Niall

I was thinking that wouldn't it be nice to have the ability to tell the ESC that if the cell voltage is below a certain level at initial power on that it would not allow you to fly, let's 4V per cell. This would mean that you would be guaranteed not to use an uncharged pack, I know its happened to most of us at least once where you've been flying all day and you put a previously used pack that you haven't charged back into the model and fly it. In the same way that some ESC's allow you to program a cell cut off voltage, why not a power on cell voltage. It would certainly help us not to damage packs and maybe save a model or two...

Maybe its already out there but I haven't seen it

Just a thought...
Niall

ArchNemesis

Great Idea... 

rosnik

+1 ! nice idea!

ytell

+ 1

Silent-AV8R

On my 18MZ I have it set up to display the motor pack voltage. So a quick glance let's me know what the voltage is. I also have an alarm set to warn me of low voltage (under load). Pretty handy feature. One quick way to avoid the low pack situation is to simply check the pack before take off. I use one of the testers Hyperions sells (and everyone else copied). Just one more way to cross check.

http://www.rclipos.com/HP-EOSSENTRY.htm

najary

Hi Silent_AV8R,

Is it possible with the 18MZ to have two different alarms for the motor battery?

One as you have and the other one if the motor battery is lower the 41V (for ensample) when you turn on the transmitter?

Best regards,

Isaac Najary

OhD

I've been using a redundant battery setup that taps off the bottom two cells of the balance connector on the motor battery pack. I also have a onboard meter from Dreamworks that will read two voltages. This allows me to check both the rec/servo pack and the motor pack before each flight to assure both are charged.

Jim O

OhD

Note that I assume if the bottom two cells are fully charged the whole pack is. (My two 5s packs are permanently connected as a 10s pack.)

Jim O

Silent-AV8R

They would be one and the same. Any time the voltage drops below the set threshold the alarm will activate (vibrate, etc.). I'm not sure you would want something that low. Most all of my packs show 41.7 to 41.8 volts at start up and well less than 38 when I land. All you need to do to confirm voltage at startup is look at the screen. If you do not see 41.7 volts or more, don't fly that pack.

Silent-AV8R

I'm running a 2S LiFePO4 pack for RX power.

My TX display shows me:

RX battery Voltage
External (Battery) Motor Voltage
Altitude


A quick glance and I have all the info I need.

OhD

Is that all part of the $3000 18MZ package or do you need additional stuff to get the data to the receiver or whatever it is that transmits the data down? For example, if I run a regulator between my 2 cell LiPo and the receiver, how does the system get the LiPo battery voltage?

Jim O

najary

[/quote]

All you need to do to confirm voltage at startup is look at the screen. If you do not see 41.7 volts or more, don't fly that pack.

[/quote]

Yes, but what happen if I forget to look at the acreen?

Is it possible to make a alarm for that?

Best regards,

Isaac Najary

Silent-AV8R

The RX voltage that is sent from the R7008SB RX is whatever the bus voltage is. There is nothing else to buy or do to get this. If you are running a regulated system it still only reads the RX voltage. You could wire it up before the regulator and into the external battery port, but then you would lose the motor pack voltage.

For the external battery voltage you need to get the wire and tiny plug that plugs into the External battery port. This will then send the motor pack voltage.\\\THe rest of the telemetry simply requires connecting the desired sensors to the S.Bus2 port. I currently have the altitude/pressure sensor. There are also 2 kinds of RPM sensors, a temperature sensor, and a GPS (coming in 1/13). The R7008SB RX allows for up to 30 sensors to be connected to the RX.

Silent-AV8R

If looking at the screen is not something you can do at start up, you can simply set the alarm at whatever minimum voltage you want. That will also be the alarm used in flight.

Niall

Telemetry sounds great on the newer radios but for those of us without them it would be better if the ESC had the built in feature. I'd rather have to buy an ESC for $300 than a radio for $3000

Niall

apereira

On the 18MZ you can even record a voice message that says whatever you want like"Battery low do not fly" and it will do it as soon as voltage triggers the threshold, but as voltage will drop on some conditions during flight I do not think it will be a good idea to have it that way.

The Rx sends two voltages one will be the one feeded to the Rx the other the external voltage wich uses the micro connectors used by all the Horizon hobby micro batteries, HH sells te conector with wires.

nonstoprc

My Feedback: (90)

I just disconnect the center wire between the two 5c battery after landing and set the pack aside. A fully charged pack, on the other hand, has the center wire connected.

Some other ways to tell whether a pack has been used: a quick voltage check with a voltage meter and/or check the temperature of the pack.

GerKonig

I am forgetful, and some of my batteries are exactly alike. I put a small rubber band around batteries when I take them out of the model, and remove them when I charge the battery. Works for me, I have a bag of them in my flight box, and I put some in my pocket at the field...

Gerry

Silent-AV8R

I am not certain that you can assign a custom voice file to a given alarm. At least I have not found a way to do that yet.



The Futaba part also includes a longer wire section and a fuse.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCFVY&P=SM

Silent-AV8R

Granted. Before having this feature I started following a given procedure for handling my packs.

1) I have red and green pieces of Velcro that I attach to a pack after I charge it (green) and after it is flown (red)
2) after flying I put the flown pack back into the storage case I use with the wires pointing the opposite direction from the fresh packs
3) If I have any doubts, I quickly check the voltage using the device I linked to above. If the pack is not at 98% or better, I do not fly it

So far these measures have proven to be very effective. I have never used an uncharged pack.

najary

All you need to do to confirm voltage at startup is look at the screen. If you do not see 41.7 volts or more, don't fly that pack.

[/quote]

Yes, but what happen if I forget to look at the acreen?

Is it possible to make a alarm for that?

Best regards,

Isaac Najary
[/quote]



Look at this video (38 second) there are 3 voltage readings.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xph...dio_shortfilms

1. Receiver – 5.2V (after the regulator)

2. External – 6.7V (that can be the battery motor)(up to 70V, see 18MZ manual page 25)

3. 2.voltege – 6.6V (that can be the receiver battery)

I assume that the 2.voltage is connecting to the S.BUS2 port.

If that is truth, maybe it is possible to connect another one to the S.BUS2 port and to read the motor battery voltage and define an alarm to be activated if the battery is not full (41.5V for example)?

Best regards,

Isaac Najary

Silent-AV8R

That is an early video with some screen shots that may not reflect the finished product. The TX in the video does not even appear to be on since the LED is not illuminated.

I am not aware of any voltage connection that uses the S.Bus2 port. Voltage for the RX is read from the receiver bus itself. Voltage for an external battery connects to the small plug on the end of the RX opposite the servo plugs. That connection can read a second RX pack, or the RX pack before the regulator.

apereira

It became available with the second update. I have not used it yet though.

Najary, the only port wich can read voltage higher than the Rx voltage is the external port.

Regards

nonstoprc

My Feedback: (90)

That method also works. A contest buddy of mine told me that.

Silent-AV8R

Bill Baxter just updated some info in the vendors only forum about voltage sensors on the 18MZ. This is in response to post #21 above.

**********************

All of those things can be done, but it will take additional voltage sensors. The voltage the receiver gets is automatically displayed. The voltage of the battery pack before the regulator will need to be sensed by a separate voltage sensor, and the same with the voltage of the motor battery.

The voltage sensor is:

FUTM0855 SBS-01V EXTERNAL VOLTAGE SENSR US$59.99

It is expected to become available in March, 2013.

To have the alert if the battery pack is not fully-charged, you will need an additional voltage sensor and set its telemetry channel to the threshold you desire.

In your case, you'll then need three additional voltage sensors.

_____________________________

Bill Baxter, Manager Hobby Services/Futaba Service/North America
3002 N. Apollo Dr. Ste. 1 Champaign, IL 61822 USA
Service Phone: 217 398-0007
Email: [email protected]