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Eflite Radian XL with power mods

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  • Eflite Radian XL with power mods

    Flew my Radian XL that I've upgrades with some power mods - HobbyKing Gliderdrive motor, 1120kv on 2200mah 4s battery, HobbyKing YEP 60A ESC, stock prop. Still waiting for my Aeronautics 12X5 3-blade folding prop.
    Here are a couple of vids I took flying at the same time with my buddy's stock XL. During a paired fly-by, you can see how much more get up and go modded XL has. When the angle and perspective changed, it looks like the 2 are evenly matched but look at the angle of climb and how much quicker the modded one got up to altitude. Ultimately, the top speed didn't change a huge lot, but the ability to climb at steep angles unimpeded is what sets it apart from the stock one.
    I edited out a lot of the parts where the planes were too high to see. The first one was done with a Sony Webbie. The second one is a short flight captured with a Mobius.



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    • #3
      Boy Vipe! That's one honking motor! So do you like it better with the new motor? Can you send me some of that weather?? What a beautiful sky! Loved seeing you two up there at the same time. :)
      Lauren

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      • #4
        Love that sky! Why the 3 blader? Will a 13 inch prop hit the wing root when folded?

        As a general rule the 2 bladed prop will out pull (is more efficient) a 3 bladed prop all things held equal and the tips are kept out of the mach rise.

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        • #5
          Lauren, I very much like the new motor. It gives the XL that extra bit that takes much of the frustration out of getting up to altitude with the stock set up. It also provides that instant power up in those "oops" moments when one suddenly decides it's best to do a "go around". The other 3 have also ordered more powerful motors/ESCs. 2 have elected to go with the HobbyKing Turnigy 35mm 1450kv motor and stay on 3 cells. That one will probably work well if they also get a bigger, pitchier prop like on the Mystique. I have something similar (1250kv motor) on my Mystique RES and it "hauls" and we know that the 2 planes are close in weight. The fastest is my BoT with the Gliderdrive 1120kv on 4 cells and a 14" prop. I'm not sure the foam XL can take that kind of acceleration and speed. Might be fun to try but I'll give the 12x5 3-blade a go first.
          I was hoping for a video of 4 but that may never happen as one of us lives out of town. But who knows, several people who watch us fly ours, have become captivated by them and may get one for themselves. Unfortunately, nobody in town has any stock. I think our 4 was the biggest single private purchase here.
          An hour after that video was taken, all those clouds got together and held hands and we got high winds and storms. We're in our "rainy season" now but hour by hour, day by day, the weather changes and we get a bit of everything. We fly in the morning and after lunch, we hide under cover. I'd send some to you if I could but by the time it got there, it would have turned to crap.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by KJD View Post
            Love that sky! Why the 3 blader? Will a 13 inch prop hit the wing root when folded?

            As a general rule the 2 bladed prop will out pull (is more efficient) a 3 bladed prop all things held equal and the tips are kept out of the mach rise.
            I just like them. Of course, the 3-blader I'm getting has a bit more pitch. I have a similar set up on my regular Radian - bigger motor/ESC. Comparing the stock 2-blade with the pitchier 3-blade, the 3-B is much more powerful and pulls more aggressively.
            I don't think a 13 inch would hit the wing. I think it'll even handle a 14" no problem. The new ESC is big enough. In fact, if I put on the same 14" 2-B from my Bird of Time (same motor), the XL will go like stink but I just don't want to risk the foam or the motor housing. On my first power up with the 3-blade Radian, I throttle up too fast and it ripped the whole cowl off the plane. I had to dead stick with the whole motor/cowl hanging from one motor wire. After getting it down, everyone had a good laugh as they all know me to be a sort of "Tim the Tool Man Taylor" (MORE POWER) at the field. I've programmed a medium soft start on it now.

            PS. I should have mentioned..... Since the XL has quite a fat body at the front, the stock blades can't fold up against the body very well. A longer blade would stick out even further when folded. The better route to go would be a wider yoke but those are pricey from Esprit.
            Last edited by xviper; Jul 4, 2016, 08:43 PM. Reason: After thought.

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            • #7
              If going to all the cost of an upgrade and buying a new prop, I'm not seeing the desire of wanting a 3 blader. For the same power (whatever that is) a 2 blader will pull better.

              Motor housing, would I think of this as motor mount? I hope HK made the housing strong enough. Taking about power what is your amp draw (power). The idea of a soft start is a good one. And by the same thinking (weak mount in foam) would a soft prop break. Esprit, you mean Aeronaut? You might want to look at some off set "Z" yokes which help the blade lay flatter against the fuselage.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by KJD View Post
                If going to all the cost of an upgrade and buying a new prop, I'm not seeing the desire of wanting a 3 blader. For the same power (whatever that is) a 2 blader will pull better.

                Motor housing, would I think of this as motor mount? I hope HK made the housing strong enough. Taking about power what is your amp draw (power). The idea of a soft start is a good one. And by the same thinking (weak mount in foam) would a soft prop break. Esprit, you mean Aeronaut? You might want to look at some off set "Z" yokes which help the blade lay flatter against the fuselage.
                HK? Did you mean Horizon?
                I just like the look of a 3-blader and they sound different, too. All things being equal, yes, a 2-blade will pull better but I don't keep all things equal. I change the pitch and diameter or both.
                The Radians have their motor mounts as part of the nose cowl and that cowl is held on by a limited number of small screws into a small plastic support in the foam. It's easy to yank that out.
                Esprit Model sells the Aeronaut blades. If I really wanted a simple process, I'd just install the Mystique 2-blade set up. It's an off set yoke. But where's the fun in that? If the 3-blade doesn't give me what I want, I'll go the Mystique route. It's a 14x8, off set yoke and it pulls the Mystique like a freight train.
                I don't know what the watts are or the amp draw. I'll know when I install my telemetry. I fly for fun and what feels good. I don't worry too terribly much about technicalities or how things calculate out. That just become more work in an endeavor that's not supposed to be work. I've had nearly 50 planes, of which I still have 37 of them. I learn from trial and error and from comparing what I see in the marketplace. That's my fun and that's my way. So far, it's worked out pretty good for me.

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                • #9
                  Talking about odd marketing the Mystique 2-blade prop assembly with those flexible blades costs less than just the spinner assembly. FYI.

                  What I meant by equal is power into the prop.

                  Wow, the Radian front end isn't glued on, just held on with some screws?

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by KJD View Post
                    Talking about odd marketing the Mystique 2-blade prop assembly with those flexible blades costs less than just the spinner assembly. FYI.

                    Wow, the Radian front end isn't glued on, just held on with some screws?
                    Well, there is a sort of "half ass" attempt at gluing. Give it a moderate yank and it's off.

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                    • #11
                      Motor housing as in motor case. I think you said you are using some HK motor. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...earch=gliderdr
                      I would hope the motor housing (body/case) is strong enough to transfer the torque to the motor mount (glider). It is not unheard of to see motor housing fail, like the end caps twist.

                      An outrunner in a can. I wonder if rear mounting supports can be added to the can to add support to the cantilevered motor mounting design. As the can isn't spinning it doesn't need to be bearinged, unlike the Hyperian solution for classic outrunners.

                      Maybe just blocks between the motor housing and the foam nose.

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                      • #12
                        OK, I see what you mean by "motor mount". I'm referring to the part on the plane's cowl that the motor is held onto. In the case of any Radian, the motor mounts from behind the firewall (or mount). The only thing the mount has to do is hold the weight of the motor. Once the motor is running, the prop pulls the motor (and the cowl or mount) forward. The only thing on the motor than can detach is if the shaft pulls out of the motor. Unlike a motor that is mounted forward of the firewall with one of those X-mounts, where the if the "C" clip falls out, the whole motor shaft (with the motor outer casing) can pull off the motor.
                        In the case of the Gliderdrive in the XL, the biggest worry is that the thrust will yank off the complete cowl. However, in the case of the XL, it would appear that the cowl attachment is quite strong. It's the original Radian where the cowl is held on by 3 tiny screws and a little bit of glue. That one was meant to be easily changed if damaged in a crash.
                        I had a similar concern about the motor's weight on that cantilever mounting method and was going to add some kind of support to the rear of the motor but looking at it now, the whole set up is pretty strong, even though I had to dremel out a small cross member so the motor can go in. I'll be keeping an eye on it. I think it would take a very hard landing to break that cowl.

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                        • #13
                          I don't think the motor is all that excessively heavy. My concern is about gyroscopic loads from that large spinning prop. Cyclical loads are murder on single point (plane) mounting systems. Firewall? I assume that the Radians mount to the spinner ring (looking at the gliderdrive). There isn't a second bulkhead (firewall) a few inches aft of the spinner that the motor mounts to (ALA the ROCHobby Vtail, and Parkzone Calypso)?

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                          • #14
                            The Radians have a single firewall built into the cowl piece. Motor behind, motor bolts go in from front. Radian uses a spinner backing plate, blades go on that, nose cone covers that. XL has prop adapter over motor shaft, spinner and blades on that, nose cone over that.

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                            • #15
                              Had another wonderful day of flying my XL this morning. My buddy had his stock XL and another buddy flew my original Radian just to see if he'd like to take it off my hands. If he doesn't, I'll just keep it. I still enjoy flying it.
                              My modded XL continues to get better and better. It climbs "like a love sick angel", as another flying buddy says. No lift until I got up to about 900 feet, then it just went UP like someone turned on a vacuum cleaner. By 1300 feet (less than a minute later), I got scared because I don't yet have my Return Home module installed, so up went the spoilers and it slowly descended to a more comfortable altitude. Our police helicopter usually flies over us around 1000 feet or less just to see what we're flying that day, so I didn't want to get in trouble.
                              There was a bit of wind and my buddy's XL was having a hard time getting up to altitude. He usually got frustrated around 600 feet and gives up and just glides from there. I think he'll like the XL more once he gets his higher KV motor and a higher pitch prop and bigger ESC, which I gave him already.
                              I was going to try the Mystique prop but it's around 14" and I'm not sure that's a good idea. Can't wait for my 3-blader to get here.
                              I installed my Lemon telemetry and the altitude reading is very handy. The amp reading is also very informative. At full throttle, (4s, stock prop, 1120kv motor) it told me it was pulling 27 amps. I'm surprised it was that little.
                              Of note, the Lemon telemetry conflicts with the 636A telemetry. Close range (within about 100 feet) the display acts up and it thinks the voltage is too low and buzzes like crazy. Once the plane is beyond that range, the Lemon seems to take over and all is well. I think I'm going to take out the 636A and put in a "normal" Rx when I install my Bigaole Return Home. The "Biggy" has it's own stabilizer and limiter (and can be disabled with a switch) that works so nice on a sailplane, I'll keep the 636A for something else.

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                              • #16
                                Jeez it must have been teeny tiny in the sky!!
                                Lauren

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                                • #17
                                  Originally posted by Flygirl View Post
                                  Jeez it must have been teeny tiny in the sky!!
                                  Actually, not bad. I've now got the underside wing tip sections paint a fluorescent orange and those can be seen quite high up. I've had the original Radian up around that same altitude and the extra 0.6 meter of span on the XL makes a huge difference. I've had the Mystique up to 2500 feet. Now, talk about "teeny weeny tiny"! Literally blink too long and it was gone. However, at that height, there was plenty of time to find it so long as one immediately threw on the spoilers and started to spiral. Luckily, if it couldn't be found by the time it got to about 1000 feet, lower spoilers, hit "Return Home", set throttle and go for a drink, then look up and it'll be circling overhead in a nice 300 foot circle or figure 8. I'm not going that high with the XL till the Return module is installed.

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                                  • #18
                                    Which module are you using again?
                                    Lauren

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                                    • #19
                                      I'm using this one ..........................

                                      This one is a bit cheaper and works exactly the same but they never have any stock (I'm using it in my Mystique and SkyMule) ........................

                                      If you pair it up with a failsafe Rx and it gets out of range, it'll go to default and set throttle and return home (or you could just turn off the Tx). Of course, you need enough battery left for it to power itself home. The original Radian can come home without throttle if it's high enough. Some have even been known to land themselves. However, the Mystique and XL will "porpoise" the whole way back and if too far, it'll just porpoise itself into the ground before it gets home.

                                      I have also added this telemetry to the XL (on all my gliders) ..................................

                                      Depending on the placement, it can work extremely well (2500 feet or more) or have limited range (500 feet). This is extremely handy to know if the return home will have enough altitude to turn around and set course for home. When the RTH is activated, it can take as much as 50 feet of altitude for the turn around. If you fly it behind a hill, it likely won't make it but you can always see the (last) altitude and power it up past the top of the hill before hitting RTH. Without a variometer (which can be costly as you need another type of telemetry unit), seeing the real time readout of the altitude is great to know when the plane has found a thermal or updraft or to know when the plane is lifting too aggressively (time to hit those spoilers and begin a downward spiral).

                                      I have yet to test the RTH module on the XL. I only installed it yesterday and the rains have come. I'm a bit concerned that the stabilizer on the stock Rx may interfere with the stabilizer on the Bigaole but bench tests have shown that it might be fine. I do know, however, that the stock Rx's telemetry interfere with the Lemon at close range (less than about 150 feet) but beyond that, the Lemon takes over and all is well. I may replace the 636A with something else if this continues to annoy me.

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                                      • #20
                                        Vipe, this product description cracked me up.... "The auto balance function could avoid exploding and especially helpful for beginners." Hehehe! It's pretty cool though. Might get one...
                                        Lauren

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