Smart-Fly Powerbox Sport Plus

[sweetpea]

I agree. The servos are more important than the PE especially in a 50cc gas plane.

As far as loading out the PE, I doubt you will do this with the 50cc plane. Anything is possible though. You don't have servos fighting each other on a 50cc as you will only be putting 1 servo per surface. Your only chance of high amps is if you have a servo freeze up (which you are in trouble anyway if that happens) or if you have too much throw in the servo and the surface can't go that far. This will bind the servo.

I'm going to assume you have a computer radio at this point. All you need to do is program your travel on the channels so that you get max deflection without binding. Just watch your surface while you program. As the surface moves you are fine. If the surface stops moving and your servo arm continues then you are binding. Come back a few clicks and you'll be fine.

No need for any fancy servo programming devices on this plane.

[Pilot013]

Hi again dear colleagues!

I am sorry for being away, but I was out of the city for the Christmas holidays! I wish luck, health and love to you and your beloved families!!! Have successful flights in 2009!

Well I finally think I'll try to find some money to buy the 4 x HS-5645MG Digital and 1 x HS-7955 TG for rudder - I hope this will be enough! I have a friend who is coming in May to Bulgaria and I hope he will be able to get the servos to me at a lower price, because if I need to buy them with international shipping it will get too much. As to the S3305's I'll try to sell them here in Bulgaria. But until May 2009 I'll be flying with S3305 I suppose. But it is not a big deal, because they will be generally good running, but maybe not very suitable for hard 3D practice.

I was interested if Futaba 2.5" arms will fit a Hitec servo? I hope yes, because I really don't intend to buy brand new 12$ ALU servo arms.

Can I reverse the direction of work of digital servos through my Futaba transmitter. I hope I don't need the fancy programmer by Hitec. I already understood I can control the end points from my transmitter...

Best regards, waiting for your answers!

[Pilot013]

Hi guys!

Well finally I stopped at the choice of buying 1 x HD-9660MG and 4 x HD-9150MG. I think this will be more than enough. I'll be putting the 9660MG on the rudder. I suppose 275+ ounces will be enough for the rudder of this aircraft. Regarding the other movable surfaces of the plane, I hope the 9150 are enough. Now I just need to order them.

Can somebody give me some information about Fail-switch. The way it works, benefits, etc.

Best regards, dear friends!

[rrritchey]

Hi,
The failsafe switch allows you to connect both batteries directly to the unit with no switches between the batteries and the unit. This makes for less voltage drop between the batteries and the unit. It also makes for a cleaner installation. The failsafe switch plugs into a special port on the unit and it turns a circuit in the unit on/off to turn the batteries on/off. If a wire on the switch breaks or the switch were to unplug then the unit would stay on until you unplug the batteries, hence the "failsafe" part. The only down side is that the unit will still draw a very small amount of current in the off position, about 5mAH/Day out of the packs. With this in mind, if you are going to store your plane for longer than about 2 weeks we suggest unplugging the batteries.

[Pilot013]

Hi!

Thanks for the answer! Well I have installed exactly the same clean system. I have avoided fancy expensive HIGH AMP capable switches. I have a Batshare with a failsafe unit, which is working great. I also noted that the voltage drop out is less. I am using 2 x 4000mah lipos 7.4v 15C and each of them weigh 6 oz which is pretty good.

I was interested how does the unit work? Is it programmed to consume the same amount of current from both batteries or it takes from one, then from the other, etc? I have regulated the voltage to 6.03V to the receiver. In my opinion it is a good margin of about 2V, being given that LIPOs go up to 8v when fully charged.

What do you think?

Best regards!

[rrritchey]

Hi,
The BatShare compares voltages and if the batteries are equal it will draw current from each battery. If they are not equal (more than 0.1V apart roughly) then it will draw from the battery with the higher voltage until they equalize. It does not look at current, only voltage.

[hovhas]

Hi, Is this a good setup for a 87" 50 cc gasser?
Smart-Fly Powerbox Sport Plus + 2 packs A 123 2300 mah + 1 failsafe switch.

Can I/should I feed ignition from the powerbox?
If so, can I use the charge jack or a free servo jack on the powerbox for ignition?

I have the gear, just wondering if I could take away my current ignition battery...

[rrritchey]

Hi hovhas,
A PowerExpander Sport Plus and 2 A123 2300mAH packs would work great in a 50cc plane. We strongly discourage running the ignition off the same power as your receiver. It may work fine at first but if something goes wrong in the ignition module or you get a loose spark plug cap you could loose your plane. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[hovhas]

Ok, thank you!

[Yak-54/71]

what battery can be used on Smart-Fly PowerSystem Sport Plus

LiFePo4 Pack ?

Lithium ion ?

Lipo Pack ? 2 cell

Thanks

[rrritchey]

The battery pack needs to keep the inputs above 6.5V for the regulator output to stay at 6.0V. This said, 2S Li-ion/poly or LiFePO4 work just fine. With the LiFe you may get some dips depending on the servo load due to the voltage drop across the input connector. When using LiFe we recommend you use the failsafe switch so you do not have extra connectors between the battery and the Sport Plus.