RE: Futaba servos and LIFe Battery
Hi Many thanks Mike
Posted on: 9/5/2012 5:03 PM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Futaba Radios Direct support forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11218801

Futaba servos and LIFe Battery
Hi Is it safe to run Futaba digital servos from an unregulated 2s LiFe Pack or am I risking damaging the servos ? I have an installation in a jet with not alot of room and was hoping I could do without a voltage regulator. Mike
Posted on: 9/5/2012 3:25 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Futaba Radios Direct support forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11218032

RE: Best ARTF Rafale
Hi I had hoped that by saying 160ish size turbines people would get my meaning. However the answers I have got so far have been interesting. Mike
Posted on: 9/4/2012 4:02 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11216678

Best ARTF Rafale
Hi It seems that every company out there selling ARTF jets is selling a Rafale in the 160ish turbine range. As a long term fan of the Rafales looks I thought I would ask the question which in peoples opinion was the best one from the point of view of assembly, flying and maintenance. M
Posted on: 9/3/2012 1:38 PM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11215983

RE: Futaba MC 9100A ESC
Hi I too have been looking at them for a project. As regards telemetry, it would be nice if the Futaba ESC logged and transmitted total amps drawn. That way you could set the telemetry to allert you when you are getting close to a selected limit. It would be alot better than monitoring pack voltage which could then be used as an alternative means of health check. eg the telemetry squawks once you have pulled XmAh or the voltage drops below Y volts.
Posted on: 5/14/2012 5:03 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11080002

FASST rx and failsafe
Hi Can you tell me if all full range FASST rx have failsafe or is it only a feature above a certain point in the range? I seem to remember reading something that it was not available on lower channel rx but i can't find the reference. mike
Posted on: 5/10/2012 4:49 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Futaba Radios Direct support forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11075480

RE: Futaba Telemetry
Hi My first impression is it looks very clumbsy and ugly. Secondly is it really a good idea given the radiated pattern from a 2.4Ghz antenna and how easily the signal is blocked to have a box stuck just on the handle covering a large section of the antenna, possibly making a lovely black hole in the radiated pattern? Thirdly and this I will freely admit is a rant( so if anyone wants to shoot me down over it) , is that I stumped up a sizeable chunk of change for the 14MZ for it to be virtually obsolete in a only 6 years. Having swallowed the guff about it staying current because the firmware can be updated the blurb said " it was the only radio I would ever need to buy" . This far from pleases me and I expect far from pleases alot of 14MZ and 12Z owners. Any good design engineer leaves himself some room in any design for updating and future developments. THis concept seems to have completely escaped our learned friends at Futaba. M ps if I am forced down the route of using the Data Reciever I would still rather strap it to my arm. If for no other reason that it will get real old, real fast having to continually take the infernal thing off my tranny every time I put it back in it's carry case.
Posted on: 4/22/2012 1:03 PM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11052436

Futaba Telemetry
Hi Okay can someone please explain to me( or even guess) the thinking behind Futaba and telemetry. I was surfing yesterday and came across a Futaba device which you can plug into the tranny trainer socket for power and it receives the telemetry signal from the Futaba FASSTEST rx and relays it via blue tooth link to your smart phone ( nothing more). This to me seems a totally nutty step why not have a all in one device that plugs directly into your smart phone with no intermediate step like Spektrum have. Surely they dont have a patent on that as well?????? They also seem to be about to launch a little box which is an all in one telemetry receiver and display unit. Nifty idea for people like me who are not bought into this whole telemetry thing but can see the benefit in monitoring your RX pack and Main pack( voltage and capacity drawn) in electric models. If I read the blurb correctly it can give voice and vibration alerts so you dont need to look at it during flight. But this box seem to be only hand held!!!!! WHYYYYYY?????? Please Futabe can you give us a means to stap it to my wrist or arm so I can feel the vibration or at the very least a holder I can clip ( not stick) to my tx. Finally as one of the legions of owners who stumped up a considerable amount of cash for a 14MZ ( I inlcude 12MZ owners in this category as well ) not all that long ago and have been hoping that Futabe would come out with an uograde for our Trannies and now have pretty much given up hope I am pretty disappointed. I can see why Futabe cannot do this for the mid range and lower radios but the MZs have dual processors, They have computing power to spare. All the clever bits are done by the processor so it is relatively easy to program in a rudementry telemetry function. If you pull out the TX module you are met with a veritable forest of pins, you are not telling me the 2.4Ghz module needs all of them and if it did, a board with a serial link( like your Sbus) or even use the trainer socket as it has bidirectional pins could be used to input data to the tx for displaying. Surely there is enough MZs in the world to warrant Futaba doing this or are they hoping we will all rush out and stump up another 2K plus and get a 18MZ? I have one other request. Which is for Futaba to bring out a Telemetry only module that you can fit into planes that are not fitted with 2.4Ghz rx, Now that everyone has gone 2.4 the 35Mhz band is pretty clear and for planes with none 2.4 Ghz friendly Fuselages I would prefer the option to stay with PCM. but have rudemetry telemetry if i wanted.!!!!! Rant over M
Posted on: 4/21/2012 4:26 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11050795

14 Mz Telemetry
Hi Does anyone know when Futaba are going to bring out the upgrade to the 14MZ so it can receive telemetry and what form it will take? M
Posted on: 4/14/2012 11:09 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Futaba Radios Direct support forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11041642

RE: Patriot Resurrection
Hi Forget my post, I am an idiot for not reading the thread instead of just looking at the pictures. Mike
Posted on: 4/1/2012 3:54 PM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11024094

RE: Patriot Resurrection
Hi Very nice job, Do you know what version of the Patriot it is? Mike
Posted on: 4/1/2012 5:35 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11023419

Experience of using high LiPo charge rates
Hi Rather than hijack someones elses thread I thought I would start my own. After contributing to another thread on charger selection, some of the posts that have been made subsequent to my original post have got me wondering if my LiPo management practices of never charging at greater than 1C, may be overly conservative with modern packs. So I thought I would ask the following questions. 1) What are peoples experiences at charging at greater than 1C, what charge rate are you using 2) What cycle life are you getting out of your packs 3) What make of LiPo are you using? Thanks in advance for indulging my curiosity. Mike
Posted on: 3/17/2012 11:58 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11004168

RE: Which Battery Charger to buy
Hi Maybe so, I have had my Hyperion G3 for three seasons and are still going strong I am happy to say. Mike
Posted on: 3/17/2012 10:17 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11004071

RE: Which Battery Charger to buy
Hi If people are happy to charge at greater than 1C that is up to them. The advice i was given many moons ago was to treat your packs with kid gloves to get the maximum out of them. If more modern battery construction is more tolerant of higher charge rates then that means by being even kinder to my packs i will get even longer out of them, and with a 10S 5000Mah pack costing in the region of £160 quid, I would like to get every d**n penny of my investment back. However I am very interested if people are finding that higher charge rates are not unduelly damaging packs on the odd occasion I can get out on short notice. Mike
Posted on: 3/17/2012 10:08 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11004019

RE: Sebart's new pattern ship MYTHOS
Hi Does anyone know if Sebart will discontinue the Wind 110 in favour of the Mythos? Mike
Posted on: 3/17/2012 4:24 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11003716

RE: Which Battery Charger to buy
Hi Before you get seduced by the high charge rate numbers you need to bare in mind that the higher the charge rate the faster you destroy your battery capacity. Battery manufacturers would all love us to charge at 2C or above because our batteries would only last a fraction of the cycles they would at 1C. The Battery is one very big investment and you need to balance out convience with getting the best life out of them. I always charge at less than 0.9C but I take four or five packs out with me at one time and only field charge if I am away from home. Mike
Posted on: 3/17/2012 4:08 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11003709

RE: Start saving your allowance boys!
Hi If we paid that price in the UK it wouldn't be so bad, but I will bet you a considerable sum of money, when it is released over here it will be on sale for 3K Sterling. When it comes to model goods we take it up the tail pipe in the UK. which is why to the considerable annoyance of Ripmax a good proportion of the 14MZ in the UK were imported. M ps and Still no Futaba version of Model Match, come on Futaba wakey wakey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted on: 10/28/2011 4:55 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10759735

Classic Habu
Hi Does anyone know if Eflite intend to continue making the original Habu now the 32 is out or will they cease production? Mike
Posted on: 10/13/2011 11:34 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10763447

RE: New from Futaba, who will be the first?
Hi I have a 14MZ and I love it, I maybe dont use it to its limit but i doubt if anyone truely does. The reason i like it is because I can do so much with it and programming it is very simple. For me, two things stick out about the 18MZ. Firstly that Futaba are trumpeting the Telemetry aspect but several manufacturers are already selling telemetry systems for considerably less and what is the point when you can't look at the screen. I think Futaba are playing catch up here and they need to bring the technology out across the whole range. Secondly still No Model Match type system?? I know some people will say you should religiously check you are on the correct model memory but sorry it I bet everyone who flies multiple model aeroplanes off the same Tx has had at least one near miss. I know that Spektrum has the patent but they patented a system not the idea and there are several way i can think of doing it. They couldnt have patented them all surely. I think given the new players coming into the market the 18MZ will not have a big market share and the majority of them will go to sponsored pilots. Just my two pence worth.
Posted on: 10/9/2011 5:29 PM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10756856

Call me nuts !!!!
Hi I have just watched the excellent DVD from Traplet on the recent Jet Masters. When it came to the piece on the prototype Wren turbo fan. It suddenly struck me how how ironic it was that if the Turbo fan idea takes off( no pun intended) that Jet flying will have gone full circle and we are back to ducted fan, all be it with a different power plant driving the fan, or am i missing the point? M ps Does anyone know if Bryce has flown his B2B?
Posted on: 9/27/2011 5:40 PM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10737442

RE: Quest by Bryan Hebert
Hi I have been wondering the same thing. I would love to get my hands on a set of Quest plans and parts. Mike
Posted on: 9/14/2011 10:45 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10716383

RE: Futaba 18MZ
Hi Disappointed that Futaba still have not come out with their own version of model match. That would be alot more useful than alot of the telemetry they are going to be offering. M
Posted on: 7/20/2011 4:52 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10629997

RE: Opium
Hi Chris Thanks, you answered my question. Mike
Posted on: 6/30/2011 5:09 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10599555

RE: Opium
Hi Having long since drooled over this aeroplane I am curious why you went for the Gator tailplane adjusters. Is the plane not supplied with adjusters, were they, in your opinion not up to the job or was it simply personnel preference? Mike
Posted on: 6/27/2011 9:14 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10594493

RE: Royal Airforce Aerobatic Team -Red Arrows Move
Hi I thought the Red Arrows were converting to a couple of second hand Tiger Moths bought on a PFI agreement. Every day I look at what the government( and previous elected idiots ) is doing to the UK armed forces and wonder if they actually have a clue. We had a strategic defence review which was more about cutting money than determining the shape and size of our armed forces, which is then made a mockery of less than three months later,when the very equipment the SDR said we now longer needed is in action over Libya. Even the Battle field radar equipped aircraft which apparently we have no use for is flying round the clock to provide NATO with intelligence. These airplanes are less than eight years old, only one other nation on the planet has anything like tham ( The USAF) and are so top secret we dont even let our NATO partners near them. They seem to treat defense procurment as if they are in a sweet shop. The brave men and women of our armed forces deserve nothing less than the best. And If I hear one more political idiot with a silver spoon stuck up his back passage giving me the excuse " This is because of the mess we inherited from the last lot" I swear I will go off the deep end. Rant over Mike
Posted on: 5/20/2011 4:54 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10530725

RE: 14Mz crow braking
Hi Bax Thanks for the reply. Without showing my ignorance too much. What is a virtual channel? Can't find it in the manual. Mike
Posted on: 3/28/2011 2:25 PM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Futaba Radios Direct support forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10428557

14Mz crow braking
Hi I am trying to set up CROW or butterfly braking on my jet when i set full landing flap. I noticed you can get butterfly braking but only on the Glide settings. The only way i have come up with so far is to use a condition set to turn on when i deploy full flap and puts in a trim offset to both ailerons. Is there an easier way of doing it? Thanks in advance Mike
Posted on: 3/27/2011 9:38 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Futaba Radios Direct support forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10425893

Battery Backer
Hi I am looking for a battery backer to install in a jet preferably with a voltage regulator. Has to be suitable for 2S LiFe Packs and fail safe ie switch turns it off not on. Does anyone have any ideas? Mike
Posted on: 2/1/2011 10:29 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10304935

RE: new stealth jet ...
Hi Not to be to insulting I don't think the West has too much to worry about just yet. So far all we have seen is a plane doing taxi trials, it hasnt flown and proven itself in anyway. If the Jet can match up to anything in the west it will be because some "A**!!ole" has betrayed his country by selling the tech to a foreign power. So far the Chinese have proven themselves to be good at reverse engineering ( unless it is a Wren 54) but a bit lacking in coming up with the original idea or developing it themselves. I know from my contacts in the UK Defence industry that after repeated attempts to hack into a particular large UK defense company to obtain info on a very expensive, very advanced and very capable item of UK defence hardware the company now keeps all the sensitive stuff on stand alone servers not connected to the net in any way and the ability to download information onto removable media is very carefully controlled. All the attempts did not get past the firewall and although well covered were traced in an easterly direction I would suspect the same is now true of US defence contractors.
Posted on: 1/7/2011 4:59 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10245418

RE: simulator for pattern practice
Hi I don't know if i am the only one, but I found that flying the sim does my head in. I can only fly it for about an hour at a time before i need to take a break. I have AFPD. Mike
Posted on: 11/27/2010 6:56 AM by Author "mikehannah" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10162192