It's Here :)

[Freakinflyin]

I got a big box full of Spectra G parts today and a Toxic G231 :banana :banana :banana

Thanks for all the great posts and build tips...time to get busy


Cheers

[bigrcr]

Enjoy! Let us know how goes it. Post some good flying video for us!

Later,

[whirlyspud]

Yorr going to have fun. The spectra goes together nice.

Mike

[Bill Ludwig]

I just finished mine and have a few tanks through it. Here's another thing to watch for....the braided shield that goes over the plug wire. I found out last night, in semi-darkness, that mine was arcing from the shield to the plug cap wire. The 1/4" separation that the instructions call for is a MINIMUM! I had to pull mine back about 3/8" before it stopped arcing. Sure runs better now that it's fixed!

It's a great kit to build -- well engineered (except for the tail pushrod). :(

- Bill

[bigrcr]

On the original set-up for shielding, I allowed the shielding to go to within 1/4 inch of the silicone boot. There is a tie-wrap over the shield so that when the wires of the shield are turned back over the tie-wrap, there is the 1/4 gap. This way the ends of the wires (within the shield) are pointing back toward the secondary coil and not toward the plug boot.
Then a second tie-wrap was cinched down across the ends of the shield and the ends of those little wires were nipped nearly one by one.

The most important part of the installation was to clean the wire and silicone boot with acetone and apply red RTV silicone to the junction between the shield and the silicone boot.



I have no incidences of arcing, day or night!

BTW-This is an old picture of the pre-production model.

[WillJames]

Mine is also less than 1/4 from the boot using the same procedure John is describing. Absolutely no arcing whatsoever. The important part if you leave a small gap that John has described is that you wrap the ends of the braid back across the first wire tie and back toward the coil end of the high tension wire, then secure with a second wire tie. Then clean and apply the RTV.

The first photo is of a TRM Motor in my Spectra G, the second is in a GAS SE.

[Joe Ubaldo]

Thanks for your replies and the pics guys.

Based on your experience, it seems that pointing the wire ends away from the plug boot and using the RTV is the key to relieving the arcing (and keeping the 1/4" gap).

My experience is similar to Bill's in that I had to open up the gap to just over 1/2" to relieve the arcing. I'm a little nervous what the negatives of doing so are (if any).

Following the directions on page 32 of my Spectra G build manual ("The shielded braid needs to cover the spark plug wire to within 1/4" of the hole in the spark plug wire") did not work in my case. It's probably a good idea to modify the manual to include direction to point the wires away from the boot and the recommended use of RTV.

Thank goodness for web sites like helifreak.com and people like John and Will to provide insight into tweaking/improving the performance and reliability of our helis.

You guys rock! :thumbup:

[WillJames]

Thanks for sharing the photo Joe. Maybe it is the RTV, I'm not sure John is who helped me get all setup and installed my shielding. From what I have seen and heard from the field. Leaving a 1/2 inch gap like you guys have done is perfectly adequate to get the job done and a lot less critical to install. You will be able to tell if there are any emmissions by using a AC voltage checker. I don't see any problem with that at all. Simple and safe is good, as gas helis flew without the shielding for years, it is just an added safety precaution. Thanks for sharing your info!! :thumbup: I am going to install shielding on my new prototype TRM 231 for my camera ship and I will leave it 1/2 inch and not apply the RTV. Thanks for the tip!!

[Sar]

Clear nail polish is also HV resistant and a lot less ugly :D You can also get HV dope used on TV's from a local electronics shop (real shop, not this Radio Shack garbage)

[WillJames]

HV dope used on TV's



Interesting, never heard of it. Thanks for the tip.


The way Joe and others do the shielding is definitely neater than the RTV way, and the bottom line is they both work. Persoanl preference is cool, it is really neat to see how people do things differently on their machines in this great hobby!!!
You can learn a lot by checking out peoples helis at the field, I see things and tricks that never occurred to me at almost every event, and a lot of times it makes me chuckle to myself that I just did not get it before it became self evident by example. :) I guess that is what keeps us all interested, this is a complex and fun hobby!!