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electric tug

Be kind to our tug pilots, we cant do without them.
harry curzon
Posts: 115
Joined: 21 Jul 2018, 09:32
Location: Gloucestershire

electric tug

Post by harry curzon »

Can you suggest a model suitable as an electric powered tug for gliders up to 7.5kg, 4 - 5 metre span? I spotted Topmodel.fr's E-Tractor but it is out of stock.
Pat Marsden
Posts: 121
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 06:29
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

Re: electric tug

Post by Pat Marsden »

Are you bothered whether it is scale or not? If not bothered then I can recommend the Ampley electric glider tug from John Greenfields design.Im sure John will appear to give you the complete sales pitch ( even though its a free plan to download) but I have used both his own model and that of the late Ivan Goodchild to tow gliders upto 6 mtr so a 4 to 5mtr glider will be easy with the right power train setup. Look on the Ghost Squadron website for further details.http://www.ghostsquadron.co.uk/ampley.html
harry curzon
Posts: 115
Joined: 21 Jul 2018, 09:32
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: electric tug

Post by harry curzon »

Good, thanks Pat
Jilles
Posts: 218
Joined: 22 Mar 2015, 10:27
Location: Australia
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Re: electric tug

Post by Jilles »

it sounds as a good idea but there are limitations.
I had a 1:4 electric piper cub. it had an electric motor equivalent to 70cc
the cub was 11 kg including the battery set
I towed gliders up to 5 meters and 8kg weight
We found that two tow's were possible with one charge, the third tow struggled to get a glider up of above seize
Unless you want to spent a fortune on batteries you will not be able to perfrom towing duties on a towing event with multiple gliders
For a local club to perform two or three tow's without charge an electrice tug would be fine
FrankS
Posts: 275
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 14:29
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: electric tug

Post by FrankS »

Probably also depends on how good a tug pilot you have as well, Ray Watts towed my Pat Teakle HP18 with his E Flite foamy Cub on a 6s set up, it was a bit leisurely, and we had to give the HP18 a push to get it moving :D

Ampley is good we had one on an 8s 5,000 mah set up and towed up 4m gliders OK, at a stretch 3 tows per charge. After our Ampley had an argument with a sheep feeder, we built a Mike Trew Towrag with the same electric set up, it weighs on it's own just under 7kg and can tow up a 3.5m T-21 quite easily.

For gliders around 7kg you are probably going to have to go to a 10s or 12s setup, and then the tug starts to get a bit heavy and runs the risk of creeping over 7.5kgs so you could inadvertently end up restricting your tows to 400ft unless you have an exemption.

The other thing with electric, is that towing is quite hard on the batteries as you are at full power on the climb out, our Towrag is pulling 70amps on the tow flat out, when flying it round off tow it will cruise around on 30 amps or less.
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Ray Watts
Posts: 128
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 06:31
Location: Basingstoke

Re: electric tug

Post by Ray Watts »

I will also add that it is a good route to puffy batteries and you may need to get a couple of leisure batteries in parallel to keep up with the charging or a generator or of course lots of lipos. 3 tows is tops unless you only want to go to around 700 feet. I have several times with my foamy cub thought just one more tow, and that killed another 6s lipo. The novelty soon wears off.
Ray.
It's always calmer indoors :D
Elliot Howells
Posts: 333
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 08:18
Location: West Wales
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Re: electric tug

Post by Elliot Howells »

Been there, done that.

The batteries and ESC now sit my ASH26 where they are much happier.

I am an electric zealot (will have an electric car one day) but for towing, stick to petrol, you also can't 'accidentally' start a 120cc twin...

Ell.
Last edited by Elliot Howells on 30 Mar 2022, 16:55, edited 1 time in total.
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Trevor
Posts: 161
Joined: 19 Jul 2016, 16:29
Location: Hampshire
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Re: electric tug

Post by Trevor »

Ray Watts wrote: 29 Mar 2022, 20:01 I will also add that it is a good route to puffy batteries
That’s true. I had a couple of 6s packs that were doing very nicely in a foamy EDF but, after a couple of towing sessions, they puffed up quite badly.

That’s why I made provision for a second 6s pack (wired in parallel) in my recently built Spectre.
http://www.bartonhewsons.uk/home/modelf ... diary.html
Just the forward battery is fitted for sport aerobatic flight and a second pack installed over the cg for tug duties. It’s early days, but it seems to be working well, managing 5 or 6 tows per pair of batteries.

Trevor
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