Save a plane

[cpaine]

Hi, So we had a great day of racing in Orangeville last sunday.....with minimal hicups.


I thought i would quickly share the one incedent i had, and some preventive measures.


During one of my races (the last) about 7 laps in the motor just quit! I made a gentle emergency landing in the farmers field. The key to all this, is I still had control of my airplane. Now i'm no techy, but I've seen enough planes crash because the esc blows up, in turn, cooking or no power to the rx. I run a separate rx pack (8-900 mah) THIS is what saved my Form1. I highly recommend it. if you have Digital servos, you can run 7.2 lipo straight to the rx (as per your rx specs) but lipos are to much for standard servos, so i run the lipo through a separate BEC.
Another option, is the new LiFe batteries... at 6.6v they are right in the perfect range, no external BEC reguired.


[size=78%]What happen to my esc? the leads on the esc side, un soldered themselves. either due to a loose connection or factory solder just isnt good enough. I am also learning that for the amount of watts/amps/volts  were pulling, the small ec3 (3mm) connectors are the minimum and probably a weak spot. Its been suggested to me to upgrade to another connection to eliminate this problem as well as providing more efficiant power to the motor/prop=RPMs![/size]
and that we can all use more of!


any other er suggestions could benefit us all.
please correct me on any bad info, i'm far from perfect! lol


Cheers
Cory

[Frank v B]

Cory,


I hear you.  I use a separate 4 cell nicad pack for the receiver in my Pogo but not for any other reasons than the larger cheap HK ESC's (50-60 amp) do not have BEC.  All my 5 larger planes have a separate RX battery pack as well for the same reason.
You are now making me think twice about my first jet (E-Flite BAE Hawk on 4 cells, never flown.. yet).  I am using the good E-flite 60 amp ESC with BEC.  Maybe I should install a receiver battery after reading your post.


Thanks for the great flying time last week.  Again, well worth the trip.  Thanks again for all the pure volunteers who helped make it happen.... and caught me on 3 cuts!*


Frank


* if you can't fly fast...fly short!