Official Freewing Twin 80mm/90mm A-10 Thunderbolt II Thread

[Chkwoot]

Have a question do you normally cg with landing gears closed or opened?

[sam51401]

Closed, inflight config.

[Laserdude]

Usually the manual will state if the gear is to be up or down when setting cg. If it doesn't then I look at how the weight will shift when the gear is up or down. In the case of the A10 the weight shifts back when the gear is down. I for sure want the plane to be more stable on landing approach so I would balance it with the gear down.

[Laserdude]

Having forgot to start my timer in the past I now set it to run when the throttle stick is advanced. One less thing for me to remember.

[scootergenie]

Me too. Always set my timer on the throttle. I'm tired of procrastinating..... Gotta get one of these. I enjoy my little 64mm one so much, I know I'll be happy with this one.

[thisguy65]

With the A-10 gear down is book CG and gear up is 86mm. Get it a little nose heavy and fly it

[crxmanpat]

Having forgot to start my timer in the past I now set it to run when the throttle stick is advanced. One less thing for me to remember.

I recently got a Graupner Mz-24 Pro to replace my aging JR XP9303. I can now program my timer to the throttle stick, with timer running from 1/4 stick and up. I also have a switch set to reset the timer after taxi to the runway, and another switch to provide a voice alert on time remaining so I don't have to look down at the radio. I lost an F-22 doing that once.

And agreed with the above. Set CG with gear down. Mine is currently 86mm with gear extended.

[bbolz]

Thanks XVioer! From my pattern flying days I remember how critical flying surface alignment can be. I truly believe the smaller 5300 6s batteries will make a big difference. It's ready to go and I hope to maiden it again today, and hopefully I can remember to start the timer this time! Need to have some reserve juice for landings!

[xviper]

Thanks XVioer! From my pattern flying days I remember how critical flying surface alignment can be. I truly believe the smaller 5300 6s batteries will make a big difference. It's ready to go and I hope to maiden it again today, and hopefully I can remember to start the timer this time! Need to have some reserve juice for landings!

Good luck with your A-10. I'm impressed that you flew "pattern". It takes skill and discipline to do that. I'm lacking in both.
You should tie your timer to the throttle position. Then you'll never have to worry about it again. Take a look in the timer menu and see if you can see a line that says something about throttle. You should be able to select something like "start when throttle is at XX%". I usually choose 25%. Then tell it to do it "one time only". If you don't, it'll beep every time the throttle goes past 25% (up OR down - very annoying). You can test it without the plane being plugged in.

[bbolz]

Thanks. Know about the throttle timer setup. I agree, I think I'll use that too. Today I flew it and ran out of juice again after 3 minutes. I'm using Glacier 5300 mah 35c batteries. I think I may have to go to a higher C value to get a bit more time. I bench tested i this eveoning and checked thbatteries after 3 min 20 seconds. Ivnoticed the power dropping off before I pulled the batteries to check them. I had 20% left one one and 5% left on the other one. Think I need to try new batteries? I have a couple of new 6000 mah Admiral 75C but they are too heavy and a tight fit. I'll try a couple of othere batteries I have, but I am thinkingthis may be a problem.

Also do you remember how to calibrate the ESC? high throttle, hook up the batteries and listen for the beeps?

[xviper]

Thanks. Know about the throttle timer setup. I agree, I think I'll use that too. Today I flew it and ran out of juice again after 3 minutes. I'm using Glacier 5300 mah 35c batteries. I think I may have to go to a higher C value to get a bit more time. I bench tested i this eveoning and checked thbatteries after 3 min 20 seconds. Ivnoticed the power dropping off before I pulled the batteries to check them. I had 20% left one one and 5% left on the other one. Think I need to try new batteries? I have a couple of new 6000 mah Admiral 75C but they are too heavy and a tight fit. I'll try a couple of othere batteries I have, but I am thinkingthis may be a problem.

Also do you remember how to calibrate the ESC? high throttle, hook up the batteries and listen for the beeps?

I've seen tests done some time ago on the other forum where popular brand name LiPos where rated for actual "C" capability. The "best" ones were just able to put out an actual 50% of what the label says. So, a lesser brand name battery will only give you less than that, some much less. You'll be lucky if your 35C Glacier is giving you less than 15C due to its age and probably a little more than that new. Some people say that for our EDFs, a 35 to 40C battery will do just fine but you aren't getting that in real world performance. Whenever I can, I buy brand name LiPos of the highest C rating I can justify and afford at the time. I care very little about those say what a waste of battery the really high C ones are. The "proof is in the pudding". Nearly a decade of being in this hobby, after hundreds of batteries of many brands, ratings and sizes, the higher C ones I have are the ones that consistently perform the best and last the most number of charge/discharge cycles.
Insofar as a battery being "heavier" than another of similar mah, but higher C, IMO, they are heavier because they pack more "stuff" inside. Just looking (for example) 5000mah, 6s size - A "carbon" or "Graphene" or Turnigy "Heavy Duty" battery will weigh more than a "regular" Admiral or A-Spec or Turnigy blue. Then you've got the newer HobbyKing Graphene Panther LiPos, which are the heaviest of them all. If you use a "regular" 5000mah as a reference, the Carbon or Graphene performs and flies more like a 5400mah to 5500mah. If you compare the weights, ever wonder why the same mah size varies so much? They weigh more and cost more because they (on the most part) ARE more. I say, "on the most part" because those same tests showed that the "late, great" Hyperion and Thunder Power batteries got blown out of the water by other, "lesser" batteries. Hyp. and TP used to be the most expensive LiPos you could buy and many considered them to be unbeatable and worth the money. They used to be triple and even quadruple the price of other batteries.

[thisguy65]

Viper. What’s your go to brand? I’ve had good performance out of admiral and margin better performance with Roaring Tops

[xviper]

My "go to" brand may not reflect the prevailing majority but for best performance at a "doesn't break the bank" class, my Gens Ace is the leader. Then comes the Admirals as the "bang for the buck" variety. In the next 1/2 tier down brand, I've got the HobbyKing Graphenes with the HobbyKing Turnigy Heavy Duty just slightly behind. Next time I need batteries, I'm, going to try the latest HobbyKing Graphene Panther. A friend got a few of the 2200mah, 3s Panther and compared to his Graphenes, he said the Panther was a significant amount ahead in terms of "punch" and flight time. He's stopped flying this year so I may offer to buy those from him to see for myself before going for the 5000mah, 6s ones.

[crxmanpat]

Also do you remember how to calibrate the ESC? high throttle, hook up the batteries and listen for the beeps?

1. Transmitter on, throttle to full.
2. Plug in battery to RX.
3. Wait for the first set of beeps.
4. Immediately after the first beeps, throttle to off.
5. Unplug everything and you're ready to go.

[flyAA]

1. Transmitter on, throttle to full.
2. Plug in battery to RX.
3. Wait for the first set of beeps.
4. Immediately after the first beeps, throttle to off.
5. Unplug everything and you're ready to go.

Do you like to run your throttle trim to zero before calibrating?

[crxmanpat]

Throttle trim should always be neutral when calibrating.

[flyAA]

Throttle trim should always be neutral when calibrating.

Interesting. I’ve read multiple places to run it all the way down. Thanks

[crxmanpat]

Throttle stick, yes. Trim, no. You typically do not mess with throttle trim on electrics. The only time I have adjusted mine was when I had a sound system in my CarbonZ T-28 to sync it with the prop.

[flyAA]

Throttle stick, yes. Trim, no. You typically do not mess with throttle trim on electrics. The only time I have adjusted mine was when I had a sound system in my CarbonZ T-28 to sync it with the prop.

Good to know thanks. Lots of misinformation floating around on the interwebs.

[xviper]

Interesting. I’ve read multiple places to run it all the way down. Thanks

You probably heard that from me. Some Eflite (Spektrum) planes won't bind or initialize if the throttle trim is left as is (in the mid-point). It thinks you've got your throttle "on". I personally put ALL my throttle trim on my models to the bottom before I bind and leave it there for the throttle calibration. The only one that I don't do that is the new Eflite V-22. I bind with T. trim to the bottom, then set my throttle cut accordingly. Then I raise the trim till the rotors start to "idle". On this plane Eflite wants the throttle to never shut off during flight. It has to double as a multicopter.
Changing throttle trim is not really messing around with the electronics. It's just what you want to do. I want "zero" throttle to be "zero" throttle, not some artificially induced idle setting. Electrics don't need to idle like a gas engine. As for "misinformation"? That's up to you to decide. I don't consider it misinformation. It's just "different" information.