Tiny power supply external fan

My tiny converted server power supply tends to run hot!  About 120F according the temperature of the air coming out of the exhaust fan.  

So I decided to add a 12v brushless fan to exhaust the air below the charger stand.  To power the fan I added a 3rd pair of 4mm bullets to the output tabs of the power supply. 

I added a small tab to the charger stand to mount it with Velcro, so I could detach the fan and store it for transport. 

The temperature under the stand only seemed to lower a few degrees (90F to 88F?). I guess I'll monitor it more to see how effective it is. 

Must go faster!

I headed to SDRC once again for some Saturday club racing. But I had some work to do before hitting the track. 

I changed back to my D3.5 17.5 motor to save my Fantom short stack for bigger races. But before installing it I decided to clean it up some. I cleaned and oiled the bearings and blew out the stator with compressed air. Then installed it back in my buggy.  During my practice runs my motor temp alarm went off before my timer, so I geared down 2 teeth ending up at 69:30. I didn't want the alarm to go off during racing like it did last week. 

I also decided to try the gull wing front arms and tower again to get more steering. But my lap time were stuck at 17.8. While my friend, who recently switched to an inline battery setup, was turning mid 17's!  A 17.5 in fact. Hmmm. I should soften up my shock package again, as I this was the setup I was using until mid summer, and I seemed to do better with it. I may also need to try an inline battery setup and finally mount a motor fan in my buggy and truck. 

Fred's inline battery setup.

Jose's motor fan setup. The mounting bracket is attached to the top of the tranny brace. 

I was also using my new server power supply for the first time. It's much more compact than my 25v power supply, but doesn't have a nice backlit display and power usage meter. But it does free up a ton of space in my pit bag and lighten it!

You can't even see the power supply under my charger stand!

Race results.

I won round 2 of qualifying and started 5th in the A. After a horrible start dropping to last, I work my way back up to 4th and crash in the last 30 seconds and finish in 5th. 

I plan to soften my shock package and try an inline battery setup and add a motor fan. Maybe I'll even use a front wing

Tiny power supply!

Total impulse buy!

I've been thinking of switching to the HP-1200 server power supply that everyone else uses to power their iChargers. It's rated at 900W at 12V and 75A.  This is just enough power for 4 channels charging at 20A each simultaneously!  Which rarely happens anyway. The biggest benefit of this power supply is its size!  I can neatly fit it under my charger stand, gaining more pit table space. 

It also has an SDRC wrap!  During testing it got up to 100F just plugged in with no load on it. I may have to rig up an external fan to help keep it cooler. 

Back to racing

I headed out to SDRC to race on the new layout. It has much smoother jumps than the last layout and requires you to be really smooth. There's this small step up leading back to the straight where with the right line up you can skip a step. This is the fastest line also. The fastest stock laps are in the low 17's. I was able to turn a mid 17 by my 5th time on the track. 

I qualified 4th out of 2 heats (my best qualification in a few months). I got up to 2nd in the opening laps, but my nerves got me and I crashed a lap later and dropped to 6th.  Oh well. Back to helis. 

Whoa!

No racing 2 weekends in a row!!! Gone flying helis :-)

http://ra99gt-rcheli.blogspot.com/

No Racing, Sunday 9/6/15

We we were supposed to go up to Santa Clarita to club race at SCVRC, but everyone backed out at the last minute and went to OCRC instead.  I decided not to go with them and finish building my Goblin 380 helicopter, as I've been to OCRC lots of times.