Flight computers...

[marshall1031]

I just ordered my first high power rocket, so I don't know much about rocket electronic systems. I want to have dual recovery, an altimeter, and possibly an on-board camera in the future. I found Aerocon's FC-877 flight computer on the web, and the lcd readout it has is a nice feature. I am just confused as to what all this does by itself. Does this have a built in altimeter, or do I have to connect one to this? Does anyone have any other recommendations for flight computers?

 

[Zippy]

The Aerocon is a nice top end setup no doubt. It is an altimeter so you won't need anything else in the way of electronics for dual deploy. A bit pricy though. I plan to buy a Perfect Flight MAWD ($99) myself as soon as I can spare the change. The GWIZ altimeters seem to be very populer too.

Zippy

 

[marshall1031]

I hear that it's safer to use a different battery to supply the ignition power than the battery supplying computer power. What kind of separate battery do I use, a 9v or an r/c car battery?

 

[rstaff3]

I would suspect that this would depend on the unity you buy. On my G-wiz, I run one standard 9v battery for both functions in single ejection, separate batteries for dual eject. I made more room in my last HPR rocket, and ran parallel pyro batteries and a separate computer battery. Prolly overkill.

How heavy is a RC battery? Seems like overkill to me.

 

[FredA]

I fly an FC-877.
While not the cheapest unit on the block, it is one of the best IMHO.
It is a full recording flight computer with both acceleration and pressure sensors for proper detection of Apogee and altitude events.
With four outputs it can handle most all your needs.
It also supports GPS telemetry should you need that in the future.
If you are considering a G-Wiz MC, you gotta look at the FC-877. For a few bucks more you get a much more capable unit.
FredA
PS: It is the only flight computer we used for our team rocket that we flew at Balls 2003. See the current edition of Extreme Rocketry for a picture and write-up. Our team rocket "HardTail" flew on a central M2450 air-starting three K550's with dual-deploy recovery. All controlled using a single FC-877 with a custom airstart power board. The airstart board contains "dumb" circuitry to provided isolated high-power pulses to light the airstarts when commanded from the FC-877.

 

[FredA]

That was a central N2450, not a wimpy M.

 

[n3tjm]

Welcome to the forum Freda

So, where are you from? Your profile does not show that yet . Make sure you post plenty of pictures. We here like pictures .

 

[FredA]

I'm from Portland, Oregon.
I fly mainly at Brothers but also Sheridan and Black Rock.
Check out my updated website at: www.azinger.com/rockets.html