New electric retracts!!!

[ATIS]

EFlite has what looks like new electric retracts coming out for 10-15 size planes!!

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLG110

[herk1]

Those are the ones they announced along with the Bonanza as an optional accessory, right? I wish they were available now, I'd like to put them in my F-35. And for that matter, I'd like to retrofit them in just about every plane I've got! Looks like a really simple, easy-to-use product. Hope it works well.

Also, I was wondering....... the other brand of servoless retracts that I just got have a separate control box thingy, that you plug your power source into to power the retracts. I bought a small 2S LiPo battery for that purpose. But according to the Bonanza manual (I downloaded it from Horizon), these new E-flite retracts each plug into a 3-into-1 servo cable, then the other end of that cable is plugged straight into the "gear" channel of the receiver. So all of those retracts are sucking power off of your BEC (or whatever you have powering your receiver). So I'm thinking, it probably better be a high-capacity BEC, or you're looking at a possible brownout. Or maybe you need to use a separate receiver battery. I think it really would be better if the gear was powered separately from the receiver, in case one gets stuck mid-travel and suddenly surges the power demand.

[WJCJR1]

Good foresight there Herk1, a very solid potential for failure in theory at the least. I would second the thought of using a separate battery pack for the receiver as well.

Once you start getting so much money stuck into a model/replica or plain old RC airplane you start to pass the threshold of what if and start upgrading your equipment to prevent the what-ifs.

When I put together the 4S/15 powered T-28D I made knew there would be more draw from the servos and obviously a great pull of amperage from the motor. I went nearly 50% over in the arena of Amperage capacity with the 60A ESC and it's BEC could supply 4X the power supply the original ESC was capable of. However I found a weak link as you saw in the crash post...

So you can't be too careful, again see post, see result of careful planning of capacities of power??? I lost sight of a less than obvious potential issue and it bit me so your thinking here in being cautious is very smart.

Wayne

[ATIS]

5 amp BEC is highly recommneded. The key is to set them up correctly so they lock in both positions without binding...then they draw next to no amps...binding retracts cause the servo to try and continual to travel (like a jammed control surface) and really pull hard ont he amps.

[WingingIt74]

Those retracts will not bind, see this video. See at mark 7:50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmmjCbyPTQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmmjCbyPTQ

[herk1]

Wow, now I really can't wait to get a set of those. Individual units available separately, plus individual parts available, plus overcurrent protection, just bolt in and hook up! I do hope that they give specifics about expected current draw during retract operation, though...but if you can use those plus seven other servos on a 2.5-amp BEC, it must not be too much. Thanks for posting that.