Selecting a Power Setup

 

 

Table of Contents

 

Table of Contents

Use ElectroFlightRC.com

The Process of Selecting a Power Setup

Specification of an Electric Power System Rev 2.pdf

How to Specify an Electric Flight System.pps

Electric Aircraft Specification - Version 6.xls

Aknowledgement

 

Use ElectroFlightRC.Com

 

You are on the site so hopefully you know how ElectroFlightRC.com can help you find a suitable power setup for your plane.

 

ElectroFlightRC.com allows you to search its community-driven database for your airframe (or similar airframe) and to find power setups that other members have tested on that same or similar airframe. You can find reference to exact products and test results entered by the user community. This gives you access to field-tested power setups that will work with your plane and takes most of the guess work out of the equation.

 

We hope that ElectroFlightRC.com will be an invaluable tool for you and that we can help the Electric RC community to grow. Please give us feedback or send us questions. We will be happy to help wherever we can.

 

Regards,

 

The ElectroFlightRC team

 

 

The Process of Selecting a Power Setup

 

Failing to find a suitable power setup on ElectroFlightRC.com, or if you just wish to go through the exersice of doing the math, you can follow a simple process to figure out the requirements of each component of a suitable power configuration.

 

The process is fairly simple but it does requires a bit of math. Don’t worry, the math is also fairly simple. It all starts with the weight of your plane and the type of flying you will be doing. That combined with desired flying time determines the amount of power you will need. Then from there, the needed power dictates what kind of battery you will need and subsequently the ESC, motor and prop.

 

I will not go through the exercise of writing the exact process here as I have found excellent resources online that come from someone whom I humbly concede is much more qualified than I am with electrical systems. Here are 3 documents that I've come across through my reasearch. They have been a very good resource.

 

Specification of an Electric Power System Rev 2.pdf:

This document takes you to school about every component in an Electric Power System. Then, it also dives into the steps for selecting a power system for an example glider. This document is very detailed and is about 28 pages long. It is an excellent source that will help you get a good understanding of all the components of an electric power system and how to select one for your plane.

 

How to Specify an Electric Flight System.pps:

This presentation of a condensed version of the above document focusing more on the selection of an electric power system. It is a simple step-by-step description of the process.

 

Electric Aircraft Specification - Version 6.xls:

This is the accompanying spreadsheet to the two above documents.

 

 

Aknowledgement

 

The three documents above are curtesy of Lawrie Henrickson.

Thank you Lawrie for this excellent resource.