evdreamer

JPEE,

Here is a link of a picture of my flying field I go to sometimes. I will join next year when the weather is better and try and go once a week. The helicopters fly in the top right part of the picture. http://www.lincolnskyknights.org/ind.../page0003.html

Nick

JPEE

Nick,

That is a nice place, big too! I really like that it appears to be all flat around there so when you get in the air there is nothing (trees, mountains) in the air to distract you.


COOL.

Give me your opinion but dont tell Glenn..................He is still trying to time out his flights so he uses the C505 to check the mAh used. But if he gets there by now and is pretty close I think he should be using his stock eflite charger too. Once they come off of that he could plug them in the 505 just to veryify the cells are balanced and fully charged! Also, if he had a volt checker by cell as dicribed earlier he could use that too. That would cut his his total charge time from four hours to two hours at best. As I explained the other day I have two good chargers but only the 505 again measures the used mAh. I know my flght times are safe. So I use both like right now from my morning flights. I also have two stock cheapie chargers that came with two of my Blade 400's. So here again I can use those to if I choose to charge 4 batteries at once. Your thoughts? AND DONT TELL GLENN WE TALKED ABOUT THIS...OK

JPee

We are of to supper: 1:47

evdreamer

I just did some inverted nose in on my last pack. I love the Gaui 200!! I also got the T-Rex 450 out and I can't believe I used to be able to fly that. I set the cyclic response up really high on the 450 and it is pretty low on the Gaui.

JPEE

Nick,


I have seen your flying on the sim when we fun fly and YOU CANT BE BEAT, like it or not, you are an ACE.


JPee in the car...........bye

evdreamer

JPEE,

Thanks. Hope you can get some more fun flights in today.

Nick

J-MICHAEL

Nick ~

On our DX-7's and in the travel adjust menu, under where it says "Gear" (for the gyro) what is yours set at on the 450 & the 600 at ? Is it just left at +100% -100% ? The reason I ask is I noticed on my Trex 450 settings for the gear channel under travel adjust I have it set for 75/75...? I did this last year setting up the DX-7 to the Trex, and not sure why I did this, and what it actually even does... I'am not the greatest whiz setting up the TX's...LOL... I can't even figure out how to change the negative portion of it... The positive portion is there already with the dash there by scrolling through to get there, but not sure what ya do to get it so you can change the negative portion. Seems I've tried everything... Anyway, what does that do, and even the the 450 flies fine with that 75/75 set for the gear on the TA I'am wondering if it should even be like that now... I'am lost...LOL... Any thoughts by chance ?


Cheers,

~ Jeff

J-MICHAEL

Oh..... On another note........ I'am in a troubleshooting process right now, as I just fired up the 500 in a hover on three different attempts, very smooth, tail holds great, but after about 3-4 seconds I get a tail wag back and forth about an inch or two side to side, so I need to find the cause... I let it adjust to the cooler temps outside, also reduced the gain for HH from about 77 % to 63 % and still did it. I'll get it eventually, but could take some time as I'am kinda busy today but at least I filmed it for you to see maybe later and see what ya think... It almost seemed like I could hear a diff in the motor sound when it happens, but not sure... I'll have to watch the video's later to see.... But whew.... What a rush ! Face shield on, thick flannel and Carhartts just in case...LMAO... But it went well except the wag jobber... I was rushed at the last minute throwing some settings into the DX-7, so maybe my head speed is to low perhaps ? I'll have to check it out maybe and next time go into idle up...

~ Jeff

rotarydoc

Nick,

Congrats on the inverted figure 8's with the Gaui!

Great work/flying!

I tried to make it to the same field before it got dark out...but it was like dusk...I had the 500...so I decided not to risk it, and just did some hovering, and full throttle punch outs, just straight up...the power this heli has still amazes me!!

I enjoyed just hovering it...I could just hover it around and listen to those blades chopping air all day...it sounds so cool...so much cooler than the B400's!!

JPEE, Jeff, you guys are in for a treat when you first spool/hover your 500's!! They just SOUND MEAN....just sittting there in a hover..LOL!!

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be awesome...and Saturday is almost as good, but Ihave to work tomorrow..ARRGGHHH!!

I'll have to make the best of it on Saturday....supposed to get some rain Sunday..

I wish I could put a fence around that field, a gate, and lock myself in it...so I could fly there all the time! I know that opportunity won't come along too often that I had today...

Hmmm I don't know what I'm going to do with all this left over CAKE....I guess I'll take the CANDLES out of it...and put it in the fridge...

Glenn

J-MICHAEL

Glenn ~

I could really tell after hovering it just even for a couple minutes that it had some power though... You can tell its hungry to be released !

rotarydoc

JPEE,

I couldn't help but "overhear" your post to Nick about charging..LOL!!

I am doing exactly as you said, I've got both chargers going now...for the 1800 B400 packs I flew today...

I was just getting the 2100's from the 500 "dialed in" as to flight times...after I figure it out (it's looking like about 5:30 at my current level of flying)....I'll be able to use the stock Eflite charger again, and charge two at once...

However, your suggestion is a good one, on peaking/balancing the packs after taking them off of the Eflite charger....great idea! [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Glenn

evdreamer

Jeff,

I just checked my DX7 and the Gear is at 100% for negative and positive for all my helis. I am thinking using the travel adjustments you can use it for the gain settings which Finless is doing on the Compass 500. It is also for landing gear to limit how far it moves.

I also couldn't get to the negative part. Have you tried making the gear channel INH in the model making menu then go back to the travel adjustments and try to get to the negative part? I will mess with it a little more.

The way you are describing the sound and the way your tail is acting sounds more like a motor/ESC problem than gyro problem. What ESC are you using and are you using a governor? When the motor kind of hiccups it will make it hard for the gyro to keep the tail in one spot and make it look like it is wagging.

Congrats on firing up the 500.

Glenn,

Cool to hear you got to fly the 500 again.

On my last pack with the Gaui today I started inverted backward flight. It still needs some work, but I made a lot of progress today with the Gaui. I think I got 10 flights in today with it.

Nick

evdreamer

Jeff,

I just figured out how to get to the negative on the Gear TA.
-Go into the model making menu.
-Under Gear make it Gear
-Then go into the TA menu
-Flip the gear switch down and you can now get to the negative part

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

I still have not a clue as to why the B400's tail is behaving as it is...still doing the same thing....waggin at full collective, and in idle up...

Tried reducing the gyro gain...about all that accomplished was to cause a major drifting issue with the tail...[sm=confused.gif]

It flies beautifully, it's more of an annoyance than anything...it's one of those problems that annoys you...it's like it's saying "HA HA....I'll bet you can't figure out why I'm doing this" type of problems..[>:]

So, I dunno...I'll take another look at it... I do know it's nothing in the radio...because the spare 400 doesn't do it at all...not that I thought it was a radio issue...

Jeff, making some last minute radio adjusments over there??[sm=omg_smile.gif]

Glenn

rotarydoc

Nick,

That is cool that you made so much progress today...I need a day like that...hoping for one Saturday...where I can take the 500, both 400's and the Gaui out in the same day, and really get some stick time in, before the weather gets really ugly..[]

I am still so happy about today's flight, it makes all the difference if you have ROOM to really fly. I was making the turns that bothered me before, like clockwise turns to my right, but it was so easy, because the heli was much further away...not so intimidating if something were to go wrong.

I think my flying progress was being held up somewhat by the small areas I was flying in.

I know the 500 NEEDS a big area to fly...the horse track just won't cut it for that heli, unless it's just for basic hovering/testing....[sm=sad_smile.gif]

I, like you, will most likely be joining my flying club after the new year...I get very frustrated driving around looking for a place to fly where I there are not people or cars to endanger....[sm=omg_smile.gif]

Glenn

evdreamer

JPEE,

Yep it is flat for miles around. It is basically farm land all around the field. There are some trees in the heli area that aren't shown in the pic, but they aren't that tall. But the airplane field is much bigger than the Heli one, so they get to have all the fun.

Yeah that is a great idea with the stock RTF chargers. I used to use the CPP charger to charge my Align battery for the 450 then put it on the Accucycle charger after that. And that would work great if you are going to use B400 batteries on the 500.

Nick

J-MICHAEL

Nick ~

I'am using the stock Align motor and ESC with the CC BEC... Thunder Power 5-Cell 3300mah 25c lipo with a 16t pinion... Thanks so much for the gear channel info ! I copied and pasted that to a folder... I just watched the videos again, and you can definately hear the motor making different frequency pitch type things, in which then the gyro starts making the tail wag at the same time... The ESC is all set to default which is

1.) Brake disabled
2.) Mid timing
3.) High cutoff voltage
4.) Heli 1 (Soft Start) no governor
5.) Quick speed
6.) 5.5v for the BEC...But this is de-activated by the red wire being removed for the CC BEC which is taking over for the BEC and running 6v right now for the cyclics

The Futaba 9254 has a stepdown regulator running in-line between the gyro and tail servo currently also...

I'll have to investigate some more later, and I'll try and post that first initial spool-up so ya can see also....


Glenn ~

The 500 is so sweeeet ! Noisy sucker compared to the 450 ! (My dad still doesn't know I have it...LOL...) He'll hear it eventually ! Once I get the wag figured out, I'll take it up to the top of the property and release it hard....


Cheers,

~ Jeff

evdreamer

Glenn,

Yeah I have to work tomorrow also. Sorry to hear you haven't solved the B400 tail problem yet. I don't think I have experienced anything like that.

Hope you can fly at that baseball field some other time with no one else there.

Jeff,

Try adjusting the timing on the ESC to the low and high position and see if that helps at all. And it probably wouldn't hurt to reprogram the ESC to make sure the settings are at the Default setting. I don't know if you have done that at all yet. It has been awhile since I have used an Align ESC since I switched all my helis to CC ESC's.

Nick

rotarydoc

Jeff,

Man, the way you are describing that problem, it sounds almost identical to my issue with the B400....I can also hear a change in pitch of the motor/RPM's when it wags like that...almost like it did that one time when it went into low voltage cutoff when I overdid it when I first started doing higher head speeds and idle up...

Maybe I need to look into the motor ESC area a little harder...[sm=idea.gif]

Glenn

rotarydoc

Looks like I can go to at least 6:30 flights on the B400 in the current settings...

The battery (1800) took 734 MA's on the charger...and that was with a five minute flight..

I just took the 1800 off of the C505 that was charged on the Eflite stock charger...and it took another 74 MA....so that is a good idea to put them on the C505 after the Eflite charger...I didn't check the balance while it was charging, I'll check that next battery...

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

If I remember correctly the E-Flite RTF chargers stop charging when the highest cell is fully charged, so there might be other cells that still could be charged. So that is were your C505 charger can take over and charge the other lower cells.

Nick

J-MICHAEL

Glenn ~
Yeah you can definately hear the motor pulsing and then as an afterthought, the tail kicks in a wag just like Nick described as the motor hiccups, the tail acts then follows suit...LOL... I almost have fun troubleshooting, cause I like working on these things...LMAO... Eventually I will replace the Align ESC as I've never been a fan of them much... Lots to do, and so little time ! Still doing the visiting thing with family that's staying overnight in another guest house that my dad built on the property over the summer, but I want to play with the 500 DANG IT ! I'll take the main blades off later, and see what goes on there also...


Nick ~

Thanks for the idea of the timing thing... I'll try that, along with a few other things... From what I heard a few days ago from the ESC's beeps upon initialization, it sounds like it is in default mode according to the manual, but I'll probably just do it again like ya said to be safe... Maybe I'll even re-bind... I did re-bind after I set-up the gyro to HH, but I never re-binded after I programmed my throttle and pitch curves, but I don't think those would matter anyhow... I think Finless says to actaully bind with your throttle curves set to 0 anyway, just so that if ya did lose connection, the heli would cut power or something...But I thought anyway the heli cuts power to the motor anyway when that happens, but whatever...LOL...


Cheers,

~ Jeff

J-MICHAEL

I just took off my main blades and spooled the 500 up only to about 65 % throttle, in which I hate to do in risk of over-reving the motor since there's no load with the blades off, but I didn't see any issue of pulsing or any vibrations for that matter. So here is what I think... My default battery protection on the ESC is set to "high cut-off voltage", in the way my heli acted WITH the main blades on, almost kinda resembled on what a heli does like my 450 when the ESC thinks the battery is low and in result will pulse the motor as a preliminary to let ya know to land as the batt is low usually.

What I think is happening is I have my pitch settings to HIGH and it return it is sending a higher amp draw to the ESC, and then causing the voltage to drop more with the battery and at the same time sending the ESC to pulsing the motor along with then having a to high of a pitch range the throttle then lacking, and also then adding to the tail wag that comes with the pulsing... At least I think...LOL... I know Finless states to run the ESC in the "Middle cut-off voltage", on some of his videos for heli's so either way I'll have to program the esc to the middle setting and go through my curves better since I was rushing to quick to just get a hover today, in which I know better, but hey.... It was still worth it...LMAO... I'll maybe take it up top tomorrow and see what happens... It was colder today, and I was taking pics before I did take it into flight, so it was a bit before I actually got it into a hover, so I know the gyro was accustomed to the outside coolness, but the lipo could have been to cold though in return in which will cause some funny behavior as the cells being slowed down and such... We'll see...

I'll put together that short 4 minute vid of the very first spool-up so ya can still see now... It might take a bit to upload to You-Tube though, but I'll post it when it does come available later...


Cheers,

~ Jeff

JPEE

Hey Glenn,


Another thought fell into my head. Why don't you exchange from your 402 to 401 the ESC then after that if there is no improvment in wag try the 402 motor. I will say that 401 used wag like that with a lower head speed before I crash it. When I did the total rebuild I found the tail rotor shaft "ever so slightly bent" so I replaced in the overhaul. Just trying to think out of the box kinda.


JEFFcongrats on getting your 500 up into the air. Get the bugs out that puppy so I can call on you for help when I start my build..........




JPee

evdreamer

Glenn,

Did you get kicked off your own session?

Nick

JPEE

Hey Guys, I cant even get on line to join a session. My reply comes back blank on mt Id adres and all of the that stuff on the bottom. I guess I 'll have to a reload on both computers

JPee