Finally started my electric aircraft build

d55guy

100 µW
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
8
Hi all,
I realized that I haven't been on the forums in a long while but I am starting my next EV project and I figured that those on the forum would be interested in following along and have want to give their input (constructive or otherwise : -)

EV Challenger, EP1: The electric airplane project begins
This is the first in a 12ish part series on rebuilding a barn find Quad cities Challenger 1 Ultralight (CH1 UL) aircraft and converting it to electric.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC9Mnnvgnm4


EP2, EV Challenger tear down
The 2nd in a 12ish part series on rebuilding a barn find Challenger 1 Ultralight to get it ready for conversion to electric power. Like a bad onion, I just keep pulling back the layers until I get to the good part of the airplane and then can start building
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFd4eYKn5cA

Still thinking of a name for the project. EV challenger is the defacto name but it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue like "Sylent" did. Suggestions? (other then flying death trap.. : -)
__________________
"Sylent" - 1988 S10, 800hp, Quad Warp 9s, Shiva
"EV30" - 1984 BMW 318 EV, GE11", Volt pack
"HerbEV" 1969 VW Beetle Convertible, GE 9"
1994 Mazda Miata EV Dual Warp 9's, Soliton1, RETIRED
Remember that your EV is only as clean as your power. Go SOLAR!
 
I tired to link to the play list but that didn't seem to work. :-/ See if this works better:

EV Challenger, EP1: The electric airplane project begins
This is the first in a 12ish part series on rebuilding a barn find Quad cities Challenger 1 Ultralight (CH1 UL) aircraft and converting it to electric.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC9Mnnvgnm4


EP2, EV Challenger tear down
The 2nd in a 12ish part series on rebuilding a barn find Challenger 1 Ultralight to get it ready for conversion to electric power. Like a bad onion, I just keep pulling back the layers until I get to the good part of the airplane and then can start building
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFd4eYKn5cA

Kerry
 
I'm really interesting in how you make out with the distributed propulsion.

Might be a better option for the MONI motorglider I am looking to convert.
 
I don't think that it would be the best for a motor glider due to the higher drag when the propellers are windmilling. I think that you would be better off with a single larger motor that can be retracted or have a aft folding propeller for lowest cruise drag.
 
Episode 3 is up:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SbjFLS0Uk6Y

This episode is a introduction into some of the powerplant options that are being considered and the design and testing that will be happening in the next month

Definitely open to comment and suggestions for these couple HP ESCs. I have played with them before but there are a ton of options out there.
 
It is an aerobatic motorglider rather than a nice clean design.

https://imgur.com/OkUHaux

It has constraints on propeller diameter with a forward mounted engine so I am thinking that distributed would take care of that rather than having a single really inefficient prop on the nose. And if I go with smaller motors I can potentially use folding props intended for giant scale model gliders.
 
That MONI is very cool!. Understand the prop constraint but then I looked for aft folding props (side folding won't help the drag problem) I didn't find anything that would be big enough. You will need the prop diameter to be significantly bigger then wing chord for propulsion efficiency? Have you had any better luck then I locating big ones?

Kerry
 
Here are some big ones.

http://www.icare-rc.com/propellers_folding.htm

Biggest one on there is a 34.2" x 22.5" three blade unit.

Folding is nice if the plan is to shut down the engines but just stopping the prop cuts down on drag quite a bit.
 
Nice project I will follow it closely. One suggestion for your intro is to leave out the slow cars, unless that's the joke and I didn't get it.
 
d55guy said:
I don't think that it would be the best for a motor glider due to the higher drag when the propellers are windmilling.
Keep in mind that a BLDC motor windmilling is a whole different story than an ICE engine windmilling. There's an order of magnitude less mechanical drag.
 
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