I am installing the Batshare in a single receiver system. Why are there two output wires from the Batshare? The instructions depict two input wires, and a single output wire. Is one of these connections unused?

Thanks,

Mike

Mike,
Sorry, I guess the illustration is misleading. It was meant to show the logical connections, not the actual physical connections. Both output leads can be connected to the receiver to reduce voltage drop when high current is flowing. Our regulators also have dual-in and dual-out leads for reduced voltage drop. If you feel you don't need the extra current carrying you can just leave one floating. Please let me know if I need to clarify anything. Thank you.

I'm finishing my first big bird a Midwest CAP232 80 with way to much $$ in it and want no issues with power problems. So here goes some questions I need help with.

Should I go with the 'batshare' vs. just using two batterys, two regulators and two switches?

If I use the batshare will I need two regulators or one?

I'm using Hitec 5625/5645 servos, should I regulate them at 6.0v or 5.4, the instructions say they work on 6v?

Why is the batshare better than a simple double up on things right to the RX. If both batterys are of the same capacity and voltage then how is the batshare better as using this setup the batterys cannot charge each other?

Is there a system such as the batshare with the regulator built in?

I'm on a budget here my wife has cut me off so any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill

Bill,
Answering this question depends a lot on the type of battery you are running. If you are running 5-cell packs (NiCd or NiMH) then you can pretty much go simple by doubling everything up to the receiver and run this unregulated. The only danger you run here is if somewhere along one of the power paths you end up with a real short, positive to negative, such as insulation wearing through. This is unlikely compared to a battery going dead. Some people experience servo "chatter" on a 5-cell full charge and the BatShare will help with this. Now, if you are going to run lithiums (ion or poly) you have a completely different situation. You have to run a regulator. You may, mostly likely will, run into a problem where if you hook the two regulator outputs together at the receiver, one side is going to supply most of the current and one battery will discharge much faster than the other. There is no good way to "match" regulators, this is just their nature. So, running lithiums, you are pretty much going to be stuck going through one regulator if you are running a single receiver. This ruins your redundancy but regulators (quality ones) are much, much less likely to fail than a battery pack or switch. I think this should get you started, let me know where I can expand on this answer.

Thanks, so the will a NiMH have this probelm running two regulators or is this for only Lihiums you would need to run one regulator. I'm going to run 5cell NiMH's on a single RX.

Bill

Bill,
Anytime you try to put the outputs of two regulators together they will not share current load. It does not matter if they are 5-cell packs or lithium packs. Since you are going to run 5-cell packs on a single receiver you should be fine running this setup unregulated if you want.

Thanks for all the help Robert.

Bob, just to clarify what you said in this thread using two Li-ions, two switches and two regulators. The output from each switch goes to one of the two inputs on the BatSwith, each BatShare output goes to its own regulator and subsequently each of the two outputs from the regulator is plugged into the single receiver thus establishing battery/switch/regulator redunantcy..

Is this what you recommend for dual setups?

Bobby
Vicksburg, MS

Hi Bobby,
This is a perfectly acceptable way of using the BatShare. Most people use a single regulator and just have battery and switch redundancy but using the two regulators from the output of the BatShare to the reciever input will give you regulator redundancy also. For dual receivers most people separate the two sides completely, battery, switch and regulator per receiver. Let me know if I helped or was just confusing. Thanks,

Oh yes, Robert (Bob?). Your response was a great help in clarifing what I needed to do. I decided to go with only one receiver on my WH 260 rather than two like I have on my AW 54oT.

Thanks again,

Bobby
Vicksburg, MS

Hi Bobby,
Great, glad I could help. I go by Bob normally, I just sign Robert. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Okay I've read through these threads and I think I've got it.

This will be for a 33% size model with three big digital servos for the tailfeathers, four high speed coreless analogs in the wings, and two standard servos for throttle and choke.

Dual 2800 Li-Ions with dual switches run from switch, to BatShare, to regulators, to receiver there by avoiding the .5 volt drop associated with the BatShare?

This may be a dumb question but I posted on Futaba's forum and don't have an answer yet. I'm assuming you can plug the two power leads from the Li-Ion regulators into a R149DP receiver if two slots are available?

And the other question for a buddy who's got a BatShare but couldn't figure out the two output lead thing. He's got two NiMh's with separate switches to the BatShare and only a single output of the two BatShare leads needs to be hooked to the receiver unless you want the higher amperage capability?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Zeeb,
If you want to run two lithium batteries you might consider our SuperReg rather than using the Batshare plus a regulator. This unit is compact, light and saves you extra wires. You will need to make Deans to R/C plug adapters to plug into your receiver (we have the parts). This might be a cleaner way to go.

The power on all receivers I know of is bussed across the unit so you can plug a power input into any open slot. In fact, the new PowerExpander II coming out later this year does not plug into the battery input of a receiver at all unless it is shared with a channel. The power goes in through the two channels at either end of the receiver.

You can use one output only of the BatShare but you will have more voltage drop across the single wire and connector. Two connections will give you a higher voltage into the receiver under load and thus you will get more torque out of your servos.

Please let me know if I can answer any more questions.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the quick reply. I've ordered a Duralite Plus IMAC package that I'm waiting for but it's not been shipped yet as far as I know. I was not aware until yesterday when I started looking for a method of hooking up redundant power systems, that your company made all the things you do.

I looked at the SuperReg on your website after reading most of this forum, but your website says it's out of stock. Plus I'm wondering about a system that I have to disconnect the batteries after flying. I understand why it's this way with the failsafe system, but I also read a thread from an individual who forgot to do it and turned his Li-Polys into junk. That's my reservation about that regulator, I'm afraid I might do the same thing...

If they are going to be back in stock reasonably soon, I'll consider that option.

Hi Zeeb,
We have the SuperReg and TurboReg back in stock. I am waiting for my webmaster to get back from vacation to change that on the website. If you are worried about disconnecting the batteries you can also use switches. You can put two of our SuperSwitchHDs in front of the SuperReg and this problem goes away. I have left my batteries connected for up to a week without any issues. Of course if you have flown your lithiums down to 6.6V then you would have a smaller time margin.
Let me know if you have any other questions.

Okay now I'm really confused.

I understand enough about electricity to get the 18g wire wire thing, but since the power output leads and separate charge leads on the Duralites are 22g. what's the advantage to going 18g downstream from the switch other than possibility of a really long distance from the switch? Then unless your PowerExpander is used, you drop down to the conventional 22g from the regulator to the rx, or adapt both the two Deans outputs to two standard rx plugs for more capacity and less resistance?.

The picture of your SuperReg on the website has what appears to be the two conventional power supply charge leads, the black/red leads underneath the Deans plugs? But those are of no value on the Duralites since they must be charged through their separate "Charge Safe Circuit" leads. Then the Futaba color coded lead I assume goes to the remote switch?

Last has to do with the problem of the regulators sharing a load if bussed together. I've setup enough regulators on full scale multi-engine aircraft to understand the load balancing problem. If the BatShare is only a diode type device rather than a load sharing device, how does running one regulator downstream of the BatShare built into the SuperReg, differ from running the BatShare to two separate regulators then to the rx?

Sorry about all the questions, but I'd like to do this right and understand why I'm doing it...

Hi Zeeb,
You are right about the wiring. Considering this you could use standard DSC switches and change the output connector to a Deans to plug into the SuperReg. Since lithiums' voltage is so much higher than what you are regulating you can afford some voltage loss in the wires. You do have to convert to R/C plug from the SuperReg's Deans output but if you keep them short you will minimize your voltage drop between the SuperReg and the receiver. The SuperReg is about the same price as a BatShare and a standard regulator and it cleans up the wiring.

The two 2-wire leads are for charging so with the Duralites you would not use them. The 3-wire lead is for the failsafe switch connection.

If you want to run the two outputs of the BatShare into two regulators and then to the receiver it will work just fine. One regulator will supply most of the current so you will get a larger voltage drop between that regulator and the receiver than if you used the SuperReg and two plugs but it may not matter to you. Either way is acceptable.

I don't mind answering the questions. I want you to be happy with what you end up with.

Hi Bob,

One more question has arisen...

My BatShare came the other day and my engine is on it's way, so I started looking at actually setting this up. I got the directions out for the Duralite regulators and they specifically say that the output of two regulators must not be hooked together.

It seems to me that if I use the recommended setup for the BatShare, it hooks the two reglator outputs together via the rx power buss?

If I put the BatShare between the regulators and the rx, I lose that .5 volt drop across the BatShare to the rx/servos. I've e-mailed Duralite for their thoughts, or at least a clarification on the prohibition on connecting the two regulators together, but thought I might ask you about it as well?

Thanks!

Hi Zeeb,
I really don't know how they built their regulators but I suspect that they are trying to avoid a ton of questions on why the batteries do not draw evenly with two regualtors. This is just a hunch though. I would not put the BatShare after the regulators. I think you would be OK to hook one regulator to each output of the BatShare and then put the two into the receiver. You do have to understand that one regulator will probably be doing almost all the work and the other will be standing by in case of failure. When ever you use two regulators you must be sure that one will fly the plane if the other fails.

Bob,

Thanks for your thoughts.

The regulators are 7.5 Amp and with the 2800 mah battery packs, should be quite capable of handling the electrical load by themselves.

You said that you would not hook the regulators downstream of the BatShare, but I could do it if I want to accept the .5 volt drop?

I don't expect to hear from Duralite until Monday, but when I do I'll let you know what they say if you are interested?

Thanks again!

edit info:

Man I'm getting this messed up already. You said you wouldn't hook up the BatShare downstream of the regulators, right?

Hi Zeeb,
I would NOT hook up the BatShare downstream of the regulators but if you could stand the 0.5V drop you could. Please let me know what Duralite says.
Thanks,

Okay, here's the story! 2 switches, 2 Duralite Plus 4800 mah batteries go thru the switch and INTO the BatShare;o utput of Batshare is hooked matching side of Duralite Plus 6.0 v regulator, the output side (male plug) of the REGULATOR plugs into an open receiver slot. Same for the other side.

This setup has worked for me all of the 2005 IMAC season. The battery voltage is measured at the switch (Cermark HD switches) and may be slightly different before a flight but after a 15 minute flight, the batteries measure within 0.01mv of each other - flight after flight - same 0.01 mv difference at most. The closeness of the battery voltage AFTER the flight indicates the BatShare IS WORKING!!! And I love it!!

I had two Duralite Plus 1900 mah batteries going through two separate switches with regulators into the receiver in another plane that I flew for several months. This is where I discovered that the receive CONSISTENTLY drew from one battery. The other battery's voltage was the same though out the days' flying!! That's why on my next plane I went with a BatShare.



Bobby

THANKS!

I really appreciate input from someone who's done what I want to do. It will be most interesting to see what Duralite has to say since I just don't see what the problem would be...

You're welcome. I had called Jack at Duralite before I called Bob at SmartFly as I had the same problem/confusion that you have. Glad I could be of help.

Bobby

Hi Bob,

Talked with Mark at Duralite today. It seems that what they are concerned about, and why the warning against hooking the output of two regulators together, is that they don't want the higher amperage of two 7.5 amp regulators going through a single lead, i.e. a Y-cable.

Now that's something I can understand...

That's why they suggested plugging into two rx slots today, but that suggestion is not in the printed literature that comes with the regulators. All that the literature says is; "DO NOT attempt to connect the outputs of two regulators together". Maybe they figure most people won't be thinking about the common power buss in the rx?

So, problem solved and thanks again to Bobby and Bob!