I ordered the second switch from banggood. Cheaped out on shipping. 
. Man I hope that ETA is a conservative estimate.
The #2 switch arrived in half the time expected. Mounted it last night. It is manufactured slightly larger than the one shipped with the OpenPPG. Looks like Paul and Zack shave them down to fit.
Added the resistor to the spark arrestor switch. Wasn’t sure how to Mount it until I came up with this idea.
Almost there.
After a couple months doing a renovation of our house I got a day to get back to the build. Spent an inordinate amount of thought around the battery cable routing then decided to just let it hang out the sides.
When I had the battery cables soldered and connected I plugged in a pair of batteries and tried that spark arrestor switch. Worked a treat. Gave it a twist and held it. No crackling noises. Everything just powered up. Snapped the switch on. Everything worked!
Strapped!
Finally got the batteries mounted. After much perusing pictures of bonkas strapped to OpenPPG frames and thinking, over thinking, I ran some 3/4" velcro cable strap through the slots.
I thought about cutting slots in the foam to run the straps through. Tested a piece and it broke out pretty easily. I’ll probably just double face tape the foam to the plate.
Also note the new digs. Been busy renovating and moving. Still doing the former but I got couple nice kiting sessions in.
Ready to fly!
Scrutinized the pics linked in the guide for mounting the frame to the harness. Hung the batteries. Installed the props.
Also I found some 5/15 high pressure fuel tubing in my junk and cut in some tiny pieces where the battery cables come through the back plate.
Gratulation looks great,
Thank you for shearing your building process.
Prop clearance.
Upon folding I noted the prop tips dragging through the holes. Thought about opening them up with the back plate in place. I’m glad I didn’t. Makes quite a mess and I didn’t want graphite dust in the electronics.
Just thought I’d cap off my build log with my first flight! This was a first in many ways. It was the first flight for me away from the area I’ve trained at. It was the first flight for me that I was completely on my own with no one coaching or correcting or telling me it was OK to go. It was my first zero wind launch. Beyond myself I’ve been reminded it was the first flight of an electric paramotor one the Sunshine Coast of B.C. Probably the first electric flight of any kind in the area. It was very likely the first flight of an electric paramotor in this province. OK enough firsts, on to the pics.
Setting up. Sorry I blurred out my helpers face there in a ridiculous way but I’ve not informed him that I’ve posted these yet so… Privacy and all.
The time spent not getting airborne chilled the batteries somewhat and it was barely climbing. Or maybe 6cell batteries isn’t enough for the Batch 4 motors/props combo. Hope a warmer day will be better. I’m at sea level.
Batch 4 is designed to use 7S so the biggest factor for lack of power would be that. Cold batteries will drop power a little bit but after a few minutes of flying they should warm up… how long did you fly?
6 packs of 6S (instead of 4 packs) will increase power a little because the voltage sag will be less but the extra weight might make that a trade off.
I’ve flown a batch 4 with 6 packs of 6S. Compared to 7S, it’s harder to takeoff and the initial climb out isn’t very good but the rest of the flight always felt very comfortable including dropping down into fields and climbing back out.
About 30 seconds. LOL. Just enough to get turned around and land. So the batteries probably didn’t really warm up. I didn’t want to push things if the batts were not going to be enough. I know from my model airplane years that cold LiPo batteries can turn a performer into a slug.
I’m about 80Kg dressed. I weighed the motor and batteries and the total is just over 25kilos so I’m around 105kg AUW. That’s the top of the range for my Buzz Z3 ML (23.5sqm) and it was damp. Climb was not great but it was steady at full power. The only other motor I’ve flown is a Blackhawk 125 but only with some wind which increases the climb rate over the ground.
I can probably correct this somewhat by going to more prop pitch (cheaper than more battery or batch 3 motors). Are there alternate prop choices available?
I think there is some performance data posted somewhere that had the 150kv motors with 6s and 22x14 props. It looked pretty close to the 180kv motors on 6s with 22x10 props.
Actually, another quick note: I was originally using a big 34x22 prop on my ultralight single prop build. That 3:2 diameter to pitch ratio is (usually) as coarse as you can go without having significant sections of the prop airfoil stalled on the ground. With my 34x22 I found that I was way over that line at 4000 RPM. It may be beneficial to get 22x13 (if you can find them) or 22x12 props instead of 22x14, just to avoid the prop stall. It makes the props very loud, can cause a lot of vibration if the stall is asymmetric, and I can imagine a lot of pitching and yawing being introduced as the four props stall and install unevenly. Whatever performance you lose from slightly less pitch will probably be compensated for by having a rig that is running smooth and (relatively) quiet.
I think DFDL sells 22x12 wood electric props on AliExpress.
I was thinking 22X12. There are lots of props in the size range. Not many come in both left and right.
I found those DFDL props. $37 a pair. Someone else on here ordered a set of props from DFDL and found them to be identical to the Gemfan props. It’s likely that they are coming from the same factory.
Perfect. Thank you.
