RC-Captain

I'm starting to dislike connecting the servos to the receiver every time I switch planes. I was just wondering if I was the only nervous , I trust one receiver person out here ? or should I go ahead and start getting seperate receivers into the multiple planes I have ?

I figure I will order the receivers according to the amount of channels needed to fly the plane. Thanks.



P.S. I will not be answering any question , I just want oppinions only . Thanks.

JPMacG

My Feedback: (2)

I don't like pulling receivers out of planes myself... always afraid I'll damage a servo lead, and routing the antenna is a pain.

I have a receiver for each plane. They're cheap enough - $60 for a Futaba 7-channel if I catch a sale at Tower. By the way, the Tower brand and Futaba are the same. Also, www.radicalrc.com has good prices on receivers. He has the little FMA 5-channel dual-conversion for $55.

jessiej

Simple. Depends on how many planes you have and how large your budget. More is better in each case.

jess

krayzc-RCU

My Feedback: (31)

12 planes =12 receivers for me.

When its time to go fly that what i want to do, shop on rcuniver u don't have to buy everyone one new.....

BillS

Everyone I know including myself has a receiver in every airplane that they fly. Changing receivers is error prone and can easily introduce a problem if not thoroughly checked.

Batteries however can be moved from airplane to airplane. After years of loosing hundreds of dollars of batteries each year I now put the battery in a quick-change location. When the wing is removed the battery is removed and put on charge. I still have too many batteries but soon will be down to only six. Three batteries are on trickle charge all the time.

Bill

GaGeeBees

My Feedback: (23)

Do yourself a favor and put a receiver in every plane. As for trusting the receiver, do a range check at the start of each flying session. I've never had a receiver failure in 1000's of flights.

As for the battery issue... people have some strange ideas. I just can't resist popping the top on this can of worms (sorry) I'm not sure how one loses 100's of $ a year in batteries. I'm still flying receiver packs that are going on four years old and they perform just fine. Get yourself a good cycler and cycle after each flying session. I NEVER keep batteries on trickle. If it's been a few weeks since flying & cycling I'll just cycle the packs on the airplanes I'm planning to fly before heading to the field. It's the best indicator of the health of your battery packs. You couldn't pay me to fly a pack that's been sitting on trickle for a couple of weeks. I like my airplanes more than that.

All of this is, of course, just one man's opinion and there are bound to be many who disagree.

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

I'm in the one receiver per plane camp as well for all the reasons already mentioned. I also use the short six inch extensions on each channel to get out of the receiver and foam covering it . Then if I do need to disconnect something it's easier to do and you don't run the risk of damaging the pins in the receiver. That may not be necessary to use those extensions, but it seems like a good idea to me. YMMV

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

I have 6 receivers and 6 planes that are ready to fly at a moment's notice. I've also got 2 transmitter packs. Each plane has its own battery that stays fairly well charged. I almost always know the night ahead of time that I'll be flying the next day, so I can be sure that at least 4 planes are fully charged by morning. I figure that gives me enough choices. Even if I do get an unanticipated opportunity to fly, I can quickly top off two receiver packs with my Accucyle Elite.

krayzc-RCU

My Feedback: (31)

my planes usually have the battery mounted in some location for balance purpose and once its there it stays. This would be nice if i were flying a fleet of LT-40 or something were when i had the wing off i could just drop it in there. I fly the fromaco batterys and they stay charged so no more cycling for me i use to do the Nmhi prior to switching over to the lipos. Now we are talking 10-20 flight per charge or top them off after every flying session. If you have not flown the plane in 6 months the battery will still hold that full charge now that is technology at its best for me[8D]

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

On 3 of my planes I don't even remove the wing to transport to and from the field. Pulling the battery packs would be a major hassle.

krayzc-RCU

My Feedback: (31)

piper c.
i know what u mean i do the same for the following fun flies

3d bipe
OMP Yak
Accell Katana

working on:

Mojo 60
Accell Pitts

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

Oops, I just realized I miscounted, it's 4 of 6. Tower uproar and Shrike .10 (can't remove the wings), WM Aircombat Zero, and Pilot Hydeaway .15 keep their wings on most of the time. Modeltech Extra 300 and WM P-51 usually travel with the wing removed.

BillS

I have a lot of airplanes. Some are not flown very often.

My chargers charge to full and then go to trickle, which seems like a logical approach.

Cycle down takes two to three hours and charge up is overnight which means at least a day of advance planning. After a complete cycle down I prefer to charge up at 1/10 C. A day of advance planning doesn’t always work for me. When the wind is strong I carry airplanes that like the wind.

After managing batteries your way for years I find that traveling batteries suit my needs better.

Bill

TimC

I'm in the receiver for each plane camp. One thing I wish I had done in the past was to test fly a new receiver in an old beater plane. I think if a electronic component is going to fail, it will do it in the first few minutes of operation.

GaGeeBees

My Feedback: (23)

Whatever floats yer boat, BillS (or flies your airplane if you prefer). I didn't say I was right or that you were wrong... do what works for you and I'll do the same. Nothing wrong with agreeing to disagree. I have a LOT of airplanes too (same as most folks on RCU) and just don't see how 100's of $ can be lost in batteries but I'll take your word for it.

Apologies to all for adding this tangent to the original thread.

RC-Captain

Not to get off topic , but I understand what Bill is saying . I use to fly electric planes before glow and if the certain batteries were not maintained properly (over charge, charge to fast, let volts drop to far ) then there was nothing I could do but buy new ones. Basically a battery will discharge at a slow rate, so if you have ten planes and they all have batteries , but out of the ten you fly 2 of the plane twice a year , you are basically neglecting the battery and a cell could lose it's charge permanently like a few of my batteries did when I switched to glow.

I am loving the responses keep them coming. I will definitely be shopping for receivers and servos this rainy weekend . What a total bummer , a three day weekend and I can't fly [&o]. Oh well thats life I guess.

PS I used to swap servos but no longer will I do this either. [:-]

JPMacG

My Feedback: (2)

I have a battery pack in each plane. I have about 7 planes currently in the hangar. To keep the cost or replacing the packs down I use 700 mAh NiCd AA size packs. These are inexpensive ($10 from radicalrc.com ) and usually hold up for many years if not abused. Some of mine are over 7 years old and still good. I cycle them frequently as they get older.

The higher capacity NiCd packs and the NiMH packs don't hold up as long, not to mention cost more. I had two 1100 mAh NiCd AA size packs die in under 4 years.