I just bought the stock Espire EP RTF - it comes with the 550 motor and a 25 amp speed control...

I read a bunch of threads here - I just wanted to make sure I buy the right thing.

1) I'm going to get this gearbox that was suggested for the stock 550. "All metal planetary gearboxes for SPEED 500 & 600." http://www.hobby-lobby.com/drives.htm . It's only $24

2) What size prop should I use?

3) I don't want to buy a new speed control, will the 25 amp suffice with this gearbox?

4) Can I use the stock 6 cell 1500 battery? If not - what do you suggest?

5) What's the max cell count I can use?


Thanks!

A club member is running a Chameleon 19 turn car motor (Tower Hobbies) and a 16x10 prop! It climbs at about 60 degrees and fast!

Maybe, if he's lurking around here, he'll chime in and say what controller and batter pack he has. I know he is extremely happy with it!

Rich?

dd.

I use a Magnetic Mayhem MPJET 3.3/1 gearbox with a 12x10 prop and 8 CP 1700 cells, pulls about 23 amps. Climbs nicely, so a search for Aspire Climbout and watch my video.

I saw that - that's insane!!! Any idea if I can use the stock 25 amp ESC with that setup? Or is that cutting it too close?

It might be cutting it to close, I use a Pegasus 35 ESC with mine, it's available at eflightpacks.com or Castle Creations. You should be ok with your ESC if you only use 6 cells , but the performance is much better with 8 cells.

I'm the guy using the Chameleon Pro car motor and the MJ8063 Gearbox and 16X10 prop. The plane uses a 7 cell, Cp1300 ni-cad pack. Had to use a much higher rated ESC as it pulls 40 amp static. This system has to have good cooling. Motor runs should be keep to 45 seconds. This will net you 500 feet or so altitude. I believe a 15X9.5 prop to be a better choice to drop the amps down to the 33 to 35 amp range. With the stock motor and the 3.33:1 gearbox, and 7 cells, a 12X7 prop should be OK. The Sanyo CP1300 cells are a good choice. You get good power to weight ratio. Remember to keep the weight down. Don't do speed runs, the wing does not like this (read flutter). The 1300 cells will get you 3 to 4 climbs to altitude. Good Luck, Rich

I just tried the stock setup today. It's pretty weak - it took a while to climb - but it could climb. It would climb to altitude 2 times on a 1500 battery.

That thing flys great though - wow.

I just bought an Aspire EP and flew it today. I upgraded from the stock pack to a 2000mah pack and it had enough power for 3+ flights. It was my first flight so I spent some time triming, etc. It was a little windy/gusty - and I haven't flow fixed wing in about 10 years (been flying helicopters). But it should be fun.

I did have some gremlins in my kit. There was a bad solder joint in the wire from the motor to the speed controller which I had to resolder, and the speed controller was adjusted so that it ran full blast - no proportional (that made for a few exciting moments). But it happy now.

g

Alright - I have this thing working pretty well now.

I just put a 50 AMP great planes ESC ($50) (that has a break that works) in the Aspire EP and a Magnetic Mayhem motor ($20) - direct drive with the standard 8x4 folding prop - all the stock items fits fine on the new motor. This makes a WORLD of difference. I can acutally reasonably climb on the stock 6 cell 1500mha battery packs. When I put a 7 cell Sanyo 1300mha I get really good climb. With each pack I seem to get about 3 climbs to altitude - man - is it fun now!!! It has to be about 25% - 50% better performance than stock.

I already have a planetary gearbox on order and 2 packs of 8x1700 and one pack of 8x1300's with a 12.5 x 8 & 12x10 prop - should be even more interesting.

This is really a great glider - I'm very happy. Cost me about $200 for the RTF version w/radio and battery and another $100 in upgrades (7x1300 battery pack, 50 amp ESC, MM motor) and I have a really great glider.

I too bought a new Aspire RTF (fully assembled and ready? to fly) about 3 weeks ago. It now lies in pieces in the garage awaiting either a rebuild or a burial. Can't find drawings, so probably the latter. Here's my pathetic little story. My Aspire had troubles getting up too (2-2.5 min. to 500ft), and on about the 16th-20th flight I missed a landing and required a little glue and a new prop to get going again. So, me and my wisdom set out to the local hobby store and purchased a new propeller. The shop never had an 8X4 prop so, thinking that maybe a little larger prop might improve the climb out times, I settled on a slightly larger 10X8 prop. GREAT! Climb out time improved dramatically(1-2 min. to 500 ft). So, all goes well until the 4th flight. After a picture perfect landing and three climbs in about half an hour, I changed out my battery with a fresh one. I throw the plane into the air and it climbs out nicely to about 300ft where the motor cuts out. Thinking that the ESC has cut out and I have plenty of sky to
turn around and land and check it out ... death spiral onto the pavement. (Short and sweet enough?) Upon autopsy of what was left I find that the stock ESC is missing a few components, probably nothing critical, a couple of power transistors and some SMT stuff, thrown clear of the liquid solder they used to swim in. "Thermal protection". That's what the literature on the ESC 25 says this shedding of unnecessary electronic components is called. (unfortunately the reciever doesn' work well after this shedding procedure is initiated)
My point(s)?
1) Definately DO NOT just throw on a larger prop - it obviously caused an over current condition and sent my aspire to an early grave.

2) DO NOT believe any of the subjective hype on kit packages or from hobby shop reviews.

3) Read the newsgroups for any and all great information on your product BEFORE you end up writing in them, as I am now. I've learned a lot about my plane here, and now have plenty more time to read even more ... as the sailplane of my dreams lies in the garage on the floor.

Warranty? What warranty? Says here on the box, "Guaranteed until flown."

PS if anybody knows where to find drawings for an Aspire EP pleas let me know. Thanks.

Kerry, sorry to hear about your Aspire, you definetely would of had to gear that prop with that motor.

Your right about the advertisements about these ARF airplanes that already come with motors.

I don't care what anybody says but the Aspire does not perform on the out of the box setup. It barely flew with 8 cells, let alone 6 that come in the box.

The claims from the manufacturer about great climbs to thermal altitude are a flat out lie!

Originally posted by ferradas
The claims from the manufacturer about great climbs to thermal altitude are a flat out lie!

Not only the manufacturer, but also a well known mag printed a review about the "great climb rate" of the stock Aspire.

Kerry

you change from a 8 x 4 to a What?? A 10 x 8 prop pull about 2-3 times the current of the 8x4. I was surprise that you did not melt everything in the first flight. The ESC probably glowing. You can't expect the ESC to work under those condition, you probably melted the wire off the ESC and the BEC quit and you have nothing.

Great climb is depend how you define it, I am not defending the manufacturer. And thermal altitude could be 50 feet above ground.All thermal get off from the ground!!

Most of those gliders need to get the flying speed before it will climb, the motor is not powerful but sufficient. You have to let the plane build up some speed before you pull up on the elevator. You are looking at 150-175(7-8 cells @25amp) watt from the system, not like a hot liner that drinks 700-1000(10 cells@ 70-110amp) watt, now those can go up with ZERO ground speed. You will need the wing to help you climb (or stay aloft). When the plane climbs too steep, the wing is not working. You will need certain speed for the airfoil to generate lift. Otherwise you are flying a helicopter, all lift generated by the prop. Don't expect a $5.00 motor and a $3.00 prop will go straight up, no matter how many cells you put behind it.

Now ya tell me!

I never expected to climb like a rocket and in fact when I rebuild my plane I still won't expect a rocket ship. All I wanted was to get past the first 100 ft or so of cold air near the ground on a cool Calgary morning in less than 3 minutes. All I wanted was the advertised 20 degree climb out to any altitude safe enough to throttle back at and enjoy my glider for what it was really designed for ... gliding. On that note, once it was up it was a beautiful flyer and I did have 3 good 1/2 hour flights previously. That's pretty darn good for Calgary.
The other thing that bothers me is the literature for the Maxx 25 ESC that comes with the Aspire. Wouldn't it be better (and safer) if on an over current event the ESC just cut out the motor ... instead of trying to save it's parts by melting the solder on the PC board and jettesing them?

Originally posted by KerryD
Wouldn't it be better (and safer) if on an over current event the ESC just cut out the motor

The better ESCs do just that.


Ya it's to bad, all they needed was to add a gearbox and a bigger prop and the Aspire would have been an excellent 'out of the box' ARF glider.