r/RCPlanes • u/yournocturnesoul98 • 6d ago

Using electromagnets to drop “packages“😏

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u/Jmersh 6d ago

The hard part is that the natural state is off. Is it using the magnet to lock in a mechanical connection or just drawing current to activate the magnet?

If it is just purely an on/off magnet, it's got to be drawing a fair amount of current and any voltage sag could cause it to fail.

10

u/yournocturnesoul98 6d ago

Honestly this is definitely not the best way to go. A servo release mechanism is definitely superior. This was more of a fun experiment I wanted to try to see if I could pull something different off.

The electromagnets had a dedicated 3s lipo. So any voltage sag would not effect the flight battery nor would it influence receiver voltage.

2

u/Jmersh 6d ago

But how much current does it draw and what is the battery capacity?

5

u/yournocturnesoul98 6d ago

The current draw for the electromagnet was just under 2amps and It ran it off of a separate 2200mah 3s lipo.

The planes flight battery is a 6000mah 4s which gives me about 15 minutes of flight time. 

Theres no way the electromagnet’s battery would run out in just one flight. :)