Assembling the parts of the Climb and Dive controller.

First step was to down load and print the assembly instructions.  They can be found on the left side of the screen at https://circuitflyer.com/Climb_and_Dive/?fbclid=IwAR0wxqiBZNI9x9bxpHJQJImJiuBe0froxsrsUwXNtd_GKrlOwiGQkaj1J7E&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
Under Assembly.

I have good setup for soldering PCBs.  It consists of a temperature controlled soldering iron and rosin core solder.  One must have a small tipped soldering iron for this job.  A soldering gun is not the tool for this one.  See DSC_7537.jpg for a picture of my setup.

Per the instructions the next step is to solder the 5 pin right angle header to the PCB.  Observe closely the correct orientation of the connector per the instruction picture.  I held the connector in place with an alligator clip and then soldered the 5 pins.  See DSC_7536.jpg. 

Finally you assemble the two PCBs and the two 7 pin headers.  Once again the instructions pictures are very clear.  Make sure you assemble everything per the pictures.  My first attempt to solder this assembly was to hold it together with alligator clips.  Things had slipped and I managed to plug a couple of the holes in the bottom PCB.  I managed to clear the holes with a de-soldering tool.  Once again this is small PCB work and some skill is required.  On my next attempt I held the assembly together with a rubber band.  I then soldered the 4 corner pins on both sides of the two PCBs.  I removed the rubber band and soldered the rest of the pins on both top and bottom.  See picture DCS_7540.jpg and DCS_7542.  I cleaned the residual flux off with alcohol.

Final step is to clip off all of the remaining pins except the touch pins.  Do this per the instruction picture.  As I have stated over and over the instructions are clear and the pictures are easy to followed.  The Climb and Dive is now ready to install in an aircraft.  See DSC_7543.jpg
 

Lets program the whole flight and leave the Gassers home

I decided to install my Climb and Dive timer in one of my Cavaliers.  Even though the Cavalier is a profile ship all of the electronics and the battery are under a hatch cover.  I have 3 Cavaliers.  This is the oldest one and I had removed the KR timer for use in another ship. See DCN_7549

I was able to orient the Climb and Dive timer per the instruction sheet by adding a 1/16” plywood platform.  That is pins facing forward and the unit facing the pilot.  The JST connector leads were connected to two of the motor leads by inserting them into the female half of the bullet connector.  The male half of the connector was then inserted into female trapping JST wire in place.  I have done this in the past with the KR timer motor lead and it eliminates the need to solder this connection. The JST connector leads sense the motor RPMs and do not carry heavy current. Therefore the above way of connecting the works well. See DCN_7551.

In order to see the LED and be able to get to the touch pin I cut a hole in the hatch cover.  I also extended the length of the touch pin to make it easier to access through the cover hole. See DSC_7553

I did an initial test run with the prop removed.  Every thing seemed to work as it should.  Next I will set up the Bluefruit Connect app on my smart phone and finish setting up my Climb and Dive timer.  More to come as time goes on.

Frank this is a great video and very informative. Thanks for thanking the time.
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Frank,

Thanks for explaining everything, interested in hearing your progress in flight testing and what your thoughts are in relation to our other timer

Tim

Tim, I'm looking forward to flight testing this but I can tell you right now that my favorite feature in the Fiorotti timer is the G Force setting. Getting that right, just nails the line tension in the overheads even in windy situations. I would not give that up. I'm using a KR Governor in my profile stunters. I'm looking at this Climb and Dive timer as a possible replacement for that one. I have had some issues with the KR shutting off when you least expect it. In addition The KR doesn't provide the accelerator driven RPM compensation.
Frank

Frank, I am a little weak when it comes to Apps and computer programing.  Thanks for a great video.  It answered a bunch of questions I had,     I live in Huntsville Alabama so I should be able to get in a flight test soon.

I installed a start/stop pushbutton on my setup today.  I found the following.  First of all, if you do not have good soldering skills it is a little tricky to add a push button.  If the two pushbutton pins were adjutant one could use a JST connector to attach it.  If you planning to use a start/stop pushbutton you might want to leave these two pins long.  That way you could wrap the pushbutton lead around the pin and solder.  This would reduce the chance of a solder bridge between pins.  Next I found that to start the timer you must hold the button until the motor burps. A short push will not start the motor.  After the motor is running a quick push stops the motor instantly.  And lastly the pushbutton will not put the timer in the program mod.  Only the touch pin will do this.  So all in all the pushbutton works.  If you are going to install a Climb and Dive timer in a full body aircraft a pushbutton may be a good option.  In a full body you won't be able to see the LED while flying the aircraft but I don't think this is a big deal.   

It looks like the LED is positioned so that a light tube could be used to make it visible.  I am using one on my Fiorotti and it makes the LED about twice as visible as it is without it.  Just a thought.

Ken

Good point. Would like to see pictures and what do you use for a light tube?

Good point. Would like to see pictures and what do you use for a light tube?

I will take some pix when I get to the office of both the tube I found and the assembly and add them to the post later today.  Basically, I found a Lexan tube with the same ID as the LED and cut off a washer like section to put over the LED.  I painted the outside rim white (I didn't have any chrome or silver) and glued that into the plane so that when I mounted the timer it covered the LED.  The tube traps the side light from the LED and makes it glow and appear nearly double the diameter with the same intensity.  I have very mild dyslexia (it was flying stunt as a kid that taught me how to overcome it).  Searching for that tiny light at 65' was causing hunting.  I had just bought one of those light tube camera's and it hit me.   I am sure that if I searched enough, I could find some true light tube with mirror walls that is small enough, but the Lexan (which has the transparent properties of glass) did the trick.

Ken 

I installed a start/stop pushbutton on my setup today.  I found the following.  First of all, if you do not have good soldering skills it is a little tricky to add a push button.  If the two pushbutton pins were adjutant one could use a JST connector to attach it.  If you planning to use a start/stop pushbutton you might want to leave these two pins long.  That way you could wrap the pushbutton lead around the pin and solder.  This would reduce the chance of a solder bridge between pins.  Next I found that to start the timer you must hold the button until the motor burps. A short push will not start the motor.  After the motor is running a quick push stops the motor instantly.  And lastly the pushbutton will not put the timer in the program mod.  Only the touch pin will do this.  So all in all the pushbutton works.  If you are going to install a Climb and Dive timer in a full body aircraft a pushbutton may be a good option.  In a full body you won't be able to see the LED while flying the aircraft but I don't think this is a big deal.   

Good info John
Can you post a picture of the pins you’re suggesting on keeping long to connect the push button wires to?

I got my timer and will get in together in the coming week.
Thanks

Good info John
Can you post a picture of the pins you’re suggesting on keeping long to connect the push button wires to?

I got my timer and will get in together in the coming week.
Thanks

Brent nailed it. 

Great info guys! I bought one and think it will be my next electric PA ship.

I have assembled mine, and when the motor starts up it , I have tried three different esc's and they all do the same thingk

When you start the Climb and Dive timer by touching the touch pin the motor does spools up and then shuts down.  Then when the set start delay runs out the motor starts and runs normally.  The initial motor burp is just to let you know the timer has been started.  If this is not you problem the other possibility is that the two wire Jst connector is not hooked up properly.  This two lead connector has to be connected to two of the three motor wires.  The Climb and Dive timer uses this connection to measure motor RPMs.  If RPMs are not correct it turns itself off.  IE it can detect a prop strike and turn things off before you fry a motor or ESC.  If these two wires are not connected the Climb and Dive timer thinks the motor has a fault and shouts down.     Also you may want to check to make sure you don't have a solder bridge shorting out the two JST connector pins.

I am starting to get this figured out.  I am trying to use this on a model that is intended to be quite a bit faster than most stunt fliers would want to run it.  Just doing bench testing now.

It's been a while since I shipped the first units.  Anyone else have some feedback from the flying circle?  I haven't received many questions or issues so I'll assume thats a good thing.  Please let me know how the timer is working for you.  If you think the program needs some tweeks I can work on a software update.

As soon as I get a break in the weather on a day I don't have a doctor's appointment I will put mine in the air.

It's been a while since I shipped the first units.  Anyone else have some feedback from the flying circle?  I haven't received many questions or issues so I'll assume thats a good thing.  Please let me know how the timer is working for you.  If you think the program needs some tweeks I can work on a software update.

I’ve been using your timers on two of my planes and on a thrust/wattage test stand that I built. The timer works great on both planes. One of the planes is a Legacy with an E flight motor and the other is a 50” wingspan T38 I scratch built. It has a 28-26 Badass motor. Both use ESC from hobby king. Your timers work as advertised. The reason I felt compelled to respond was to say I also use one on a test stand I built. The strike protection saved my fingertip from being cut off! I was testing different prop sizes for the aforementioned Legacy. After testing three different props I switched to a fourth but didn’t realize or even check but it was a pusher, so the thrust was pushing the motor backwards away from the scale. To make matters worse, instead of pulling away from the stand, I tried to brace the stand from tipping backwards. (VERY STUPID). The prop struck the tip of mt finger, cutting a small bit off the tip. The second strike was about 3/4 inch down my finger. It the timer hadn’t cut the power it would have cut off the whole end of it. Instead, it just broke the skin and stopped. I usually use a servo tester to control the motor. I am very glad I put it on there. I will be using more of the Climb and Dives in the future.
As a side note I plan on doing my next big design with servoless retracts. I’ve been researching using another board with this type of accelerometer that can be set to retract the gear at a set time after the motor starts and extend the gear prior to the motor cut off time.
A big thank you for your timer.

D Olson, I am a BIG fan of the T-38. Could you post a Picture and some specs of the model?

TNX  Randy

Don't understand how this works by sensing the roll axis. CL planes don't roll do they?

Don't think of it as directly sensing the roll axis.  Think more along the lines of using a sensor to determine if the wings are level/horizontal (flying down low) or if the wings are tilted straight-up/vertical (flying overhead).  With a bit of math the sensor can guesstimate the altitude of our airplane within the hemisphere.  How about that, we now have an altimeter!  How do we know if we are in a climb or dive?  For that we need a vertical speed indicator.  With a bit more math we can calculate the rate of change in altitude, a positive rate of change = climb, a negative rate of change = dive.  All that is left is to tie the rate of change to the throttle output and, voila, you have an active timer.

Not only that, you now have the capability of adding a training mode by sending a signal (bright LED) as the plane passes through or settles in at 45 degrees and maybe with some creative thinking another when it reaches vertical.    Just don't tell the judges what the lights mean.     

Ken

No unicorns, fairies or griffins involved.  (Although gremlins occasionally sneak into our electrical systems)  Boost and brake only where needed.  Is there a delay?  Yes, a tiny amount due to the required filtering of the accelerometer input.  After watching (and listening) at the World Championships, I'd say it's comparable to the other active systems out there.

I have sold 270 timers to 130 different customers with no complaints about performance.  Buy one and give it a try.

Based on my datalogging results, I would say that the boost starts at the exit of the corner.  Although it won't increase enough for you to actually hear the RPM change until you climb higher.

The Climb_and_Dive timer does the governing of the motor so it works with lower cost non-governing ESC's.  No, you don't need special expensive ESC's or programming boxes.

OK, I just mounted my C&D timer on my Pathfinder.  I'm using a 6S Li-On battery, BA 3515-710 motor, and a Jeti Spin 44 Pro ESC.  Has anybody else used the Spin 44 Pro ESC with the C&D timer?  If so what settings did you use on the ESC. 

Thanks in advance.

Nice clean install, Crist. 
Paul, is there any problems mounting the timer vertically as Crist has done?  Do you have to change the programming at all for that?