The new version of the KR Governor timer is now ready and available. As some of you noticed, I have been working on a system with active regulation without using any external devices like gyros, accelerometers etc. I will be the first to admit that this system has its limitations like most of our power systems in C/L stunt, but at the same time, in my humble opinion, it is another big step forward in electric stunt. It works very much like the tuned pipe systems on glow engines. I added a user variable governor gain system that only adds extra gain when the system is loaded. Adding overall gain to a governor feedback loop usually causes oscillation and hunting. You could refer to my idea as differential gain as well.

After many months of testing with other pilots, everyone so far agrees that it really works well, especially for such a simple system. I’m sure that you will get comments from some of the present users. A lot of stunt fliers don’t take easily to electric, or 4-strokes either, because of the faster lap times, even though the maneuvering speed slows down. My system now kicks in extra rpm in the hard corners and climbs, so the lap times can be slowed down to those used by most glow engine setups. I have made this gain setting adjustable by means of the programming card. The standard gain factor is 1 and you can now set this to a maximum of 7. After this, it gets really wild, so I decided that the limit of 7 is far enough! From the feedback I’m getting, users are setting the gain from 4 to 6, depending on their individual preferences and also what motor they are using. Most are lowering the revs by around 300 to 400 rpm, but are using very much the same amount of battery power. I guess that this shows that the same amount of power is coming from the extra kick when it comes in. A quick comparison is done by leaving the gain set at 1 and the lowering the rpm by the same amount. You will find a lower battery usage, but also a distinct lack of power with slowing down plenty through the pattern, because the motor is now out of it's happy band!

The hardware upgrade was also necessary because of manufacturing hassles with version 1. The programming card used the only input left on the processor chip and needed 3 functions. I therefore used a resistor voltage divider to do this. The surface mounted resistors plus LED made the board difficult and slow to produce. Because the product has sold so well (thanks to everyone!), I had to gear up for a full machine built pc board. This is quite expensive with the laser cut stencil and all, but in the long run it’s a much better deal. I used a 14-pin processor this time and put the LED on the timer board. The programming card now uses 3 logic functions into individual pins, so the board is much simpler, and can be produced a lot faster. I was making the last version at a total loss in terms of time, so rather than putting the price up for everything, I did a complete re-design.

The price increase from $30.00 to $37.95 will cover the new manufacturing costs plus the software development. The programming card is still only $12.00 and remember that it can be used with as many timers as you need it for. This is a different system to the version 1 system for programming so the old card cannot be used with the version 2 Governor timer. I did not want to force my previous customers to get rid of their older stuff, because I did advertise the fact (like I did above) that you can buy more timers and use just one programming card. What I have done therefore is to make a new version called version 1.2 with the new pc board, but that works on the older programming cards if customers do not wish to upgrade. These will be available on special order from RSM Distribution or from myself in other countries outside North or South America. The version 1 timers can also be updated to have the new variable governor gain program for a nominal fee, by sending them to RSM or to me.

The performance of this very simple system with low cost esc’s has now been improved greatly, and I’m sure that anyone who tries it will be just as impressed as those who have helped with the test program. Once again, I would like to thank Andy Borgogna for his patience and continual help with this project.

One more thing, just remember that this system can also be used on 1/2A models. I know that many do not see a reason to use a governor system on the small stuff, but remember that this is the only system at present that shuts down the motor when the prop gets jammed. Even with prop savers, it’s much better to stop the motor and it sure saves burning out motors and esc’s. Besides, it is nicer to fly with a governor system even on the tiny stuff.

Here is the link to the complete story on my website: http://www.keithrenecle.co.za/Electric%20CL.htm

Keith Renecle

Bravo indeed!

I have some KR timers and am chomping at the bit waiting to fly them.  I am intrigued with the adjustable gain concept - in effect, being able to adjust just how strong the 4-2-4 break is.  Note that this cannot be done with the Castle...

Keith
It has been fun working with you on this project and I know that this product will do well.  I have tested the variable gain concept on everything from 1/2a to .46 size planes and it works.  I hope other modelers will give this system a try, it is a real alternative to what you have been using.  This governor was not designed for helicopters, Keith designed it for our use.  For the first time we are no longer leverageing off something designed another application, the new KR timer and firmware code was designed with control line aerobatics as the primary application. 
Andy

Linhart
The only difference is there is no noticeable sound change from the motor.  It's kind of weird, at first I wasn't sure it was working except the plane would not fly the pattern at the reference RPM unless the gain was turned up.  The power just comes on seamlessly, no sudden increase in noise and no sudden burst of speed it just keeps pulling.  You are turning 5.5 second laps, you pull the nose up and it just keeps going.   
Andy

Hi Will,

You can use the timer with esc's that have a governor as long as you disable the internal governor. This is a good way to check out my governor. This is obviously a bit of an overkill if you want a new system. I've used most of the low cost esc's like the Hobbywings, Turnigy's etc. Some have a rather coarse throttle resolution and this makes some revs hard to latch on to. This is mostly with the real "El-Cheapo" types. The one with the smoothest throttle resolution that I've tested is the ZTW. This has no jumps from low to high throttle. I made a tester with a PIC chip that steps the throttle slowly from zero to full power in 10 rpm steps, and this shows up any jumps in the throttle range. If you try this with the throttle stick on a R/C TX, you usually miss the glitches. I'm using a 20 MHz clock on my timer as opposed to the 4 MHz clock on some of the other timers, so my governor can adjust down to 10 rpm. When you program the rpm however, 10 rpm is not practical, so the steps on my programming card are around 50 rpm. Most tachs can also only show steps of 100 rpm except for the Globee, but then most people block off the last digit. Engines can't really be set any finer than 100 rpm.........if you're lucky!!

The 55 amp Scorpion that I have is also very smooth but the throttle response is very damped and my governor hunts a bit with it. It also has its own governor that works very well for heli's but not for C/L. The price is in between the Hobbywings, ZTW's etc. and the high-end governors like the CC.

I'm flying my 64 oz. Electron with a 55 amp ZTW series A and it's very compact and runs cool on a 4-cell 3300 lipo. I put Eric Rule of RSM onto ZTW and he stocks them if you have difficulty find a stockist for ZTW.

Keith R

Hi Will,

Thanks so much for the nice words. I must tell you that some years ago I was not at all interested in electric power. It was your articles in Stunt News that got me hooked. All that work you did after Mike Palko was really a blessing and certainly helped me to understand what motors to try and how it all went together. So a big thank you for writing such good articles!

My slide switch only puts the throttle pulse back to 1.0 ms or low throttle to stop everything. The program stays running until you remove the power. The reason for a slide switch and not a simple push button is to allow the user to calibrate the esc throttle range if necessary without having to resort to using an R/C system. If you put the switch on and then connect the battery, my timer puts out full throttle or 2.0 ms. Switching it off again will output low throttle or 1.0 ms. If you switch it off during the motor run it shuts down the motor. Once the flight is over, the the program stays at 1.0 ms, and the only way to restart the flight is to remove the battery and start over again.

Is my system better than the governor in the CC??.....difficult for me to say, but I believe that I would prefer to use my new system with the extra boost than the straight governor in the CC or Jeti. I will be flying in the next world champs with an E-Max 2826, a ZTW, esc and my system. In a one on one governor comparison with my timer and the CC or Jeti, I believe that the built-in governors will react faster and this may be better. For the price of my system however, it is unbeatable right now and the performance is very good. I do believe as I said though that with the variable gain, it puts it on a new level that is really great to fly and will be highly competitive now.

Keith R

Will to answer your question I have tested the KR timer on the following ESCs
ZTW 50 and 70 amp.
Turnigy 50 amp
CC Thunderbird 12, 38 and 56 amp.

Right now I am finishing up an RSM Continental that I have modified to electric.  I will have a Hacker A30-10XL motor, ZTW 70 amp ESC KR timer/governor, 3300mha battery and a APC 12 x 6.5 WEP prop.  This is the same setup I am using on the Naughty Girl and I am very happy with this setup.  On the Naughty Girl I get 5.25 sec. laptimes and line tension everywhere.  I wind up with around 30% left in the battery.  Depending on the weight of the Continental I may have to adjust the battery and RPMs but I don't expect it to weight much more than the NG.  She came in a bit heavy at 52 ounces with battery, but flys better than anything I have ever had.  Again I am an Intermediate flyer best score ever 436 which I got on the Naughty Girl at the Southwest Regional last month.  I try to let as many expert flyer's fly my plane as possible to get a more balanced judgement, they all seem happy with the setup.  One last thought, on the Naughty Girl I am nowhere near max motor power available, and I still have 10% available battery capacity should I want to crank it up.  But the way it is flying now I see no reason to mess with it at all.

Andy

Thanks for the information Keith.  I will do some testing to see if I can reduce the battery size, it would shure help in the CG area.
Anduy

Hi Percy
I have found that a gain of 5 works very well on my Naughty Girl it has a thick airfoil and a blunt leading edge.  On the Trophy Trainer 5 was too much, I am currently back to 1 and will start moving up when I get some time.  Right now all my time is going to preparations for the Vintage Stunt Championships coming up next week.  It's great to know that others are have good results with this product, a lot of time when into this project by Keith and he deserves a lot of recognition for his work.
Andy

Larry
You simply have to disable the governor, the governor feature is in the timer and does not use the governor in the ESC.   This is why I suggest using the less expensive CC Thunderbird series of ESC instead of the ICE unless they don't make a Thunderbird big enough.  Then I use the ZTW or Turnigy ESCs again with the governor disabled.  The good news the default setting for governor in all the ESCs I have tested is governor off.
Andy

in the setup menu - do not select control line - leave it at airplane ...then the governor option is not available

OK I got the delay set as per instructions but every time I try to set the flight time, I count 31 flashes and let go of button, and unplug battery, then I try it and the delay works fine , then I get only about 10 sec of power??? I've tried it 4 times !!! am I missing something?

One more thing I forgot to mention. The timer comes with a default setting of 300 seconds or 5 minutes flying time plus a 25 second start up delay. This means that the total time from when you start the timer is 325 seconds. When you switch the slide switch on, the motor will spin slowly for a second or two and then stop. After the 25 seconds start up delay, it will start up slowly and then the governor will kick in. So you can actually plug in the system and use it if the default setting suit you.

Sometimes when you get a new esc, then you need to calibrate the throttle range with low/high throttle. This means that you need to use an R/C system, but I've allowed for this on my timer for those that don't have an R/C system. You put the slide switch to the ON position before you plug in the battery. This outputs a full throttle signal (2.0 ms pulse width) to the ESC. It will not start up because all esc's are programmed this way to prevent the motor starting up if the throttle stick is not in the low throttle position on turn-on. So on my system you switch the slide switch into the ON position and plug in the battery. The esc will give a shorter series of beeps (usually 2) and then you switch the slide switch OFF. The esc is now permanently calibrated.

Just by the way, this is why I use a slide switch instead of a pushbutton in case you were wondering. It makes this job simple.

Keith R

Probably a little late now, but, would love to see you back here again in the states.   We are, will be starting spring weather, then summer.  After this winter of mild temps, hate to think what summer is going to be like.  Besides, isn't it just a little over a hop, skip and jump from there to here?

Larry
Keith made a typo in his response.  For the original unit, the one that does not have a LED on it the following are the setting flashes:

2 pushes of S1 followed by 2 flashes of the LED, RPM setting.
3 Pushes of S1 followed by 3 flashes of the LED, Set flight time. (as you pointed out)
4 Pushes of S1 followed by 4 flashes of the LED, Set start up delay
5 Pushes of S1 followed by 5 flashes of the LED, Set gain value.  This feature only works with the latest firmware.  Your firmware can be updated to include this feature.  You need to contact Eric Rule at RSM for the details regarding firmware update.

For RPM press S1 twice and wait for two flashes of the LED, the motor will start running then use the two carets "< RPM down, > RPM up".  I secure my planes down and start the motor and with a tach I use the carets just like a needle valve to set the motor RPM.  Think of the carets at needle up and needle down.  When you reach the RPM you want press S1 the LED will flash twice and lock in the RPM value and shut down the motor.

For flight time you push S1 3 times, the LED will flash back 3 times and then be ready to program.  For flight time hold S1 down and count the number of times the LED flashes, each flash equals 10 seconds of flight time.  I usually set mine for 5 minutes (30 flashes).   When you have counted the correct number of flashes release S1 and wait approximately 3 seconds the LED will again flash 3 times and the flight time will be set.

For start up delay, do exactly the same routine except for start up each flash is 1 second of delay.  The same is true for gain value, hold S1 down and each flash increments the gain by one.  

I should warn you that sometimes you will get an extra flash of the LED when you are finished counting flashes.  This will add 1 second to flight start up delay and 10 seconds to total flight time.  It can be annoying but it has little effect on the over all flight.  BUT you can also get the extra count on the governor gain value, this can have a real effect on your flight performance.  Make sure you count flashes and observe if you get an extra flash and decide if it is OK for the setting you are changing.  Again for flight time and start up delay I just ignore it, but if I get an extra flash for gain I reset the gain again.  I have found that if you release S1 as soon as the last flash you want occurs you generally don't get the extra count.  A little practice helps.  If you are still confused send me an email or give me a call and I can help you with the process.  I have done it many times on many timer/governors and it does work.

I really hope I have not confused you.  Like I said I am here to help.

My email address is: abborgogna@hotmail.com
Andy Borgogna

Hi Larry, Sorry about the number of flashes error..........sitting here with a touch of the flu unfortunately. Andy summed it up pretty well. The new boards with the LED on the board is exactly the same. The extra flash that Andy mentioned is just timing. The programming cycle has to keep the esc happy all the time while you're doing the programming. Just let it go as soon as you see the last flash that you need.

The yellow wire can go to any one of the motor wires. I tend to stick it on the centre wire because it looks nice.......to me!

Keith R

Writing instruction manuals is not my forte, but for setting rpm, it does say "Use the “>” button to increase the rpm and the “<” button to decrease the rpm. Each press and release will add or subtract approximately 50~100 rpm, depending on the number of poles in the motor." If you hold the S1 button in in this mode, it holds the rpm. I initially made it increment but found that it was hard to find a suitable cycle speed. Too fast........too slow sort of problem.

For the flight time, startup delay and gain it says "Now hold in the S1 button and count the number of flashes from the LED."

What I need to do is to make a video demo of how to do this and stick it on YouTube or somewhere. I just need to mount a system on a neat board to show everything properly. It sounds like a bit of a hassle but in practice, it's dead easy once you understand the procedure, and you will find that you don't set it that much anyway. Just by the way, I don't know the word "carets" that refer to pushbuttons. I even Googled it, so please educate me here. Thanks.

Keith R

Hi Keith
The word caret is what we called the <> symbols where I worked.  It may have just been a local company term, but it's what I have alway refered to them as.  In fact I don't know any other word for them.  In math they were called "greater than" and "less than" but that does not seem to fit too well with what we are describing.  Anyway what do the people of South Africa call them?  I am good with any word you choose my friend.
Andy

Thanks Andy & Tim, I learn something every day! I'll ask around locally as well, and most likely they use the same term. It's just new to me, and I'll add it to my dictionary. It's a nice short word and beats "greater than" and "lesser than".
Keith R

Note, as you are folding it into your vocabulary, that I have only ever seen it used to mean "menu pointer thingie", never "mathematical operator thingie".

Tim
You are absolutely correct the caret is not a math operator.  But it can be used to describe the results of relational computer operators as in, < less than op,
< = less than or equal too op, > greater than op, and > = greater than or equal too op.  These were test operators we used in our processors many years ago.   They were used to test the results of math operators and leave a flag on the top of the stack for the conditional branch operators to branch on.

Again you are absolutely correct to say they are not math operators. Man I sure like being retired from computers.  Model airplanes are much more fun.  

Now for something important.  My wife and I arrived in Tucson for VSC, I got in a flight on the Ignition plane and all systems are go for tomorrows event.  Oh my I just don't want to make a fool out of myself!
Andy

Dang Howard, you know you are right.  Old habits die hard.
Andy