Discussion Aero Soarer -post your mods-

[beanoman]

You may as well go with the LTC4054L chip.. it is a SMD part, so will require some soldering experience... after that, its just a cap, resistor, and led plus a resistor for each current setting you want. It will do any rate from 10 to 150 mA depending on the current setting resistor... search the indoor and micro forum for more info..

BTW, I made one with my beastly iron- $10 100 watt gun with a 4mm wide tip.. but, lemme say I have a good bit of experience with it

[epicdoom]

Andy2No: it is possible that the cloan TX charges at a higher voltage than the Silvirlet one I have only the silvirlet TX's

Tony: I havent recieved a PM from you sir please send again

JoJa15: I have used the PicooZ tail motor in my AS Mono it works great

As for my covered Depron Plane I flew the Maiden on it today in spite of the Homemade 50 ohm coil not wanting to work to well flew good flat and had plenty of power just didnt wanna turn at all My guess is the 50 Ohm coil is too much for the circuit anyone else have this problem?? I am winding a 25ohm to retry with

Epic

[MegaByte-2]

micromad;

I was meaning the AS charger is worthless for a lipo. Its just leads to a battery. No regulator at all. Thats an accident waiting to happen.

Budget Man;

I don't see why you can't do a parachute setup. I did a Wattage Micro Flyer into a powered hang glider. Using McDonalds soda straws for a frame wasn't my best idea.
Glue doesnt bond to them. Not even CA. I used the metallic finish plastic wrapping paper for a 12" one. It didnt turn well. I left to much pucker from the main rib causing a long deep vertical down the middle. Then, unattended in the sunlight it started to dissassemble. I used an easter egg for the gear housing pod. Looked cool though.

Beanoman;

Thanks for the tip on the chip. I have dedicated chargers, but I'm always looking for something new to solder up. Gonna see if I can round up the schematic and then cut some depron.

Tony
ARS Software & Innovative Solutions
http://www.falcon1.net/~ars/rcmodels.html

[msurguy]

MegaByte, I've posted the schematic of LTC chip charger a while ago, look here :
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...=561174&page=2

[MegaByte-2]

msurguy,

Found the schematic ok. Searched the net and still havent found a distributor with the chip.
I must have 6 old cell phones around here. All used standard wall packs. May have to do a phone disrepair. LOL

Tony
ARS Software & Innovative Solutions
http://www.falcon1.net/~ars/rcmodels.html

[Andy2No]

Originally Posted by epicdoom

Andy2No: it is possible that the cloan TX charges at a higher voltage than the Silvirlet one I have only the silvirlet TX's

Yep, that clone is inferior to the genuine Silverlit one I have in many ways so that wouldn't surprise me at all

I guess if people want to charge with their PicooZ Tx's it's worth checking what voltage the batterys get charged to though. Some of the Silverlit ones just might be wrong too.

I plan to use the Apache charger I bought to charge the LiPos at home, when I get the right connector to use it with my Esky power supply. but I'll use the PicooZ clone one as a portable to take elsewhere. I'll probably convert the genuine Silverlit one at some point too, but I'll try directly wiring the connector in like you've done first and see what it stops at.

[MegaByte-2]

Ok guys........go easy on me.

I finally did my first "skinned" model using 2mm depron and produce bag.
This is the Fike E ( as best as I could make from 2 pics I found). They claimed it very stable even with the flat wing. Built with a wingspan od 6"x2".
The airframe weight is .81gm. The green blob is 2gm of modeling clay to simulate the gear.
Glide test was very good. A little faster than I had expected. Wingloading is estimated at .25gm sq/in. It can still lose some weight on the fuse once the gear position is found. Thought the produce bag would shrink, well....it doesnt. Lesson learned, but it is fairly easy to work with even for a beginner. Just make it as taunt as you can when gluing since it wont be any better later.
I figure the depron wing "framing" is a little wider than needed, but being my first I was being cautious.

I'm going to complete this one just for experience's sake and future builds. Hopefully get a vid to post.

Tony
ARS Software & Innovative Solutions
http://www.falcon1.net/~ars/rcmodels.html

[epicdoom]

Tony: You been holding back on us Bro? That Plane looks Awesome!


Epic

[ejaf]

Originally Posted by beanoman

You may as well go with the LTC4054L chip.. it is a SMD part, so will require some soldering experience... after that, its just a cap, resistor, and led plus a resistor for each current setting you want. It will do any rate from 10 to 150 mA depending on the current setting resistor... search the indoor and micro forum for more info..

BTW, I made one with my beastly iron- $10 100 watt gun with a 4mm wide tip.. but, lemme say I have a good bit of experience with it

Yes, I was looking into that chip as well...it is by far the easiest Lipo Charger I have seen to DIY out of them all. My only issue is that it can only go up to 150mA. I was thinking of replacing my SW with a 300maH Lipo, so would have to take out my big stuff in order to charge, if I built this LTC4054L based charger (meaning my 12V 15A Ps, Triton).

That chip would allow you to even charge using 4 rechargeable AAs (convenient), and I have been specing the BiCha Charger, and it is interesting that it has the same 10-150ma range. Perhaps it's based on the same chip? For $40, and the ability to charge two at once, it may be worth the money.

Eric

[MegaByte-2]

Thanks Epic and those that PM'd me.

The produce bags I have are slightly plasticy. Not as stretchy as Saran Wrap.
My wifes mission, she doesnt know it yet, will be to buy me fruit from every grocery store around. Double bagging of course.

It has a few fuzzy edges, but since my Max Wax isn't here yet.......
I decided to use a hand sharpened xacto.

I did some testing with a few props I have. Not on a thrust stand, just getting a feeling of the air flow the stock AS can move DD. I'm not sure the stock motor will pan out.
I have other motors though from pen racers and such....thanks Kellog...my son is now addicted to Pop Tarts.

Time and testing will tell.

Tony
ARS Software & Innovative Solutions
http://www.falcon1.net/~ars/rcmodels.html

[epicdoom]

LOL Tony: Pop tarts are a good Addiction considering the many other choices Kids have today. As for the stock AS motor there pretty good but the PicooZ tail motor is awesome. I could hang my Carbon Nano on the prop with that motor for like 4-5 seconds.
Got about 3/4 the way through a loop befor the plane did a wingover. All thats over now. As my cat loved the covering for some reason and decided to trash it time for another build. Got my OS film today just waiting on the Max Wax now.

Epic

[msurguy]

Originally Posted by MegaByte-2

msurguy,

Found the schematic ok. Searched the net and still havent found a distributor with the chip.
I must have 6 old cell phones around here. All used standard wall packs. May have to do a phone disrepair. LOL

Tony
ARS Software & Innovative Solutions
http://www.falcon1.net/~ars/rcmodels.html

There are two sources for that chip, Koichi Tanaka's e-shop or linear.com website. You can order two samples for free from linear.com website. Do a search on LTC4054L-4.2 and when you go to specifications, there will be a button "Request samples" under the "Buy" button.

There is another chip that charges batteries up to 800mah
LTC4054-4.2 , do a search on linear.com and you could request 2 samples for free, or buy them. I'm sure you'll like the simplicity of the charger, just check out the datasheet or schematics on the website !

The shipping as I remember is 7$ from both sources. If there will be enough people, I could make an order of 30-40 chips and then distribute them in USA for their original price + 2$ shipping for 1-10 chips. Paypal only.

Remember, the LTC4054L-4.2 and LTC4054-4.2 are different chips !

[Woodbutcher]

After following this thread for a while now, I ordered 2 AeroSoarers which arrived last week. Had fun flying one inside, and have been playing with various airframes trying to come up with something that is scale-ish, yet will work with the plane's electronics. This is what is working at present. It's a Renard R-17 - not really finished but flyable. Built from a Walt Mooney Pistachio plan.

Wing is 0.5mm Depron - weighs 0.35gr measuring 8" x 1.75"
Whole plane weighs 3.7 gr. LiPo conversion on the way, but flies fine with the cap.

Flying speed is a bit slower than the original AeroSoarer - probably due to the greater undercamber on the wing.

[MegaByte-2]

Woodbutcher,

Looks nice. The 20-30ma lipo wont add weight either. Any chance of a vid? I have a feeling mine will be faster than I wanted, if it flies at all.

Magnets came in today! Time to coil wind. I'm actually getting excited about this.
Yes, the PiccoZ tail motor is a power house for its size. There's always that nasty weight trade off for power. My initial choice of plane and wing span has me leary and left me little room for leeway. I think I've developed an obsessive compulsive disorder for making flying things smaller than 6".
Also need to look into increasing the range. If the plane flies, I'll be able to crash farther away.

Thanks for the chip info. I'll be checking that out.


Tony
ARS Software & Innovative Solutions
http://www.falcon1.net/~ars/rcmodels.html

[Woodbutcher]

Tony,

Not much chance of a video in the lounge, as tracking would be a problem trying to follow it around such a small room with the video camera - but I can probably do one at the next indoor group meeting in early February.

Greg