A lil' history ...
    This project involves the designing and building of a basic in-flight recorder that is capable of recording R/C performance parameters (such as servo glitches), engine temperature, engine RPM and battery voltage.  It is based upon a cheap Basic-Stamp SX processor designed on a SIMM card as shown in the photo to the left.  An A-to-D was incorporated on the SIMM card, including a piezo buzzer and various pull up/down resistors.

 

...more to come soon...

Design Criteria Summary:

1) Design must be small and light such to be carried by a 40-size glow R/C aircraft.
2) Design should be based around a programmable controller easily adaptable by the builder/user
3) Design should allow for recording of various flight parameters, with a min record rate of 1 sample per second (max of 20 minute record time, i.e. 1200 samples)
4) Design should allow the user to plug in a laptop/computer to download and analyze data (use MS Excel import?)

Parts & Tools List ...

1) Parallax Basic Stamp SX programmable microprocessor
2) 8-bit A-to-D converter (0-255 resolution is ok for this app.... you could always use a 10-12 bit A/D if need be)
3) Piezo buzzer
4) Various resistors (10K-100K should suffice)
5) Servo hookup wire (female end with 12"+ of wire)
6) Dallas DS1620 temperature IC (with custom aluminum tab for connection to engine)
7) Hall effect sensor (with custom aluminum bracket) and rare earth magnet (for RPM measurement)

Building Instructions...

...more coming soon

 

Testing & Operating Instructions...

...more coming soon

 

Additional Notes...

Earthmen Productions
© Dec-00-Mar-12

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