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Jaro Muller Esprit Electric Conversion


Beezerdbd34

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I want to convert my Jaro Muller Esprit to Electric flight.  Unfortunately the electric fuz is no longer in production so I am thinking of converting my spare glider fuz.   As this is going to be quite fiddly, I thought that I would place this post on the off-chance that someone might have done this before and I could pick up a few tips from their experiece.   Of course if someone has a surplus Esprit electric fus, I would be very interested.  Thanks

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/02/2017 at 09:32, Beezerdbd34 said:

I want to convert my Jaro Muller Esprit to Electric flight.  Unfortunately the electric fuz is no longer in production so I am thinking of converting my spare glider fuz.....

How is this project progressing?

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Hi Jeff,   It looks like I can make an effective conversion.   The plan is to fit 2 x hs65mg under the v-tail base which will leave a small part showing but these will be hidden by the v-tail so I can live with it.  The single flap on the centre wing panel will be converted to 2 flaps with Kst servos mounted in the wing.   It will then just be a case of modifying the nose mounting a motor etc.   Implementation is dependent on successful upgrading the motor in my Tangent Nimbus 4 to a A50 Hacker which, with an 8s Lipo, should enable ground  launching from a dolly.   The current motor,  an AXI 4120/20, with a 5s Lipo and Jeti opto esc will be used in the Esprit and should give a pretty decent performance.  I have bought all of the bits and pieces and hopefully I will get sufficient funds on my birthday next week to order the servos from Stan Y.   I will let you know how I get on.

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What span is the Esprit?

If it is around the 3m mark it might well be good competition, against my old E Calypso, in the multi-tasking format being run on the sidelines by the F5B practitioners.

Where are you based?

 

 

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Wingspan is 3.15m it is a f3j model.  My f3b 2.8m Ellipse is more akin to a Calypso, a glider that I always fancied but never got around to getting.  I live near Woking Surrey and as I have a round trip of 80m to get to the MVSA slopes, I am getting a few electrics for local flying.  Frustratingly I missed out on an Alpina 4001 electric recently which would have been perfect.  

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Most unlikely as it is a very good sports slope machine especially with a few pounds of lead ballast added.   Literally minutes before I started cutting my spare Esprit fuz  Jaro M offered to make an Esprit electric fuz for me.   Problem is that at getting on for 300 Euros, for not that much more money I can get a Valenta Vulcano electric from Staufenbiel which I really fancy, so I will start modifying my spare fuz and put the cash towards that, wife permitting (concern has been expressed that I have over 25 gliders, guess I may have to start selling to buy, so to speak).   

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Beezerdbd34

Finally completed the conversion the only compromise that was needed to use the standard fuz was the mounting of the v-tail servos which had to be slightly exposed.  Hopefully will maiden it next Monday weather permitting.

image.jpg.4c119b7c3e3e16c9be51d079ba06e44d.jpg

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Beezerdbd34

Maiden flight on a sunny day exceeded all expectations.   The Esprit, which has a flying weight of 2800g, was pulled up almost vertically at a climb rate of around 9-10ms by the AXI 4120/20, 5s Lipo and RFM 14x10 prop combo, according to my vario.   The heavier weight also seemed to improve the glide characteristics and it responded well to the weak thermals.  Now all I have to do is to find a use for my almost new standard Esprit  fuz.

Electrifying the Esprit was pretty straightforward without resorting to getting the electric fuz and has breathed new life into a glider that was a bit long in the tooth, I would recommend the conversion to anyone with an Esprit sitting round gathering dust.   The parts would have cost around £330 but fortunately I already had the motor, prop and  Lipo.  The only compromise that I had to make was to use an ESC with a BEC as there was insufficient space for a decent separate RX battery.  Anyone thinking of a similar conversion is welcome to contact me.

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  • 11 months later...

Hi Beezerdbd34,

I'm planning to convert my Esprit as well. Please could you post some more pictures showing close-ups of the areas where you needed to make changes?

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Beezerdbd34

Hi,.  No problem.  In summary, there is sufficient room in the fuz under the V-tail to mount 2 Hitec HS65mg servos staggered.  Although a small part of each servo sticks out of the fuz, they are hidden by the V-tail and not readily apparent.   The most awkward part of sorting out the power train and battery was removing the ballast tube so that I could fit the lipo battery.  This was achieved by cutting off the original grey servo tray and then prising out the ballast tube using a combination of a dremel and sharp small chisel.   Then all that is left to do is to cut the front off of the nose cone as appropriate to the motor set up.    My setup is AXI 4120/20 motor, RFM 14x10 folding prop and a 2700mah 5s lipo from Hobbyking and A Turnigy Plush 60a esc.  The flying weight is 2840g and the setup gives a thrust of 3475g.    Climb rate is stunning, so much so that my new standard f3j fuz is gathering dust.   I used the AXI motor as I had it lying around but I have a Hobby King SK3 4250-500 motor in a scale glider and it is really good.   I will follow this up with some photos.

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Beezerdbd34

Please find attached some pics that may be of help.   The RX is stuffed down the tail boom with two extension leads, one of which connects to the ESC via a switch and the other is for telemetry modules.

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

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image.jpeg

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Beezerdbd34

Hope this is of use, if you have any further questions please feel free to ask.   Personally, I would recommend the software at ecalc.ch for calculating the power setup.   

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Beezerdbd34

Apologies, I forgot to mention that I had to convert the single flap into 2 separate flaps Which involved putting 2 flap servos in the wing.  

The brass control horns used in the wings and V-tail were supplied by rcmetalbitz.co.uk

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