Jesse Open

I bought the Spektrum version from Prop Shop Hobbies in Warren Michigan. He does internet sales if interested.

Turns out the transponder downloads a lot of data to your phone in real time.
Position, altitude, vertical and horizontal speed etc. Position shows up on a map overlay. An on screen arrow points to the plane and displays current distance. Also shows a recorded trace of the current flight path.

Actually does quite a bit and could easily pay off if you went down in a five hundred acre cornfield

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

arrg, now I got to get a cell phone LOL
you know I had one some 18 years ago. but one day, on the way home from a good day of flying, I got a call. I pull over, it was my daughter. she was screaming about a fight she had with her brother. when I got home I gave the phone to my wife and said "never again. I still won't have one.

Jesse Open

LOL
Sorry for causing you to recall such trauma !
The cell phone isn’t mandatory.
They do have a few welcome features now: Call blocking, you can opt to send all calls direct to voice mail, and there is always the power switch.

On the other hand, at some fields, cell phone or not, the transponders are now required if you want to fly. Should have been obvious I don’t like it either.
The cell phone data was mentioned simply as a positive side.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Too many old guys at flying fields for me not to be able to call 911 if something happens. I get your aversion to them though.

1200SportsterRider

I call mine the "electronic leash", my wife pays for it or I would not have it. Methuselah was one year older than my first gf at 969 years, he introduced me to Saitos.

Jesse Open

I used to ride solo motorcycle trips and rode a lot at night. Often over 1000 miles from home. Add to that , many of the bikes I ride often are over 20 years old. Cell phones can be more helpful than a tool box at times.
My wife and I both felt better that I had a phone with me.
Besides, I don’t have any daughters and my two sons got along together very well. So, since we got that part right, I don’t mind the phone.
The power down option is always there .


And I introduced Methuselah to Saitos
Asked him not to tell Dave but he did anyhow.


Don’t know about the old guys. At our field it seems everybody getting hurt is younger than me.

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

you guys are hilarious LOL

Lonnie, I'm happy to hear your sons get along!!. I remember my two older brothers working on a minibike's muffler. they got so mad at each other, the scarred one ran off and the other (<his minibike) threw a wrench at him and hit him square in the middle of his back. oh the memories of fun times passed.

Jim,

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

guys, I had to change out the linage rod (.072") for the elevator on the ShoeString.


why,
A) the rod was to short. so when the elevator was centered the servo arm was not 90 degrees to the servo's case.
B) the tubing is a golden-rod tube and it has a ever so small bend in it, so the rod has a bit of drag on the servo.
C) at the tail the rod is bent a bit, so the clevis is/was not straight to the horn on the elevator.

the elevator horn is to far away from the tube for the golden-rod to work without flexing..... I need a Z bend for the clevis.


it took me 2 hours of this and that to figure out what to do. and 2 more hours to make it and get it right. I made my Z bend out of fresh .072" rod and screwed on a clevis.

I needed to make the wire rod long so it will fit 3 inches in the tube. to stop the wire from flexing in the tube, see the pic. I cut a short piece of golden-rod and slid it on the wire rod, this will align the wire rod inside the tube and not let the wire wobble or flex.
to stop the short piece of golden-rod from walking on the wire, I took my X-acto knife (and a little hammer) and made some burs on the wire rod and pushed the golden-rod over the burs, it ant coming off them burs. I soldered on a thread adapter and screwed on my golden-rod. tomorrow I will hook up the servo arm

see pics.
Jim

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

hey Gary, look what I found,
Jim

4N1500AUW: 4.8 volt 1500mAh NiCd receiver battery for RC — Batteries America

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Looks like they got Futaba OEM flavor batteries too!
https://batteriesamerica.com/product...ery-for-futaba

https://batteriesamerica.com/product...pr_seq=uniform

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

Flyer-In,
I'm hoping they are not 16 years old, I just Emailed them and asked how old they are. (the 1500's.)

Jim

modeltronics

My Feedback: (27)

I have personally known the Yost family at Batteries America for over 25 years. They didn't stay in business this long for nothing. I used to live up north not too far from them. I can tell you that they are the best to work with. I used to put in company POs to them for batteries and never had a problem.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Interesting the Futaba batteries don't match what I see on the Futaba USA website.

https://futabausa.com/?s=receiver+Battery

Jesse Open

That is because they are not supplied by Futaba.
The cells however are the same Sanyo cells that Futaba uses.

Batteries America sells quality batteries only.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I see one thing I like about the Batteries America packs they are 700mAh instead of 600mAh. Also Futaba has discontinued NiCad batteries.

modeltronics

My Feedback: (27)

There are a lot of NiCads on the web from China. I would stay away from them. The few I tested never cycle to what they specify. Sanyo is the best. My 2 cents worth of comments

Jesse Open

This:

RE: Futaba says NICAD ONLY with servo's???? WHY
Here, looking at some other servo's, the Futaba 3010 says this!!
Quote:
COMMENTS: Use only NiCd batteries with this servo in all applications because
of the high amount of current this servo requires. Battery types
other than NiCd will not deliver enough current to properly operate
these servos.
Never heard of this odd battery requirement... Must be a futaba thing? My JR's dont care whats hooked up as long as its charged...

……. Not agreeing or dis-agreeing but the basics are correct.

Glowgeek

As the size of commonly flown RC planes increases in this hobby NiCad and Nickel Metal Hydride chemistry batteries can't cut the mustard for the ever growing giant scale birds. Lithium Polymer (Lipo) and Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFe ) batteries deliver incredibly high current for heavy servo loads. A123 LiFe round cells are my preferred batteries. As Gary mentioned, cell voltage measurements of LiFe Batts won't indicate remaining charge.......but the timer on our radios works a treat. I don't see it as a downside.

Jesse Open

My primary comment was regarding NiCds vs NiMh.NiCd and NiMh are not the same and should not be lumped together.
The NiCd can and do “cut the mustard” in applications where NiMh often fall short.


I do use LiFe, but as with NiMh, they stay on the ground. Unlike the receiver/servo system with wide variations in current demands, transmitters place a fairly constant load. This makes it a lot easier to determine state of charge based on operating time vs the fairly steady drain. While LiFe and LiPo can easily handle the current spikes I have different reasons for grounding them.
Between the state of charge issue, in plane charging reservations, NiCds get the nod.
Add to that, as with many sport fliers, several of my planes are running flight systems built for 4.8 volt NiCd packs and risk damage or failure at 6.6 volts. Upping the voltage on those systems also increases the current drain.
If/when 6 volts is viable, a 5 cell NiCad works well.



As Lonnie points out; Big birds are indeed a different animal. Easy to understand consideration of alternate power sources for those planes.

Not everyone flies those huge planes, the majority around here are still under 80 inch span. For the bulk of those ,the NiCads serve very well and with proper care and feeding can enjoy an extremely long life.

The inability to judge state of charge with LiFe batteries is not well remedied with a timer. That state of charge variable aspect also partly diminishes the low self discharge side of the LiFe.
It is helpful with LiFe to monitor the actual ampere/hours of each charge. This gives a fairly decent idea of the minimum state.And I do just that with LiFe powered transmitters.

LiPo are very effective but again, not at all that attractive for the size planes I fly. While I usually have no reservations when I charge NiCds in the plane, that would never happen with LiPo on board. Actually, I don’t even store LiPos in my house and would not install them in a plane while in my house or car.

NiCads are robust, predictable and very easy to manage and well suited to the task. The main killers of NiCads are high temps and excessive charging. Manage that and they have a very long service life
Not everyone weighs the differences in the same way. No problem there

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

Gary, Lonnie, I found that the servos don't respond as quick with NIMH as they do with Ni-Cads.

Glowgeek

Yes, nicads have slightly higher discharge current ratings than nimh at a given voltage sag. I flew with nicads and nimh for many years, no problems with either, given they were high quality packs, maintained correctly and used within sensible limits.

That said, now that I haven't been able to fly much for almost three years, I'm pretty sure my nimh packs are unrecoverable due to lack of maintenance. All of my LiFe packs will be fine, even if I don't maintain them for another five years.

Gary, all your points and preferences are well taken. AFAIK, LiFe batteries have proven to be safe and reliable. I have no reservations about charging them in my airplanes. I use a special cable to balance charge them through a standard 3 pin charge port, the same port that most of us already have on our planes.

Jesse Open

Lonnie,
No real problems here with charging LiFe packs either.I would certainly use them in a plane rather than NiMh. Back when I was building high power portable flash equipment (And using it for wedding photography) I learned to appreciate the real differences between NiCd and NiMh.
Ever since then, I have been very deliberate when choosing between the two. There is little that can match the fury of an angry Bridezilla!

1200SportsterRider

The Spad has these vents for electric flight, I opened the fabric covering for the LIFE battery. I don't wrap the LIFE battery in foam, I mount it in .25" strips of black .25" foam. When I was about 14 years old we, us boys bought a 1932 Model B pickup from a neighbor, it only took is about a day to get it fired up, much fun was had with it. It was complete, it was black and about the same condition as this one. We paid the guy 25 bucks and towed it home with a Farmall Super C tractor.

Jesse Open

Are those vents in the area where the fuel tank is mounted? You must be getting real close to flying eh?

Jesse Open

This one is almost ready for it’s Sig Koverall suit.
Really missed having a three channel plane on hand so I tossed a box of wood into a fresh Senior Kadet
Most likely getting an old Saito 50 or 56, quite a few of those laying around.
White with orange trim accents. Maybe Orange with white sunburst on wing topside.
Fuselage bottom is reinforced with hard ply and tri-stock for aluminum gear. Tail dragger configuration .