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Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

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Old 03-08-2007, 11:50 PM
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JEFFRO503
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Default Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

hey guys......First i was going to post this in the electronics forum , but hardly nobody ever posts there......so i wanted to try and ask the questions here since most of you fly with this type of equipment . Anyways......we got the power expander today in the mail , and had a few quick questions. The first picture below is the one that comes with the expander and the one below that is one i drew up and wanted to know if it will work. What i don't understand is that on the smartfly website , they just show the setup's using "their" power reg? I want to use the entire Fromeco system of batteries , regulator's and badger switches. Also......(maybe it's a marketing ploy) but all the smartfly diagrams show two batteries going into a "battshare" or their regulator......and always end up with only one plug going into the expander?......that's not really a redundant type system is it? Will this diagram work below that i made up? Thanks guys

Jeff


smartfly's diagram






My diagram

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Old 03-08-2007, 11:57 PM
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Tired Old Man
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

I'll have RTK get into this. He set up his dual Fromeco system w/Power Expander in the manner you desire.
Old 03-09-2007, 12:10 AM
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quist
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Smart-fly never recommends dual regulators into the power expander. the reason for this is uneven battery usage. It is impossible to perfectly match to regulators. This setup will work but you will probably need to charge one battery more then the other.
Old 03-09-2007, 12:17 AM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.


ORIGINAL: quist

Smart-fly never recommends dual regulators into the power expander. the reason for this is uneven battery usage. It is impossible to perfectly match to regulators. This setup will work but you will probably need to charge one battery more then the other.

well..........crap , i don't understand then how you get two batteries plugged into the power expander? What am i missing here? Is the dual battery hook up for dual receivers or something? And one more thing....what "if" the power reg fails.......you lose both sides of power to your aircraft right? I am wanting to power up one whole battery , switch , regulator for one side of my airplane ( aileron , elevator) and then hook up the other battery for the other side the same way. uuuhhhgg.....this carp is confusing.

PS........thanks SS for all your help. I could probably type out all your replies and make a book out of it! Thanks man for taking the time and helping me out so much.



Old 03-09-2007, 12:30 AM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Also guys...i think i may have gotten this idea from a guy on the FG site or here somewhere , but here is a diagram i had in my pictures. If i remember right , i beleive this was going into a 40% of some type.

And hey one more thing. On the new 3W-80XI CS motor we just got.....it says in the book that a regulator is not needed for the ignition. we can hook up a 2 cell 7.4v lipo to it and the 3W ignition is supposed to regulate it down to 5V. Should i run an extra Regulator to the ignition to give the ignition a clean and steady 6V and then let the 3W ignition do the rest and filter it down to 5V?



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Old 03-09-2007, 01:04 AM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

The batt share has 2 inputs and 2 outputs also.

The power expanders are designed around the turbo reg........this has 2 inputs and outputs as well and includes a battshare in the circuitry.


DO NOT RUN A REGULATOR ON A NEW 3W IGNITION


3w does not need to be regulated with the 4wire ignition that all the newer motors come with. They are good to a fresh 7.4v lithium that reads 8.4 after the charge. Check out www.cactusaviation.com its got a blurb on the front right page about it.
Old 03-09-2007, 01:31 AM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Post a note about 4 months from now about the ignition/regulator thing and let us know how it came out. You may be surprised. 3W ignitions do not like heat. Regulating generates heat...

As far as unequal battery usage is concerned, it's not likely that you'll end up with a perfectly equal draw regardless of what you use. It doesn't hurt anything at all for the bateries to alternate back and forth a little as one draws down below another. We're talking milliamps in this.
Old 03-09-2007, 02:11 AM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Hi

I run my CARF 3.3m Yak with Dual receivers on 2 Smart Fly Power Expanders.

The setup U displayed will work however U might get a different battery draw.

The Fromco Regulators when u turn them on is there a Blue LED?
If so these are designed to tighter tolerances and both regulators must be set to the exact same voltage.

The setup works very well.

Ian
Old 03-09-2007, 02:20 AM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

ORIGINAL: JEFFRO503


ORIGINAL: quist

Smart-fly never recommends dual regulators into the power expander. the reason for this is uneven battery usage. It is impossible to perfectly match to regulators. This setup will work but you will probably need to charge one battery more then the other.

well..........crap , i don't understand then how you get two batteries plugged into the power expander? What am i missing here? Is the dual battery hook up for dual receivers or something? And one more thing....what "if" the power reg fails.......you lose both sides of power to your aircraft right? I am wanting to power up one whole battery , switch , regulator for one side of my airplane ( aileron , elevator) and then hook up the other battery for the other side the same way. uuuhhhgg.....this carp is confusing.

PS........thanks SS for all your help. I could probably type out all your replies and make a book out of it! Thanks man for taking the time and helping me out so much.



Smart-fly has the Turbo Regulator and Super Regulator. they are dual input and output regulators. The Turbo can handle 17 amps. These regulators also have a Bat share built into them that will isolate a battery if it goes bad.
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Old 03-09-2007, 10:21 AM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

I run the exact same setup that you came out with except that I have a Batt Share between the regulators and the Expander. I used the Batt Share HD that has dual inputs and dual outputs so each reg has its own input into the batt share and the Expander has two inputs from the batt share. Each side of the batt share is simply a diode and Robert at Smart Fly said the chanced of both diodes failing are practically zero so the system really is redubdant.

Shawn
Old 03-09-2007, 12:18 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

ORIGINAL: rcblimppro

I run the exact same setup that you came out with except that I have a Batt Share between the regulators and the Expander. I used the Batt Share HD that has dual inputs and dual outputs so each reg has its own input into the batt share and the Expander has two inputs from the batt share. Each side of the batt share is simply a diode and Robert at Smart Fly said the chanced of both diodes failing are practically zero so the system really is redubdant.

Shawn

oK......SO rcblimppro , are you running two smartfly regulator's then? Are you running two of the smartfly super or turbo regs at $85.00 each or are you running two fromeco's at $40.00 ? I'm not sure of what the actuall amp load on these reg's will be. On my 33% yak , i'll be running four Hitec 5985's on the aileron's (two per wing) , two 5985's on the elevator's and one 5955 or 5995 for the rudder. I was planning on splitting the airplane down the middle , so if one system fails , the other side should still work. After i figure out how to get this sucker all wired up , and running a Spektrum type system , i'm hoping i'll have a pretty bullet proof setup. If i can keep a gas motor running with no deadsticks....i'm going to be a very happy man indeed!!
Old 03-09-2007, 12:51 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Shawn has an interesting story about a couple of planes with twin receiver arrangements.
Old 03-09-2007, 12:59 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

The only thing I do not like about the bat share is that it only draws from (1) battery at a time. "As I understand" I have used the new Fromeco regulators and set up just like JEFFRO503 and after adjusting the regulators I can keep both LED's on the expander green at all times. When charging the lipo's on the Fromeco charge one does shut off about 15 minutes before the other, but that is close enough for me.

The next time I go out I am going to bypass the regulators completely and run the batteries straight to the expander. I know a few people doing this and they have had good results with the 5955's
Old 03-09-2007, 02:10 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

I use the expander with 1 battery, regulator and switch on each power input
and it works great, does not draw more from one side than the other
Old 03-09-2007, 02:44 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.


ORIGINAL: Hawk21

I use the expander with 1 battery, regulator and switch on each power input
and it works great, does not draw more from one side than the other

I am trying to figure out if i can use two fromeco reg's or the one smartfly turboreg. Not sure which one i'm supposed to use. I guess they would do pretty much the same thing , just trying to figure out which i should use.
Old 03-09-2007, 03:02 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Jeff, it's not that you can't use Fromeco, just that more might be drawn from one battery over the other. A bat share and I "think" a turbo reg will alternate and draw each battery down equally. As I stated before I can keep both LED's on the expander glowing at all times and although the batteries do take different times to charge it has not been that great to this point.

Maybe I just got lucky
Old 03-09-2007, 03:28 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Ok......Thanks RIK. Will this drawing down below be sufficent? I replaced the two individual fromeco regs with the one "turboreg" from smart fly. From what i understand , the Turboreg has a "built in" battshare....i think. If i'm understanding things correctly , using the one turboreg will give me the same redundancy , and the built in battshare reads each battery , so it always draws from the one with the most power right? I think this is starting to make sense to me. Knowing that if one side of the system fails , obviously the one that didn't would read as a more powerfull battery and keep using just that one.......is that even close to the neighborhood of being right?


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Old 03-09-2007, 03:39 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

You got it.
Old 03-09-2007, 03:39 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Ah crap..........forgot one last question here guys.

ok......on the ignition setup.......do you think it might be wise to use a fromeco or smartfly type regulator on the ignition , and set it up to a 6V regulation? I heard SS mention above that the 3W ignitions do not like heat , and the built in regulator will get really warm doing all the regulating. Would it hurt to be a little safe and have a filterd 6V power going to the ignition so the stock 3W one does not have to work so hard? I'm wondering if it might help prolong the life of the ignition.
Old 03-09-2007, 03:41 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.


ORIGINAL: JEFFRO503

ORIGINAL: rcblimppro

I run the exact same setup that you came out with except that I have a Batt Share between the regulators and the Expander. I used the Batt Share HD that has dual inputs and dual outputs so each reg has its own input into the batt share and the Expander has two inputs from the batt share. Each side of the batt share is simply a diode and Robert at Smart Fly said the chanced of both diodes failing are practically zero so the system really is redubdant.

Shawn
I am running 2 fromeco regs set to 6.5V. my batteries are never more than .1 V different from one another. this system feeds 4 5955s and 7 8611A servos on a 40% airplane. Although I do not 3D and my rates are fairly low I have comparable current drain. One manuver in my sequence is a double positive snap on a long downline, approx speed of the airplane is about 50-60 mph when the sticks get buried.

Shawn


oK......SO rcblimppro , are you running two smartfly regulator's then? Are you running two of the smartfly super or turbo regs at $85.00 each or are you running two fromeco's at $40.00 ? I'm not sure of what the actuall amp load on these reg's will be. On my 33% yak , i'll be running four Hitec 5985's on the aileron's (two per wing) , two 5985's on the elevator's and one 5955 or 5995 for the rudder. I was planning on splitting the airplane down the middle , so if one system fails , the other side should still work. After i figure out how to get this sucker all wired up , and running a Spektrum type system , i'm hoping i'll have a pretty bullet proof setup. If i can keep a gas motor running with no deadsticks....i'm going to be a very happy man indeed!!
Old 03-09-2007, 03:42 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

Use which ever one you have, it does not matter. Run the ignition at the recommended voltage range and you will be fine there to.
Old 03-09-2007, 06:49 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

The Bat Share does not designate anything. It is only diode protection if a battery fails, it doesn't control anything.

ORIGINAL: RTK

The only thing I do not like about the bat share is that it only draws from (1) battery at a time. "As I understand" I have used the new Fromeco regulators and set up just like JEFFRO503 and after adjusting the regulators I can keep both LED's on the expander green at all times. When charging the lipo's on the Fromeco charge one does shut off about 15 minutes before the other, but that is close enough for me.

The next time I go out I am going to bypass the regulators completely and run the batteries straight to the expander. I know a few people doing this and they have had good results with the 5955's
Old 03-09-2007, 06:55 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

The Smart-Fly BatShare enables you to use two battery packs and two switches to provide Dual-Redundant security to your airborne system, just like in full-size aircraft. With the Smart-Fly BatShare, you can tolerate a single failure (open-circuit, short-circuit, low voltage) in either battery pack, or switch, or battery wiring, without losing radio control.
The Smart-Fly BatShare continually monitors both battery packs and switches for the one with the higher voltage, and routes that to your Rx and servos. You may combine different size packs. In practice, with two good packs, the BatShare draws power equally from both packs, adding their individual capacities. I.e., if Battery #1 is a 6V/1350mAH pack, and Battery #2 is a 6V/2700mAH pack, you will have 4050mAH power supply onboard, with at least 1350mAH to fly on, in case of a failure. BatShare Features:

3A continuous current per input (connector limited)
Very Low Voltage Drop, 0.47V @ 6A, 0.55V @ 12A
Visual power indicator (LED)
All 22ga wiring on inputs and outputs
Dual 22ga outputs for minimal voltage drop
Download Manual
Old 03-09-2007, 07:10 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.


ORIGINAL: JEFFRO503

Ah crap..........forgot one last question here guys.

ok......on the ignition setup.......do you think it might be wise to use a fromeco or smartfly type regulator on the ignition , and set it up to a 6V regulation? I heard SS mention above that the 3W ignitions do not like heat , and the built in regulator will get really warm doing all the regulating. Would it hurt to be a little safe and have a filterd 6V power going to the ignition so the stock 3W one does not have to work so hard? I'm wondering if it might help prolong the life of the ignition.
It is wisest NOT to use any regulator on the new 3W ignition. Mount the ignition with at least the minimum recommended gap between it and the surface, and try to mount it in a place with some air movement. 3W recommends AGAINST the use of any regulator.

DKjens
Old 03-09-2007, 07:13 PM
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Default RE: Smartfly power exp wiring diagram help.

If both voltages are the same, both battery packs will be giving constant power, not just one.
ORIGINAL: RTK

The Smart-Fly BatShare enables you to use two battery packs and two switches to provide Dual-Redundant security to your airborne system, just like in full-size aircraft. With the Smart-Fly BatShare, you can tolerate a single failure (open-circuit, short-circuit, low voltage) in either battery pack, or switch, or battery wiring, without losing radio control.
The Smart-Fly BatShare continually monitors both battery packs and switches for the one with the higher voltage, and routes that to your Rx and servos. You may combine different size packs. In practice, with two good packs, the BatShare draws power equally from both packs, adding their individual capacities. I.e., if Battery #1 is a 6V/1350mAH pack, and Battery #2 is a 6V/2700mAH pack, you will have 4050mAH power supply onboard, with at least 1350mAH to fly on, in case of a failure. BatShare Features:

3A continuous current per input (connector limited)
Very Low Voltage Drop, 0.47V @ 6A, 0.55V @ 12A
Visual power indicator (LED)
All 22ga wiring on inputs and outputs
Dual 22ga outputs for minimal voltage drop
Download Manual


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