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Pete's Planes |
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News 22 July 2006 As I write, It's too hot [for me] to go flying. What a pity our club rules don't allow late-evening flying [local gov't planning permission] Too hot, too cold, too wet, too windy !!!! The important thing is always to be ready when that perfect day arrives. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both the Blackpool and Chester electric events were blown away. Some very fast models were flown, and a few brave pilots flew slowish models, but most aircraft [mine included] stayed safe inside the cars. No rain, fortunately, so there was plenty of socialising. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My LIPO revolution is under way. Five models converted and flying well. Descriptions in My Models will be amended soon. Most have required surgery to maintain CG position. All, so far, have 3S LIPOs driving Sp400/7.2 can motors; props trimmed to pull 8A per motor. The sixth conversion [the Valiant] hit trouble. After a glitch-free year it was a nasty shock to suffer severe glitching, with consequent major repairs. Had I missed something? Were all the conversions at risk? Post-crash range tests confirmed a severe and erratic range problem. Re-disposition of the components produced no improvement. Substitution of components eventually traced the fault to the Rx antenna: copper strands all fractured inside an intact outer insulation, near to a soldered joint. It is a relief to be able to pinpoint the cause of a failure. and in this case, to know that it had nothing to do with the battery conversion. Then again, you can never be totally sure! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was one slight setback to my LIPO conversions. On the packs I bought [unseen, mail order], the actual width including wires was greater than the advertised width by 5 to 8 mm [heading pic]. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Never charge LIPOs unattended". Easily said . Impossible to comply with, in the long-term. My approach is "always charge in a place where they can do no harm". |
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