Electrifying a Roedell Ventus 2c
Posted: 31 Oct 2018, 11:13
Having lost our club tug, I decided it would be better to try and electrify my Roedell Ventus 2c, enabling me to fly it from our local flying site. Reading Elliot's experiences with his Ash, I went down the same route and used a Hacker A50 14L with the glider extension and a Jeti Mezon 120A ESC. I fitted the motor in the same way as Elliot and initially checked out the static power using a 6S pack. I tried an Aeronaut 16" X 10" carbon prop and this generated 1400W and pulled about 70A which was close to the predicted figures from the Hacker web site. The 6s pack was made up with a pair of Overlander 2900mah 3S batteries, as these could be fitted under the binnacle in the cockpit. I also tries a GM 16" x 10" narrow blade carbon prop and that generated figures of 1200W and 54A, showing the difference a simple prop change could make. The model weighs about 6.5Kg and is 4.8m span.
I built a launch trolley from ply and fitted 6" diameter wheels to help with rough ground or long grass.
The first flight was an anti climax as the model took off very quickly, even though the grass was quite long. Unfortunately I've been unable to upload the video of the first take off, but it left the trolley after about 30m and climbed out at about 40 degrees. As there was no lift about, I powered up again and those two climbs only took about 12% of the battery capacity.
I'm looking forward to next season, when I can fly this model when the weather is better and overall I'm very pleased with the results.
I built a launch trolley from ply and fitted 6" diameter wheels to help with rough ground or long grass.
The first flight was an anti climax as the model took off very quickly, even though the grass was quite long. Unfortunately I've been unable to upload the video of the first take off, but it left the trolley after about 30m and climbed out at about 40 degrees. As there was no lift about, I powered up again and those two climbs only took about 12% of the battery capacity.
I'm looking forward to next season, when I can fly this model when the weather is better and overall I'm very pleased with the results.