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Stan has given us part 3 of his Ziroli Kittyhawk story. This article is 12 pages long - a big file so give it time to load. It is WELL worth it. The page with the download link is HERE.

Ed

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Most of the people flying electics at the club will be aware that the two current charging stations are only suitable for charging NiMh & NiCd cells (transmitters, receiver packs etc), and cannot store or deliver the power required to recharge the increasingly powerful LiPo cells that we use. 

As a result, a proposal has been put to the committee, and approved, for a number of members to install a new battery box in the current key/transmitter pound (using about 1/2 of the space - right hand side - not affecting current charging station). This will contain 2-3 high capacity batteries which will be fed by a new solar panel(s). The batteries will deliver their power via a control system with a number of pairs of 12 volt connectors in racks above. These charging outlets would be activated by a smart-card/proximity tag or similar, limiting usage to the members that fund the development and maintenance of this facility. The outlets would deactivate if unused or if the charger is disconnected.

The committee has approved this development, and we are now looking for members wishing to participate in the funding and use of this charging station. Peter Wyss has done some initial design work and has also kindly agreed to donate the storage batteries, and we have some volunteer labour (but more will be VERY welcome). We reckon that we will need to find between $500 and $700 for the solar panel, controller (with data display), outlets etc. Cost will go up if we need to install several more outlets, and handle increased usage - at the moment we are assuming that the system will need to handle at least 4 people running two chargers each (feeding LiPos or anything less demanding), at any one time, but there is no limit, theoretically, to the number of participants and simultaneous users - we just have to ad more gear (especially storage) to cope!

If you would like to participate, or find out more, please have a chat with me (Clive), Peter Wyss or Stephen MacMahon at the flying field, post a reply on the new forum thread [here] or drop me and Peter an email by clicking [This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.]. 

We reckon we are likely to get 10-15 people so the rough cost could be about $50 per person, but if there are lots more people that are interested then the per person cost will fall. We'll also, of course, need to handle the situation where someone would like to participate later on, and wishes to "buy-in". At the moment our thinking is to charge them the same cost as an original participant and put the money aside for maintenance and upgrades, but other ideas are welcome! If we work it like this, it is unlikely that the funders would need to dip into their pockets, again, for a long time, if at all. On the other hand, we though this should be kept as simple as possible, so participation wouldn't be transferable or be able to be loaned to someone else. 

By the way, the reason for individuals funding this is important. The club has many members who do not, and have no plans to, fly electric, so it isn't fair that all member funds are used to finance this. On the other hand there are a growing number of people who would prefer to charge from a free supply, at the field, and the initial outlay is going to be kept as low as possible to make this viable. The reason for restricting access to the funding group is much the same as above but with the added issue that, with limited storage capacity, it is appropriate that the funders get to use all the capacity that is available. 

Timing? Plan is to get going soon and ready for use in Jan/Feb, so we'd appreciate a show of hands over the Xmas break if you can.

Happy Christmas!

Clive