Getting What You Pay For

 Why are so many experienced pilots willing to pay the extra money for an authentic Hyde engine mount?  Most likely, it's because they understand what a Hyde Mount does.

Numerous tests have been run to determine vibration levels, with and without a soft mount. While conducting those tests, one area of the measurements proved to be very interesting. It had to do with measuring the current draw in a typical aircraft with 8 servos connected to the receiver, with the engine hard mounted, and with zero stick movement from the transmitter.

Hard mounting drains power faster.  In the case of "hard-mounted" engines, before an engine was started, it was determined from the flight pack that there was 95mA of current being drawn.  But after starting the engine and running it up to full throttle, the current went up to 375mA.  It seems the servos were consuming more current, with a hard mount, just to keep the surfaces from moving because the full vibration of the engine was being directly transmitted through the airframe to the control surfaces. 

Tests show that it requires an extra 280mA of current just for the servos to keep surfaces in a stationary positions — and that's with zero control stick movement.

Next, the engine was re-installed with a Hyde Mount.  Before starting, the current was checked at 95mA, as in the previous test.  However, when the engine was run up to full throttle the system only drew 125mA, which means that the mount isolated enough vibration from the aircraft control surfaces to add only a 30mA work load on the servos, instead of the 280mA with the hard-mounted engine.  This test was repeated, since the results were so surprising.  But the facts did not change.

What’s the significance of this? 

If we can reduce the vibration on just our servos, we can extend their life by 10 to 15 times.  But that's not all. Think about the long-term effects on the integrity of the airframe, and the reliability of the entire aircraft.

You do the math, and then subtract the price of the Hyde Mount from it. 

Assuming that the above results also prove true for most of us and our aircraft, can’t we also expect to see increased flight times from a single charge on our flight packs?  It stands to reason.

And that’s exactly what they found with further testing. Typically, if you recharge at a given cut-off voltage by using an expanded scale voltmeter, you'll average 2 to 3 times as many flights per charge with a Hyde Mount as you would with a hard mount.   If you usually get 2 flights per charge, you can expect to increase that up to 4 or maybe even 6 flights before charging is required.

So does a few more flights out of a charge on receiver pack justify an expensive mount?  Well, no.  (And that alone isn't the point.)

After all, why not buy a cheaper isolation mount and accomplish the same thing for less money?
Here’s one reason why. Several other isolation mounts were tested against the Hyde Mount. None of them came even close to the Hyde Mount's performance.  In fact, most didn’t change the current flow readings that much from a hard-mounted engine. In fact, one of the other isolation mounts actually pulled more current, as it increased the work load on the servos!

This information isn't offered just to justify selling "more expensive" engine mounts. In fact, one of the “other” mounts tested was actually more expensive than the comparable Hyde Mount. But you have the right to know why so many serious pattern fliers are using the Hyde Mount.

If you’re interested in more details or specifics on the mounts that were tested, contact Merle Hyde at 702-269-7829.  He conducted much of the testing himself, looking to develop mounts that will solve real problems for R/C pilots and their planes.

And please don't ask us at Central Hobbies which mount was the “second best”, or the absolute “worst”, etc. We can only recommend the winner — the Hyde Mount. It’s the one we use!