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Boy, you guys are submitting a lot of very valuable info. We are indebted!
<BR>Many Thanks!
<BR>Georgie
<P>Richard Strickland wrote:
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A HREF="mailto:richard.s@allied-callaway.com" title="richard.s@allied-callaway.com">Richard
Strickland</A></DIV>
<B>To:</B> <A HREF="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org" title="discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A><B>Sent:</B>
Wednesday, June 01, 2005 11:22 AM<B>Subject:</B> Re: Glow Engine Vs. Electric
Engine for 2 m' pattern plane</DIV>
<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Guys,</FONT></FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>I'll
jump back in here; Jim, your perceptions are correct. My decision
to go to Electric was based on some fairly bad luck with engines last year--It
was time to up-date power-plants as I was driving my old stuff to pieces
trying to get all the power I could out of them. I purchased what
I thought was going to be the hot ticket engine and had a series of unfortunate
events with it. By the end of the season, I hadn't done a lot of
flying--but had had a load of problems. It was time to re-evaluate
what I was doing. My business doesn't allow for scads of practice
time, so when I get the chance--I like for it to count. Since I try to
do things as right as I can, I generally end up with three sets of everything
eventually--you know; the Primary, the Back-up, and the One you're building--never
seems to quite work out that way--but at least it's the plan.
I was flying Temptations, but had crashed one and hurried to get the second
done and while pretty good airplanes, I was beginning to think there might
be a change to a wider body style in my future.</FONT></FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>So
basically I was looking at a clean slate. AND I had 15 years of accumulated
stuff to sell since the last time I sold off my stuff to start over.
I heard and read about some of the guys having success with electric and
was intrigued, fooled around with the smaller park and indoor stuff and
got to know a little about it--decided with proper care, all parts of the
systems are pretty reliable and reasonably safe. I talked to a couple
of the old hands and a couple of fairly young guys and they were all enthusiastic
about the larger stuff and so I thought--"Hey, I've got to get to know
some new power-plants anyway--why not get up to speed with electric?! "
I got hooked-up with FMA through the small stuff because they treated me
fairly on some of the issues I was having and were designing some battery
protection features, cell balancing chargers and some new batteries for
the larger stuff.</FONT></FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Initially,
I thought about--actually, I had made up my mind--to do a Plettenberg outrunner
so I wouldn't be dealing with gear-sets. Eventually, It became clear
that between what was available a few months ago and the Hacker--that the
Hacker set-up was going to give better performance. One person likened
the Plettenberg to a good 110 system and the Hacker to a good 160 system.
That may have changed by now--but you still have to look at weight vs.
performance. I ordered an Impact--but had the brand new IC powered,
reasonably light Temptation that wasn't selling and decided to convert
it. That turned out to be fairly easy. First I started with
a conversion mm kit from Esprit out of Florida--but we saved 5 oz. by going
to a solid CF nose plate and end grain reinforced balsa in the rear opened
up and then the whole front of the airplane is open for cooling.
The batteries mounted exactly where the tank was--I beefed the mounting
up a bit. I put on a set of Matt's gear. I'm making weight
by all of .5 oz. I may be a smidge tail heavy and may run the rec.
batt to the front.</FONT></FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Flying.
I'm fooling with the throttle curve a little--experimenting with the feel.
I'm guilty of probably not experimenting enough sometimes when something
already works pretty well. It's probably not a whole lot different
than the difference between two and four cycle--but my experience is limited
there also.</FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>There may be
some interaction between what the FMA discharge protection modules(DPMs)
and the controller is doing in regard to throttle response and how the
motor surges to signal you're running low on electrons--but so far, everything
is working reliably. We also know we're driving the hell out of the
3200s--but I can't stand any more weight--so I'm sorta stuck for now.
They've got some experimental 4000 10s2ps that Orland is going to try--but
they weigh a few oz. more--but he's got lighter airplanes and can stand
it.</FONT></FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>I mentioned time--45
CONSECUTIVE flights with a complete pattern in each. 12 or so trips
to the field and power-plant related problems have not ruined a flight.
I haven't had to 'tune' for the first couple in a session--first is identical
to the last. I'm working on throttle management--it's different.
I'm looking at this as a transitional year--to learn, to see what works
best for me, to figure out the logistics of charging at home and the field--or
on the way, to make it safe--all that good stuff. So far I'm satisfied
with the results.</FONT></FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Got
windy again, I see..........</FONT></FONT> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Richard</FONT></FONT>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original <FONT FACE="sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=-1></FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT FACE="sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=-1>Having flown Tony's Partner only
once (but watched it fly quite a bit), and having seen just a few other
electric pattern planes (Jason's, and Billy Meadows'), the flying advantage
of the electric was enough to make me want to get one going, regardless
of the learning curve. From my perception, the pilot does feel the
difference between the glow and electric setups regarding less vibration.
The plane is going to be easier to setup for a constant speed envelope,
where there is less of a "gap" between slow and full-throttle horizontal
velocity. With the narrowed speed envelope, it MUST be a tad easier
to setup the plane as the "one" setup has a smaller velocity range to work
and be consistent in.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT FACE="sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=-1>I'm just trying to stir up another
side of the discussion. I hope that some of the folks who have more
of the "flying" experience with the electric 2M setup will relay their
experience, and describe to us the piloting differences, trim differences,
etc.</FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT FACE="sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=-1>Thanks All,</FONT></FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=-1>Jim W.</FONT></FONT>
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