R/C Aircraft conversion from glow to electric/solar

herpamad

Hi

Title says what I am trying to do. I have an R/C Aircraft that was designed for a .40 glow engine and I want to convert it to electric and power it from a battery, and then solar.

I am having issues of where to go next with my project, I have done some calculations, but stuck more on fundementals.

What I am unsure of is;

1) Brushless or Brush motor?
2) Battery pack, LiPo?
3) Solar array?
----- Formula to find from solar array spec, the likely output of the solar arrays taking into account location and time of day?

I have looked over google/bing/yahoo and found some great info, but cant really find definative answers for the above. Some projects seem to go for brush, or brushless motors and dont give a justification as to why, so I am lost to know whats better.

Project has came about as all but a handful of us at the local r/c strip are using electric or silent flight, and they've called for all electric and silent from next year.

So its buy an electric plane, nice an easy. Or its convert the existing one to electric which seems a great project, and way to expand my knowledge.

mugaliens

Your best bet is to head towards Tower Hobbies. They have tons of electric R/C aircraft supplies. Check out their Electric Flight section. :)