Comment by Maik on June 23, 2010 at 11:03am

Hello Adam,
nice work with the box and on the Maja. We've build a similar casing for the autopilot, complete with a helper board that carries two XBees, enables us switch to a backup battery in case of failure and can sound an alarm (in case of catastrophic failure, so people on the ground are alerted and/or the plane can be easily recovered in a high grass field). We also have quite a bit of experience with the Maja. Let me know if I can help you in any way.

Regards,
Maik from Berlin

Comment by Adam Amos on June 23, 2010 at 8:57pm

Hi Maik,

Are you using the recommended 10x6 propeller?

-Adam

Comment by Maik on June 24, 2010 at 12:36am

Hey Adam,
the suggested power setup is a joke. Way underpowered imho. We actually bought the first Maja pre-equipped and had a hard time getting it into the air. Required quite a bit of skill with running, was hard to do when there was no wind, and she couldn't carry nothing.
We went for rather powerful, because we want dead-easy takeoffs and because power is so cheap (weight-wise), so our setup is a Hacker A30-10XL and a massive Aeronaut 14x8 folding prop. That setup is a recommendation by Hacker and works beautifully, take-offs in no wind with the heavy camera and autopilot and 2x3 S 4000mAh batteries are no problem.

Comment by Maik on June 24, 2010 at 12:37am

Also see the RCG thread on the Maja: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1118600

Comment by Adam Amos on June 24, 2010 at 7:44am

Thank Maik,

I am also experiencing major issues with takeoffs! What is the total weight of your Maja & how much run time are you getting out of your setup? I will be operating mine at pretty much full capacity as i have to carry sensors as well as a 500ml water bottle.

Comment by Maik on July 1, 2010 at 1:50am

Hey Adam,

I'm sorry to see that your first flight was only semi-successful ;) Good job on the landing though!
I have not weighed the new Maja, but it must come in quite heavy. From the top of my head: Motor's 170 grams, batterys sth. like 2x 450 grams, camera opening thingie 200 grams (plus servo), autopilot sth. around 200 grams as well. With that, we get an estimated flight time of at least 40 minutes. And we're able to additionally carry our camera that comes in at another 700 or 800 grams, I think.

Comment by Daniel Gru on July 1, 2010 at 2:37am

Hey, very interested to find out, how the Maj flies.
I had the first flight with it yesterday, got a 170grams motor+ about 100gr ESC at the back, and had to put my 2x 3s 2650mah batteries right at the nose with a 5s 5000mah lipo as dead wait also right at the front just to get the CoG right...

And i must say it flew very weird, very bouncy, but slow turning, getting pushed back and forth, although there was nearly no wind..
Could this be because of the strange weight distribution?
How were youre flights in manual?

Regards
Daniel

Comment by Adam Amos on July 1, 2010 at 7:11am

Thanks Maik that sounds like you are carrying a quite a bit of weight there!

Daniel, I recently completed a very short manual test flight write up here: http://www.rescuerobotics.com.au/rescue-robotics-2010-obc-build-pro... but I have only had about 2 minutes of flying time so far so i will have to let you know how the Maja performs when i get some new motors (over the weekend hopefully).

Comment by Adam Amos on July 1, 2010 at 7:37am

Hi Joe

I only use corona receivers for bench testing.

-Adam

Comment by Maik on July 1, 2010 at 7:45am

I can't really comment on flying characteristics, because I'm rather new to flying... Only flew a couple Multiplex models before her... I know that a German magazine put the CG at 77 mm after the beginning of the wing (instead of 85). We tried that and did not like the handling at all.

Another thing to pay attention to: The parts that come pre-glued are glued pretty badly. So especially check your motor mount regularly... and if you want less play on the pitch servo, attach it right to the body instead of the motor mount unit.

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