RE: nirvana II tips and tuning guide
Randy, Yes my my Transmitter light light up so its getting power. Also I pulled the crystal out of the transmitter and put it in another TX that I I have and it works fine. So the RX and servos are all good. Its something that is wrong inside the Hitec transmitter. I've still been trying get Steve on the phone no luck yet.
Posted on: 9/6/2008 2:20 PM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "RC Sailboats"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7926362

RE: nirvana II tips and tuning guide
Randy, Thanks for the tip on what batteries to use. Well I have some bad news about my Nirvana. UPS just droped it off here I'm been waiting all week for it so I could try it out this weekend. Everything looked really good I got all the rigging and sails put together right. Then I went and but new batteries in the Hi-Tech zebra radio. And I was shocked the radio is dead. I move the sticks and nothing happens. So I checked the crystals and they are right. Its to bad I won't get to run my new boat this weekend. I was not expecting this from ording for sailrc I know Steve is a good guy but I was shocked to get this. Also $25 of my order was to be member of club Nirvana. I did not get anything about my membership in the club at all. Was told from Steve I would get some papers with my boat with information about the clube username password etc. I did not get this nothing no paper work about club Nirvana at all. So I will be trying to a hold of Steve and see what he wants to do. I bought this boat form Sailrc because I wanted the upgraded eletronics so I would not have any problems. Well I got the upgrade all right and nothing works.
Posted on: 9/6/2008 12:17 AM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "RC Sailboats"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7924988

RE: nirvana II tips and tuning guide
Hey guys I just bought an Nirvana II I'm wating for UPS to drop it off. I got mine through sailrc.com it will have the hitec zebra radio in it. This will be my first sailboat I can't wait to try it out. I have a queston for you guys. How often do you have to replace the batterys onboard the boat? Will they last for some time or is there a lot of drain on them? Also what are some good batterys to run? I also have to say Steve from sailrc is very nice to work with. I had some questions about the boat I ordered from him. I spoke with him on the phone he was very helpful even to me a total newbe to sailing.
Posted on: 8/29/2008 5:04 PM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "RC Sailboats"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7899764

RE: Aquacraft Mini Rio
damfurst, Thanks for the info I will look into the leaks from around the cooling tubing. Maybe thats where all the water is coming from with mine. Also I will order one of those sw26rs props and try that out. I'm not ready to give up on the boat yet but I am close... If I can only get it to get up on plane and run right I would be happy with it.
Posted on: 8/29/2008 4:56 PM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "Speed - Electric"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7899742

RE: Aquacraft Mini Rio
Well folks, I have had my Mini Rio now for just under a month. I kept my boat stock I do not want to throw money into a $100 boat. I have about 15 or so runs out on the pond with it.. I posted here about some issues I was having with my boat a couple of weeks ago. I'm very unhappy with this boat and stock setup. I have tried different battery packs moved the radio antenna etc. It's very difficult to get this boat on plane and move out. I waste a good half of my battery charge trying to get the boat to go. Also after about 5 runs my boat now leaks. It fills with water almost up to the battery pack. The leak is coming form the rubber boot on the steering arm. Also at best no matter what I try the radio glitches and my max range is about 30 ft... This is really sad for a 100 dollar boat. I think some of the boats at the big department stores that you can buy for half the price are just as good or maybe better than this one. Also I want to say that I have called Hobbico/Aquacraft and talked to them about my issues with this boat. They were very unsupportive and told me that my 30 to 50 ft of radio range is normal. Also I was told to cycle the battery and the boat will get faster. Others here on the form also told me this. The Aquacaft tech support made be feel like a fool and was trying to get me off the phone. He just acted like everything that was going wrong with my boat was normal. In regards to the battery pack I moved it as far forward as I can. And it did help but this is still very poor the boat has a hard time getting going. It seems to work a little bit better with a 2 cell lipo pack. So for the 100 dollars and the tech support you get from Aquacraft/ Hobbico this boat is not worth 100 dollars. The radio is POS the boat is falling apart after about 10 runs the boat seems to be a POS to. I'm really surprised Aquacraft would let something like this out on the market for this price. My other boating friends are just shocked when they see the issues I have with this boat. Now if you are going to mod this boat up it may run really good. But stock it just down right sucks. It’s pretty bad when you have to spend another $100 into the boat just to make it run.. And I will not do that I don't want to have a Mino Rio that has cost me $200 or more there are better boats out there for that kind of money. Over all I will say what a let down.. The boat the radio system and Aquacraft tech support has all been a let down. I feel like I have thrown my hundred dollars away.
Posted on: 8/28/2008 1:34 AM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "Speed - Electric"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7894179

RE: Aquacraft Mini Rio
[quote]ORIGINAL: Nina Roses Dad let the charger top off the battery pack overnight on trickle. when the peak detection kicks in and stops the fast charge, only one (the weakest) of your six cells is completely charged. this affects speed, the boat's ability to get on plane and also the ability of the rx to pick up the radio signal. Make sure the antenna wire is pulled all the way out. the trick with this boat is to keep it moving. if you come to a stop, you have to get back on plane all over again. Try to position the battery pack as far forward as you can without letting it rub on the coupler. if you glue a piece of closed-cell foam or something to the back of the pack and then cinch it down with the rear hatch cover, that'll work. [/quote] Thanks for the reply. I have the battery hooked up to my FMA cycler now. This will tell me if I have a bad pack or not and will give me a good charge. Thanks for the tip with moving the battery foward I will try this.
Posted on: 8/13/2008 8:44 PM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "Speed - Electric"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7843057

RE: Aquacraft Mini Rio
Hi My Mini Rio came today I got a red one. I have to say this is a neat looking little boat. I charged the stock battery pack and took it out to the lake of a test run. I did no modifications at all so everything was stock right out of the box. I was shocked how slow the boat go's. Mine would only go about as fast a slow walking speed maybe 2 mph. The motor runs fast and it seemed like it would really go. But as soon as it was in the water is was just slow. This surprised me because before I ordered the boat I watched the videos of it being reviewed and the video from Aquacraft site. My boats performance is not even close to what is shown in the videos. On top of this my radio range is maybe 75 feet. This also really surprised me to. And one last thing I pulled the shaft out to lube it up. One of the set screws is striped out... how nice. After my test run I called up the service center listed in the instruction manual. I told the tech on over the phone what my boat was doing and about the short radio range. I was told by the tech they have never had any problems reported with the battery packs and that I need to cycle my pack. He said I need to cycle the pack 7 times and with each recharge the boat will get a little faster. And I questioned him about the short radio range. He said 75 feet is about right for the mini rio boat. I got the feeling he was just trying to get me off the phone. I'm getting a feeling that I must have got a bad boat or these boats don't perform any ware near what is shown on the advertizing videos. Has anyone else had these issues with the boat right out of the box (stock) ?? I'm really trying to like the boat. I wasent looking for a top preformance race boat or anything. But I think there are toy boats you can go by a local stores for $30 that run about like mine does.. I was expecting something a step up from those toys with this boat.
Posted on: 8/13/2008 7:36 PM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "Speed - Electric"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7842808

RE: Nitromodels PREDATOR RQ-1B
Jeff Thanks for the reply. I went looking for that video #187 and I could not find it. Anyway I see you said that your "ruddervators" do good for turing the Predator. It seems my "ruddervators" are not that effectave. I mean I have good up and down response but as far as Rudder in the yaw axis there is next to none really. My guess is that the rear ventral fin hanging down may be there as to help reduce yaw. On the real MQ-9 (wich is what this modle is kind of based off of) the ventral fin is has a rudder on it. On the real MQ-9 the "ruddervators" works the same as on our models but the rudder on the ventral is also mixed in too. I will work on maybe mixing in some opposite aileron with the rudder as you say you do. As for my first flight I used mostly just aileron as the rudder seemed to not be doing anything at all. But you are right this model will do that so called "Lawn Dart" manuever if you don't fly it easy in the turns. You are right on when you say fly it very scale like. I will post some photos of my Predator soon I'm also going to try to get some video of it flying.
Posted on: 11/6/2007 7:53 PM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "Electric Aerobatic & Sport Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6590197

RE: Nitromodels PREDATOR RQ-1B
I just did my first test flight with the my Predator. It flew really good nice and stable and I have more than enogh power. I was able to cruise around a about half throttle with no porblems. I did not even have to trim much I think a about 2 clicks of up elevator trim. All my control throws are set to factory specs. Also that is all I get out of the throws the control surfaces are at there max movements. No control was too sensitve or mushy. A couple of things I did seem to notice is. Make your turns shallow do not bank and yank this plane. I think with it being a short coupled as it is this effects its tight turning. The Predator seems to stall in a tight turn. I would say make your turns no more that 30 dagrees. If you do make tight turns make sure you don't pull much elevator in the turn and you have lots of altitude in case it stalls. Also in flight the rudder seems to have no real effect at all. I think this is due to the wing being so flat. All in all I really like this Predator model and it flys good. I would just say this is not an aerobatic sport model. And it's not a simple beginner 2 meter glider. I think where piltos could get into trouble is this model is that it is some what deceiving. You will get into trouble if you go ripping around the airfield making really hard back turns. It seems you should fly this model like a real Predator. Last bit of info here. My Predator is all stock no camera no steerable nose gear etc. And my AUW weight is right at 40 oz.
Posted on: 11/6/2007 4:52 PM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "Electric Aerobatic & Sport Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6589268

RE: Nitromodels PREDATOR RQ-1B
I have one of these Nitromodels Predators. I havent flown it yet. I'm going to test fly in the next few days. My Predator is weighing in at 40 Oz (AUW). I have no camera or anything extra installed. I've kept it all stock except for the main spar tube. I replaced this with a carbon fiber one. Other than that its all stock. We added a total of about 3 oz of lead to get it to balance about 1/2 oz of that 3 oz was added to the left wing for lateral blance. The motor is a A20-22L 225 watts maybe 250. The battery pack is a 3s1pq2100. I would like to know what weights AUW are you guys getting with your Predators? Thanks for the info.
Posted on: 11/4/2007 8:57 PM by Author "Ron720" in the forum "Electric Aerobatic & Sport Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6581290