From the President s Desk

Transcription

1 In This Issue Club Business & Events President s Notes Club Meeting Minutes Bill s Corner District II News A word from our sponsor Briefs Next Meeting is 4 May 2016 Club Officers President Rich Bombardier Vice President Ron Pinksaw Treasurer Ralph Ferrara Secretary Safety Officer Pat Lovenstein Contact Us: For General Club Information contact our secretary: mickipbm@comcast.net For newsletter, website, classified ads, or any other club information, contact our secretary: mickipbm@comcast.net You can also mail or phone us at: Pine Barren Modelers P.O. Box 277 Barnegat, NJ (609) Short Bursts Next meeting is 4 May, 7:30 P.M., at the Barnegat Rec Center. May 2016 Jackson Hobby has new hours, so please see their ad. Also, show your PBM club card when buying plane items (those with prices not set by the manufacturer if in doubt, ask store personnel) and get 10% off. From the President s Desk May 2016 Please be sure to be at the May meeting for the final chance to win the Great Planes Revolver. You can't win it if you're not in it! We will be selling the last of the tickets during the May 4th meeting and raffling it off at the end of the meeting. $10.00 per ticket and only 50 tickets are being sold. For those that have signed up for the McGuire Air Force Base show, I will follow up once I've heard back as to the particulars. But for those that have not volunteered to help, feel free to stop by our booth and hang out. You will need to come in the main gates with the general crowd. I'm not sure what to expect, but we should have a good time and hopefully garner a few more members. The nice weather is arriving, although taking a bit longer than expected. It's nice to see everyone at the field, having a good time. We are continuing to make improvements at the field and will be installing a new picnic bench soon. Remember, always practice safety and if you need any assistance with your planes, be sure to reach out to a seasoned flyer, they will be glad to help you in any way possible. Let's have a safe and fun flying season! Regards, Richard Bombardier Club President Page 1

2 Last Month's Minutes Date: April 6, 2016 Called to Order: 7:30 Pine Barren Modelers RC Club Officers Present: President Rich Bombardier Treasurer Ralph Ferrara Secretary Safety Officer Pat Lovenstein Absent: Vice-President Ron Pinksaw Attendance: 27 New Member(s): Stephen Flury John Yuen Previous minutes: Read and accepted Treasurer s Report: Read and Accepted Field Reports: Coyle: Bill Bowne reported that the runway is fine. The Bownes delivered coffee to the Coyle staff. Micki B. reported that she spoke to Robert Gill, Coyle administrator, regarding the land use license renewal. Mr. Gill stated that the renewal is being processed and that we are in compliance with the 180-day advance renewal notice. As our club s association with the state forestry service has been exemplary, both Mr. Gill and Mr. Wimberg, Coyle Field manager, agreed that they do not foresee any obstacles to this renewal. Brick Wall: The roller needs to be repaired. Estimated cost is $100. Overall, runway is in good shape. Reminder: If you fly Monday Friday, be sure to check in at the scale office. A simple wave is all that is needed. On weekends, do not enter the facility if the guard is not at the gate. He is doing his rounds which usually last for 20 minutes. Wait until he returns to his post. Also, pay attention to the speed limit and do not pass any vehicles as the main entrance road has a double yellow line. Jake s Branch: No report Safety Report: Pat Lovenstein No incidents. With the increased flying activity it is now more important than ever to pay close attention to the safety rules. If you are the first pilot at the field, please put up any flying barriers. Old Business: Joe Dopkin, webmaster, reported that the website continues to be improved. If you go to the home page and don t see what you want, use the search feature. Joe encourages any suggestions for improving the site. If you have any items that you are selling, send the information to Joe for website posting. No new information regarding the club auction. Rich B. ordered a professionally made windsock for Brickwall field. The airplane raffle will be at the next meeting. Tickets are still available. Club picnic is for Sept. 11. Rich reported that FAA regulations regarding registration are doing to all police departments. The AMA doesn t require us to register but, in order to avoid any personal fines, our club strongly encourages all members to register with the FAA. MDL Open House May be sure to let Rich know if you are interesting in helping with this event. Our display will be in a secure area, so items can be left overnight. We need to have our booth set up by 8:30 am on Saturday. Ralph F. had no new information regarding club clothing. Ralph Ferrara, PBM treasurer, recommended that the club transfer its funds to Kearny Bank. Eugene Lisnay made a motion to proceed with this transfer. It was seconded by Tommy DiGuilio. The motion passed unanimously. Signatures on the account will be Ralph Ferrara and Rich Bombardier. Rich thanked everyone who helped to fix the track at Brickwall Page 2

3 Bill's Corner New Business Tommy D. requested that the club purchase a generator for battery charging at Brickwall. A suggestion at this time was to set up a charging station and have a member bring out a generator to the field. Decision regarding this purchase will be at a later date. Model(s) of the Month: Bill Bowne - scratch built Waco Motion to Adjourn: Accepted Meeting Adjourned: 9:03 Minutes respectfully submitted by Secretary Pine Barrens RC Club What Watts? During a recent club "Show and Tell", the question "How do you measure watts per pound?" came up. Should be easy, since measuring Electric motor power is easier than measuring the power produced by Glow or Gas engines. No fancy dynamometer's needed, just some inexpensive electrical gadgets. Since voltage times amperes = watts, the only things we need to know are the battery voltage, how many amps (amperes) the motor draws, and how much the model weighs, right? Umm, not quite. Let's take care of the number that's easy to get model weight. Just weigh it on a small scale, such as an inexpensive postage scale from Harbor Freight or a baby scale. The tricky numbers are the voltage and amps drawn. Just measuring the pack voltage with a voltmeter doesn't work, because as soon as we make the pack 'work' (by providing electrons to the motor), the voltage goes down. Worse yet, the voltage depression under a load varies with the pack's capacity and other factors (All else equal, under the same load, a 3S3000 pack will produce a higher voltage than a 3S1000 pack). So, we have to measure the volts and amps whilst the battery is actually working. There's an easy way to do that: A Wattmeter. Available from different vendors, wattmeters measure the voltage under load AND the amps drawn, automatically calculating the watts being generated by the spinning motor and prop. Wattmeters are a vital part of every Electric flier's toolbox (I've had my AstroFlight Whattmeter (Whattmeter is the brand name) for over 30 years, and it still works just fine it's gone through a few different connectors over the years, though!). So, we hook a wattmeter in line between the pack and the ESC, turn on the radio, and rev up the motor (Carefully doing that in the shop shows you just how much balsa dust, paper scraps, and other junk you've let accumulate!). Weigh the model, divide the watts by pounds, and we've got the magic number. Done, right? Not quite. You see, the watts/lb. number we just got is only valid when the model isn't moving. Air flows into the prop disc of a flying model at a shallower angle of attack, decreasing how hard the motor has to work to turn the prop meaning the watts/lb. number goes DOWN in flight. Thanks to that lessened air resistance, Glow engines speed up in flight, making more power (A good reason to leave your glow engines a bit rich as that extra power demands more fuel flow). However, Electric motors turn a specific RPM per volt (that's what K v means; thousands of revolutions per minute per volt). Amps denotes how hard the motor has to work to turn at that speed. Remember that Watts = Volts times Amps, so if we decrease how hard the motor has to work to turn the prop, we decrease the Amps being drawn. That leads to a drop in watts being generated (yes, the battery voltage does go up a bit when the amps drop, but there's still (usually) a net loss. So, a motor/battery/prop combo will usually generate slightly fewer watts in flight. Not a lot, but the loss is still there. Left : Whattmeter in place, between battery and ESC. No, I'm not crazy enough to hook up a motor and prop outside of a model! Right: Close up, we can see there are no amps being drawn, nor watts generated. Lower right-hand number is amount of amp hours used during a metering session. Page 3

4 This article is used and reprinted with permission from the AMA., Model Aviation and the author Page 4

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