I’ve been working on some new tutorials. It’s forcing me to step back and think about the different ways that the calculator can be used. I have also spent quite a bit of time during the last few days using the calculator and pushing it to its limits.

Invariably, I see many areas where I get new ideas to make it work better. Rewording and expanding ToolTips to make them clearer is very common. I have also made many small tweaks to the functionality.

I just released a larger new feature. Before, the filters only let you do “and” type of filters. I.e., “the propeller diameter must be less than 15 inches and greater than 10 inches”. That was good enough to be able to handle the simpler scenarios that I envisioned before.

Now you can create much more complex filters. For example, “electric or slow-flyer propellers less than 10 inches in diameter”. That was simply not possible before.

After much thought, I’ve decided to change the slogan. Instead of “Because Models Can Always Fly Better”, it is now “Brainy calculator. So you don’t have to be.”

The calculator uses state of the art artificial intelligence (AI) in three different parts of the program. The most obvious use is in the PowerEnergy per unit of time. Common units include the watt and horsepower. System Optimizer. AI is just as critical in the other two uses, but I plan to continue keeping them closely guarded secrets. What really counts is how well the calculator works, not what I had to do to deliver those results.

The primary goal for the calculator has always been ease of use without sacrificing power. Along those lines, I’ll be releasing soon a significant expansion on the number and length of the online tutorials.

By the way, a calculator update earlier today made the graph redraws 35% faster.

There are six new graphs in the calculator, including one that I have to call the first advanced graph.

A new propeller graph compares the Advance RatioRelates a propeller’s airspeed with the rotational frequency and diameter. It is closely related to the angle of attack of the propeller blades. with the Power-Speed CoefficientRelates the forward velocity with the power required to turn a propeller. It is closely related to a propeller’s efficiency. It is sometimes used to help determine the correct propeller diameter to use. . Both of these terms are in the glossary. If you don’t know what they mean, don’t worry about it. These quantities are very useful for conducting advanced propeller analyses.

Now you can! The latest calculator release includes about 20 different new features or changes. Highlights:

• Compare two components side-by-side. Want to see how two motors stack up to each other? Load both of them up on the same graph! Expect a short pause, since you are doubling the number of computations. To disable the charting of the second component, select <None>.
• Support for multiple motors in one power system. The motors have to be of the same type and have to be wired in parallel (probably what you want, anyway). To use with the optimizer, set the number of motors before you start it. The optimizer will keep the number of motors that you selected.
• More input values have now become optional. There is improved logic to estimate missing data. Of course, if you know what the value is supposed to be, then you are probably better off entering it.
• ComponentThe different entities that the calculator is designed to edit. Motors, propellers, airfoils, etc. names are now case-sensitive. Case-insensitive names were sometimes causing some confusion. In lists, now uppercase letters will show up before lower case letters.
• The location <Standard Atmosphere> has been renamed <None>. This means “nowhere specific” and is probably easier to understand.
• I moved the chart combo box to the bottom of the screen. There is now less need to scroll in the list.
• Many expanded explanations in ToolTips to address common questions.
• Clearly labelled the advice as advice. Some folks (that hadn’t looked at the tutorials) thought these were error messages.
• Close to 6,000 components in the database. If you only want to see the components that I preloaded, then set the filters to only include Edited By = carlos.

Since there were so many changes, I spent an extra two days just testing it. It’s looking great!

The calculator is now a widget that can be easily shared with others or added to your web site. This is a much better solution than trying to install the Flash SWF file I described earlier. To bring up the widget menu, click on the small “Widget” tab at the bottom of the calculator.

Note: the version you copy will be for whatever data server you are using at the moment, United States or Europe.

I’ve merged in all the logic for the special OEM version of the calculator back into the main calculator executable. To put a free version of the calculator on your website, either copy to your webserver or run from my server.

Again, the control is 1000x700. This version enables more functionality for free than before. Questions or comments? Please do not hesitate to contact me.

UPDATE: I no longer recommend using the SWF file directly. The widget I describe above is a much better solution. Please use that instead.

I just released a new version of the calculator.

ComponentThe different entities that the calculator is designed to edit. Motors, propellers, airfoils, etc. names are now identified with the account name of the person that last edited the data. If your account name is “mike” and you create a new airplane called “Whizbang”, then the name of the airplane will become “Whizbang [mike]”. Previously saved data is automatically converted to the new convention. The only exception is the data that I preloaded. Instead of seeing “Sig Kadet Senior [carlos]” you’ll just see “Sig Kadet Senior”.

I went through a lot of trouble to make sure the power system selected in an airplane is still valid even after the power systems get renamed. This also applies to the components (battery, motor, propeller, etc) inside a power system itself. If the calculator happens to make a mistake, I apologize. Errors should be very rare, but I have to assume they are possible.

A new command in the Administrative tab can be used to load another user’s data. With the new naming convention (see above), your personal data will never get overwritten this way. If you wish to copy one of these loaded components into your personal account’s data set, perform a small edit on it. This triggers the creation of a copy. This is probably harder for me to explain than for you to figure out, so just try it out in the calculator.

The All Things That Fly guys clued me in about the value of Twitter. I now have a new account on Twitter where I post regular updates about what I’m up to. My username there is creyes123.

Once a week the folks over at All Things That Fly release a new R/C related podcast (recorded MP3 file). A few days ago they interviewed me and they just released it as episode #59. Go over there and check it out.

These guys do their homework and they asked great questions. It was a real pleasure working with them. From their website intro:

“Diggs and Burke talk to Carlos from RCadvisor.com. Thinking this is just another RC calculator is like saying the combustion engine is just another horse. Learn how and why a powerful tool can aid the plane guys as well as the heli guys.”

I just put together a new version of the calculator that can be run from any website (commercial or not). I cut down the size of the component database. Since there are no accounts with this version (no registration required), no data can be saved across sessions. It’s an Adobe Flash 9 file, requiring a display area of 1000x700.

You can also copy the file locally and run it from there. If you do that, though, you won’t get newer versions as I release them. If you run this from a web site somewhere, I’d love to hear about it (not required). I’m very open to suggestions on this one. Is there any interest in a Google Widgets version?

I can easily create custom subsets of the component database. For example, if you would like to have a version with only your products included, let me know.

UPDATE: I got some new ideas on how to make this all work better. I’ll have a new release in another 1-2 days.

UPDATE 2: The widget is a much better solution for this. Please use that instead.