P38 and eagle tree guardian install.

[Andyxros]

Hi all, I have just got hold of the FlightLine p38 and I’m wanting to install a guardian to her to limit crashes etc. I have these in other planes and work great for me. The problem is this p38 has lots of servos and only a 5amp bec so I would think all this would be overloading past 5amps?? I was thinking I could use one bec to power the guardian Aux port, (Cut the +wire from the rx to guardian)and one bec from the other motor to power the rx but with the distribution board for flaps/ail etc the power will still all be linked anyway? If anyone could help it would be great thanks.

[slumi]

I am using the Eagletree Guardian in all my planes.
I don’t quite understand your question.

The Guardian is powered over Aileron cable from the receiver.
The power consumption of the Guardian is in Milli-Amperes.
You shouldn’t be concerned.

The receiver again receives power over the BEC or an extra receiver-battery.

I even kicked out the AS3X SAFE config. in Eflite planes.
The Guardian is best in 2D mode and 3D mode.
Supports wind to 25 mph.

[Andyxros]

Thanks for reply slumi but I was making sure that adding a guardian won’t draw more than 5amps from the esc bec. The guardian is constantly making adjustments to the servos and constantly drawing power. I mean if the plane works without one the power draw might be up at 5amps. With the guardian it might draw more and push the bec to fail and crash.

[slumi]

The Guardian is only in between and doesn’t consume that much. With 5A BEC you should be save.

Start with a calm flight and do 3D later.

I think power consumption also is related to C rating of your lipo.
It always the motor /ESC that consumes most.

[Andyxros]

Yes it probably will be safe. I definitely won’t be in 3D mode no way 😅😅. Just as a rule of thumb they say each servo draws 0.5amp. This plane has 16 all gear included!!! If all were to work at once the 5amp bec wouldn’t cope??? I have lots of planes running the guardian and I think there the best insurance policy if you loose orientation etc. I’m just a little concerned of how many servos and power draws this p38 has. If at any point this draws more than 5amps she’s going down.

[slumi]

Look into the manual which ESC’s are required, which lipos to use (C rating ?).
With stock setup, everything should work.
It will not fail because of the Guardian.

[Andyxros]

I have two 60amp esc’S. But they only output 5amps to the rx and servos. It’s not really a point of what the batteries output has. The batteries are well capable of running the motors and have c rating of 70. That is separate once the bec have reduced power down to 5volts@5amps to run servos, RX , lights etc. This is my point. My plane has 16 servos in total for flight controls landing gear flaps etc, an RX and a guardian. Which is all running off 5 amps only form the BEC from the ESC. If there was a senario of all servos working at one time it would draw well over 5 amps and the rx will brownout. . I’ve been thinking anyway of using the right motor esc to work the guardian which in turn will work the ailerons elviator and rudder. The left motor esc will work lights, gear and door and flaps and the RX. There will be 2 separate draws then and neither should exceed 5amp current draw.

[taz101]

If you have the stock power setup on the FliteLine P-38, then you actually have 10a powering everything.
They are setup to run both of the BECs in parallel, giving you 5v at 10amps.

LURCH

[Andyxros]

Taz101. Is this 100% true ??? It’s the answer to all my questions if so. It is a standard set up and both ESC’S are connected in a y lead. I wouldn’t have though it would be 10 amps though just 5amps still as they are parallel connected not serial connected. For instance if this was batteries at 14.8 volts the end result would be 14.8volts. In A serial connector it would be 29.6volts. My thinking was parallel wiring was the same outcome no what and serial doubles it??? Or is it different with BEC’S and amps ??

[slumi]

You don’t need the Guardian for flaps and landing gear.
It’s most needed for Aileron and Elevator.
Don’t run all your servos over a stabilizer.
All the other cables go directly to the receiver.

[Andyxros]

Slumi yes this is true. I will only run ailerons elivator and rudders through the guardian but all the other servos,lights landing gear are still drawing power, even more when they are activated. The guardian constantly makes the ail eliv rudder servos move more so than with out a guardian fitted thus drawing more amps all the time. If you then activate flaps and gear at the same time as the guardian is working all the flight controls then all servos will be working for that second or so, which in turn could cause a brown out with only a 5amp feed. If taz101 is correct that because there is 2, 5amp BEC’S connected in parallel (not serial,can’t do that) then 10amps would safely power everything.

[slumi]

You have two ESC’s with 5A BEC each, which both the receiver. So the receiver has now plenty of power which he distributes.
The Guardian only takes part of the power, since landing gear, flaps, lamps etc. are not connected to it.

[Andyxros]

Yes, so in theory I have 10amps to play with? It must be right because standard out of the box flying this plane in my opinion has too many servos etc to even run off only 5amps.

[slumi]

I think the you need to see if your receiver supports 10A BEC.
If the Guardian causes a problem, you can switch the gyro off.

[slumi]

There is also the “Scorpion Backup Guard”.
It is most used on helicopters which pull a lots of power.

The “Scorpion Backup Guard” jumps in if your BEC fails.
You need to have a free port on the receiver.

It only performs for 30 seconds, but that’s enough time to emergency land your plane in case of power failure.

[xviper]

It only performs for 30 seconds, but that’s enough time to emergency land your plane in case of power failure.

A Scorpion Back Up guard comes as 500mah. I've used them in the past on airplanes and 500mah will power a RX and all the servos on a standard plane for many, many minutes. With a gyro working many of the servos all the time, it'll still last a good deal of a whole flight should the BEC take a dump. I flew one short flight with the UBEC unplugged just to see.

[slumi]

“Scorpion Backup Guard” only powers the servos, not the motor.
So it’s only some time to glide your plane down.
It’s mostly used on helicopters, which then go into auto rotation.

[slumi]

Xviper is right, if your ESC’s continue to run the motors.

[Andyxros]

Thanks for all the replies been a big help. I’m going to plug everything in as a standard set up with guardian and use all the controls at once. See what happens should be ok as long as I get 10 amps. Will look into those scorpion things they sound like a good back up as this is my big fear loosing power to the rx.

[xviper]

Thanks for all the replies been a big help. I’m going to plug everything in as a standard set up with guardian and use all the controls at once. See what happens should be ok as long as I get 10 amps. Will look into those scorpion things they sound like a good back up as this is my big fear loosing power to the rx.

Don't forget to buy the charging cable adaptor. Rule of thumb is each servo takes about 0.5 amp. A typical plane with retracts and flaps can take up to 5 amps and even then, it's not likely you're going to operate all the servos at once during a flight. If you are, it's going to look like a bit of a spastic flight.