FT Versa Battery position options.

[SnowdonFlier]

Hi, currently building the FT Versa (tractor with the swoppable powerpod). Started thinking about different options using the powerpod

A) Has anyone ever tried a powerpod where the motor / prop is mounted at the back, so pusher with powerpod rather than pusher with the FT firewall.

B) I'm not that keen on mounting batteries externally so was thinking of mounting battery in the power pod. Considered that the continued removing and replacing of power pod was not a good idea as it could become sloppy so am investigating a hatch at the bottom of the powerpod.

Would be interested to hear if anyone has tried this or has any comments.

Cheers

Mike

 

[makattack]

Hi Mike,

I believe putting the battery in the powerpod is generally not great because it limits your battery size and how you can adjust the center of gravity. If you build the FT Versa with a setup for tractor / powerpod, you can add landing gears that will allow you to protect the battery. Heck, it wouldn't hurt to just build a little compartment attached to/outside of the powerpod for the battery.

I suspect if you end up wanting to build it with a pusher style, you could go with the powerpod setup, and I'm sure someone has done it, but I think that will result in quite a challenge to get the center of gravity correct.

A pusher style FT Versa wing requires a ton of weight up on the nose, it was setup for FPV and expects a somewhat big and heavy GoPro style camera up front and a bigger battery.

An alternative, if you're going going for FPV is this design from HildaFlyer for making an equipment nose/bay, with a motor that's moved further up, making it closer to the nose.

http://flitetest.com/articles/balanced-pusher-wing

 

[SnowdonFlier]

Thanks

OK, what you say makes a lot of sense. I guess I was considering wind resistance as well and the fact that the 2200 3S batteries I generally use fit nicely in the pod - I'm more of a cruising flier rather flat out so this battery size is generally OK for me. I'll comment when the plane is complete.

Mike