I couldn't imagine using any other products in my giant scale planes. I have had no problems with the EQ 6 and when I had a question your support responded in minutes, on a weekend!

I'm looking forward to having telemetry. Would be nice to have. It display on my smartphone in realtime.
Also, I'm not sure if anyone else asked fort this but it would be awesome to have a mini USB port on the unit so programming it can be done in a GUI instead of the janky little buttons and dials.

BTW are you going to be at the WRAM show this year?

I think its more of a poor economy thing. it's tough to justify buying something new when times are tight. I have one of your turbo regs and love it. I also have one of your kills which I have had since 07 it's still works great. also had one of your eq 6 turbos but sold it off to my buddy. liked it too but he wanted it worse than I did. lol..I have been planeless for 3 months, ive got the money to buy one, just can't decide.

I also do a lot of trading, I'm sure others do as well.

as small a group as rc pilots are compared most other hobbies I think a lot of folks providing parts for us do it as a labor of love, cause you sure aint gonna get rich doing it.

My very first gasser was a 50cc and I bought a power expander pro and a turbo reg used from a buddy.
I do alot of reading and research every day on this hobby. Luckily, my job usually affords me ample time, during the day, to have time to read and research when I'm not putting out fires or researching things for work (Systems/Server Engineer)

I knew I wanted servo signal line boosting, and long servo runs to have clean power provided them all the way down to the tail servo's, especially in larger ships. So I looked at Powerbox and Smart Fly. Powerbox features are cool, with the readout of current, voltage, usage, etc, but I wasn't going to plunk down the $600 or so cost of entry.

Smart Fly, to me, was the next best choice for what I wanted. Service, I read, was excellent with your company.
I've sung Smart Fly praises whenever I could online and in person.

Now, every one of my planes gets a Smart Fly Competition 12 with Ign cutoff..except for my last 100cc class build which got a Tech Aero Ibec simply because I didn't have a spare SF ign cutoff module, but I did have the Tech Aero on hand.

I have a suggestion and it may not be very popular with the masses, but here it goes.

You give away ALOT of hardware to Fly In's, competitions, Hucks, etc etc.
Given that there are many Spektrum users out there who do not use your hardware, nor is it really recommended by SF to use some of your gear with Spektrum receivers...alot of these freebies end up being sold off in the online classifieds, or face to face at the field.

My wife just bought a brand new Comp 12 with Ignition cutoff for $70 less than retail for a valentines day present. It was won during a raffle and the end user didn't need it.

I'm not sure what the percentage is of winners who would actually put your hardware to use in a plane or future plane of theirs, versus selling the item off but I would be willing to bet its somewhat low. Perhaps coupons for a percentage off would be the better, less costly route. IF the winner of said coupon was actually interested in a Smart Fly product, at least you would get some percentage of the cash, versus giving away boards and other parts and not seeing any of the profit when/if the item is immediately resold.

Its simply a matter of the random nature of the raffle. The winner would usually need to be a Giant Scale flyer who uses Futaba, who isn't one of those KISS believers who try to eliminate every last gram of unecessary weight in their planes and who has some familiarity of what your systems actually do.

Again, I have no idea what your promotional costs are year after year, but if it is significant, perhaps during belt tightening times such as we have been in for the past few years...maybe those promotional overhead expenses could be re routed to a temporary price reduction of Smart Fly products purchased from you directly..again, you would realize 100% of the purchase, versus 0% of the purchase when that raffle or placement prize is sold off by the end user simply because he/she will not use it.

For me, 50cc and up, gets a Smart Fly Competition 12. I have no need for the EQ systems, and usually, no need for a Sport or Turbo reg due to mainly using HV servo's. But I'll be damned if I won't use the Comp 12, or the new Micro 14F. I have need for the new Micro 14F, but I'll use my comp 12 in the meantime and happily so.

Having said all of that, the stuff that is available/will be available from Futaba/robbe...might be of concern to Smart Fly and PowerBox in the long run if it ever gets exported to the States for Futaba users.


OH and what I would like to see from Smart Fly?

Dual, fully independant regulators, on one board.
To me, having a single main power regulator, however robust they are, on your SF boards..is a single point of failure that I am not a fan of.

I appreciate vendors who ask pilots for feedback on their products or what they'd like to see. Often times the next step is listening too! I've heard it countless times from Smartfly and Fromeco that IBECs are junk, or cheap, or a disaster waiting to happen if the slightest thing goes wrong. Don't get me wrong, I like Smartfly and Fromeco and use them primarily for powersafe regulators.

I've seen these IBECs taking off like wildfire as people are finding out they are as reliable, if not more so, than anything else out there. I've run easily a 1000+ flights on three different IBECs (Aero-Tech) without a glitch.

In sharing fair feedback, I personally have had 3 Opto-kills fail resulting in deadsticks. One was the light guage wire breaking at the solder connection on the receiver end. The next two were the same problem on the transmitter end of the opto kill. the fiber optic cable connector came loose from the circuit board.

Same thing with a friend. His engine was cutting out. First thing we did was disconnect the opto-kill and problem solved. I do not plan on using opto-kills anymore on my planes.

I forgot one more thing I'd love to see.

A servo plug retention system for your boards. Perhaps as an inexpensive option to purchase
Something like a two piece snap on cover that would sit flush over the ends of the servo plug to keep those in place.

I've used strain relief to keep pulling tension off my wires going into my boards so that I don't have one or more coming undone while in flight. I kow others who have used hot glue or dental floss to keep plugs in place.

But a snap on cover would be fantastic.

And yes..switching to a channel numbering system versus alpha would be neat too.

Smart-Fly says it all, it is smart to fly with Bob's outstanding products. He is a dedicated engineer who gives freely his time to help and explain how best to use the great products he builds. I for one would love to see something like the Comp 12 with expanded feathers to monitor voltage and mHa used as a tool to help keep our investments in these large scale airplanes safe. I think his suport of our hobby is top drawer and that's just one reason I have used his products in all of my airplanes. Thank you Bob for starting this thread.

I use the power expander pro with one failsafe switch. I use the smart fly fiber optic ign cut off on its own battery no switch. Programed Hitec servos with three A123s one for the ignition. One FASST receiver. Been using this set up on three planes for six years have not had so much as a hiccup on any thing. I would not build a plane with out smart fly products. I don't need any new smart fly products because their stuff just just keeps on working

Hi,
No, sorry. I added up the costs and that is a really expensive show for me to attend. I also have a lot of work to finish on new products and thought it would be best to go there with new stuff, probably next year.

Originally Posted by Tom G

BTW are you going to be at the WRAM show this year?

Hi,
The new boards will have mini-USB. The software for the computer is one thing holding them up. The
radio systems seem to be covering telemetry for the most part, at first I am looking at just hooking into them somehow.

Originally Posted by Tom G

I couldn't imagine using any other products in my giant scale planes. I have had no problems with the EQ 6 and when I had a question your support responded in minutes, on a weekend!

I'm looking forward to having telemetry. Would be nice to have. It display on my smartphone in realtime.
Also, I'm not sure if anyone else asked fort this but it would be awesome to have a mini USB port on the unit so programming it can be done in a GUI instead of the janky little buttons and dials.

Hey Bob, any chance of a stand alone micro-14 device. Something like the old I4C so I can use it with my ATX equipment. I run 2 rx's on my EQ's (I know you are not a fan of this) and would like to go to HV on and split the plane.

Just throwing an idea out there that has been discussed by a few people... What if?? There was a reg setup for 3s lipo/12v systems to be regulated and buffered to a safe 8.4v output for HV servos? I run everything of mine at 6v, but sooo many pilots are using unregulated A123 straight to the HV servo of their choice. I'd like to hear from these HV pilots... would something like this interest you?

Sleepy and a few others posted about other options/outputs. I like the idea of the scale things. 1 output from a RX to turn on and off NAV and Strobe lights in order and with rates of flash and varried voltage to get the correct brightness from the LED's. I've seen a few models with BIG bright blinding strobes, and then some little green and red LED's for NAV. Both needed seperate batts, servo to momment switch for operation. Just some ideas to kick around...

Originally Posted by averagebrunette

Just throwing an idea out there that has been discussed by a few people... What if?? There was a reg setup for 3s lipo/12v systems to be regulated and buffered to a safe 8.4v output for HV servos? I run everything of mine at 6v, but sooo many pilots are using unregulated A123 straight to the HV servo of their choice. I'd like to hear from these HV pilots... would something like this interest you?

Sleepy and a few others posted about other options/outputs. I like the idea of the scale things. 1 output from a RX to turn on and off NAV and Strobe lights in order and with rates of flash and varried voltage to get the correct brightness from the LED's. I've seen a few models with BIG bright blinding strobes, and then some little green and red LED's for NAV. Both needed seperate batts, servo to momment switch for operation. Just some ideas to kick around...

Interesting idea's for sure.

regarding those who use a physical servo to activate a power switch for lights and such.
there are several electronic switches out there now that do not require a servo. They operate via single channel and electronically turn lights on and off. I even use a couple LED controllers that are able to turn on and off as well as change the colors and light patterns via a hand held IR remote

Just an FYI in case it matters.

I have asked about the 3S lipo setup before and the "switching regulators" are really expensive is what I have heard.

Originally Posted by rrritchey

Hi,
The new boards will have mini-USB. The software for the computer is one thing holding them up. The
radio systems seem to be covering telemetry for the most part, at first I am looking at just hooking into them somehow.

What script are you using vba or c++ ?