This has been discussed a number of times in the past, but I bring the topic back up again, as the prices of altimeters keep coming down. I was curious as to how many HPR fliers use dedicated altimeters for each of their rockets(?)
I used to fly one altimeter, and build similar Avionic packages that have the same moutning footprint for that altimeter. Over timer I would notice that the altimeter started to show signs of fatigue from being assembled/disassembled over and over across my fleet. For reference, my first altimeter, an RRC2 (Circa late 1990's to early 2000's) cost me a little over $100 I can now pick up two RRC2L altimeters at the same price... not to mention, the footprint allows for some crazy small builds.
My recovery as an HPR flier is marginal at .5% successful recovery (over many years). After re-evaluating the failures I had, I decided to make some key changes, including dedicated laundry (chutes and harness'), electronics and AV-bays. Everything stays together, and there is no sharing of components or accessories across my fleet. My failures were no all the same issue, and as I would fix one, another would pop up. Nonetheless, dedicated altimeters for each rocket goes a long way towards my piece of mind, and at todays prices makes sense to me.
Do you dedicate electronics in your builds?
I used to fly one altimeter, and build similar Avionic packages that have the same moutning footprint for that altimeter. Over timer I would notice that the altimeter started to show signs of fatigue from being assembled/disassembled over and over across my fleet. For reference, my first altimeter, an RRC2 (Circa late 1990's to early 2000's) cost me a little over $100 I can now pick up two RRC2L altimeters at the same price... not to mention, the footprint allows for some crazy small builds.
My recovery as an HPR flier is marginal at .5% successful recovery (over many years). After re-evaluating the failures I had, I decided to make some key changes, including dedicated laundry (chutes and harness'), electronics and AV-bays. Everything stays together, and there is no sharing of components or accessories across my fleet. My failures were no all the same issue, and as I would fix one, another would pop up. Nonetheless, dedicated altimeters for each rocket goes a long way towards my piece of mind, and at todays prices makes sense to me.
Do you dedicate electronics in your builds?