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- Newsgroups: rec.models.rc
- Path: sparky!uunet!ftpbox!mothost!white!rtsg.mot.com!svoboda
- From: svoboda@rtsg.mot.com (David Svoboda)
- Subject: Re: <none>
- Message-ID: <1992Aug25.210421.16649@rtsg.mot.com>
- Sender: news@rtsg.mot.com
- Nntp-Posting-Host: guppie44
- Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
- References: <1992Aug25.095210.486@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>
- Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 21:04:21 GMT
- Lines: 29
-
- In article <1992Aug25.095210.486@csc.canterbury.ac.nz> kaiser@elec.canterbury.ac.nz (Chris Kaiser) writes:
- |Does anyone out there have any experience and/or comments about using 5 cell
- |nicad packs (i.e. nominally 6 V) with RC gear. The system I'm looking at using
- |it with comprises a Futaba R115 (I think - 5 channel FM) Rx and S143 micro
- |servos. I've been told by a Futaba NZ rep that 5 cell packs are bad news and
- |cause premature failure of components, however this guy had zero technical
- |knowledge (you should have heard his explaination of why PCM was better than
- |FM which was better than AM :-) so I'm not sure how valid this is. The only
- |problem I can see is a higher current when a servo stalls, which may damage
- |it. Presumably the Rx has an internal voltage regulator, so it wouldn't be
- |affected by the higher voltage.
-
- I use a five cell pack in my current airplanes. I like the quicker servo
- response, and that the servos seem to have more power. I have had no problems.
- I got the idea from some pattern guys (the Dave Patrick crowd) who all use five
- cell packs. They told me, however, that you should only use it on a PCM
- radio, and that it throws the receiver off on an FM. I consider this to
- be balderdash, knowing that a PCM is just an FM with a signalling method, but
- I use PCM, so have not been able to test the theory. (That particular pattern
- crowd has been wrong before--they are an empirical crowd which understands
- little theory.) Oh, my main radio is a Futaba 7UAP with the nine channel
- PCM receiver.
-
- A downside of five cell packs with PCM is that you lose the ability of the
- receiver to tell when the voltage is about to fail and lower the throttle.
- Since the "knee" is at a higher level, by the time the receiver detects
- a low voltage, you have very few seconds of useable power left.
-
- Dave Svoboda, Palatine, IL
-