Excalibur
Veteran
Location: Destination: Earth
| Hi Windy62:
| Quote |
| You already have a kill switch on the heli, in the form of a choke, or by placing your hand over the carb (if using a straight venturi)
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I hear what your saying and can agree in part, however, personal experience has proven otherwise.
I found that a choke is unnecessary on these engines, and since I don't have that option to stop the engine, especially with the UFO air cleaner installed, I use the remote switch on the transmitter to stop the engine after a run or when I need to tweak something. This switch is simply set up to close off the butterfly valve 100% immediately instead of messing with the digital trim on my throttle channel.
The first time I had a hot start was when I was still a newbie with my PGasser and forgot to turn on the receiver batteries before starting. Of course, at the time I had no mechanical kill switch installed, and all I could do was hold on to that blade for dear life and try to figure out what to do. After 20 to 30 seconds of insanity I was finally able to grab the fuel lines and yank them off. It TOTALLY took out every bit of liner in the clutch and left me in a cloud of smoke and clutch-liner particles.
I vowed that would never happen again, so after replacing the clutch, I wired in a permanent momentary push-button switch for any future emergencies:
Once you know it is right there by the engine when you're starting, you don't have to think while panicking during a hot start. Just knowing it is there, your hand instantly reaches over, hits the kill switch and suddenly all is quiet. Simple.
| Quote |
| As I see it, the only truly reliable way to add a kill system is to have it on a completely separate frequency with it's own power source and hand held switch.......
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That is actually way overkill for the desired outcome and can lead to more problems than it solves. You will never have a kill switch system of any kind that will GUARANTEE that you can stop the motor any time, every time. The best you can do is to set up simple, reliable solutions that will work on 90 to 95% of the emergency situations you may encounter during operation. That is what I have done with my setup, and it has gotten me out of trouble more than once in the past and never interfered with normal operation because of the simplicity.
Like everything else in this hobby, you have to choose what works best for you and your flying style - that's cool. My point was to propose a solution that will work in the real world reliably (proven), and encourage open discourse. Good luck.
Xcal
Camper Fuel: It's Not Just for Breakfast Anymore |
