Gents,
At great peril I am going to leak some preproduction information regarding the two new Power Expanders Robert has been developing at Smart-Fly. I promised not tell too many people so I figured the FG column does not mean the whole world so here goes.
The new units are from Smart-Fly's new stable of Power Expander Sport Plus and the Power System Sport Plus (with the regulator).
The units are designed for the 100cc and under gas powered models and in my mind they have combined all the necessary stuff in a simple to mount neat and functional assembly.
They are totally compatible with the new SPEKTRUM and FUTABA 2.4 Ghz receivers.
Whats new.
Two models.
One with a regulator for Li-Po batts and the other without a reg for NiMh or NiCd packs. Both have the built in ignition kill system on the board.
General details for the regulated version are as follows:
- Built in Battshare so if you use two battery packs (you can use one if thats all you want) and the system keeps the voltage within a whisker of each other on both packs so you maintain balanced packs all the way as they discharge.
- The regulator is built into the power expander and is NOT adjustable. I have not yet run this demo unit over my test system yet but I assume the regulated voltage will be 6 volts to the servos and 5 volts to the receiver.
- Maximum recommended continuous current draw through the regulator is around 5 amps with peak load capacity of 15 amps so thats plenty enough for a 35% plane running good digital servos.
- The fiber optic ignition kill system is also built into the board. You just run a jumper wire from the kill switch channel you choose to the Ign plug on the front of the board and your setup.
- The unit is a feather weight. 2 oz roughly plus a few inches of Fiber optic cable and the kill switch receiver and you done.
- Battery plugs are the JR or Futaba type spade plugs so no need for fancy deans or Graupner six pin setups.
- You can use 7.4 volt Li-Ions or even Li-PO's if that takes your fancy. I don't use Li-Po's on gassers due to the intolerance to vibration but it can be done and many do it so I cant bag it.
I had an EQ10 with two 4800 Li-On packs with a turbo reg etc in my 35% 260. By going to this setup with twin 2400 packs I can reduce the electronics load in this plane by 11oz . Thats some serious weight to haul around when your trying to run it on an 80cc engine.
If you have any questions about this device ask them here please. Tony, Robert or myself will be in as often as possible to help answer anything you have.
Price?? Not finalized but you better believe they are not expensive.
Availability?? There may be some on display at the NALL but shipping will be about another month or so after.
Hope you like them guys.