On Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 8:30:14 PM UTC-7, 2G wrote:
On Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 7:12:20 PM UTC-7, 6PK wrote:
On Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 6:47:45 PM UTC-7, 2G wrote:
On Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 3:35:13 AM UTC-7, William Kautter wrote:
I'm considering the purchase of an IMI Power Rigger. If you own one I would very much appreciate information about your experience with it.

Bill

Wings & Wheels has a video that shows how it works. I have one and it works great except for ONE thing: if you leave it on, or you don't use it over the winter, the battery will die and you are dead in the water, most likely at the time you REALLY want to use it. You fix this by:
1. Buying a 2nd battery.
2. Buying a mating battery connector so you can power it from another battery (someone posted a link where you can buy the connector).
It's rated to lift something like 250 lbs (IF the battery is good and charged). I had no problem with my ASH31Mi inner wing panels. The quality of construction is absolutely excellent (CNC machined parts, for example). The tires are solid rubber, so no flat tires at the start of the season (been there, done that). Being able to tweak the wing position remotely while searching for the exact alignment position is a major plus. I need to come up with a method of preventing the first wing from being pushed out by the second wing, but this is no fault of the rigger.

My only complaint is it is a bit on the pricey side, but I think you get what you pay for.

Tom

"" if you leave it on, or you don't use it over the winter, the battery will die and you are dead in the water""
These are NiCad batteries. Playing with model airplanes a long while ago, the rule was to always charge the batteries before and after and also cycle them to prevent a memory built up. Although I don't have a battery cycler any longer the next best thing is to run them down to "almost" all the way time to time and charge them back up. I kind of whish they offered these units with the newer lithium ion stuff through...

No, they aren't NICADs - the IMI uses a 2.9 AHr SLA battery which self-discharge over a number of months.

Tom

Easy enough to replace with an LFP. I did that on my Cobra electric. You can leave the LFP half flat without affecting life expectancy, and the self discharge rate is low.