the monsoons seems to have finally arrived here (in its glorious and rainy form) and it surely does quite considerably affect the flying (just polite for no more flying
)
for the last couple of weeks we have gone to the field waited for the rain to stop and resume flying and that regime has worked out pretty well so far. but now as the rains shall become more frequent and everlasting (considering the monsoon pattern has not been severely affected by global warming
) i thought it might be a good idea to learn from experienced pilots and new ideas on how you could fly ELECTRIC aircraft in the rain. (please note fuel powered aircraft are not at all discouraged to be discussed here its just their monsoon proofness in the power system which makes them less susceptible to waterproofing needs in the power department
)
now i know it can be done as i myself flew my skyfun in the rain - actually it started to rain in flight and i had to land it in the rain and also here is another great example in the video posted in ashish bhaiya's thread
http://www.rcindia.org/rc-events/rc-aero-meet-jun-2012-at-karjat-organized-by-mr-bhaskaran-pan-card-flyers/.
in both cases i mean the skyfun (mine) and the easystar (above thread) there is one thing i could notice out to be common, that the motor (and in my case esc too) were the only ones exposed to rain and rest of the components were inside the canopy of the aircraft. after my flight my motor had no issues at all. (note in my case servos were exposed too and they are fine except for the ripped gears
)
as i understand the motor should be fine, in the rain, since the force driving it is due to the current carrying coils in the magnetic field due to the magnets and the rain should only affect the motor physically (rust, etc.) and as the rest of the electronics are inside the canopy they are somewhat water proofed. i am no expert but there are many electronics engineers on this forum who could elaborate on the effects of rain water on the following
1 - Motor
2 - ESC
3 - Rx (as i understand the range may be compromised due to humidity in 2.4Ghz systems (please correct me if i am wrong here))
4 - Batteries (Li-po mostly due to their widespread usage)
5 - Servos
6 - flight control boards (for quads)
also if it were to cause a short in the circuit (not motor windings as i guess the copper wires are insulated) the water must contain conduction ions isn't it. that would depend on the acidity of the rain and most likely the pollution levels in the area right ?
and after we know what the rain can do to the aircraft i would love to know from all of us and the experienced ones how we could conquer them.
i guess in aircraft's with a full fuse only motor safety would have to be tended to if at all there is a need. but profile foamies, heli and multirotors would have to follow a different regimen altogether to achieve water proofing (again if necessary).
i shall personally try them out on my 2m easyfly glider which has an exposed motor in the front so i invite all to kindly psot their ideas and queries and correct me wherever i went wrong in the above explanations.
on behalf of the MIRCFDCAC (Monsoon Induced Radio Controlled Flight Disaster Control and Awareness Community) i shall be deeply grateful to your help which shall help countless MIRCFD victims in their future operations
Subbu
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