Power recommendations for PA Edge 540T

[flyguide7]

I have a Precision Aerobatics Edge 540t which has a very light airframe and plenty of wing (87") and I am tired of trying to start my engine so I would like to go electric. Now I am not rich or even well off and these days who is? So I would was thinking about the Welgard motor suited for aircraft weighing 15 to twenty five pounds. My edge weighs about 8 lbs without a power system. Anyway has anyone bought any of these lower priced motors? I plan on using a Castle Creations HV 110 ESC and 4 five cell 5000 packs parallel and in series. I use a 5 cell 5000 pack in my Sebart SU-29, so having a bunch of those packs will be used on my 50E airframes when I chose not to fly my Edge.

Advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[drstillpatient]

I dunno which lower priced motor you are referring to, any links you could post? but you probably wont need to run the packs in parallel if one pack is 5000mAh. 10S1P pack should give you a decent flight time with great performance and yet keep the airframe light. Consider one of the Hyperion 5035 series motors or an equivalent Hacker motor. i believe the bigger Hyperion motors are on sale at www.allerc.com. You could also use a Neu inrunner. Quite a few options out there.

[Geoff Dryer]

I recommend:

Motor: GY AerodriveXp SK Series 63-74 170Kv / 3250W, $80.00

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7870&Product_Name=TGY_AerodriveXp_SK_Series_63-74_170Kv_/_3250W

ESC: TURNIGY Sentilon100A HV 5-12S BESC (Ver4), $110.00

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=4691&Product_Name=TURNIGY_Sentilon100A_HV_5-12S_BESC_(Ver4)

Batteries: ZIPPY Flightmax 5000mAh 6S1P 25C (X2 12S), $105.00
(Currently out of stock)

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8586&Product_Name=ZIPPY_Flightmax_5000mAh_6S1P_25C_

Total for Motor, ESC and 2 batteries = $400.00 + shipping

I have had great luck using the Xoar 24x10 propeller.

[flyguide7]

Awesome fellas! Thank you for your responses. I recently discovered the virtues of flying my Sebart 50E Sukoi with 6 cells man is that sweet so I ordered two more packs so I will have the option of using either a 10 cell or 12 cell set-up for my edge. That should work great.

[tIANcI]

If you want good performance, stay clear of the Chinese branded 63XX series motors, the bearings do not hold up well. Try maybe a Hyperion at the least. Batts from HC like the Rhino is good, the 90A-100A ESCs work fine but motors, well its still lacking if you want performance.

[Geoff Dryer]

It is true that the bearings in the Hobby City motors are somewhat questionable. However it takes only 10 minutes to change them. The motor performance is as good or better than any other outrunner motors that I have tried. I have several large Hyperion motors. They are great but 3 to 4 times the cost of a Turnigy.

[drstillpatient]

Geoff, The 63-- series Turnigy motors are also known to throw magnets frequently. Infact the customer reviews on the HC/HK link of the motor you suggested point to that exact fact as well. I just think if they paid a little more attention towards quality bearings and magnet glue etc the motors would be quite decent as some have found. On the other hand, they are a rather nice low priced option to enter electric power.

[flyguide7]

Well I have ordered the Turnegy motor and ESC nd will replace the bearings, but with what? Do you guys have any sugestions such as type, material or manufacturer? Thanks in advance.

[flyguide7]

Ihave 4 Turnigy motors and I have had zero problems after many flights.this wa a major factor in my decision to purchase especially when one factors that in with the low price.As my conversion progresses I will post photos and a video.

[tIANcI]

Go to a bearing shop and get Japanese made ones like SKF, brands like FAG are also ok. If you wanna spend then get BOCA Bearings.

I am using the DualSky 6360 motor, its okay, cheap when purchased direct from the factory but its not that powerful. I used it on my 80" MidWest CAP and flies well for sport performance. A branded motor would have pulled her better but it will cost 3 times more for me.

[Geoff Dryer]

I don't know the exact bearings for the Turnigy 63-74 but if you disassemble the motor, remove the bearings and take them to your local supplier then they will be able to match. You can also order online from Boca. There will be some numbers on the bearings. I forgot to mention that you should order the programming card for the Turnigy ESC. Hobby City also has a great price on 6mm bullet connectors.

[flyguide7]

Go to a bearing shop and get Japanese made ones like SKF, brands like FAG are also ok. If you wanna spend then get BOCA Bearings.

I am using the DualSky 6360 motor, its okay, cheap when purchased direct from the factory but its not that powerful. I used it on my 80" MidWest CAP and flies well for sport performance. A branded motor would have pulled her better but it will cost 3 times more for me.


Thanks, I have two Dualsky motors but they like lots of juice my two 5060s like nothing less than 6 cells and I have heard that 7 or more is ideal.

[flyguide7]

hey Geoff, what are you getting for flight times on your 2 6 cell 5000 packs?

[rowledge]

The hobbycity website claims the aerodrive sk motors have japanese bearings, so perhaps we won't actually need to replace them?

[Geoff Dryer]

"hey Geoff, what are you getting for flight times on your 2 6 cell 5000 packs?"

I am not running the same motor / plane combo but if you run about 3500 Watts (Xoar 24x10) Then you should get at least 8 minutes of mixed flying.

[BingWing]

best bet is email Shaun from P.A as they have done this very successfully in the past and they will let you know the best set up from there own flight testing. Hope that helps. Sounds like a great project

[flyguide7]

Well I finished my conversion today! Hoooray!!! So I have left to do is plug in my two 5 cell 5000 packs, program my ESC and I will be go to go for next weekend. COOL!

Programing was unsuccessful I followed the instructions to the T, but no luck, it would simply cycle through the tones. Ok I would try unplugging the power, leaving the throttle in the off position, power up, then forward the stick to full and see what happens. Beep Beep and silence. I then reduced my throttle to the off position and while straddling the fuse just forward of the horizontal stabilizers, like I would when it was a gasser, to keep restrained, cycled the throttle and everything worked great. Ton of power on 10 cells, sweeeeet! Then cycled the throttle several times and then returned the throttle to the of position stepped away from the plane and thought I will just taxi around the driveway and check out the ground handling..................then it #@@#$#%!!! happened. I added a tiny amount of throttle and it went to something close to full throttle and in a blink it was off and heading at high speed for the front of my house. Now please be aware I have all this time frantically pulling down on my throttle stick .........all to no avail.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

in a second it crashed into my house and punched a hole in my cement lap siding and my once proud bird was reduced to splinters. My high dollar carbon fiber prop shredded and my motor damaged.

Pardon me but I just had to throw up.

Now where was I ?

Now for the house that part of my house has cement lap siding over a block wall so apart from replacing the damaged boards no significant damage that cant be fixed in a weekend, a weekend I could have been flying!!!!!

!#$%%^%#&*!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The block wall however was very hard on my motor the impact sheared off my power wires and bent my motor mount and dented the aluminum non rotating case. ESC seems to be ok. As you can see the fuse is totaled.

So what happened? I might have a fault in my receiver, here's is a little background. When I first got the plane I took her to the flying field and with the help of my buddies got the motor started and I thought I would taxi her out and check the ground handling and she handled great, I took her about 300 feet down the runway and and stopped her for a second and then I gave her a little gas and she took off at full throttle. EEEK! fortunately at that time being oriented 90 degrees to the runway she ran into the weeds and stalled the motor. I took it back to the pit and we looked her over could not find any damage fired the motor back up and no problem, and the problem never manifested itself again. Was this a similar glitch? I have over 15 Spektrum receivers and have never, ever had a problem.

Oh Crap! my wife just came home. I have some explaining to do. Be right back.

Well that was not so bad, these bruises should cover pretty easy, no broken bones. So now, where was I?

Here is.... err..., was, my setup;

Motor: Turnigy SK 6374-170
ESC : Turnigy Sentilon - 100A-HV
Batts: (2) S Vampower 5 cell 5000 MAh packs

I am thankful that none of my flying buddies were around to witness this fiasco or that no one was hurt. But these large electrics have a ton of power, scary power. I think I am going to include a servo operated power cut-off switch as a secondary means to remotely cut power should a runaway like this occur again. Anyway here are the pics.

[wellington53]

handling..................then it #@@#$#%!!! happened. I added a tiny amount of throttle and it went to something close to full throttle and in a blink it was off and heading at high speed for the front of my house. Now please be aware I have all this time frantically pulling down on my throttle stick .........all to no avail.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!







Motor: Turnigy SK 6374-170
ESC : Turnigy Sentilon - 100A-HV
Batts: (2) S Vampower 5 cell 5000 MAh packs

I am thankful that none of my flying buddies were around to witness this fiasco or that no one was hurt. But these large electrics have a ton of power, scary power. I think I am going to include a servo operated power cut-off switch as a secondary means to remotely cut power should a runaway like this occur again. Anyway here are the pics.
Sorry for your loss flyguide and pleased no one got hurt. I have a hard time telling some of my friends that BIG electrics are sometimes unpredictable and how they are so different to handle compared to glow. Ever since I got from parkflyers to 40-60 size electrics you have to be so careful once you plug her in, Right?

[flyguide7]

No doubt on that score. I have 20, aaaa, now 19 electrics, 4 of which are 60 sized and every one has a safety shunt, even the Edge did. Large electric motors can do some pretty horrific damage to flesh and bone. I am going to research a remote safety cut-off, if any of you guys have seen any anywhere please let me know.

and now I will start looking for a replacement.

[yumamike]

Check out the new Turnigy controled switch @ http://hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8833

Plug it into your receiver and you instantly have an on/off switch controlled by any channel on your radio.
The Turnigy switch will complete a circuit when the radio channel passes 50%. Connect it to your flap or gear channel for an instant on/off switch!
Great for custom lighting, sound or effects projects, remote glow igniters, remote starter motors or even custom smoke machines. The possibilities are endless!

Spec;
Maximum throughput : 10A / 30v

YumaMike