Author Topic: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux (Read 9095 times)

Warren Leadbeatter · « **Reply #50 on:** January 30, 2010, 06:25:37 PM »

I had to lower the res a bit, but here it is... 1/3 speed. This is part of the actual 1st flight.

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Enjoy
Cheers

Paul Allen · « **Reply #51 on:** January 31, 2010, 02:17:05 PM »

Warren
The old rule you get what you pay for, I had to source parts
from all over and it took a month to get every thing,but it worked.
The cheaper path may work and I guess with any mass produced item
reguardless of brand there will be failure's you may get lucky.
In reguards to the HV Champs I will again be running stunt on both days
be prepared to bring food and drink as the number of helpers to
run the event is very low,it may very well be the last year.
For this reason I was planning on flying both days,not sure how to
CD,judge and fly!
Later Paul

PS, Do not trust electric, use a stooge at all times and you need to be more alert
when around the model, it will bite you.

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #52 on:** January 31, 2010, 04:49:34 PM »

Warren I forgot to comment on your excellent videos - and that is really a nice looking park to fly in. You mentioned that your plan was to fly it at 1/2 throttle but judging from the "real time" version of the vid you must have been pretty close to full throttle? You certainly looked to have a lot of power at hand.

I know folks who are flying stooge-less, I am not one of them (at least not yet!) I have not yet heard of a non-stooge timer related accident but still think Paul's advice is wise.

Warren Leadbeatter · « **Reply #53 on:** January 31, 2010, 05:16:11 PM »

Hi guys,

Paul, Yes you do get what you pay for, I am learning fast. Looks like spending a few dollars more is the better way to go especially with the ESC. Plus the lighter weight batteries seem to cost a lot more too. I've sourced my next lot of parts for the Pathfinder from about 6 different places too.

Regarding the HVC, you can fly and CD the comp, all you need to do is find a judge. Is that hard to do? John North, Ken Dowell, Ian Smith, Herbie or someone else? Would you be flying electric if you flew?

Dennis, Thanks for your comments, yes it is a nice little park. You could have two circles going easily there, but I'm not sure how well IC engines would be received by the locals. There is a lot of shady Paper Bark trees there as well.
The throttle was set at about 1/2 way I thought, so I am going to slow it down next time. It looks a bit faster on the video. I did have good line tension and it was pretty windy up high that day. I'm really happy with it.

Question: When I flew the 1st and 2nd flights, I flew 2 x 4 min flights with no battery change. (flights were about 15 mins apart). Is this is no no? I figured it should be ok because the battery has way more mAH than required. After these two flights the battery charger said it was at 65%. Comments?

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #54 on:** January 31, 2010, 06:51:58 PM »

Yikes! I think you might be pressing your luck. The default cut-off voltage for the ESC is 2.85 V or about 68% of cell capacity. Did you get a full flight the second time? My guess is that you probably almost exactly maxed out the pack - you might have got a low voltage shut-off. Your less-than-peak throttle setting certainly helped. Did it seem to charge back up OK?

I strongly recommend that you keep it to about 6 minutes flight time per charge.

Warren Leadbeatter · « **Reply #55 on:** January 31, 2010, 07:05:12 PM »

Wow. People always tell me I live "on the edge". lol

It did two flights of around 4 mins, and the pack was only just warm after the 2nd flight. It charged up again fine. Lucky I didn't try for a third eh.

Perhaps a "notice" about battery use/care needs to be included in the Brodak Sport Package for future noobs (like myself) so they don't ruin their battery.

Thanks Dennis, I wont do that again.

Cheers

bfrog · « **Reply #56 on:** January 31, 2010, 07:57:35 PM »

I really believe the batteries are much more forgiving than 68%. My usage is different (carrier) but I push to 85% routinely and have not seen any bad effects yet.

A typical flight on my "15" sized carrier plane is as follows:

26 secs high speed (7 laps) plus half a lap to transition to slow speed at a about 35 amps. Then a couple laps at approx half throttle to deploy the hook and get into a hang. Then 8 laps at low speed. Not sure what the draw is but I'm guessing, based on some other carrier flyers data, that it's about 1/2 throttle average. There are probably 2 or maybe 3 times a lap I have to up the power to keep the hang going. The low speed is about 4 minutes. After the 8 low speed laps I try and land the next lap to save battery.

I'm using Thunderpower pro-lite 3 cell 2600 mah batteries. When I recharge I put about 2200 mah back in. The Cellpro 4 charger usually says I'm at 20% or less when I first hook it up then it drops into the teens and ramps back up. I have never seen anything less that about 3 volts/cell on the charger when I hook it up to charge.

That's probably a lot of useless information for you stunt guys but it illustrates how deep I can discharge and still have the battery packs working well on the next flight.

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #57 on:** January 31, 2010, 08:46:08 PM »

Warren:
Bfrog is making some good points - namely do you have a voltmeter to check the pack? Just checking the instructions for the charger I am not exactly sure WHAT 65% means. If it is 65% of peak voltage then that is bad. If it is 65% of the allowable discharge (like bfrog describes), then you did not hurt anything.

Warren Leadbeatter · « **Reply #58 on:** February 01, 2010, 03:34:08 AM »

Hi Dennis,

I think it's all good. I think it may have actually been higher than 65% more like 75%. It charged up fine anyway.

I have another question for you. I have ordered a Castle ICE LITE 50 from Brodaks. Will this come setup with defaults set for control line (ie governor mode) or will I have to set it up myself? ie with the Castle link.

I have ordered a FM2 from Will setup for set RPM mode as well.

Regards
Warren

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #59 on:** February 01, 2010, 06:42:59 AM »

Quote from: Warren Leadbeatter on February 01, 2010, 03:34:08 AM

Hi Dennis,

I think it's all good. I think it may have actually been higher than 65% more like 75%. It charged up fine anyway.

I have another question for you. I have ordered a Castle ICE LITE 50 from Brodaks. Will this come setup with defaults set for control line (ie governor mode) or will I have to set it up myself? ie with the Castle link.

I have ordered a FM2 from Will setup for set RPM mode as well.

Regards
Warren

Warren:

Yes you need the "Castle Link" to program the ICE 50 Lite. The link will also let you connect the ESC to your PC for downloading the data logger.

Next time you order something from Brodak get one of their "digital battery monitors, #BH-1874"This is a simple little voltmeter that you plug into the balance plug and it gives you cell by cell voltage plus a total for the pack. HobbyCity sells one too.

Alan Hahn · « **Reply #60 on:** February 01, 2010, 07:43:04 AM »

Quote from: Warren Leadbeatter on February 01, 2010, 03:34:08 AM

Hi Dennis,

I think it's all good. I think it may have actually been higher than 65% more like 75%. It charged up fine anyway.

I have another question for you. I have ordered a Castle ICE LITE 50 from Brodaks. Will this come setup with defaults set for control line (ie governor mode) or will I have to set it up myself? ie with the Castle link.

I have ordered a FM2 from Will setup for set RPM mode as well.

Regards
Warren

Warren,
CC has been including (in principle) a coupon for a free Castle Link adapter. I am not positive if the offer is still available, but I think it is because you need the link to download the logged data (not to mention to change the setup).--added--it looks like the offer is good until August of 2010.

You still need to provide a USB cable (like the one used to connect to a camera) to use the link.

If the coupon was left out of your package (mine was), e-mail CC to get instructions on how to get the "freebie".

Warren Leadbeatter · « **Reply #61 on:** February 01, 2010, 11:45:34 PM »

Quote from: Dennis Adamisin on February 01, 2010, 06:42:59 AM

Warren:

Yes you need the "Castle Link" to program the ICE 50 Lite. The link will also let you connect the ESC to your PC for downloading the data logger.

Next time you order something from Brodak get one of their "digital battery monitors, #BH-1874"This is a simple little voltmeter that you plug into the balance plug and it gives you cell by cell voltage plus a total for the pack. HobbyCity sells one too.

I ordered the ICE lite 50 from Brodaks along with a battery monitor and with some other bits n pieces. Patti posted it out today. I now have everything I need for the Pathfinder conversion ordered. Now I just have to be patient and wait for it all to arrive.

Cheers and thanks again.

Warren Leadbeatter · « **Reply #62 on:** February 01, 2010, 11:46:17 PM »

Quote from: Alan Hahn on February 01, 2010, 07:43:04 AM

Warren,
CC has been including (in principle) a coupon for a free Castle Link adapter. I am not positive if the offer is still available, but I think it is because you need the link to download the logged data (not to mention to change the setup).--added--it looks like the offer is good until August of 2010.

You still need to provide a USB cable (like the one used to connect to a camera) to use the link.

If the coupon was left out of your package (mine was), e-mail CC to get instructions on how to get the "freebie".

Thanks Alan I will check that out.

Warren Leadbeatter · « **Reply #63 on:** February 08, 2010, 02:45:26 PM »

Allan,

I just received the Castle ICE LITE 50 in the mail. There is a card in there for a free Castle Link, however when I go to their web page to fill out the order form, they still want to charge me $25 for international mail. Which is a shame because it will probably only cost them about $1 for the postage. Oh well, I guess I might email them and hassle them up about it.

Cheers

Alan Hahn · « **Reply #64 on:** February 08, 2010, 03:23:09 PM »

Quote from: Warren Leadbeatter on February 08, 2010, 02:45:26 PM

Allan,

I just received the Castle ICE LITE 50 in the mail. There is a card in there for a free Castle Link, however when I go to their web page to fill out the order form, they still want to charge me $25 for international mail. Which is a shame because it will probably only cost them about $1 for the postage. Oh well, I guess I might email them and hassle them up about it.

Cheers

Yes I would hassle them!

The actual thing fits in a normal envelope, and I believe that's the way they are sending these items.. and I am pretty sure they aren't charging $25. So yes e-mail them (to the sales department, not the tech department) and explain the situation.

They seem to have issues with their web page setup for this free offer. A lot of people have complained.

Alan

Warren Leadbeatter · « **Reply #65 on:** February 08, 2010, 03:42:06 PM »

It worked! I emailed Castle Creations and got a reply back pretty quickly. They are going to send me one - no charges at all.

Cheers

Author Topic: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux (Read 9095 times)

Warren Leadbeatter

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Paul Allen

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Dennis Adamisin

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Warren Leadbeatter

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Dennis Adamisin

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Warren Leadbeatter

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

bfrog

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Dennis Adamisin

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Warren Leadbeatter

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Dennis Adamisin

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Alan Hahn

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Warren Leadbeatter

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Warren Leadbeatter

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Warren Leadbeatter

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Alan Hahn

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux

Warren Leadbeatter

Re: Brodak E-Super Clown Redux