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Author Topic: Recommended prop speeds?  (Read 609 times)

Offline Mark Mc

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Recommended prop speeds?
« on: January 02, 2014, 11:44:16 PM »
I'm still in the learning stage on electrics, and have a general handle on calculating battery capacity vs. voltage vs. power consumption vs. time, but I'm still having a GCE on desired prop RPM.  Can anyone point me to a table that gives the optimum RPM for a given prop size, and a desired prop size for a given power?  As in, if I use the general rule of 11W/oz, and the plane weighs 15oz, what's the best prop diamter and pitch to effectvely use 165W of power for a sport plane or a stunt plane, and what is the best speed for that prop?

Offline Dennis Toth

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Re: Recommended prop speeds?
« Reply #1 on: January 03, 2014, 10:53:46 AM »
Two things, you can go up to the "List Your Set Up" tab and scroll through to find a ship that is about the same size as yours. Other option is to start with a prop about the same as you would use for a wet engine and then set the ESC rpm to a typical rpm for that size engine (i.e. 5x3 for a 1/2A @12000, 8x6 for a 09 - 12 @ 9800, 10x6 for a 35 @ 9700).

Best,       DennisT

Offline Dean Pappas

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Re: Recommended prop speeds?
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2014, 07:42:14 PM »
Hello batjac,
Let me see if I can answer this in a completely different way that still makes sense.
The operating RPM will be a number (for a given battery and motor combination) that is calculated so ... KV times the battery voltage. The voltage we will use is a number between 75% and 85% of the cell count times 3.7V. I like 75%.
Let's say you are looking at a 4S setup. The voltage as described above will be 11.1V (yes I'm using 75%)
The motors you will likely buy for a 19 ounce ship will have KV of maybe 1100 or so, though there will also be 900 KV motors available. I try not to suggest brands: many flyers on the forum have logged zillions of flights on hundreds of combinations, and I cannot possibly have seen them all, so I leave you to the kind mercies of your forum brethren.
Let's say you pick an 1100 KV motor, then you'll be running about 12,000 RPM. Period.
You'll have to pick a prop pitch to fly the lap time you want with the line length you plan on using. The arithmetic for that is straightforward, but the pitch number stamped on most props bears little relation to the results you'll see, so do the math and then be prepared to experiment with props.
By the way, 12000 RPM works out to 200 revs a second, and if you plan to fly at something like 55 or 60 MPH (88 feet per second) then the pitch will start out at 5".
Now we get to diameter. Diameter determines the power absorbed, or the current consumed. Where does that leave us?
For starters, look up one of the freebie motor simulators (there's one on the Neumotors site) and play with the pitch and diameter until you are absorbing the correct wattage at a suitable speed.  Then you go to the field and start really experimenting.
When all is said and done, you may have +/- 5% leeway to play with the RPM setpoint of your governor to nail the lap times down.

Have I made a mess?

Welcome and we are eager to help,
  Dean P.

P.S. I really, really want to keep everything on this forum on a real name, not handle, basis, so please sign your posts with your real name. By the way, you can set it up in your profile so that happens automatically.
Dean Pappas


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