I then got a 3/16" sheet of plywood slightly smaller than the block of batteries. I drilled holes in it where the screw heads of the frame lined up. This holds the batteries from moving laterally. Using more fibre tape I fastened the wood to the battery block.
Then the battery sits on the frame quite with the screwheads taking much of the weight and forcing easy alignment during install. Then the 2 Velcro straps hold it in.
Next is thrust tests and fastening harness. This is taking a long time, but it’s been pouring rain or windy, so it’s not like I could have been flying anyways…
I opened it up, and its pretty obvious/bad. @pdwhite is mailing me a new one. Seems like it was defective from the start, since I got a “pop” everytime I turned it on. Paul has never seen that before.
Less talk, more flying Got my replacement parts in the mail today and got this puppy in the air! Flying it on a Dudek Universal 1.1 with a Dudek Powerseat harness.
It was awesome, just 3 minutes in the air since I ran out of daylight. First impressions:
throttle is very responsive, will want to filter that to make it a bit less “twitchy”
had a harness issue, so was tipped too far forward, but felt like I could use a bit more thrust
again, short and easy flight, but everything was cool and no weird vibrations or whatever
not “whisper” quiet, but definitely a lot nicer than flying a gas motor!
only gripe, power switch is in the worst possible place Couldn’t figure out how to turn it on while wearing it, needed to get a buddy to do it. Minor issue…
Tomorrow looks great for flying too - will report more!
Do you think the power switch can be relocated easily?
Seems like a good idea to switch that on only after it is on your back. Just to avoid any possibility of accidentally spinning up when you are not ready.
Power switch will be a bit of PITA to relocate - the design has nice slots machined in to hole the switch - will need to cut new ones manually. Something behind my head seems like it work or something above the gooseneck bars.
I thought about relocating the switch but I felt around while the motor was on my back and I can’t reach anywhere else. The location doesn’t bother me anymore… I just follow the gooseneck bar to the frame and find it pretty easy now that I’m used to it.
I’ve been getting 25 minutes flights with 4 batteries. They were pretty warm after my last flight… how warm is too warm?
Interesting… I wonder if I’ve got something wrong. Even when I try to get someone else’s help to turn it on, people aren’t able to access the switch easily… The goosenecks just pivot so far down, I dunno
@GliderPilot, when do you decide to terminate your flights? Do you let off the throttle and look at the cell voltage without load?
It is a tight spot but I can’t find a better one. You do have to lift the gooseneck bar up a little to get it out of the way.
I do let off the throttle to check the battery percentage and land when it’s close to zero (like 3 to 5%). After landing that value slowly climbs back up a little.
While getting ready to fly today I realized that while standing the seat holds the gooseneck bars down making it hard to reach the switch so you have to bend at the waist to be able to lift the gooseneck bar up.
Could you carry an infrared thermometer with you and immediately measure the temps of the batteries and wires immediately upon landing? That would be helpful. Thanks
Did you have the original Bonka wire lengths when you used the camera, or were the Bonka wires shortened, and if yes, by how much? I know someone else did reduce their lengths and I was curious to know if you did as well. Thanks. How would you solve the 10AWG issue for something like 8 perhaps?
I did not shorten the wires. My batteries came with 10AWG wires. I don’t think we currently have a field solution for the wire size, other than using 4 Bonkas in a 12S2P configuration.
Given the 25-minute estimated flight time on the 4 batteries, are the 10AWG wires really even an issue anymore? Running on 2 batteries seems of limited use anyways.
Got my replacement parts in the mail today and got this puppy in the air! Flying it on a Dudek Universal 1.1 with a Dudek Powerseat harness.