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New Astroflight Voyager motor came today. UPDATE!!!
Finally, I've been waiting for over 2 months for this setup. Compared to the stock setup, this combo is great. I installed the motor into my heli and flew 4 packs through her. It's been over a month since I flew my heli, so it was all just hovering. I got 5 minutes of actual flight and 1 minute of ground effects on old beat-up CP2400s. I temped the motor, esc and batts after each flight. The motor never got higher than 125, the ESC 80 and the batts 115. Looks like Astroflight may have solved the heat problems. The heli flys well so far and I haven't noticed any bad habits from the motor/esc setup. I'm still not happy about the wait, but the added flight time and performance is nice.
-Frank |
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Last edited by FrankW; Nov 13, 2003 at 05:16 PM.
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I have one of the original Astro motors and it tends to bog down a lot during aerobatics. Do you know if the new motor has any more power?
The bad news is that I contacted Astro Flight for an upgrade and they told me that I would have to pay full price for the new motor. Apparently they want me to buy a Hacker! They have just lost one customer. |
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I wouldn't know. I don't have one of the older astro motors. I haven't done much testing yet. The low light of flying at night didn't allow my to do much more than just hover. I will do some more flight tests today. We'll see how it goes.
I think astroflight needs to get their act togather. I was told by them (through email) that the motor would ship 5 or 6 weeks ago and it just arrived yesterday. I was about to cancel my astro order and buy a lehner, but the people I was going to buy it from stopped carrying the motors. I was tempted to go with Hacker, but the price was a limiting factor. -Frank |
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For what it's worth....
I started out with the original 803HVM motor and after two seperate seizures (one after 10 minutes flight time following return of the motor from Astro repair), I switched to the Hacker C40-8L. As I understand it the new Astro is just a revamped can not a redesign of the motor itself, so any issues with performance will probably still be there. There is a remarkable difference between the Astro and the Hacker where available power is concerned...if cruising is your thing the Astro will be fine, but for acro, look to the Hacker. Just my humble opinion!!! |
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I recieved my new ASTRO last week after a number of emails and veilled threats about order cancelation but am genally happy with this setup, although I am only new to heli's. This motor seems to have plenty of power but does bog down in full collective climbs. I am using 8 x 2400 cps with a 15 tooth and think the head speed might be a littlle low towards the second half of the pack as it can start to get a slight wobble. Any advice as to the best pinion to use. I have a new thunder power 8200 on the way which should make a big difference. Overall I'm happy so far.
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The motor does bog down some in full collective climbouts after a few minutes of flight. The first couple minutes of flights on my old cp2400s are plenty powerful. I'm not into aerobatics yet, so I'm not too concerned with lots of power. I mostly wanted a low maintenance motor that provides good flight time.
I'm currently using the throttle and pitch curve JR recommends in their manual, but I plan on trying governor mode soon. I also notice the slight wobble at the end of the pack. For me, I think it's the batteries more than the motor that causes the power loss. I need new batts soon though. I want to go lipoly route, but I can't afford it quite yet. I am also using 8 cp2400s on a 15 tooth pinion. I need to search through old threads for info on governor modes. -Frank |
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Frank / Smeegarn,
I found that the 16t pinion was about the best with the Astro. Also, the motor will be happier running at higher rpm's. I used a throttle curve of (Normal Mode) 0% Low Stick, 85% Mid Stick and 100% at High Stick. Next I adjusted my pitch curve so that she hovered at just above mid stick (3-4 degrees). In Idle Up 1 (Sport Mode) I used a throttle curve of 85%-85%-85% (spool up in Normal, then switch to Idle-Up). This allowed the motor to turn the higher, more efficient revs it needed and minimized the heat build-up in the various components (it also improved my flight times as a bonus). The bogging you notice in the full collective climbs is one of the bigger differences between the Astro and Hacker motors. My Astro did it too, my Hacker doesn't...just a design difference I guess. It seems the Astro turns more freely (higher KV rating) but the Hacker has more torque. As for the LiPoly batteries, they are great!! When you get them, you may want to go back to the 15t pinion to keep headspeed reasonable. The wobble you're both seeing is a Voyager trademark and is due to low headspeed at the end of the pack. When you see the wobble start to develop... LAND. It will only get worse and can cause damage if it goes long enough (boomstrike comes to mind ). Enjoy your VE's, they are fun ships with lots of potential...If you want or need more VE specific info, there is also a Voyager E group over at Yahoo Groups, check them out at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JRVoyagerE/ |
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Update
Update:
I've put 16 flights through this motor, about 96 minutes total. Compared to the stock motor, this set-up is great! I finished up 4 flights today, one right after another. Fast forward flight and 540 degree stall turns (working up the nerve to attempt a loop). During those 4 flights there was no notice of any problems. This motor doesn't provide a lot more power than the stock set-up; but it does increase flight time, eliminate motor maintenance and increase reliability (all the factors I was looking for). I think the lack of performance increase is more due to my batteries than the motor. My CP2400 batts are getting old, only accepting 80% of thier nominal charge. The motor, esc and batteries don't get hot. I temped the motor after the 4th flight today. The motor was no hotter than 115 degrees on any part of the can. After each flight I can hold the batts indefinitly. I'm using the stock 15 tooth pinion and governer mode at 85%. -Frank |
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Frank,
I was using a similar setup to you but my new Thunder power pack just arrived. I charged and fitted it and gave it a whirl in the back yard. Let me just say that you've gotta get one. The transformation is incredible it went ballistic and I had to tame it down but what a difference. I cant wait to get to the field this weekend to see just how good it is. Peter |
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Frank,
Yes, I got the 3s4p pack from Helihobby. Great service it arrived in Aus only 8 days after ordering. I have new CP2400 and just changed to a 16 tooh pinion this was also better than the 15 tooth. Although for the LiPo I might go back to the 15 as I had to tame the throttle curve back to about 70% otherwise the head spped was way to high. cheers Peter |
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Update: Catastrophic ESC failure. 3rd pack of the day. I was hot dogging a little more by doing 540 stall turns and really ugly loops. I was using the aerobatic pitch curve JR recommends, with the stock blades. I had just installed the Mr Carbon side frames. I had the throttle set at 90% with a 15 tooth pinion on 8 cp2400s (2 first packs were at 85%). A couple minutes into the pack the power system started behaving badly, I brang it in and about 10 feet up the motor shut down. I managed to land the heli safely with no damage. I temped the motor (125), esc (90) and battery (120). This was the 19th flight on this motor and ESC set up. I brang it home and tried reprograming the ESC, didn't work. The motor seems okay, but I noticed the ESC has a definite hot spot over one of the little yellow squares. It needs to be sent back to Astroflight. This really pisses me off. Oh well, at least it was the ESC and not the motor.
-Frank |
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Frank, If you're sure it's the ESC, you may want to consider sending the ESC direct to Castle Creations instead of Astroflight. They are easy to deal with and genuinely concerned about customer satisfaction. Give Shawn at CC a call and run your problem by him. You may be pleasantly surprised. Good luck!
Lance |
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Last edited by KnimRod; Nov 13, 2003 at 08:31 PM.
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