RE: CC Phoenix Ice2 HV80 problems
First thing you should do is see what version firmware you are running, and go to Castle's website and see if there are any bugs with that version: http://castlecreations.com/downloads/frh-phoenix.html
Posted on: 5/19/2013 7:58 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11516645

RE: D4
I knew I had a reason! I think I must be suffering some trauma, no other explanation for all those zeros... [quote]ORIGINAL: VerneK That's probably cause she's a guy..... [8|] [quote]ORIGINAL: gaRCfield I will be there. I think it will be a nice weekend (although I am a little freaked by the food truck girl [:o] ) [/quote] [/quote]
Posted on: 5/19/2013 1:58 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11516292

RE: battery size??
Two 450mah packs in parallel will do you fine.
Posted on: 5/15/2013 5:20 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11512614

RE: D4
I will be there. I think it will be a nice weekend (although I am a little freaked by the food truck girl [:o] )
Posted on: 5/15/2013 5:18 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11512613

RE: Hacker A60-7S V2 28 Pole Motor
I think if you cycle the batteries a few times, you will get better performance. Probably not anything like new, but better.
Posted on: 9/9/2012 5:24 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11223127

RE: Hacker A60-7S V2 28 Pole Motor
My first thought is that your batteries don't seem to hold charge under load. Can you plot just the voltage curve? They should be just about 42v fully charged, and shouldn't drop below 37v under load during the initial power bursts. Maybe the batteries need a few cycles to 'wake up'? Have you been using them much over the past few weeks?
Posted on: 9/9/2012 2:29 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11223001

RE: Post all your
For pull-pull, I am considering the following cable options - would like to hear your thoughts :) 1) 7-strand stainless fishing leader, 40lb test, nylon coated http://www.afwhiseas.com/product-p/c045b-0.htm 2) 49-strand stainless 'knotable' fishing leader, 40lb test, nylon coated (super flexible and resistant to memory/kinking) http://www.afwhiseas.com/product-p/cm49-40b-a.htm 3) nylon coated kevlar http://www.yourfavorite_kevlarsupplier.com(ic) I am nervous about using kevlar - have not used it yet, do not want it to fray/break/creep or whatever - this is my first 2m plane. I do like light weight though! [:D]
Posted on: 9/9/2012 1:22 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11222935

RE: Foam wing help
I have been researching building foam wings - I have a set of cores I am going to build. I am wondering if you can cut with one airfoil, but use different sized stock for the leading edge and sand appropriately? Separate pieces is certainly an option, there are threads where people cut single airfoils in parts to install the ribs. I am curious what you mean about having a 'thin tip'. DEFINITELY read over Isaac Najary's build threads - he doesn't cut or sheet the foam, but there is a lot to be learned about installing the edges, tips, and sanding, etc. Looks like fun! Enjoy!! [:)]
Posted on: 9/9/2012 1:13 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11222929

RE: Pheonix ICE 80-HV Firmware help.
Thanks to Chris for posting the ESC info that actually works and pertains to us!! [:D]
Posted on: 9/9/2012 12:55 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11222916

RE: Pheonix ICE 80-HV Firmware help.
A few questions: 1) can you clarify what you changed - software is on your computer, firmware is the programming in the ESC. Did you update both, or just the firmware? 2) what device are you using between the computer and the ESC? Castlelink, quick connect, or field link? I had some issues when I updated the firmware in the ESC but didn't change the field link and subsequently lost some functionality.
Posted on: 9/9/2012 11:29 AM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11222841

RE: Post all your
I tried the laminated end-grain balsa, had issues with the balsa crushing. I chose carbon to avoid that, to allow for a mount that will be very robust to installing/removing the motor, etc. Even the glassed-ply motor box in my Sebart Wind 110 started to crush a little after many flights and showed signs of fatigue. I just bought some 1.5mm and 2mm carbon and have some 2.5mm carbon here. It seems to me that the 'commercially available' G10 and carbon mounts are somewhere between 1.5 and 2mm. It would be nice to get away with the 1.5mm. The Advance will be front- and rear supported. http://www.znline.com/photos.php?source=produits&langue=english%20&cle_data=1324372463&index=0 javascript:popupWindow('http://www.f3aunlimited.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=193')
Posted on: 9/8/2012 3:48 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11222082

RE: Post all your
what is the right thickness of carbon plate for making motor mounts? This would be bolted or glued to a nose ring and supported in the rear. Is 1/16" too thin?
Posted on: 9/7/2012 11:19 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11221484

What's the story with JR 2.4ghz?
I know there were issues or something with the early versions of the technology. What is the scoop? Would it be safe to buy an older 9303 or 10X or something? Just curious... [:-]
Posted on: 9/7/2012 7:39 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11221337

RE: Joe's Electric Integral Build Thread
Mostly for looks. I have seen and talked to guys with the Bolly F3A Long and Bolly F3A Electric gear - both seem to work well and look great. I went with the same sweep as the Bolly Long gear, which has less sweep than the Electric. Once I figure out a good way to quickly get pics from my phone to my PC, I will post some more pics. I am a little consumed with buying a house at the moment, hopefully this thread will pickup a little over the weekend.
Posted on: 9/5/2012 8:15 AM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11218249

RE: Post all your
They are both NIP; I think the 3517 started out with nylon gears and over time it got a metal output gear, and finally metal gears. The package is almost identical except for the mg part, and the specs are the same. Should be OK I guess? Not really sure what would happen over time to any components, so hopefully response/speed/etc would be the same. http://www.servodatabase.com/servo/jr/ds3517
Posted on: 9/5/2012 5:16 AM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11218088

RE: Post all your
So I got a 3517 servo with all plastic gears. I also got a 3517 servo with metal gears. I think the all plastic gear servo is older, but new. This is for dual elevator servos in my new baby. Is there any risk if I regear them with the same gear set, or should I replace the older servo ? I don't want some slight elevator offset to make my plane fly crooked, LOL :)
Posted on: 9/4/2012 3:10 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11217476

RE: Joe's Electric Integral Build Thread
Bob, the plan was to laminate the spacers to the ply/carbon nose ring that comes pre-installed in the Integral. I was going to shape them so I could also glue to the fuse around the perimeter. However after posting this thread I thought about how fast I am going to eat up the weight margin I have, and started thinking about making things a little smaller/lighter. I will consider an optimized spacer. Since the nose ring is already installed, a recessed nose ring would end up sitting just behind it. IP, I ordered the "Bolly Long" gear from Graphtech, but had an extra 3/4" sweep added in. I was looking at some similar planes at my last contest and thought the Bolly Long gave plenty of prop clearance. I will probably leave the servo bearings alone [;)]
Posted on: 9/4/2012 5:01 AM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11216684

RE: Hobbico vs. Tower Hobbies servos
It seems the smaller ones are typically Hitec, the larger are Hitec and Futaba. There may or may not be a name brand clone, it could be a similar servo geared to Hobbico's spec. Not sure why there is a difference in price between Tower and Hobbico servos, they are usually the same servo and sometimes Tower is more. I bought a fleet of the CS-10 or something, but still haven't started the project yet. The specs are good. Maybe this weekend.
Posted on: 9/3/2012 6:26 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11216278

RE: Joe's Electric Integral Build Thread
The first step is to install the gear. I'm still waiting for a custom set from Graphtech (like Bolly long with the full sweep), so I started on planning the motor. I chose the Plettenberg Advance 30-10 for the combination of weight (no firewall needed), efficiency, and low maintenance. I was seriously considering the Neu F3A but felt that I would benefit more from less maintenance at this stage of my pattern ability. The advance is a nose-ring mount. I am deciding between aircraft ply and carbon, with ply spacers. I laminated some layers of balsa to help define the perimeter, and created the mounts on Creo Elements (freeware CAD program) using some measurements and the motor technical drawing. I'm going to have carbon and ply mounts made and will decide based on apparent weight and strength. Here are the mount, plywood spacer, and rear mount:
Posted on: 9/3/2012 6:16 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11216266

Joe's Electric Integral Build Thread
Hi Everyone, I'm going to do a build thread of my Integral, for fun, and for a place for anyone to learn or offer advice. I am really excited about this for a few reasons - to take my time and enjoy building a sweet airplane, the fact that I got the airplane I wanted (Thanks Bob and Verne!!), and it is my first 2M airplane. I really have enjoyed everything about this hobby and look forward to so much more to come in the future. So he plan is to start mostly stock - I have a set of foam cores that I will build afterward, hopefully to play with the wing angles and trimming. I may add wing adjusters to the stock wings at some point, but for now the plan is to build it straight and stock. A few things: 1) of course the weight of the wings - both wings weigh more than the plane. The foam cores should be lighter. 2) the gear - these are stock gear but really seem pretty flexible. They are also lighter than others have posted. I know comp arf has 'new' gear they advertise with the valiant that is supposed to be light, and flex enough to avoid fuse damage. Not sure if these are that gear, but I will be replacing with Graphtech anyway for the extra height and to make it look the way I want. 3) I have nylon replacement gears for all the servos, though will likely leave the metal output gear on the rudder. I got the PBG wing tube which is longer and still ~24g lighter. Here are the weights: Fuse 735 Chin Cowl 79 Canopy 86 Left Wing 403 Right Wing 412 Rudder 63 Left Elevator 120 Right Elevator 120 Rudder Rod 10 Balsa Strips 4 Wheel Pants 32 Hardware Pack 70 Stab Rod 6 Wing Tube 86 PGB Tube: 64g -24g Stab Tube 13 Servo Tray 23 9411 Servo 44 8411 Servo 62 3517 Servo (mg) 32 - I have nylon gears to replace 3517 servo 28 Tail Wheel 10 (3DHS small carbon) ESC 124 (ICE HV80, with wires and connectors) Rx 15 Regulator 13 Regulator 13 Right Gear 57 Left Gear 56 Motor (Advance) 580 Prop Adapter 20 Starting Weight: 3316g Current Weight: [b]3292g[/b]
Posted on: 9/3/2012 6:09 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11216254

RE: New ESC.
I read on the other forum that Esprit is in the process of translating the model and should have it next week.
Posted on: 9/3/2012 12:06 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11215871

RE: Extreme Flight Vanquish 2m Build Thread
CC ESC's have a high-current shutoff, I think you can choose up to 140A (going back I don't see the numbers listed anymore, IIRC the rep said the "insensitive" was 120-140A). The reps at CC say to completely turn it off, for F3A we will not see that kind of current long enough to cause any issues. The 80A is conservative, 120A easy. Electrifly stuff should be pretty bulletproof as well; an 80A ESC should be fine for F3A.
Posted on: 9/3/2012 7:07 AM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11214862

RE: HK electric retracts
Search around, there are 85* electronic retracts out there.
Posted on: 9/2/2012 2:45 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Questions and Answers"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11214788

RE: help with mix digital servos / a123 batt.
...
Posted on: 9/2/2012 7:09 AM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11214348

RE: Anyone using the combination Futaba MC9100A and Hacker C50-14
From the 5min searching I just did, it sounds like PWM settings are really more about the ESC than the motor; motors should be able to handle higher PWM rates. Typically the higher PWM will give better motor performance but generate more heat in the ESC. If this ESC is set to 32khz, it can probably handle it and thus runs pretty efficiently. I don't know a whole lot on the subject though so it's worth some more investigating.
Posted on: 9/1/2012 5:05 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11213852

RE: Post all your
Please don't ask me how this one got stuck in my brain last night... For old times' sake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHboMLW-Zn0
Posted on: 9/1/2012 12:52 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11213658

RE: RANT: The
Should have read this thread before posting... [:@]
Posted on: 9/1/2012 10:10 AM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "ARF or RTF"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11213101

RE: Post all your
Here's some crappola: Second night in a row I'm still at work at 2am. Thermal design review tomorrow. If I don't get a chair thrown at me, I've done well. On a lighter note (mabye not) I just bought a house. $200/mo less than I pay in rent now and that covers tax and insurance. 15miles closer to work, and now 10min from flying field instead of 40. Hopefully there will be some time and space somewhere to get that Integral built...
Posted on: 8/30/2012 10:29 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11212294

RE: Electric Vs Engine.
I am curious about comparing a faster spinning electric with a smaller prop to a glow motor. Hacker claims they are after a YS feel with their new Q80 motor, which is available in a slightly higher kv than we've been seeing. Electric and glow seem to have different powerbands, at least the way they are generally setup for pattern. It seems to me that we could find an electric combo that sacrifices some of the grunt for more top end. I think YS is the coolest. They look and sound awesome, and in my perspective seem to have the most power. But I prefer the clean electric option. I don't have to change clothes or clean my plane, I can have batteries mailed (for now), and if I have a dead stick I know something is really wrong. I don't have the time to fiddle and learn to be a ys mechanic. Hopefully some day.
Posted on: 8/30/2012 7:13 PM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11212153

RE: What Are The Top Rated LiPos?
E-flite is a great brand with great support. I would have no problem flying their battery packs. Buying a few sets of quality batteries will pay for itself through years of good use with minimal loss in power. The cheaper batteries might last a few years but power will diminish; they will get soft and hot. If you want cheaper batteries, GensAce from Hobbypartz.com are among the best of the cheap batteries. Rhino from hobbyking are pretty good as well, but you're not guaranteed they will all work. But at 1/5 the cost of a Thunderpower, one can afford a bad pack here and there (I never got a bad battery, but I guess some out there have).
Posted on: 8/30/2012 12:46 AM by Author "gaRCfield" in the forum "Electric Training"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11211230