ADF2 vs AD2+BLM combo

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  • Ken_NJ
    Captain
    • Sep 2014
    • 745

    ADF2 vs AD2+BLM combo

    The BLM gives you the failsafe that the AD2 does not, plus battery monitoring. The AD2+BLM cost is $110 where the ADF2 was less than that. Bob mentioned on another forum he still has ADF2's available at this time, although not listed. You need to have the model on disassembled to see the battery level. So what advantage does separating the functions give you?
  • He Who Shall Not Be Named
    Moderator
    • Aug 2008
    • 12256

    #2
    Ken,

    If you're using a battery other than one based on Lithium chemistry then you can go cheap and operate safely with just the ADF2.


    When using a Lithium-ion or Lithium-polymer battery you need some sort of on-board protection to detect and notify you (through autonomous blow command that can not be reset till you get the model back) that the battery has reached the critical voltage where further drain would damage it. That used to be the job of the Lipo-guard, and that was the Lipo-guards sole function. You still needed a fail-safe circuit (which the ADF2 provided). Sure you could go the ADF2 route without the Lipo-guard, but you would be puttying your Lithium based battery at risk. Bad Juju!
    As a practical matter, you'll spend about the same amount of money on the ADF2 and Lipo-guard combination as you would on the AD2 and BLM combination.

    And your BLM not only monitors the voltage of your battery and gives a light display saying as much; it also counts the number of signal drop-outs that occurred since the last power-up -- useful when surveying the radio link between transmitter and receiver in a specific boating area. And it also functions, as you said, as the fail-safe circuit.

    You're gonna spend about the same on a ADF2 and Lipo-Guard combination as you would on the AD2 and Battery Link Monitor combination, Ken. And the BLM gives you more information.

    If you're using a battery other than one based on Lithium chemistry then you can go cheap and operate safely with just the ADF2; or AD2 and some kind of fail-safe circuit (or use the receivers fail-safe function if that's available to you).

    David
    Who is John Galt?

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    • KevinMc
      Commander
      • Feb 2009
      • 305

      #3
      Hi Ken,

      Let me start with a little history here so we can properly compare apples to apples. The ADF2 was designed many years ago, and sometime between when the ADF was rolled over to the ADF2 I found I needed another device to monitor my Lipo battery charge state. This device was productionized and sold as the LiPo Guard. LiPo Guard was designed to provide a battery "gas gauge" just like the BLM but did not actually have a proper failsafe - when the battery got low it just interrupted the signal to the ADF/ADF2 which forced that device's failsafe to operate. When I designed the BLM I wanted to reduce the number of inter-device connections, improve the configurability of my failsafe routine (to give the user control over the amount of time that's spent in each stage of failsafe) and also add the built-in link monitor/loss of signal counter function. With a full failsafe function present in the BLM there was really no need to duplicate the functionality in the Angle Driver product any more, and removing that simplified the wiring in the boat by one interconnect, so the ADF2 was cut down to just being the AD2.

      Cost wise, if you compare the ADF2 + LiPo Guard vs. an AD2 + BLM, the AD2 + BLM actually costs less and provides greater functionality. The intent was not to separate functions, just to redistribute them.

      KMc
      Kevin McLeod - Oscar II driver
      KMc Designs

      Comment

      • Ken_NJ
        Captain
        • Sep 2014
        • 745

        #4
        Thank you Kevin and David for the great explanations. That clears things up for me, and others that may be wondering. My Marlin has NiMH so I did not have the LiPo guard, and the Skipjack will be using the ADF/BLM combo.

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