I am thankful for that.

Considering the all the advice from you guys, Im going to remove the powersafe receiver, and put in the standard 9 channel rx that came with my DX-18 and use 3 satts.. I will use the fromeco batts, go into the powerbox switch, put normal JR connectors back on, then to the receiver, that is how I set my first F16 up, and my Ultra Flash as well and has worked very well for me.

gsmarino2000

My Feedback: (2)

The two inputs aren't just high-select redundant, they are also isolated. That means if one battery fails or shorts, it can't bring down your receiver and you will still have power and control. I use 2 LiFe directly into the EC3s and I use the JR-supplied switch in my 9 and 12 channel PowerSafe receivers. Works great. The only negative is that (as noted above) there is still some power consumed when the switch is off. That means you need to remove or unplug your batteries when done to avoid gradually over discharging. That doesn't bother me as I always remove my batteries for charging.

Greg

2walla

My Feedback: (10)

You are going backwards buy hey whatever. If you are using digital servos it is pretty easy to get the ampmeter moving. An 8711 working moderately hard will pull 2-3 amps... Stall one for some reason and you will see 5-6 amps or more.

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

Man I've not seen anyone try so hard to defeat the nifty advancements which one finds in the PowerSafe rx's. JR even kept the concept when they split with Horizon. I tried to help the OP initially but misread his post at first thinking he had a PowerBox PE, I later added information that I would NOT use the PowerBox switch with that rx but I guess it didn't go anywhere.

I do like those PowerSafe rx's and I have a 12 channel JR in my KingCat that's on my JR 12X radio. The other two jets are on Futaba and use PowerBox PE's to handle the power input/servo output but that cost a whole bunch more money to get the same kind power handling capability.

Vincent

My Feedback: (61)

Ronnie...you are taking a simple and dependable system and making it complicated. Myself and my other jet friends are running either the jr or spectrum power safe rx on every kind of jet big and small with every accessorie you can imagine. Crow, slats, speed brakes,flaps, sliding canopy, gyros, 40-50lb heavy metal or sport jets etc...two A123 batts with the factory safe switch. No worries...it works.
Vin...

sensei

Power safe receivers and the soft switches work great, been using this setup on my giant scales for years now with as many as 14 ea. 8711s, 8911s and even more power hungry servos than those on some of my planes with no issues, but it is a hobby so do what you like.

Bob

bill4719

My Feedback: (7)

I love my 5 powersafe receivers. I don't know why someone would want to disable the safety of no possible switch failure.

Len Todd

Digital servos can operate in parallel. They all can be operating at the same time. The current used is cumulative. A high voltage high torque servo can use 5 amps. Four of these operating at the same time gives you a potential 20 amp peek. Peeks are all it takes to fail a regulator.

Analog servos operate sequentially. The most current that will be seen is one servo at a time.

The problem occurs when a builder switches from analog to digital and does not consider the increased current consumption.

You can not measure current peaks unless you have lab grade peek recording ammeters. What you see on the hanger 9 ammeter is not peek current. The meter is not fast enough to even catch a reading of the peaks, unless you stall the servo.

pc2209

Got a question. I have been using Spektrum powersafe receivers in my 100cc 3D planes for a long time. Usually use high voltage servos and lipos but have a couple of planes I regulate with SmartFly voltage reg made for dual battery in and output. . Getting ready to jump into jet turbines and a lot of the jet guys are running PowerBoxes and think that is the only way to go. Not sure I understand what advantage there is to that when you have a power safe receiver or if you can even use a power safe receiver with a Powerbox. They talk about servo matching but the DX 18 does a great job at that and lets you match servos at multiple points instead of just neutral and end points. I can't tell from reading if the Powerboxes let you do that or not. Would like to hear some opinions.

gsmarino2000

My Feedback: (2)

I find that the 12 channel Powersafe does everything I need for mid sized jets. I use LiFe batteries exclusively and the voltage level is not a problem for any of the equipment I am using. That's pretty much what everyone flying jets at my field does.

Greg

gunradd

My Feedback: (9)

F
No need for power boxes and other bling to waist money on. Power safe receiver worked well on my 75lb f15 eagle and other big planes I have built.

Also will be installing the same in my 1/5 f18 hornet.