T-craft Battery

[ALLEN KIP]

NEED HELP WITH GIANT SCALE CLIPPED WING TAYLORCRAFT. THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL SAYS ITS OK TO USE A STANDARD BATTERY, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO A 1000 OR 1100. BUT THIS IS MY FIRST GIANT AIRPLANE AND DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT TO ORDER. WHAT KIND OF CHARGER WILL I NEED, ECT.

THEY HAVE A STANDARD SIZE SERVIO FOR ALL CONTROLS. DO YOU THINK I SHOULD GO TO A BIGGER FOR ELV, RUD???

THIS IS A 15LBS 85" WINGSPAN PLANE

ANY HELP WOULD BE NICE.

THANKS KIP ALLEN

[pettit]

Just to be sure, I'd recommend at least a 1000 mah 5 cell NiMH battery pack. I use 1650 packs from Radical R/C, they cost about $20.00. Or better yet, use 2 standard size packs and connect them to the receiver through 2 switches. That way you may not need a larger battery charger

I think you're building the Hangar 9 T-Craft. If so, standard BALL BEARING servos would be OK, since you use 2 on the ailerons and 2 on the elvators. The 5 cell battery will give the servos more torque, but will deplete the battery 20% faster. You may want to use something a little stronger on the rudder, but for sport flying, a standard may work.

All of the above depends on the engine choice too. If you use a small 4 cycle, 120 - 150, OK. If you chose to hang a large gas engine on the firewall, all bets are off and you may want to consider using stronger servos.

Dick Pettit
Associate Editor
R/C REPORT Magazine

[ALLEN KIP]

THANK YOU MR PETTIT. I PLAN ON USING A 180 SATO 4 CYCLE.

THERE IS PLANTY OF ROOM TO PUT 2 SERVOS FOR THE ELV. AND I THINK THAT WOULD BE GOOD AS I HAVE A 9C FUTBA RADIO. SHOULD BE ABLE TO MIX ALR WITH ELV, RIGHT.

I THINK I CAN BUY A FUTBA 1100 OR 1200 BATTERY WITH A CHARGER. AM I RIGHT ABOUT THAT?

AGAIN THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP.

KIP ALLEN

[ALLEN KIP]

HOW WOULD YOU CONNECT TWO BATTERYS? CAN YOU USE A Y CONNECTOR LIKE ON A SERVEROS ON A WING? THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT MIGHT WORK THE BEST.

THANKS AGAIN GOOD IDEA

KIP

[Highflight]

Dick pretty much said it all, but one thing additional that needs to be considered is not just the "typical" servo control force needed for flying, but the weight and size of the control surface itself.

The aircraft might fly fine on regular servos, but imagine a "bounce" kind of landing which most would consider an OK landing, but hard on the aircraft just the same.
It is VERY possible that the WEIGHT or SIZE of the individual elevator half (or aileron) would allow the standard servo gears to strip out due to the momentum of the control surface whipping downward on contact with the runway.

I have had that happen to me more than once so I have since gone to minimum 80+oz. servos on any of the control surfaces for anything that would be considered a giant.

Highflight

[pettit]

To use 2 battery packs with one receiver, select 2 packs with the same number of cells, 4 or 5, your choice. Battery pack capacity doesn't have to be the same, but I usually buy 2 identical packs.

I use 5 cell packs, just because I like to use 5 cell packs. Plus, if one pack has a bad cell, it won't drag the other pack down below the safe operating voltage of the receiver. Usually, when a pack "goes bad", only one cell shorts, not the whole pack.

Plug each battery lead into a separate radio power switch assembly. Plug one receiver lead from the switch into the "battery" socket on yur receiver. Plug the other switch receiver lead into an unused receiver servo socket. If you are using all the servo sockets, you can use a Y on one of them.

Before flying, check each battery separately with an expanded scale voltmeter with a load of some sort. One at a time here.

Then power up one battery and try the servos. Turn that one off and try the other one. They should be identical.

Ready for flying? Turn on both switches and have a bit more confidence.

Dick Pettit
Associate Editor
R/C REPORT Magazine

[ALLEN KIP]

Thank you. I think that is what i will do on all my planes.

Again, thanks

Kip

[doechsle]

I am basically building the same. H-9 but I will be using the saito 182 twin. I have a new jr 5 channel radio,will I need better servo's?Are you also saying to plug the extra battery pack to a outlet on the reciever that would normally have a servo plugged into it? That's very interesting .

[ALLEN KIP]

What I did was order a HydriMax from sanyo. It is a 6v 1650mah battery. I also ordered a super brain 969 pro charger. I also ordered hitec HS-645mg servo torque metal gear j. The plane comes with the ele. in two halfs. So i put a higher torque on each half. also a high torque on the ruder. I called and talked to Don at Don's hobbies and he was very helpfull.

So far so good on the construction of the plan. Did some changes but not that you would notice..

Good luck.
Kip