electric flight

[flyright]

Here is a question for all you electric genius out there.
How do I know what motor to purchase to power one of the Guillows bi-planes i.e. The SE-5 as an example. I took a look at the towers hobby on line and they have an endless number to choose from. All help will be appreciated.

[ADW 123]

sometimes they gauge the power of the motor by how many ounces of thrust it exerts. you can use that and compare it to the weight of the plane and all of your equiptment. anyways, i would choose a motor that is capable of using a wider variaty of voltages, then, all you have to do is play around with the battery. finding the combination is hard to do, and sucess largy depends on how much money you are willing to invest in the motor and equiptment.

[r wheatley]

Here is a question for all you electric genius out there.
How do I know what motor to purchase to power one of the Guillows bi-planes i.e. The SE-5 as an example. I took a look at the towers hobby on line and they have an endless number to choose from. All help will be appreciated.

thats a question I been asking....motors batt recivers radio wht will work wit what. I would like to fly a guillows free flight w/elec instead of rubber, but dont know whatI need... and how would you time a flight with no throttle control?

Ronnie

[dbcisco]

Ther are several electric conversion threads on several RC forums. Google for "Guillows electric conversion". That will give you an idea of what you will need.

[ADW 123]

U have a large capacity battery and a small one. Small inside the plane. U charge the large one using a peak charger. Then u take the large battery to the field wit u. U plug in the large battery (charging battery) into the port on the plane. U can control how long it flies for by only plugging in the charging battery for x amount of seconds, then see how long the motor runs. I would suggest starting with the guillows kits that are designed for electric flight. Inside the kit is a paper that gives u great info on electric flight

[dbcisco]

EFlite makes a $10 timer for free flight electric planes.

[BillParker]

according to all the research I've done over the past year, and all the guys I've talked to on this forum, at other forums, at the manufacturers,a nd at the hobby shops, what you do is buy all the motors in all sizes, all the batteries, and all the ESC's in all amperages. Then you try them out. Then you find out that you should have bought all the motors as "brushless" and all the batteries as LiPos and all your ESC's are all wrong and burst into flame when you try them out.

I said "screw it," and went back to nitro fuel...


good luck...


bp

[dbcisco]

I have used brushed motors with Nicads as well as Brushless and Lipos. BL and lipo is lighter so better for small planes. I usually look for ARFs and RTFs with the same weight and wing loading and use what they use.
Just because you build it yourself doesn't make it much different from ready made.

Never had a fire. Don't be scared away from electric, it is pretty safe, quiet and cheap. BL motor, ESC and lipo is less than $20 if you shop around. Also, don;t be afraid of "Made in China" many of the expensive RC items are made in the same factories. They just put their own "brand" labels on them.

[ADW 123]

i have always had problems with finding cheap but good equiptment

[lukebozek1]

I just bought an ARF from Tower Hobbies. When, and I mean when not if, this is destroyed we will remove the electrical guts and install in a small walnut-sized plane of similar weight. Never did this before, but I remember seeing these fly really well 10 years ago and there is no reason to think that they are not better and more reliable now. Bill has a point though, I never had any problem with Nitro. My last was an OS Max and it was like a jewel, smooth, started on the first try, ran forever. Bit of a mess but worth the effort on my Jr. Telemaster. Certainly not "green" but more power than I needed and with the muffler on I didn't get too many hate calls.

[ADW 123]

cirtainly true. those things are pretty simple to fly. i suppose it gets much harder when you start flying stunts. i hope to buy a plane that its a flying wing type that is capable of some stunts, so then i can give it a try. the hardest part for me was getting the engine to start, and getting it to have the correct leaniency after it takes off. but practice makes perfect....

[Xanadu]

according to all the research I've done over the past year, and all the guys I've talked to on this forum, at other forums, at the manufacturers,a nd at the hobby shops, what you do is buy all the motors in all sizes, all the batteries, and all the ESC's in all amperages. Then you try them out. Then you find out that you should have bought all the motors as "brushless" and all the batteries as LiPos and all your ESC's are all wrong and burst into flame when you try them out.

I said "screw it," and went back to nitro fuel...


good luck...


bp

I have been quite successful in switching over to electrics, and using them. David has seen the variety I have, and all were done without hobby shop advice. I did all my research thru the internet, mostly on RCGroups.com for this, and all done on the cheap too!
There is always a way, just gotta search it out.

[Xanadu]

Here is a question for all you electric genius out there.
How do I know what motor to purchase to power one of the Guillows bi-planes i.e. The SE-5 as an example. I took a look at the towers hobby on line and they have an endless number to choose from. All help will be appreciated.

This is your best bet for help in starting to find out what you need. Just look for the model you are building, and see what others used successfully.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=827861

[Xanadu]

according to all the research I've done over the past year, and all the guys I've talked to on this forum, at other forums, at the manufacturers,a nd at the hobby shops, what you do is buy all the motors in all sizes, all the batteries, and all the ESC's in all amperages. Then you try them out. Then you find out that you should have bought all the motors as "brushless" and all the batteries as LiPos and all your ESC's are all wrong and burst into flame when you try them out.

I said "screw it," and went back to nitro fuel...


good luck...


bp

I would think that a computor savy guy like you would catch onto to the electric gobblegook pretty quick and be a forerunner in it.

[dbcisco]

This is your best bet for help in starting to find out what you need. Just look for the model you are building, and see what others used successfully.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=827861

The best place to start!