At present, I have a lever with three detents in it, connected to cables that run to the flaps.. I am interested to know if anyone may be using some electric, geared motor with wheel or some other type of mechanism in conjunction with their existing cables with with some electric switch and motor.

What motor?
What gear?
How does it stop at a certain degree of flaps?
How fast is it?

Thanks
WOP

Some guys use the motor and gear out of car windows. I know of a Subaru (not sure what year/model) and a '95 Saturn. I was going to do it but bailed b/c i like the instant grat of dumping the flaps. You attach the old system to the end of the gear (it's not a whole circle. I think switching the polarity on the power takes a fancy switch. I never got that far. Good luck!

For years, the only airplanes I flew had electric flaps, from earlyCessna 150s through 210s. Then I flew a Piper Archer and later an Arrow, and I found that I really liked manual flaps better. So the first time I flew my airplane, before I had bought her, I was really happy to learn that she has manual flaps. I still feel that way, not because I like to dump the flaps on landing--I don't usually do that--but because they're more reliable. There's no motor to burn out, or circuit breaker to blow, or limit switch to get out of adjustment, all of which problems I've experienced at one time or another with electric flaps. So if I were you, I'd stick with the manual flaps.

Cary

Not really an answer to your question, but you can sum up the manual/electric flap question simply: Manual flap: Can be another flight control. Electric flaps: something else to fail.

Just for reference, electric flap motors are very torquey, big permanent magnets. Door window motors, not so much so, lots of plastic parts that love to break. The ideal setup is a screwjack that pulls on your cables through a pulley system or a push pull tube directly to the bellcrank. Winding the cables would be a recipe for disaster.

My Birddog, which has electric flaps retrofitted by the Army. A move nearly everybody universally hated. They put a screwjack directly to the flaps and drove it through a common electric motor running a cable system similar to a speedo cable to turn the flap screwjacks. You can see why folks hated this, but it was needed as the flaps run out to 60°, making a hard pull (original manual system was hydraulic).

wyomingiswindy wrote:Some guys use the motor and gear out of car windows. I know of a Subaru (not sure what year/model) and a '95 Saturn. I was going to do it but bailed b/c i like the instant grat of dumping the flaps. You attach the old system to the end of the gear (it's not a whole circle. I think switching the polarity on the power takes a fancy switch. I never got that far. Good luck!

I'd like to see pix of one if possible. I realize electric flaps are not for everyone, but if I can find some mechanism that is fairly fast and holds well, then I think it would work well for my needs, better than my existing flap handle configuration. Or maybe I just need a reworked or different design of manual flap quadrant.

For an airplane like your Ridge Runner, you might look into the system used by many Zenair 701 builders for an electric flap system. Get on the Zenair website or their builder discussion boards, and find out what works for them. With the 701's full span flaperons, whatever they are using should be strong enough for your aircraft with plain flaps.

I'll check it out. Thanks!

Found this http://www.flip-flap.com/

Looks like it's for ultralight and small sized experimental types. 80 lbs of pull is probably better suited for flaps with little area and a short throw in the flap arm.

Why not use a linear actuator. They come in all sizes and lengths. I have been thinking of installing one in my RANS S7. I do prefer manual flaps due to the simplicity of them. The flap handle in the S7 is under the seat and due to my back being mostly fused I have great difficulty in reaching down to operate it. That and the issue of being vertically challenged, requires me to have the shoulder straps very loose to enable me to reach the lever. This is NOT safe in my mind as the time when the shoulder straps are most needed are when landing.
http://www.thomsonlinear.com/website/co ... uators.php


Opps, edit due to just reading your post on that ultralight actuator. That looks like a cheap/small setup. You can get an actuator to fit your exact needs that will have plenty of power.

WWhunter wrote:Why not use a linear actuator. They come in all sizes and lengths. I have been thinking of installing one in my RANS S7. I do prefer manual flaps due to the simplicity of them. .....
http://www.thomsonlinear.com/website/co ... uators.php


Opps, edit due to just reading your post on that ultralight actuator. That looks like a cheap/small setup. You can get an actuator to fit your exact needs that will have plenty of power.

I was JUST looking at linear actuators last night and considering one. Well one factor is the pounds of push/pull. Pulling up on my existing handle is a major distraction to get full flaps. I'm probably pulling upwards of 40 lbs where my hand is on the lever, which means it is probably about 100 lbs at the pivot point or where the cables connect. The flip-flap looks like a good unit but I think it's meant for ultralights that don't have much flap area or are not trying for 45 degrees. An actuator may be the way to go in this case, since it can be custom built with adjustable throw, speed, voltage and other aspects. One thing though, I would want to make SURE that it has some kind of brake on it, so that if I make only a minor adjustment on the flaps, it will stop and hold.


Also, flap speed is important. Many actuators move at .6 inches per second, which is pretty slow. The fast ones (9 inches per second without load, 3 inches per second with load) are very low load bearing (22 lbs). It would be great to find one capable of a 150 lb dynamic load moving at 3 inches per second.


Here's one at 2.5 inches per second and 100 lbs load.

http://www.firgelliauto.com/product_inf ... cts_id=246

My S7's flap handle is quite 'stiff' also. Its location probably doesn't help either being under the seat on the left side. Flap speed is 60 and you definitely better not be exceeding that or it feels like the handle is immoveable. I am getting to the fact that it is also hard to manipulate and there are a couple of guys that have used linear actuators on there S7. I'm not sure what model actuator they are using but do have it stored somewhere in my files as I am still thinking of putting one in the S7.

Linear actuators are cheap,effective, and reliable. PM me if you want suggestions. I use them a lot.

WWhunter wrote:My S7's flap handle is quite 'stiff' also. Its location probably doesn't help either being under the seat on the left side. Flap speed is 60 and you definitely better not be exceeding that or it feels like the handle is immoveable. I am getting to the fact that it is also hard to manipulate and there are a couple of guys that have used linear actuators on there S7. I'm not sure what model actuator they are using but do have it stored somewhere in my files as I am still thinking of putting one in the S7.

Have flown the S7 a bit with my buddy, and finally got to fly from the front seat. The only thing I do not like is the flap handle location.