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The EXTRA 300 EXT Build Thread

FlyMike1

FlyMike1

70cc twin V2
I had just read this whole thread. Very interesting and entertaining at the same time. Good luck with your plane AKfreak
 
AKfreak

AKfreak

150cc
GYRO said:
I just got off the phone with my friend Garret [MENTION=52]AltitudeHobbies[/MENTION] who is one of the ZTW retailers. He's going to drop by the thread and see if he can help.
Click to expand...

I just bought the 85 and programmer from Attitude a few days ago. As I said it worked fine with the 85. I will have to check it again with the 85. On a side note, for chit and giggles, I when ahead an installed the 120 HV in the plane. I used an A123 pack for the RX and when I hooked the Lipo to the ESC and to the RX. then with everything plugged in, I put the throttle stick to full up and got the beeps, I dropped the stick, I got the cell count beeps, and the motor fired up. I guess the ESC is working, and I guess my Programmer doesn't like the 120.

I will check the 85 on the programmer again, stay tuned. Thanks fellas for all your help.
 
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gyro

gyro

GSN Contributor
AKfreak said:
I just bought the 85 and programmer from Attitude a few days ago. As I said it worked fine with the 85. I will have to check it again with the 85. On a side note, for chit and giggles, I when ahead an installed the 120 HV in the plane. I used an A123 pack for the RX and when I hooked the Lipo to the ESC and to the RX. then with everything plugged in, I put the throttle stick to full up and got the beeps, I dropped the stick, I got the cell count beeps, and the motor fired up. I guess the ESC is working, and I guess my Programmer doesn't like the 120.

I will check the 85 on the programmer again, stay tuned. Thanks fellas for all your help.
Click to expand...

You might need to re-title your video

Maybe it's like Matt said, your programmer got fried somehow.
 
Enterprise

Enterprise

150cc
I back fed that voltage and poof it was toast, luckily we opened it up, and fixing it just required a small solder joint be repaired. The school of hard knocks.
 
AltitudeHobbies

AltitudeHobbies

GSN SPONSOR
AKfreak said:
I hooked the 120 HV to my Programmer and All I get is a blank screen. It worked fine on the 85 Gecko. I assumed it would work the same on the 120. As for the BEC I thought it had an 8 volt BEC. Doh... Now I feel dumb, but it still wont function with the programmer. There are two leads. A long one and a short one. The short one from the manual, shows it being the programming lead. Truth be told, I tried both leads and still no go with the programmer so I assumed the ESC is dead.

Again I used that same programmer with the 85 so I am befuddled.
Click to expand...

Hi, AKFreak --

The way you connect the OPTO and SBEC ESCs to the card is a bit different. On the SBEC versions, you simply connect the ESC to the card and plug in the battery to the ESC connection. On the OPTO models, you have to connect a separate 5-12v battery to the power port on the side of the card. If you don't have an external battery connected to this port, the card will not power. Or, if you connected a battery over 12v, you could have blown out the card.

If you've done this and are sure you didn't cause the damage to the program card, then the card is probably faulty. ZTW has an awesome warranty, so we'd be happy to replace the card even if you didn't purchase it from us.

Garret @ Altitude Hobbies
 
AKfreak

AKfreak

150cc
Wow, you made my day. I have to say not only did you do an incredible job at getting my last order from you quickly, but taking your time to come here and respond to my build thread is amazing. Thanks so much for your offer to help me with my ESC/programming card.

I used a 6.4 volt JR rx pack to power the programming card. I think you can see it lights up in the video. I'll check it again on the 85 ESC and post my findings here in a few. Thanks again, AKf



EDIT:

I tired to est the ESC/Programmer one more time before I send it back, but this time everything worked. So strange, I didn't do plaything different, but it just worked. I attribute it to not necessarily an ESC problem, but to an ESO problem. :)

[video=youtube_share;0KEgVtdUmtw]http://youtu.be/0KEgVtdUmtw[/video]
 
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AKfreak

AKfreak

150cc
Alright, today I reached out for help mounting my brushless motor so I posed the question here and received help from a fellow forum member. AAmed with a better understanding of what is what with regards to the firewall markings, I set out to mount the motor, and I did just that.


13596616475_51f92e0039_c.jpg

The first thing I did was to dry fit the stand off's
13596993044_afde09c539_c.jpg

Then I made a paper template of the cross hair markings on the firewall, making sure the cross line was the same on my paper as on the firewall.
13596640643_d58aba6b6d_c.jpg

You see that cross hair on the firewall represents dead center of the motor shaft. This offset is to compensate for the thrust angle built into the firewall, yet to ensure the motor shaft is all lined up when it exits the cowl. It's pretty ingenious. Anyways I measured the center of the stand offs and laid them out on my paper template.
13596640263_7dc16cc40d_c.jpg

After I marked and drilled the stand off holes, everything fit perfectly. The spinner is dead center of the cowl, and the spinner gap is minimal.

All I have left is to button up the wiring, and build a rear battery tray to better center the weight on the two 6S packs that make up my 12S system.
 
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AKfreak

AKfreak

150cc
I just weighed the plane with everything it needs to fly. That's 12S power system with 2- 3300 50C packs (heavy ones to boot) and my AUW is 11lbs 7 oz. its about 1lb heavier than my target goal.

Remember I have the aluminum landing gear, a plastic spinner and 2lbs 7 oz with of batteries. I really think I can closer to my 10 lb goal if I had the right batteries, changed the landing gear to CF, added a CF spinner, and a CF tail wheel assembly.

What are some other weight reducing tricks one can do without sacrificing integrity of the air frame. I guess I could always replace some of the structure with Carbon, but that is a drastic step.
 
Enterprise

Enterprise

150cc
That spinner is a EF one, carbon is not going to save you much of anything on that front.

A carbon or wood prop will be slightly less weight.

CF gear will be the biggest weight trick, but you did lighten the one you have.

Wheels is another place you can save some weight, Ditch the wheel pants, they are just for looks.

You can make up CF pushrods to replace the ones you have. This is probably only practical on the elevator push rods, but that could be almost a ounce.
http://www.centralhobbies.com/control_linkage/pushrod.html

In the end till you fly it, you don't know if making it lighter will improve it, or it is one of those planes that don't care about the weight.
 
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