Don, I think you are making the Ldg Gear lights more difficult than necessary. In most Ldg Gear Indictor systems the lights are out when the Ldg Gear is retracted (up and locked). Resulting in down-Green, in transit (unsafe)-Red and no light-Up. The goal is that when the systems are normal in flight, all light will be out. This makes it easier for a warning/caution light to catch your eye.
Thanks for the thoughts. I see your point. Since I had three colors, why not use them. The up blue light will confirm to me that they are up, but if they aren't I would have a red light. ither way, it works.
Anxious for spring to come and seeing you back out on the project. When growing up the Corsair was my favorite plane to model and I am really enjoying this almost full scale model you're actually going to fly.
Don - I agree with one of your commenters. Lights out means gear up. Green means down and locked and red means intransit. I flew Boeings for a living (B727, B757, and finally B767) and the less lights on meant less distractions.
G'day Don, Well, it's a very elegant sort of an Indicator System..., but it's a lot closer to being elegantly complicated, than elegantly simple. When you work the Bugs out of it, it'll be delightful - but I find that adapting off-the-shelf components by Plug-&-Play to do something their manufacturer never dreamed of them being any part of...; there's going to be lots of Bugs, but if the Idea is actually a good one then it's really satisfying - when everything finally works. I follow along, almost underconstumbling the issues, but not enough to offer any insights or suggestions. Keep on keeping on... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
Nice to see an update! Clever system you've come up with. I like that you'll have different colors for each wheel for up, down, and "in transit". I have experienced a landing gear failure which resulted in one of the mains folding up on landing. The plane only had a single green "gear down" lamp, which was green when this happened, so having a status for each wheel I think is awesome. I do have a suggestion. You are misunderstanding the voltage spec for those LED's. That voltage value is the voltage drop across it, not the max supply voltage. I run standard "2-3 volt" LEDs at 12 & 24VDC in automotive and industrial applications all the time. To run them off 12V just put a 1K ohm resistor on the supply to each LED to limit current and it will run 24hrs/day and won't get hot as it's only consuming about 10mA per LED. The critical value to those LED's is current so you just need to limit the current based on the voltage applied. Eliminating that voltage/amperage regulator will simplify the setup and eliminate a potential failure point.
Thanks for the input on the LED's. When adjusting the driver board, the lights won't even come on until I get close to the voltage. The LED's won't heat up, but the resistor will. A 1/4 watt resistor running all the time will heat up. You have to dissipate 10 volts worth of energy there.
@@Dynodon64 Just sharing my knowledge and experience, nothing wrong with the volt/amp regulator board, I use those all the time as well and they are great. I just think it's overkill for this application and much more likely to fail than a simple passive resistor. Your regulator board is dissipating the extra energy so not really any difference there, it has to go somewhere. I set this test up on my lab bench today. 12.68VDC power supply through a 1.2Kohm resistor to a standard red 3V LED. Circuit was drawing 0.0093A (9.3mA) which equates to only 0.118 watts, well under the 0.25 watt rating of the resistor. With my thermal imager, the resistor topped out at 95°F. Those regulator boards get much warmer than that in my experience even with no load on them.
Looking like a solid setup. Looking forward to seeing the wiring diagram once you draw it up! I just cut all my flat stock for my landing gear trunion in my p40.. so I'll be posting videos of me stumbling through bending material. Looking forward to it lol.
@Dynodon64 I have a few up on my page now. Not much to see so far. Alot of talking and planning. A little cutting. Hopefully some more excitement coming up
Its hard to belive this project has been going on for over 11 years. I think its safe to say at this point the goal is not to ever fly it, your joy is tinkering on this thing forever.
So I don't know enough about electronics and circuitry, but is there any condition of a fault in the up position indicator circuitry (blue lights) which could cause the down (green) or in transit or unsafe (red) to short or open? Or a condition which could give you an up and simultaneously a green or red? Then you would have an ambiguity. All the airplanes I ever flew (6 jet type ratings) just had green and red or unsafe.
All of the lights are turned on by grounds. If any wire, for any color, shorts to ground, then yes, that light would never go out. Then that light would stay on if it's up , down, or in transit.
Don, I think you are making the Ldg Gear lights more difficult than necessary. In most Ldg Gear Indictor systems the lights are out when the Ldg Gear is retracted (up and locked). Resulting in down-Green, in transit (unsafe)-Red and no light-Up. The goal is that when the systems are normal in flight, all light will be out. This makes it easier for a warning/caution light to catch your eye.
Thanks for the thoughts. I see your point. Since I had three colors, why not use them. The up blue light will confirm to me that they are up, but if they aren't I would have a red light. ither way, it works.
@@Dynodon64 when do you expect to be airborne?
Anxious for spring to come and seeing you back out on the project. When growing up the Corsair was my favorite plane to model and I am really enjoying this almost full scale model you're actually going to fly.
Looking to go down tomorrow and work on it. I should have an update then.
I just want to see this beautiful machine fly!
It will fly this year.
Don - I agree with one of your commenters. Lights out means gear up. Green means down and locked and red means intransit. I flew Boeings for a living (B727, B757, and finally B767) and the less lights on meant less distractions.
Thanks, I see your point. But I had the extra light, why not use it. Right now they are the only lights in the plane.
Hope you're feeling better soon!
G'day Don,
Well, it's a very elegant sort of an Indicator System..., but it's a lot closer to being elegantly complicated, than elegantly simple.
When you work the Bugs out of it, it'll be delightful - but I find that adapting off-the-shelf components by Plug-&-Play to do something their manufacturer never dreamed of them being any part of...; there's going to be lots of Bugs, but if the Idea is actually a good one then it's really satisfying - when everything finally works.
I follow along, almost underconstumbling the issues, but not enough to offer any insights or suggestions.
Keep on keeping on...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Thanks, the driver board is meant just for LED's. So it is a very simple set up.
Thanks for the update, Don. Always inspiring to see your knack for problem solving. Looking forward to see this rig installed and working.
Nice to see an update! Clever system you've come up with. I like that you'll have different colors for each wheel for up, down, and "in transit". I have experienced a landing gear failure which resulted in one of the mains folding up on landing. The plane only had a single green "gear down" lamp, which was green when this happened, so having a status for each wheel I think is awesome. I do have a suggestion.
You are misunderstanding the voltage spec for those LED's. That voltage value is the voltage drop across it, not the max supply voltage. I run standard "2-3 volt" LEDs at 12 & 24VDC in automotive and industrial applications all the time. To run them off 12V just put a 1K ohm resistor on the supply to each LED to limit current and it will run 24hrs/day and won't get hot as it's only consuming about 10mA per LED. The critical value to those LED's is current so you just need to limit the current based on the voltage applied. Eliminating that voltage/amperage regulator will simplify the setup and eliminate a potential failure point.
Thanks for the input on the LED's. When adjusting the driver board, the lights won't even come on until I get close to the voltage. The LED's won't heat up, but the resistor will. A 1/4 watt resistor running all the time will heat up. You have to dissipate 10 volts worth of energy there.
@@Dynodon64 Just sharing my knowledge and experience, nothing wrong with the volt/amp regulator board, I use those all the time as well and they are great. I just think it's overkill for this application and much more likely to fail than a simple passive resistor. Your regulator board is dissipating the extra energy so not really any difference there, it has to go somewhere.
I set this test up on my lab bench today. 12.68VDC power supply through a 1.2Kohm resistor to a standard red 3V LED. Circuit was drawing 0.0093A (9.3mA) which equates to only 0.118 watts, well under the 0.25 watt rating of the resistor. With my thermal imager, the resistor topped out at 95°F. Those regulator boards get much warmer than that in my experience even with no load on them.
These 5mm LED's claim to pull 20ma. Haven't tested the amps yet.@@shanesdiy
It's good to catch up brother, hope you had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year : )
Doing great ,thanks for asking.
Looking like a solid setup. Looking forward to seeing the wiring diagram once you draw it up! I just cut all my flat stock for my landing gear trunion in my p40.. so I'll be posting videos of me stumbling through bending material. Looking forward to it lol.
Let me know when you have videos to see.
@Dynodon64 I have a few up on my page now. Not much to see so far. Alot of talking and planning. A little cutting. Hopefully some more excitement coming up
I will check it out.@@downrangewarbirds
Just love your videos and will be glad to see this Bird in the air❣️❣️❣️😊❤
Looks like your onto a good solution, thanks for keeping us in the loop Don.
Just need to add it to the plane.
I added a timer to turn the lights off after a few minutes on our Mustang..
Its hard to belive this project has been going on for over 11 years. I think its safe to say at this point the goal is not to ever fly it, your joy is tinkering on this thing forever.
It's been going on for way longer than that. Your entitled to your opinion, but it's wrong.
Hey, was wondering the other day how you are doing since you haven’t posted in a while. Hope all is well.
Like I said, been busy working on my car. Thanks
@@Dynodon64 All good. Hope you get it all done and inspection passed
So I don't know enough about electronics and circuitry, but is there any condition of a fault in the up position indicator circuitry (blue lights) which could cause the down (green) or in transit or unsafe (red) to short or open? Or a condition which could give you an up and simultaneously a green or red? Then you would have an ambiguity. All the airplanes I ever flew (6 jet type ratings) just had green and red or unsafe.
All of the lights are turned on by grounds. If any wire, for any color, shorts to ground, then yes, that light would never go out. Then that light would stay on if it's up , down, or in transit.
Hi I’m judt wondering if there will be an update soon it’s been a while
Just posted a new one tonight.
Hey Don, I'd like to ask you a private question regarding a book I'm writing. Do you have a preferred method for contact? Thank you, best regards.
Send me an email at my UA-cam name at verizon dot net