Digital Dash Board - onboard digital Voltage Display Meter

[siwind]

I am using a 4000 mah - 4 cell - 7.4 volt pack with a Regulator with Fail Safe Switch - 7.5 amp, 5.1 volt. where do I plug in the Digital Dash Board - onboard digital Voltage Display Meter so that I can get voltage readings of the battery?

[WayneBrown]

I wouldn't add a Y harness, one more point of failure. Plug it into a spare RX channel if you feel you need it. At least it will show your regulated voltage.
The unit is basically worthless on Li Ion unless you check it under load anyway.

[DavidH]

Don't use the onboard volt meter unless you can plug it directly into the battery someway. Also the voltmeter would need to be set up for 7.4 volts and not 4.8 volts.
My suggestion is don't even put the volt meter on the helicopter. Use a 1 amp loaded volt meter and check the batteries between flights or every couple of flights.
4000 mah pack is going to give you pretty much a full day of flying depending on what servos you have in the heli. With all digital 9252 Futaba servos I can get approx 12-14 flights between charges. That is flight times of 12-14 mins each.

David

[WillJames]

David is right. How many of you Duralite users have noticed that you pack actually sometime reads a little higher under 1A load after about the 2nd or 3rd flight than it did before the first? I check mine between every flight and I see this about 1/4 or more of the time.

[siwind]

Thanks for the quick response. I will leave the onboard volt meter off and just use the Duralite load tester 4305. I am building a Raptor 60/90 with all digital coreless servos.
I have other models that the onboard volt meter will be perfect for, my R/C sail boats for example. Duralite should state that onboard volt meter is not meant for use with its lithium battery packages.
The Duralite ad actually says Real Time digital reading of pack voltage. To be mounted on the airplane.
I use the 4000 mah - 4 cells - 7.4 volt pack with a Regulator with Fail Safe Switch - 7.5 amp, 5.1 volt on my Raptor 50 and think that Duralite has a great product; it was my only choice for the Raptor 60/90.

[DavidH]

#43061 - Digital Dash Board - onboard digital Voltage Display Meter

Real Time digital reading of pack voltage. To be mounted on the airplane

PRICE: $ US$ 32.95

It is meant for the Li-Ion packages. But it is also meant for Airplanes. Most of the airplane pilots that use the Duralites use them unregulated. So they can plug right into the receiver to monitor the voltage directly from the pack.
The helicopter pilots use a regulator because the gyro and tail servos will not handle the voltage of a Duralite battery unregulated.

I didn't know Duralite even had the volt meter till I looked. I thought you was talking about another of the onboard volt meters that are available.
But the description for the Duraliter Onboard Volt Meter clearly mentions to be mounted on Airplane. Like I mentioned, most of the plane pilots use the Duralite batteries with no regulator. They are supplying 7.4 - 8.2 volts directly to the system.

David

[PaulH]

Can the receiver and servos actually handle that much???

[DavidH]

Yes before the days of electronic gyros. There was many rc rchelicopter pilots that ran unregulated 5 cell and 6 cell nicah packs. A 5 cell nicad will be close to 7.5 volts when it comes off the charger it they are good cells. A 6 cell nicad pack will usually be over 8.5 volts when coming off a charger.

To answer your original question. The receiver and some servos will have no problem operating on an unregulated Duralite pack. It is the gyros and tail servos would have a problem with the unregulated voltage.

David

[PaulH]

All right, then let me ask two more questions:

If one could run an unregulated power supply to all of the other servos, would it make sense to have a regulator used only for the tail electronics? It would not be difficult to have a common ground between the gyro, tail servo, receiver, and regulator, then use the hot wire from the regulator for the gyro and tail servo. It would certainly reduce the load that the regulator sees allowing a linear regulator to run much more efficiently.

Most of the (Futaba) servos for heli use seem to be rated at 4.8 volts with 6.0 volts listed as "Not recommended". Is it possible to run these servos at a higher voltage, or would it be prudent to use land servos that can handle 6.0, or even the new Hitec servos that are designed to withstand 7.4 volts?

[DavidH]

Yes you could use a dual regulator that has a voltage of 5 to 5.3 volts going to the gyro and tail servo. And then have regulated 6 volts going to the other servos.
If the servos are analog and not digital, I would have no problem running them on an unregulated Duralite pack. The digital servos I would suggest using a 6 volt regulator. I do know some pilots that have used unregulated 5 cell nicad and nimh packs with the gyros and servos without any problem. A 5 cell when fully charged it putting out about 7.5 volts. But I know a few that are using setups that way. It is not something I recommend.

David

[PaulH]

Ah, okay. Thanks for the info!