Optipower Backup Guard

[maarset]

Hi Maarset,

That's very odd, not quite sure how you managed that. The LiPo pack should be fine but if you want to email me with your address I will send you a spare LiPo to be sure. Did you just leave it on, i.e. armed?

Thanks Andy.
I always check to make sure it powered down. Especially since I put the blades in a blade grip holder. I might keep it plugged in for a day and monitor the voltage.

[mahbouni]

I've been testing out one of these for a few days. On first use I wanted to test if it really does charge during flight so I charged it up to only 90% with my CellPro 10S charger. After 4 flights I checked the pack voltage and it was down to 72%. Today I disconnected motor wires and left the ESC powered up for over an hour but it didn't charge the Opti Guard pack. It actually went down by 2%. It does actually function as a backup. If I disconnect the main battery then the Opti Guard does power my FBL unit.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. The ESC I'm testing it with is one of the older YGE 100LV's. The BEC is outputting 5.5V, 3A continuous, 5A peak. The helicopter is only a 500 size and never had any brownout issues before I fitted the Opti Guard.

[TheBum]

I've been testing out one of these for a few days. On first use I wanted to test if it really does charge during flight so I charged it up to only 90% with my CellPro 10S charger. After 4 flights I checked the pack voltage and it was down to 72%. Today I disconnected motor wires and left the ESC powered up for over an hour but it didn't charge the Opti Guard pack. It actually went down by 2%. It does actually function as a backup. If I disconnect the main battery then the Opti Guard does power my FBL unit.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. The ESC I'm testing it with is one of the older YGE 100LV's. The BEC is outputting 5.5V, 3A continuous, 5A peak. The helicopter is only a 500 size and never had any brownout issues before I fitted the Opti Guard.

According to the manual, receiver voltage has to be 5.3 or higher to charge the pack. Have you checked the BEC voltage with a voltmeter?

[acidla]

What i try not to do with the opti guard and the scorpion, is having power only from the backup units, as our switching bec's don't like power going into their output wires. This can cause damage or latent damage.

[Planehazza]

Update for my remote glow issue. Basically all sorted, problem was as Mark_T said. It was full charged at 7.2v. Plugged it in, hit the remote glow switch and in that time it was enough to get the voltage down to 6.6. So I simply rebooted the model at 6.6 and the opti guard no longer kicked in. I'll remember this for the future.

[mahbouni]

According to the manual, receiver voltage has to be 5.3 or higher to charge the pack. Have you checked the BEC voltage with a voltmeter?

Yes, with the ESC not connected to the FBL unit it is outputting 5.82V. While connected to a Mini Vbar and servos it settles at 5.6V within a couple of seconds. Even without the Opti Guard connected, if I press the swash plate down hard to load up the servos, I can't get it to go below 5.4V without worrying about breaking something.

[Mark_T]

When you did your charge test, was the red light flashing on the OptiGuard which would show it is charging?

[mahbouni]

When i connect the main battery it flashes Green for a few seconds. Then the Red LED flashes twice. After that its just a solid Green light. Nothing else.

[Mark_T]

When i connect the main battery it flashes Green for a few seconds. Then the Red LED flashes twice. After that its just a solid Green light. Nothing else.

So that would indicate it is not in charge mode.

If it was you'd see a flashing red light alongside the solid green.

The question of course is why?

[mahbouni]

Indeed why? Hopefully Andy will chime in with some advice.

[trillian]

I don't suppose there's any way to force the Ultra guard to run? To have it temporarily work like a buffer pack for booting the FBL unit / RX.

[Mark_T]

I don't suppose there's any way to force the Ultra guard to run? To have it temporarily work like a buffer pack for booting the FBL unit / RX.

No, and I'm not sure Andy would see this as an appropriate feature as he does seem focused on positioning it as an emergency backup, not as an alternate power supply.

It would be quite easy to run the pack down considerably in a short time period as it is only 430mAh and that could leave you without your backup when you actually needed it.

I understand the desire, just not sure it is a good thing to do.

[Mark_T]

Indeed why? Hopefully Andy will chime in with some advice.

How are you measuring the voltage?

If you are using telemetry, is it Futaba or Spektrum, or something else?

[trillian]

No, and I'm not sure Andy would see this as an appropriate feature as he does seem focused on positioning it as an emergency backup, not as an alternate power supply.

It would be quite easy to run the pack down considerably in a short time period as it is only 430mAh and that could leave you without your backup when you actually needed it.

I understand the desire, just not sure it is a good thing to do.

Well it's one of the convenient things about a buffer pack, you can run the RX just off the buffer to do a range check in the pits without connecting the motor power. This also serves as a pre-flight test of the buffer pack.

[Mark_T]

Well it's one of the convenient things about a buffer pack, you can run the RX just off the buffer to do a range check in the pits without connecting the motor power. This also serves as a pre-flight test of the buffer pack.

I do understand the desire to do this, I've done it myself in the past, but on balance I can also see why it is not a good idea as well.

The other consideration is that you will be feeding voltage to the BEC while it is not powered up which seems to be a concern for Castle in particular.