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.

I have been working on RCadvisor full-time for over a year. Since the website launch announcement five months ago, the database has grown to 5,000 components and the membership list has grown to 1,500. Wow! Unfortunately, the income from the website advertisements has not been very much at all. After much thought and in consultation with RCadvisor community members, I’ve decided to make the component filters and the PowerEnergy per unit of time. Common units include the watt and horsepower. System Optimizer premium features requiring a paid subscription effective immediately.

Subscriptions cost just $19.95 for twelve months. If you subscribe before the end of August, you’ll get a bonus of three months for a total of fifteen. These premium features will continue to be free to all website members through the end of August.

As a service to the members, I’m now offering to analyze your own airfoils using XFoil and adding them to the airfoil database. The cost is $14.95/airfoil. I’ll review the output and give you my expert opinion on what I see. It takes several hours to crunch the numbers for just one airfoil, so this is not a bad deal.

I’m also now accepting donations. If you like the calculator and would like to see new features added, please consider helping us out. Every little bit helps.

All of these new products can be purchased through the Products main menu option. Please log-in into your account first.

The propeller calculator uses the behavior of an airfoil to help predict the behavior of the propeller as a whole. Gas propellers use the Clark Y 15%, the other propeller types use MH 116. That is the reason why those two airfoils are preloaded and available with Mach data.
All of the airfoil performance data has been calculated using XFoil. XFoil is a great program, but learning to use it is not easy and learning how to get good results from it is much harder still. The results that I had gotten from XFoil for these two airfoils were not very smooth, and in turn it made the power system graphs not very smooth, either. I had accepted it as a fact of life.
I recently went back and revisited my approach for calculating the airfoil data. After carefully thinking about the problem, I came up with an improved method to get results from XFoil. I just released a new version of the calculator with the improved airfoil polars. I find them much improved.

This had been on my to-do list for a long time. I finally got around to it.

Comments can now be added to blog entries. It should make it easier to voice your opinion.

I just released a new version of the component database with about 1,000 new airplanes, motors, airfoils, etc. The number of airfoils is now close to 2,000.

I’ve been accumulating changes to the calculator for a while without a release, so there are a lot of changes with this one:

• Filters now have a checkbox for excluding incomplete components. This is a very easy way to exclude bad data from PowerEnergy per unit of time. Common units include the watt and horsepower. System Optimizer results. Guaranteed not to slow down the Optimizer!
• Many input fields are now marked correctly as not being required. This means that the calculator can estimate a good value in most cases.
• PropellerAn airscrew. Ultimately, it is the thrust produced by the propeller that counts. Every other power system component is there in a supporting role. The bigger the diameter, the better. number of blades range increased to 1-9 and RPMRevolutions per minute. knob now goes to 60k RPM, in preparation of ducted fan support.
• New L/D result and graph for airfoils.
• Various performance improvements and ToolTipA ToolTip is a small text box that appears when the mouse pointer is hovered over a screen object. The box disappears when the mouse pointer is moved away from the object or after a specified period of time, usually a few seconds.  rewrites.

There’s also been a lot of tweaks to the website in the last week, including performance improvements.

A website member from Italy mentioned that the calculator did not support some units that are commonly used in Europe. I just released a new version of the calculator that corrects this deficiency.

Another website member wanted to see a wizard to help beginners. Thinking it through carefully, it seems to me that a wizard would just be there to help you set the filters before running the PowerEnergy per unit of time. Common units include the watt and horsepower. System Optimizer. That doesn’t make any sense to me. But a new tutorial that guides a beginner in the process would be helpful. Look for this soon.

I just made the first release of user-entered data (300+ components). I also released a few more motors and a couple hundred more airfoils. I haven’t done anything to validate the user data - caveat emptor.

I’m launching what I’ll call a beta version of the discussion forums. They’re beta because I’m still testing them and tweaking the settings.

The discussion forums run as an entirely separate application. A bridging module synchronizes the user registration and profile data. This is supposed to happen transparently, but you may have to log-out and log back in to trigger the copying. As always, please do not hesitate to let me know if you run into problems.

The discussion forums have been badly needed. I’ve had many private 1-on-1 email discussions with site members that really should have occurred in a public forum. We’ve built a large and rapidly growing community here, and it is time to start helping each other learn how to make our models fly better.

Two highly anticipated new features were released this month.

Six new online tutorials cover basic through advanced features. I think it’s fair to say that everyone can learn something here, so I urge all members to look at them. Of course, they run inside the Adobe Flash platform. They all feature lots of visuals and clear descriptions. The beta testers loved them!

The PowerEnergy per unit of time. Common units include the watt and horsepower. System Optimizer has been out for a couple of weeks now. Carefully tuned for speed, it analyzes 40,000 configurations per second on my desktop. A tutorial covers the nuances of this powerful feature.

The number of components (i.e., motors, airfoils, etc.) in the system database is now in the thousands. As usual, there are many more new website and calculator features this month. Look at blog entries and the tutorial for hints of what they were.

With the release of the tutorials, I’m retiring the survey. Several of you took the time to complete the survey and I’m grateful.

RCadvisor.com is now definitely ready for ‘prime time’. Just two months after the launch announcement and with little advertising, there are already hundreds of website members. I’ve prepared a press release that I will be distributing worldwide. I’m adding the press release to the website as a blog entry. If you know of a club or organization that might benefit from hearing about us, please either forward the press release or just let me know. Thanks!

After much work, feedback from the beta testers, and endless revisions, the tutorials are finally ready. To get to them, click the menu item above. They are designed to quickly and easily answer all of the common questions that arise while using the calculator. The feedback so far has been very positive - the reviewers found them very easy to follow and understand.

I’m replacing the Survey with the Tutorials. Several of you took the time to fill out the Survey and I got some very good feedback. Thanks! From now on, please feel free to use the Contact Form to get in touch with me and share your opinion.