Installation is the responsibility and a choice of each pilot. This is sensitive area as the installation must be done in a way that does not adversely impact the model performance (radio systems, electrical systems, stability). Please be aware that power suppliers that involve SBEC circuits may impact the model magnetic field thus RX and servo performance. Most of the systems will weight below around 100g including a small battery.
Our only (and strong!) recommendation here is that any installation is first flight tested with a similar setup in an inexpensive model before installing it in your best model!
Practical note – we have seen the system installation in 2m F3A models where the system was mounted on a strip of balsa wood strapped to flying batteries. The balsa wood strip is long enough to position the sensors away from the batteries roughly in the vicinity of the model’s CoG. It was powered from a 180mA 2 cell LiPo battery (enough for a day of flying) and through a 3A SBEC that delivers 5V required by the autopilot. A variant of this installation was powered from the RX spare channel via the same SBEC therefore removing the need for the additional LiPo battery. RX channels were servo overload protected and powered by 2 cell LiPo. This setup is more risky as the autopilot may impact the RX performance over the power wires.
This type of installation allows easy transfer of the system between the models even if of different design. It is also easy to access the SD card for removal.
Inside the model, logger strapped to batteries
Small LiPo powered option
RX spare channel powered option
