Horizon Hobby - Hobbyzone - Delta-Ray - Dual Brushless Motor Upgrade

If you like the LED's and or want to learn more about my electronics, I have videos about both. They are not exhaustive, step-by-step videos, but might answer some of your questions.
Electronics Mods • Delta Ray Brushless Up...
LED's mods • Delta Ray LED Modifica...
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[@Jacobytt]

Nice landing Brian!

[@Nicksurferuk]

absolutely love that, and right now I can only dream of flying with skills like you possess. I have recently got a delta ray and fly it all stock. really love it but getting it to land anywhere near me is still a challenge lol

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

I've been flying for a little over a year. I've been running RC on and off for most of my life, but never got the hang of flying until I started with an ESTES, Proto-X, then I got a small plane for inside the house, an Inum (flyzone?), then a Sportcub S UMX and it was all over...I was hooked! Now I'm up to around 15 or so models and increasing. Learn to fly, then you can fly anything. I learn EVERY FLIGHT. I learn EVEN MORE every crash, of which I have a lot. Good luck! Thanks for watching!

[@burlingtonfilms]

This is like the original Ultrix 600mm.

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

Similar, but this is so much simpler BEFORE the mods ;)

[@genes6703]

Hi brian, when you have a plane with 2 motors, does one motor go clockwise and the other counter? And you would need a pusher prop and a puller prop. Am I correct on this? I don't see any videos on this. thanks

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

If you can run counter rotating, that's the best choice, since you'll cancel out most of the torque roll. YES, if you want to do it right...you would. If not, you might loosen the other prop with over time.

[@tedphillips7727]

looks great. Flys Great.

[@lmdetect]

Shouldn't be flying around houses like that. I've seen way too many planes get home fire when they crash. Going through one of these windows or on top of one of these roofs and catching on fire wouldn't be a good thing.

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

I agree that a lipo fire resulting from a crash on a roof would be a huge bummer! However, in my personal experience with numerous crashes on my neighbors roofs and really, in all sorts of places, there has never really been damage to a lipo that would substantiate a real risk of fire. I've had esc's "burn", or more exactly, they smoke and make a lot of fuss, but no fire.... Also, fires from lipos are very FAST and FURIOUS, and generally pack more bark then bite. They are HOT and FAST...but not generally hot enough to burn (or even mar the finish) of an asphalt shingled roof, like those in our neighborhood. I do realize "anything can happen" and I agree that exposure increases chances of a freak accident. This is one of many reasons why we bought land and are building a new house in the country. This will allow me to mitigate some of these risks, as I advance into the hobby even more, flying planes that would actually constitute a negligible risk in our current abode. Keep in mind, most damage from my crashes has been to the foam planes I'm flying. I've had maybe 2-3 lipos sustain damage from accidents (between me and my buddy Esteban), and I've always "nailed" them to destroy them after such incidences. Size matters, and this plane uses a relatively small, and fairly well protected lipo(s)...thus the real risk of a lipo fire is miniscule. Remember, risk is a part of life. Would I feel terrible if any of my choices ever hurt someone else - YES - so I will do what I can to protect others around, while still living life. I hope you can understand this position.

[@busybody1474]

You may consider watching a vid on Stu's Channel, lipo fire destroys Mercedes, all planes and 1/2 a garage!! Would definitely agree with you that it was fast and hot!!!!

[@bradarthur5692]

So I'm assuming the motors you changed to were brushless rather than the brushed motors like what it came with..so I wondering if your top speed is faster than the stock setup and if you think it could handle something like 2, 2826-6 2200kv motors on 40 amp ESC'S. I know the stock setup is pretty slow but I like the airframe. I wish they sold it in an ARF version.

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

Yes, these are brushless motors. The plane is probably twice as fast as stock, and nearly unlimited vertical! The air frame is rock solid. I've literally crashed it like 30+ times. I think my delta ray is about 25% CA and glue now... If the stock plane would have maintained enough powerful to stay aloft during flight, I'd probably never upgraded the motors. I really "needed" SAFE when I started with this plane. Now I don't need SAFE, and to be totally honest, I don't fly the delta ray much. I have lots of other really cool planes. This one, with all my ridiculed mods, has become quite a handful to fly, and high consequences for poor landings. That being said, I learned numerous, invaluable lessons about RC, flight, controls, retracts, esc's, servos, foamy construction, etc... This plane has served it's purpose 10 fold. I'd do it all over again, but nice, given the opportunity. As to your motor and esc question, just I don't know. You could give it a shot. Twin 40 Amp ESC's are gonna be MORE than enough to power this plane. I don't know how to figure out the math for motor sizing, as I've never spent the time to learn, or had anyone teach me (yet), sorry! Don't forget you'll likely be using a larger lipo. I'd recommend going to 3S or 4S or like me, two 2S lipos in series (which makes a 4S), so you can balance the CG even better. Thanks for watching, and the question!

[@4funrc11]

Hello (again)... Could you tell me or point me in the right direction to add LED's, using stock flight controller? Thanks again and thanks for all your vids!

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

When I did the LED's on this plane, they were powered strait off the lipo connector in the Delta Ray. They are small LED's from the LED strips. I desoldered them from the strip and then built in resistors and added a whole control circuit for the wingtip strobe effects, and the anti crash beacon. P.S. I have lighting videos on the playlist, check it out!

[@4funrc11]

Brian Phillips Thanks Brian! Yeah, I thought about powering the LEDs via balance plug. Can't find any info about the SAFE board having an open receiver. Guess there isn't one. lol! Yes, I'll re-check your vids for LED stuff. :)

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

There is a brushed to brushless signal adapter available. This is what you'd likely want to go with. The Xtreme 180 brushes motors aren't that great, in my opinion! www.xtreme-production.com/xtreme/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1546 Yes, you can use the balance plug if you want. This allows some flexibility too on what voltage you want to run the LED circuit on.

[@james66872]

Where you located? Good looking neighborhood

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

James Carroll Thanks, central Iowa. We're very fortunate to have a good neighborhood, but that takes some effort too.

[@james66872]

Brian Phillips just got back from Oregon and Washington for 2 weeks and didn't want to go home. I live in Southern California and hate it

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

Not like the Midwest?

[@daviddavid1733]

Why is safe gone?

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

Dis Dude Because I had to remove the stock reciever / brushed esc brick...now it's just a standard 6 channel reciever.

[@rcflyingfun2656]

You could have used the stock receiver, you just have to find the throttle tap. There are several posts on the Mig mod in RC groups. That is how I am using 18 amp esc in my planes. Here is he link. www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1668461&highlight=umx+mig+15+df+mod+thread&page=20

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

I'm aware of the umx bricks being hacked like this, but I'm not sure how to find the throttle signal line on a pcb like this. I don't have an Osciliscope, nor would I be able to figure that out without extensive help, but since it's so easy, why don't you post a video for alll of us in the cheap seats actually doing it.

[@rcflyingfun2656]

It is a little mosfet on the bottom of the board. That plane should have two of them because it uses motor differential as rudder. My handle on RCGroups is flyin9116, send me a close up picture of the top and bottom of the stock board and I might be able to tell you where it is.

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

That'd be cool! I'll use the old control pcb for an F-14 custom foamy

[@jimbrogden6661]

hi, know its been a while but did they ever sell the motor heat sinks for this ? Thanks

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

Not sure. I thought they came WITH the motors when you ordered them...

[@daviddavid1733]

Ok so can i switch the motors for brushless and still have safe?

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

Sort of, but it's not easy, and won't work as good as you might think. Me and my friend Esteban did it on his Delta Ray, but it worked poorly at best. You can see the videos here in this playlist, but take some time and watch my build and upgrade series to see if you want to endeavor to do it yourself... kzbin.info/aero/PLXTH0DstRDc5klBThTC9KGBjssloh-tUB ...hope this helps!

[@wbvike]

Very nice upgrade!! In have a Hobbyzone Stratocam, and I want to do what you have done to he delta Ray. Any suggestions you can offer as for any potential issues you might of run in to? It's basically the same aircraft, but the Stratocam does not have differential thrust. I can't decide if want to do the differential thrust or just leave it with equal power. It turns pretty sharp with just rudder, so that's why I was thinking of not doing the diff thrust.

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

If you've got a rudder (especially if you have good rudder authority), don't do differential thrust. Differential thrust is cool, but causes all sorts of greif with controller setup and when you're landing, you want YAW, so you give rudder input...next thing you know the plane wants to speed up...so you get the idea, it makes flying a bit more tricky, but it can produce a more clean yaw effect on some planes that would otherwise roll badly with rudder (like the delta-ray). If you want to put on brushless motors, there is now a "Brushed to Brushless" adapter you can buy, so you don't have to give up SAFE (if you have it, I thought you did on the stratocam). It's made by the same guys selling the "Xtreme Pro 180" brushed motors. By the way, my friend installed the Xtreme pro 180 motors and his delta ray is still weak. I think he was disappointed. Thanks for watching and the comment.

[@wbvike]

+Brian Phillips the stratocam has pretty good rudder, I can get it on its side when making a hard sharp turn if need be. How did you set up the battery for two esc's? It does not have the "oh crap" button that the delta ray has, but instead you can't select 0,1,2, depending on flying skills. Fly on 0 setting and it has programmed inputs that only allow the plane to bank to a certain degree no matter how far you push to stick over. It also mixes the elevons when turning on this setting to help keep her in terms air. Like the delta ray, it's designed to fly easy for someone that has never flown an rc plane before. And then if you love to #1 setting, it reduces the assistance that 0 gives and setting 2 is all one the person flying the plane. It also has the AS3X, or whatever it's called, to help keep the plane stable. That is on no matter what setting you fly in. So I was originally thinking of putting two Emax 1806 motors on, you think this would be underpowered?

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

This is SAFE...sensor aided flight envelope. SAFE is great, and if you have advanced to almost never needing it, you can simply replace the reciever with any of your choice. If you want to keep one throttle channel (as opposed to doing differential thrust) you just need to hook up a "y" cable off the throttle channel to each ESC, but it's a good idea to disconnect the power from one or the other ESC's since only one BEC will be needed to power the Reciever. Make sure your ESC's are either very similar for throttle position, or just reprogram the range to make them both turn on at the same time. As for power, that's pretty simple. Method 1) just Y cable red and black to one Lipo Method 2) make two lipo connections, one for each ECS. Some people perfer method 2 because one of the motors will likely survive a complete failure...but you can be the judge of which works better for you. I usually just do method 1 since I wouldn't want two lipos to charge for each flight cycle. If you dont want to lose SAFE, you can do the Brushed to Brushless converters, but it's a lot more complex...

[@wbvike]

+Brian Phillips I haven't needed safety at all for this plane. I usually scratch build mine using Flite Test designs. I just love the ease of this plane and was thinking for ways to upgrade it and I thought about brushless motors and searched KZbin and came across your videos. Impost likely will not use diff thrust,but what power level are you using for the motors on the delta Ray. I have flown the delta Ray before and liked it, my buddy bought two of them and I still have one of the transmitters from one of them I "borrowed"....! I currently use a spectrum dX6i transmitter.

[@JohnQuincy1776]

There is a way to save SAFE. It requires 2 Rxs and two batteries (or a voltage regulator). I had one that had the ESCs on the board go out. I added brushless motors working on one controller and and ran the servos off of the stock board. It was easy to bind them both to the controller. You need a 7.4V supply for the stock control board though. I flew it like that for a few flights with two batteries. My friend was soldering a new connector on and miswired things and we friend the control board. I run mine with 800-1300 3S batteries with 1806 motors and I still get 7-8 minutes per flight.

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

+Brian Martin So you bind both recievers to the same transmitter, then you just hook up the throttle channel from the second (non-stock rx)... ...so you lost differential thrust? If you really wanted to get Brushless without giving up SAFE, there are brushed motor siginal converters out now. Basically, in stead of buying the higher quality Xtreme180Pro motors, you buy the brushed to brushless adapters, and mount your brushless motors. I opted for moving to a 6 channel rx, which afforded me two channels for differential thrust, one for nose gear and rudder articulation, two for tailevons, and one for retracts. I also programmed in spoilerons (the tailevons both point up together, but they still operate as aileron/elevators). There really is more than one way to skin a cat! Bummed to hear you fried your stock rx pcb. (I think your auto correct changed fried to freind)