Patrick,
Thanks, you are funny!
Basically, it is a “remix” of my Aviator Air Conception carrier…which they did a Great job of designing. I have not seen anything out there that is quicker and easier to use.
I enjoy designing and building things that catch my attention…that’s why I switched to electric and built the X4…such a fun machine to fly…and so cool!
Cheers!
Bill
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Bill, you inspired me and today I upgraded my SP carrier. I do not have access to welding so, I scavenged parts around my shop and Voila! I only had to buy and adapter to go from 1 1/4" receiver to a 2". So much faster to load and unload the SP now. Did a test on bumpy local roads with sharp turns. All good. It is closer to the rear door than before and zero rattling. I even put a license plate holder with emergency lights built-in, just in case😄
It weighs 1/3 what my old one did and is less than half the size. Easier to stow away too.
Without the two straps is wobble a lot - with the straps tighten,… all gone, and nothing moves around.
Phil
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Looks great back there
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Phil,
I really like your “scavenged” carrier! Great design! I bought some plywood to retrofit my Aviator carrier so I can make it dual purpose for my SP140 and Tornado 280. I’m probably going to “borrow” some of your design…so Thanks!! My new carrier will probably live in the FL Panhandle just for my SP140. Keep up the excellent work!
Bill
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I recently began flying my SP140 in the Arkansas River Valley in the middle of the Rocky Mountains! I only have my single skin Grasshopper wing which doesn’t have much flare authority…even at sea level. No wind takeoffs are fine, but landings are very fast in this thin air at 7500’. Fortunately, my Spyder 26 should arrive one day this week! 
…landings should be easier with my Spyder. 
Bill
BTW: This has been a real learning experience for me.
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I really appreciate the commentary … though it would be even better if it were not so often covered by the video title. What was the scale of those little creeks you flew over near the beginning? 1 foot wide? 5 feet? 3 inches?
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Jim, thanks for watching…it was an exciting flight for me because it was my first flight at a relatively high elevation in the Rockies. I did not check the air density that day, but I would guess it was over the 7,500’ airport elevation. A few days later it was around 11,000’. With my single surface wing and no wind, the landings are super fast…I knew not to try and land on asphalt at this elevation. In the Mississippi Delta (elevation 176’), I almost always land on asphalt at the airport.
In this video the fonts seemed to show up better in black. The only time the title overlaps for me is a second or two at the very beginning.
The streams are mainly from snow melt and range in width from 3’ to maybe 10’. I can throw a rock across the Arkansas River that runs north and south through this valley!
Bill
BTW: My Spyder 26 at this elevation on a hot nil wind day feels like it weighs a ton launching. Flying here is a real challenge…but worth it. Launching in “Sport” mode
here is a must for me.
Hey man! I love your SP140 carrier design! I just got the SP140 but haven’t put it together yet. I was wondering how well does the aviator carrier work for the SP140? I have that carrier for my nitro 200 which i’m planning to sell, and i’m wondering if i should keep the carrier? Or does it not fit properly? Thanks!
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Thanks, I love it too! I did get the idea from Eric and Travis’ carrier design at Aviator. The carrier for my Tornado is a game changer (just two 3/8" pins to hold it on), so, I started there. For me, the seat was just in the way, and obviously the gas can holder wasn’t needed for the electric. I’m in the Rockies with my electric presently, so, regarding the Aviator carrier, I’m working from memory. It needs to be wider about an inch on both sides, and the front “pin brackets” need to be cut off and repositioned. Also, the “L” bracket on the back may not be tall enough for the SP140 larger diameter tubing. I made a foam board model first ( got good at that skill from following Josh at Flite Test for so many years).
Anyway, if you will zoom into my model photos, you can get most of the basic dimensions. Alternatively, use the Aviator carrier for a “base”, cut off the brackets on the top, and bolt on a larger piece of ply on top for a new base…then do something like Phil did above. Just use your imagination and some sound engineering.. Bill
Carrier mod that I really like.
I altered the windsock stake for my 19’ fiberglass pole so I can bolt it to my carrier once I remove the SP140…no more trying to find a place I can stick the spike into the dirt/rocks! Also, it makes it way more convenient when I park on pavement.
The green PETG 3d printed part is a clip-on container for my long streamers. I like them much better than the heavier “windsocks”.
Cheers!
Bill
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Great job Bill.Very clean work.
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In Florida I am on the 16th floor of a condo tower. I prefer to not take my SP140 apart every time, and the association carts don’t work very well with SP140, so, with only with a hacksaw, screwdriver and some wood glue, I built my own cart. I tried “swivel” casters at first, but 3" fixed wheel did the trick!
. Works Great for me. I am now thinking about making one for my Tornado 280. It only takes about 10 seconds to clamp it down and go.
My wife is super cool and let’s me keep my 140 in the corner of the den. I think it is a work of art anyway!
Bill
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Batch 1 BMS hard cutoff at about 50’ with a strong tailwind!
I thought it was just another day at the beach, but I sure was wrong. I was at 82V getting ready to set up a nice easy landing. When my BMS decided to kill my power in flight, I did a hard 180 and buried the brakes. Fortunately, the landing was successful and no damage was done. About a week after this one, I had another on approach over sand dunes. That one put me into the sand…but no damage…just a long walk out.
Bill
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Are you losing power to your controller? I have had mine disarm on its own randomly a few times now. But I had altitude luckily so I re-armed and kept flying… batch 3 with BT BMS…
Not the Arm/Disarm. The Batch 1 BMS shut it down in flight at 82V in Chill mode. It has shut me down twice now
…really starting to get old. I watch the voltage instead of percentage left. That is what I do with my X4, and my lipoly batteries are still in very good condition after 3 years of flights. Actually, I’m only going to fly my X4 until I get this resolved. My lipoly batteries won’t shut me down 50’ in the air with a strong tailwind.
Cheers!
Bill
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I am losing power to the throttle/ controller. The power has to be cycled to get power back to the throttle/controller.
The BMS disconnected the power.
Yeah we gotta sort this with the ESC… I’m nowhere near flying close to the cuttoff point and it’s definitely costing me airtime cause I don’t want a cutoff when I need the power for a goaround or whatever else might come up.
FYI the low voltage cutoff can be set to what ever voltage wanted, so you could really disable it if really wanted to, its just there for the health of the battery cells.
How do we go about changing the cutoff? Is there a GUI for the ESC available?
Hey, Mike!
It is not the ESC, it is the BMS/battery management system in the battery. My 140, the Founders Edition, doesn’t have Bluetooth and is set at the factory to protect and manage the battery. Paul is exactly right…on the Bluetooth BMS units after the Founders, you can adjust the “cutoff” voltage to whatever you want. In saying that though, it becomes the pilot’s responsibility to monitor the voltage/cells to protect the health of the battery. My recommendation is to be thinking about setting up an approach at about 78V. This is an open source project, and changes are to be expected. I have an X4 that I built (super fun unit to fly) and completely understand about open source. With the 140 Paul has designed and produced a terrific unit that may need small adjustments along the way. He has done the hard work for us!
Cheers!
Bill
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