Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread

[Elbee]

Odd I typed “have you” and it left off you. I went in twice and edited it to add you and it won’t add. Is the site editing pronouns?

Not on my watch.

Best, LB

[Evan D]

Odd I typed “have you” and it left off you. I went in twice and edited it to add you and it won’t add. Is the site editing pronouns?

[Evan D]

Have you put a wattmeter on it?

[bps]

Thanks I'll look into it. The F4 does come with a 130amp though.

[Evan D]

The new Eurofighter, 90mm uses a 120A reversing one. Works well and mine pulls 117A.

[bps]

I am interested in adding reverse thrust to my F4. We have a small flying field and getting it stopped is questionable. The only thing I can find is the Avian 130 amp esc but it has a 6 volt Bec. The Muti connection board is rated at 5.5 volts is my understanding? Any options out there would be most helpful in my case. Thanks!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Can you use the Freewing program card to get rid of the low voltage cutoff?

I'm not sure about that.

[Coconut]

Can you use the Freewing program card to get rid of the low voltage cutoff?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Can you let me have email address Alphonso? Would love to try these out.

orders@smc-racing.com

I'm now using the 5900's in my 90mm F-4/F16/F18/A-10/Mig-29/Avanti. Love 'em!!!

[locharrow]

Can you let me have email address Alphonso? Would love to try these out.

[Alphonso]

"Danny's new SMC HiV 5900's".......... Be great for the grass take offs....can't get them in the UK ......It's my birthday next year ......anyone ..

Danny can send to UK direct from factory, email him with your choice and required connector. Postage is really cheap but slow. He also gives 15% discount as he isn't importing into USA first.
I ordered 6 packs totalling 400 quid, postage was $70. With the discount, the added cost over his list price was only $9 extra and it included all taxes. They arrived at my door in Kent with no extra duty to pay. Another friend at our club has just done the same.

So yeh, . . . . . Happy birthday

[locharrow]

"Danny's new SMC HiV 5900's".......... Be great for the grass take offs....can't get them in the UK ......It's my birthday next year ......anyone ..

[Hugh Wiedman]

I too just ordered the 5900s. Been flying my 90s on Admiral 6000 pros and my 80s on 5000. I decided to go 5900 due to the similar weight of the 5000s with the added mah of the 6000. This will be my first set of LIHVs. I have read about disabling the LVC and replacing the UBEC for a receiver pack. Is this something I will need to do, or are the LIHVs just plug and go?

First just plug in a fully charged HiV and count the number of beeps from the ESC to make sure it beeps 6 times. If so, you're good to go. If not, then the ESC believes it is a 7S and the low voltage safeguard will kick in too early (with about 50-60% of battery left). It does this by first pulsing the throttle and eventually will cut off completely (saving your battery but destroying your plane ) I have 2 of the early F-4's, one the ESC gives me 6 beeps (it's good to go), the other did not. Same thing with 2 early F-18's. My old Avanti/Stinger90/F16/A-10/Corsair/Spitfire/B-24/Mig 29 and Eurofighter all worked without re-programming, so it's not 100% either way.

I then had a buddy who really knows electronics reprogram the ESC to get rid of the low voltage cutoff all together . With that one, the ESC does not beep at all when you first plug it in with a fully charged HiV (but beeps 6 times with a battery that is at a maximum of 4.28 v per cell), but you can drain the battery to 0 without the ESC cutting off early. If you have that issue of not getting the correct beeps, let me know and I'll have him give you a rundown on what he did, but I do remember he first got the online manual for the particular Freewing ESC and just followed directions (something I'm not very good at, according to my CO). I'm thinking the newer ESC's all handle the HiV's. The Castle ESC's I have are easily programmed for HiV with their Castle Link and following instructions on their website. My buddy has reprogrammed several Freewing ESC's (as that's all we use now are the HiV batteries) with the exception of a Freewing 8S ESC in his F22, which for some reason it couldn't be done. The 8S ESC in my Eurofighter handled HiV just fine.

I would also recommend before flying, charge up the HiV fully, put it in the jet and do a "simulated" flight on the bench to make sure the cutoff isn't affecting it. Drain it down to 3.7 per cell or lower then you won't have any concerns that it's good to go.

[rlcamden]

Been flying both my F-4's on the SMC HiV 6200's weight 814 gr. I have the 12 blade inrunner in all my 90mm's and get over 4 minutes on that battery. Couple days ago I picked up Danny's new SMC HiV 5900's, which weigh only 740gr. Balanced it out with those packs and took her up. Flew outstanding, a bit quicker, shorter off the grass and a "hair" more maneuverable. Timed out at 3:50 with 24% left on the pack, so I think I'm going to use those packs for a while. I also tried them in my F-18 (was using 6200) and my Mig 29 (which I was using the SMC HiV 5300's at 130 gr each-they have a slightly higher C and more punch on take-off than the 5900's). I need to fly everything more on the 5900's but after the first few flights on various EDF's, I think the 5900's are my new go to pack considering the C/Weight/mah.

I too just ordered the 5900s. Been flying my 90s on Admiral 6000 pros and my 80s on 5000. I decided to go 5900 due to the similar weight of the 5000s with the added mah of the 6000. This will be my first set of LIHVs. I have read about disabling the LVC and replacing the UBEC for a receiver pack. Is this something I will need to do, or are the LIHVs just plug and go?

[Hugh Wiedman]

Been flying both my F-4's on the SMC HiV 6200's weight 814 gr. I have the 12 blade inrunner in all my 90mm's and get over 4 minutes on that battery. Couple days ago I picked up Danny's new SMC HiV 5900's, which weigh only 740gr. Balanced it out with those packs and took her up. Flew outstanding, a bit quicker, shorter off the grass and a "hair" more maneuverable. Timed out at 3:50 with 24% left on the pack, so I think I'm going to use those packs for a while. I also tried them in my F-18 (was using 6200) and my Mig 29 (which I was using the SMC HiV 5300's at 130 gr each-they have a slightly higher C and more punch on take-off than the 5900's). I need to fly everything more on the 5900's but after the first few flights on various EDF's, I think the 5900's are my new go to pack considering the C/Weight/mah.

[DCORSAIR]

Got to say…..weather today was warm and black with thunder in the air. About 8 o’clock the wind dropped and as everything was in the car and ready I went out to the park. On the way over a black ominous cloud was drifting in but no rain and no people. Good flight as it got darker as the cloud arrived. Set up for landing, way out and watched it come in. First time the lights have really popped on approach, coming in dirty, nose up….f##k me I thought I was watching the real thing coming in. Just gets better and better.

Yes sir, I remember one time when I had my F-4, I was bringing it in on a nice evening with the sunsetting and got chills when seeing it on final approach, looks awesome on final, here is mine using no gyro either and sorry for the rest of the video, was my sons first time using his phone for a video, lol.

[jetpltrich]

Got to say…..weather today was warm and black with thunder in the air. About 8 o’clock the wind dropped and as everything was in the car and ready I went out to the park. On the way over a black ominous cloud was drifting in but no rain and no people. Good flight as it got darker as the cloud arrived. Set up for landing, way out and watched it come in. First time the lights have really popped on approach, coming in dirty, nose up….f##k me I thought I was watching the real thing coming in. Just gets better and better.

Love the lights! Flown many a time at dusk because it was the calmest time of the day. I won’t fly my EDF’s that don’t have lights at dusk. And yes, when the F-4 settles in on approach it gives me chills. It reminds me of my youth watching them come in on the ship.

Former Jet Pilot
SWA Capt. retired

[locharrow]

Got to say…..weather today was warm and black with thunder in the air. About 8 o’clock the wind dropped and as everything was in the car and ready I went out to the park. On the way over a black ominous cloud was drifting in but no rain and no people. Good flight as it got darker as the cloud arrived. Set up for landing, way out and watched it come in. First time the lights have really popped on approach, coming in dirty, nose up….f##k me I thought I was watching the real thing coming in. Just gets better and better.

[Elbee]

locharrow, great news, Sir. Best, LB

[locharrow]

Successful repair ......good flight today, just one as dog walkers arrived as I was changing the battery. I was watching for how it behaved after the repair and by jings (Scottish exclamation) it does not take long for the beast to go a long way! A few seconds straight line flight after it passes and it is just a dot in the sky! Battery cells at 3.7 ---3.6 again so looks like I'll stick with that extra wee while in the air.