Dual Battery Configuration

Fixed the Fan

I have able to get the replacement for the broken fan. Fixed the fan up, also I have tighten the screw to secure the bar at the bottom of starter shaft. Hopefully this problem will not occur again.

Added Second Battery and Switch

I also have installed another set of battery in parallel of the first one together with the harness switch. This is to have redundancy, in case of one of the battery has no power or damage another should still able to support. During the installation only I noticed that I have run out of receiver channel to plug the battery connector in. I already utilized the AUX2 socket for battery volt indicator. This means that I need a Y connector to connect both battery and the voltage indicator as well. This morning, I decided to disconnect the voltage indicator and test out the dual battery configuration.

The photo below shows that now I have 2 switches and 2 sets of batteries.

From Remote Control Helicopter - My Journey

Adjusting Center Gravity

While fixing up the battery I also looking at adjusting the Center Gravity of my TR3703. I noticed that while hovering TR3703 tend to lean to its left and tend to drop the nose to go forward. However when I check the balance by holding the flybar, looks like the opposite of that. Till now (when I writing this) I still could not understand this finding. Anyway, I still continue to offset the CG based on my test with the second battery. To balance the CG, I put the battery a bit to the left and front of the TR3703.

After the installation, I switched on the transmitter, then switched on the first battery. Checked that the controls works, then I switched on the second battery and switch off the first one. Checked the controls again and yes they also working.

Test Flight

Time for the real test, in-flight testing. This test was very quick one so I decided just to do it in front of my house.

From Remote Control Helicopter - My Journey

I switched on both batteries, I started up the engine. Then started to hover, check the control while hovering, everything works smoothly. While doing the hovering and in-flight checking, a neighbor car passing by, I have to move the Raven to hover nearer to my house gate, quite small space for a person like me to hover a helicopter. The car passed by as if I am not flying the Raven. Deep in my heart I was very afraid that something bad will happen, since I do not have the comfortable space and extra safety margin. Luckily nothing bad happened; I was able to land the Raven safely.

From the video below you can see how small the space, putting a car in the middle of the road will reduce the space a lot. Too risky, I'll need to remind my self not to repeat this.

Test result, dual battery configuration is cool!

Update on 2008-12-19

I have installed Y cable. Now I have original first battery connected as normal to the battery input to the receiver. Second battery is connected to the Y cable together with my voltage indicator, plugged into AUX2 channel on the receiver. It works!