Hurricanes,Lipo flight packs and GY-401's

[Crash549]

My Gaui Hurricane 550 will arrive in a few days.
Futaba says 4.8 volts only for my GY401 regardless of the servo choice.
I got this information from Futaba Tech Support(phone)
Looks like the included lipo and bec will need a step down regulator.(Finless setup video}
Why buy a regulator when I can buy a 5v UBEC?
This will of course eliminate the seperate flight pack,gaui bec and additional regulator.
Is it worth the trouble to maintain a seperate flight pack in this heli?
Thanks in advance.

[BL]

The 401 spec has stated upto 6V, and I have been using it for my 3 helis so far so good.
The only thing need to step down is the tail servos like S9254, S9256, S3154 and etc....

The step down regulator is nothing but just a simple diode connected in series, it doesn't regulate the voltage, it just purely step down.

Standard size cyclic servos are normally able to support 6V hence you have better performance vs 5V.

If you want to have clean setup and eliminate the 2s lipo, use a hv BEC(must be switching mode) which able to support 6s and just hook it up to the 6s of the main lipo pack.

That is nothing wrong if just use a single 5V for the whole system, but with the disadvantage of not making full use of the cyclic servo peformance.

Another option which choose an ESC with built-in BEC, so you can eliminate external BEC and 2s lipo.

Don't you think that this is even cleaner and simple.

[kgfly]

There are only a couple of 6s-capable ESCs with built-in switchmode BECs (eg the Jazz) and they are good but very expensive. A standalone sBEC is a good solution. There are many good ones around. The SportBec from DimensionEngineering is a nice unit (2s-8s, 3.5A). The WesternRobotics Hercules 5A unit is an excellent choice (3s-10s, 5A) and provides more headroom. There is a new 5A one from CastleCreations but it has problems working with Spektrum Rx, although there is a work-around. All of these are 5v/6v selectable. Unless you are an expert pilot, just run your system at 5V. It is easier on the servos and uses less power overall, giving you more safety margin against brownouts.

Some people feel that the separate 2s Rx pack gives higher reliability than running a BEC off the main flight pack. The thinking is that if something foes wrong with the main pack you still have Rx-power to do an autorotation landing. Personally, I prefer the simplicity and weight savings of using an sBEC with the main flight pack.

[Pinecone]

The other thing you can do, is if running 2 x 3S packs, is hook the separate BEC to only one pack. Castle has a diagram of how to do this for a 2 x 6S setup (Castle BEC is 6S capable). BEC has to be hooked up so that the negative lead is the overall negative lead to the ESC.

[bstock]

but isn't another advantage of a seperate BEC & RX pack is that you save the power need to run the digital servos (if you are running digitals) from your main batteries... so you have more Mah for the motor - or is it a wash with the extra weight you are flying around?

[Crash549]

I have this BEC in an aircraft > http://www.aeromicro.com/Catalog/kool_flight_ultimate_bec_5v_3982367.htm
I will run this off my motor lipos
Ive had good luck with this setup in airplanes.