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

[Lextek]

Has anyone replaced the stock wheels with Dubro low-bounce?

[Terrible T]

Hopefully, this is where I should be to ask the following question/s related to a V1, A-10 Thunderbolt II, twin 80mm. Said A-10 was recently purchased from the original owner. At the time of the purchase said A-10 had not been in the air for 1.5 yrs. While going over the A-10 several items have been inspected/repaired. During this process a single, two wire bundle (red/Black) was discovered which seemed to have no function (see attachments).

The wire bundle goes into the fuselage from the battery area and doesn't seem to exit at any point along or outside it. Strobe and wing tip lights all work and are connected to the main wing control boards and the main control board. There is no power at the exposed wires of the bundle.

Wondering if the fuselage strobe lights (white/tail and dorsal) are supposed to work separately from separate power leads or off the same power lead from the control board? Currently they are working together off a single power lead originating from the control board. The user manual doesn't help much.

Thanks for your time.
Regards,

[xviper]

Can you follow that twin wire further back into the fuse to figure out where it ends up? If it's not a light, it may have been intended for powering a UBEC. Does the RX power up when you plug the flight batteries in?

[Terrible T]

Hey, xviper.

No, it does not appear to be an old UBEC bundle. The UBEC the plane was originally sold with is spliced into one of the main power leads (lipo motor wires to right motor). The RX is receiving its power from the UBEC as originally designed and it does power up when a lipo is brought online. Everything is working (flight controls / landing gear / etc.). All the lights on the plane also function. Thought maybe the bundle was originally a power lead to one of the two white strobe lights.

I have followed the wire bundle from the battery area back behind the main control board to the cavity/area where the power leads to the motors break out. Tugging on the bundle moderately produces resistance. I have not tried to pull the bundle free. Thought maybe I might be doing too much harm.

Do you know if each of the strobes were wired separately in the V1? Don't think they were, as the control board does not show any more connection points.

[xviper]

My old V1 went to a friend. I have the V2 now. I didn't touch the light wiring on either plane as they all seemed to work as they should. Sorry, I have no more ideas.

[Ah's Availble]

Hey, xviper.

No, it does not appear to be an old UBEC bundle. The UBEC the plane was originally sold with is spliced into one of the main power leads (lipo motor wires to right motor). The RX is receiving its power from the UBEC as originally designed and it does power up when a lipo is brought online. Everything is working (flight controls / landing gear / etc.). All the lights on the plane also function. Thought maybe the bundle was originally a power lead to one of the two white strobe lights.

I have followed the wire bundle from the battery area back behind the main control board to the cavity/area where the power leads to the motors break out. Tugging on the bundle moderately produces resistance. I have not tried to pull the bundle free. Thought maybe I might be doing too much harm.

Do you know if each of the strobes were wired separately in the V1? Don't think they were, as the control board does not show any more connection points.

One thought on this. The V1 I have has reverse thrust. Do you have reverse thrust operational on yours? Potential would be for the lead to be for the reverse thrust connection to the ESC unless that is also functioning.

[xviper]

One thought on this. The V1 I have has reverse thrust. Do you have reverse thrust operational on yours? Potential would be for the lead to be for the reverse thrust connection to the ESC unless that is also functioning.

A good guess, however, reverse thrust is generally a single yellow wire. In this case, there would be 2 single yellow wires that can be Y'd together. A red/black twinned wire is generally to supply power to something, usually an LED light or something like a JP retract system. But then again, the previous owner may have used a red/black wire to try to simply things for 2 reversing ESCs as those wires were twisted together in the 1st/2nd photos.

[RCAVI8T0R]

Could it have been an addition power set to power a sound card or other add ons? Have you removed the engine compartment to see if there is something installed there? I installed a sound card in mine to mimic the gun sounds while in flight.

[Terrible T]

Yes, RCACI8TOR I have removed the nacelles (repaired / improved the motor wiring). The red/black wire bundle does not appear in this unit or even at/on the exposed area where the nacelles were. A closer inspection from the battery compartment seems to show the bundle disappearing into the area where the two wing wiring bundles enter the battery compartment and subsequently attached to their respective boards.

This plane has no reverse thrust ESCs.

As indicated earlier all the systems on the plane are functioning properly. Given that they are, I'm going to leave everything as is for now (just because). If all goes well and I don't turn the plane into popcorn on the maiden, I'll jerk the wire bundle.

Thanks, xviper and RCACI8TOR for your input. Its appreciated.

Regards,

[RCAVI8T0R]

The only other thing I can think of if it hasn't been mentioned is the battery voltage monitor lead that comes with Spektrum receivers. I use them on all of my EDFs as a low voltage warning in leu of my timer. Looking more closely to the picture you provided, the wires appear similar to what I install on my planes. Just a thought.

[Terrible T]

Certainly possible. Thanks for the suggestion RCAVI8TOR. Maybe the past owner had used something similar. Time will tell.