Celestial calm

[est1976]

you can get a hobby king osd for $13.13 plus postage, this will display battery voltage and flight time onscreen so you have an idea of when to start heading home

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=16662

[FPV Matt]

Fourfly,

Ive not yet got an OSD, so I too often fly to the esc cutoff (I set a timer at takeoff) then glide home. I've been doing this for years - FPV and third person - often from very high altitude. I try to limit the amount of times I fire up the motor after the first cutoff. Obviously, running lipos to no less than 80% capacity is best for long life, but my 3S FPV packs are pretty cheap!

The other day I was having a fantastic FPV session. I was way above 1000' so decided to take my time gliding home. When I got to maybe 2x treetop height, and still some way out, I fired up the motor but it would not arm! I headed for a field near to my road and hoped for the best, because shorty after that at about tree top height I lost video feed. After about a 15 min hunt I found the plane - luckily a well trimmed radian lands by itself if the ground is flat!! When I got home, the battery was only about 70% discharged...

So in conclusion, for some reason my esc would not arm but all other controls were working. This may be a cheap esc issue, or perhaps because the fail safe is on throttle? Maybe the folding prop causes an issue? I just wonder if this is what happened to you?

Sorry to hear you lost your plane. Nice story before that, though!


-Matt

[foufly]

thanks ,yes I have ordered that HK battery osd.
I am pleased to hear some one else has discovered the pleasure of power- off fpv!I have been building my own design lightweight gliders (150gms with 19gms motors ,360 or 610 2S batteries) for some time and found getting into thermals a matter of routine,but getting a stiff neck! So getting into them was the answer.At about 450 gms they gain altitude very easily, using 200-300mah, then I cruise around, turn off and glide down. In the last few days the thermals have been terrific,and three or four times I have had to fight my way down! Once I was sucked up into the base of a large cumulous, and had to risk tearing the wing off in a steep prolonged dive. Sometimes the lift, at that altitude, is so general and the flight so long I risk falling asleep at the stick! I think this may be due to staring into the goggles for long periods?
I now think I may have lost my plane due to a signal break; the way it behaved before losing video makes me think there was no fail-safe.
I am trying to get the best signal and distance with simple means (so as not to lose another load of equipment worth 400e!)I would be very interested to hear what you are using. I don't mind investing in the ground station. Happy flying, foufly
Plane pic's to follow