rotarydoc

Nick,

Sounds cool!

It looks like we were right...just got done installing the Eflite 40 amp ESC...and the BEC voltage is 5.5 volts...and the 9257 is getting 5.5v through the gyro...

If I take the step down and install it, it brings it down .7v Or to about 4.8v, but that is with a completely charged pack, I wonder how much it will drop during the flight?

I don't want to hurt the servo, but then again, I don't want it acting funny once the voltage starts to drop a bit either...

Hmmm, any ideas?

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

I doubt the Voltage will drop any at all in flight. The Voltage is regulated, so it is going to try and keep that 5.5V constant the whole flight.

Here is what your suggestions look like. I tried magenta for the Cell Voltages. It was hard to get a good picture of the last picuture.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

LOL! Thanks for the thanks on the display!!

I LIKE IT !!

The red and green for high and low looks cool!

I like the magenta for the cell voltages, wonder how yellow would look? That might add even more to the color of the display!

Hmmm, wonder how it "decides" between the two 4.14 volt cells, as to which is lower, does it take it out to the next step, just not display that much info?

Yeah, I agree, I went ahead and left the step down in the circuit...better safe than sorry....who knows, maybe that's the way the 500 has been working all along, I have never checked it's BEC voltage?

Cool stuff on the meter, keep experimenting!

Glenn

J-MICHAEL

Good stuff Glenn ! Cool you measured the voltage... I remember one guy doing that, because another guy wanted to know why the voltage regulator says 5.1 v's on it, and when he measured it the readings came to 5.5 v's going to the 9257 with the 401. But then I just heard on the Futaba support team forum from the reps there that it can be all different with the specs because there are to many variables for each condition so that helped clear up the confusion I was wondering about...Lol..


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7371710/tm.htm


The time I ran my 9257 in my 450 like I stated before without the regulator and using the Jazz I would get a high speed wag to the tail upon spool-up and hover at 6v's... I would land, let it rest a second and then repeat... Same thing... After a couple more times the wag would go away as the main lipo battery was then not so fully charged per say and smoothed things out. This is when I then put the VR back on and everything was smooth sailing then. This was in one of my old You-Tube vids when I was in Cali and I think was my first loops one. Kinda interesing...


JPEE ~

Cool deal there my friend ! When I heard you say the word "plumb" it reminded me of my Dad in Cali....Lol... Typical construction guy terminology...


Cheers,

~ Jeff

J-MICHAEL

That looks sweet Nick....! Now go make about 10,000 more and sell those puppy's...

evdreamer

Glenn,

I think I might use yellow for the average Voltage. Before I display the Voltage there is another set of numbers that is much more precise and that is what I use to decide which cell is high and low, but that wouldn't mean anything to everyone else except me. With my controller I have to sacrifice precision on the display, but the controller can tell a difference of .001V. I was thinking I might try and have the Voltages be green, but when they get too high or low they will turn red letting the user know the cell is getting in the danger zone. That might be pushing the limits on the memory, since this display takes up a lot of it. I have been looking at a more powerfull controller, but that will have to wait for some other time.

Jeff,

I have been thinking about selling them to help pay for tuition. Maybe by the end of the year I will have time to design a circuit board and sell a couple. Since I got this working I am going to start on a balancer and use the same display.

Nick

rotarydoc

Jeff,

Thanks for the input!

I went with the regulator/step down, I just felt safer that way, and now after hearing your story, even more so...

Like Nick said, the voltage is regulated, so I should have a constant 4.8 volts all the way through the pack...

I just got done programming the ESC... It took me a while, since it's been so long, and I had to guess at the airplane/heli slow start, since there is a misprint in the manual...but, I got it all done...

I just got done spooling it up on the kitchen floor with no main blades, just the flybar paddles...LOL..works pretty good for testing!

I had to reverse the gyro, since it was spinning in circles...now, all looks good!

I'm going to test it tomorrrow, possibly in the shop, if the weather isn't good...we'll see how it seems then...

All I have to do is solder those switch wires together, and eliminate the swich, and I should be done...

Oh, and the CG came out great!! The only problem I see is the heli is a bit heavy on the right side...due to where I had to mount the ESC...[X(]

I'll see how it goes...

Glenn

rotarydoc

Jeff,

Here are a few pics of the pig...LOL

Dang it, I forgot to weigh it before I put it on...I guess we'll have to trust the specs..it's a big thing!!

Glenn

Evan T.

nick can you make it show how many mah is in the battery

JPEE

Nick,

You have been one busy guy with your voltage reader. You asked if there was any thoughts to ad beyond the colors, well..............a LV horn. That thing is so small you could install it on the 600!


Mr. Jeff,

So you noitced us old timers have our own trades jargon PLUMB not plum mean dead nuts on! LOL This after noon I was goofing with the 400 w/401 gyro. I spiked that thing three times and she just shoots straight up and that tail is where it took off from, man these these things are sweet. I is scotched tapped to the stock gyro lol and still work perfect. I am going to move it I think to my 402 which hace CA glue on the frame to skid tabs and zip ties hold the whole magilla to the main frame. I am ready to go do flips and spins now. I feel I have every bit of confidence to do so. I may be the last of to pull these stunts off but I dont want to rush just to keep up. Once I do that those flips and such I will then put the 401 gyro on the heli 401 that is perfect, and..................I just bought those CF blade front to back. She will be a sweet flier and but for now I am holding 402 as the sacrafice heli. All of this has to wait, it is freaking cold out side now and shall be for a day or so, sat - sun are to be nice then rain mom and tue.


Glenn,

Sounds like your just tearing into your 400 with the gyro and servo and such. I'll be she will be a honken machine when your done. When I took Erik for his fly I had alos brought my 400-500s. Time was short so I took a cruse on the 500. That thing as you know is so stable it practally flies itself. I still have trouble with my figure 8's from right then turning left away from me crossing going to to the right and making that turn. Since day one for some reason in making that run and coming back towards myself I over rudder myself and the tail as it passes me is hanging out side the turn. I lightened up on the gyro and that helped (or in my mind it did) but thats my only little quirk with it but I still love it. I aslo explect there is alot in being the builder that come into play as well.
PS: Glenn, I just read you last post and looked at my 401 gyro is in Normal but I have the Hitec tail servo


BUDDY BOXING, aka BB
When this whole thing started on the bb I took my Dx6i and connected it my CX2 TX. Now I did not fly it but I worked all of the controls and everything was right.....on the bench.

I have already told guys what happed when we tried the DX6i to DX6i. So as HH told me I went down and bought their patch cord. Low and behold tonight I opened the bag. SURPRISE their cord has mono ends not stereo (double ends) like my radio shack cord. Now when Erik and flew we used my stereo cord and they did fly, but crapy. I need to mention this now before I forget. When you fly two DX6i's YOU DO NOT TURN ON THE SLAVE TX, it powers up from MASTER Dx6i.
So tonight I hooked up the Dx6i to the CX2 TX to fly the MCX. I few the MCX first with the Dx6i, great! Then I rebound it to the CX TX and flew the MCX again, no problem.
Then I rebound the MCX to the DX6i, test A-OK! Then plugged in the new patch cord to the CX TX and NOTHING.. no power. So I tought ok, I'll turn on the TX...nope she won't light or fly the heli with the TRAINER still being held up by my Mrs's. So I take the old mono patch cord I had started with, hooked that up and.........still no good........until I manually turned it power on WAH LAH we had KO NECK TIV ITIE! So the lesson here is the CX TX and the Dx6i DON NOT LIKE the HH patch cord. So this Saturday I hope to get over to Eriks house and try these again w/the HH stereo double ended cord................that HH sold me for $10.00 freaking dollars.

SORRY TO BE LONG WINDED....BUT THERE IT IS.......................JPEE

evdreamer

Glenn,

Good to hear the 400 is finished and has a good CG.

I got the Voltages to turn red when I wanted at >4.19V and <3.7V. So that was pretty cool watching that.

Evan,

I would like to show mAh, but I don't know how.

JPEE,

Yeah I could install it in the 600, but it might be a bit hard to read.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

Cool that you got the voltages colors to change at the extremes...

I almost forgot, I maidened the CPP2 number 2 today, right after work...it flies as good, or better than the first one...

Those little helis are sweet!

I haven't even opened my box from Hobby City yet!!

I'll be back....LOL

Glenn

J-MICHAEL

Nick ~

That would be great ! I don't care what the price is, I'll buy one from ya when your ready.....


Glenn ~

Seeing the close-up shots of that esc I'am really digging it..... Fancy smanshy....Lol... Yeah I just went ahead and used the stepdown also to be safe.


JPEE ~

When I first heard my dad say "Plumb" I was like what the hek does that mean ?! It was cool learning a bit of construction stuff for me as I wasn't very familiar with it all.


Evan ~

Hope things have been well for ya... [8D]


~ Jeff

evdreamer

Glenn,

Cool to hear the CPP2 #2 had its maiden.

It sounds like you are having a lot of fun today.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

Yeah, today has been fun!

Lots of new stuff...

Here's some of the stuff from Hobby City...

A cell/battery checker...it's not great, but it seems to work quite well...a bit hard to see, the pic is bad because of the reflection. It will record the lowest voltage of each cell in a flight if you put it in record mode and connect it to the flight pack during the flight.

The Rhinos...

The anemometer/wind gauge...pretty neat! I'll know more when I can try it outside...

An all in one charger adapter...nice for the deans connectors on the Rhino packs, and JST, and miscellaneous connectors...kinda neat.

And some other connectors, heat shrink,etc...

Glenn

evdreamer

Jeff,

Right now the colored display can only display up to a 3S battery. If I add more memory I could go up to a 4S battery. So your 500 batteries wouldn't work on it. My standard LCD can measure up to a 5S battery, so your 500 battery would work on that. The chip I am looking at could easily measure and display a 6S battery to .001V on the colored display and maybe could go up to a 8S battery.

Nick

evdreamer

Glenn,

Cool battery checker and anemometer. Now you will know the exact wind speed your helis can handle. Have fun with all the flight times you will be able to get with the new batteries.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

Thanks!

I just took the anemometer outside, and it registered the wind pretty well from what I could tell...the breezes got up to about 4.8 MPH or so.

You can set it to show max, average, or current wind speed, plus it will show wind chill if it's below 32F also...

The battery checker is neat, just got done checking the new packs, and the Outrage packs for the CPP2's....and all check out good!

The weather isn't looking too great until at least Sunday...so I probably won't get to test the B400 out anytime soon, although I may try to just set the gyro/tail up in rate mode at the shop sometime during the weekend...

I decided against the programming cable, I don't really need it at all...I got the ESC setup fine without it...

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

It sounds like your anemometer has some cool features.

My weather doesn't look good either. I think I am supposed to get snow Friday or Saturday.

Nick

JPEE

Hi Glenn,

That anemometer has some cool features it appears. Must be kinda fun to know whats going on at the fly zone. I have a battery

checker too too but a bit different. It shows each cell at a time and then the packs total voltage. It will do up to a 6 cell pack. I like

yours as there is no remembering what the other cells are as you go through them, really neat. Sounds like the 400 is ready to rock

and roll. If I recall you have installed the new gyro and 40 amp ESC. and we cannot forget the new Rhinos. I have had "some"

installation issues with the Rhinos as they are not static in their assy for where the cable comes out of the pack. Sometimes I have to

bend the wire back pretty extreamly to make the pack fit under the canopy FYI, but it is worth it when you see the power these things

have. They are talking rain next week and I thought I could get in some of my repairs and work on the 600 TT , but now the phone is

ringing and the work is starting to pop again. It had been 6 weeks and not one call, now I have had three calls in two days.......oh boy

heli $$

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rotarydoc

JPEE,

Yeah, the B400 should be like a new heli after all this!

I did the gyro as you mentioned, and the 9257 tail servo, the same one we have on the 500's...it's no easy fit, let me tell ya!! [>:]

I got it to where I am pretty happy with the installation, the tail pushrod is not a perfect straight shot from the servo to the tail...but I set it up last night, and I have 90 on both the servo and the slider arm on the tailbox at mid rudder on the TX....got the throw dialed in, the slider just bumps on the end of the travel...so regardless of the tail pushrod, the end result looks fine.

Now I have to do a bit of hovering and dialing in on the tail still...I want to try to get it neutral in rate mode first, before I go into the HH mode.

Thanks for the tip on the batteries, have not even attempted to test fit or even charge them yet.

That anemometer and the battery tester are both really neat...I like them alot.

I got a bunch of other stuff too..some shrink wrap, various connectors (I'm gonna cheat at first, bought some deans-to-EC3 adapters..) like an extra series connector, and some EC3 wire/ends already made up...

Hope your weather holds out long enough to get some flights in!

Good to hear that your business is picking up....mine's slowing down...

Have fun!

Glenn

JPEE

rotarydoc

JPEE,

As I understand it, our gyros (at least the G110 and the GY401's) have two possible modes; Rate mode, and Heading Hold mode.

Heading hold is what you want to use 100% of the time when flying, it provides more accurate tail holding during flight, and is desirable almost all the time, except maybe for the hard core 3D guys who need super fast tail response (not us...LOL).

When you go to setup the tail/servo, you want to put it into rate mode, so that the servo/tail pitch slider come back to a neutral position when the stick is in the center of the rudder travel. This will give you the baseline for the gyro to work with...in other words, the gyro is still working, but not trying to keep the heli completely holding steady. It's kinda hard to explain, maybe someone can add something to make it more clear.

But try this sometime....turn the heli and radio on...and in HH mode, watch the tail slider, what it does when you move the tail of the heli side to side...the slider will move to compensate, but alot of times, it won't return back to center...this is totally normal, and is the way it works in HH or heading hold mode. Now, put the gyro in RATE mode, and try the same thing...you will see that the slider always returns to it's center position on the tailshaft. This is when you want to adjust the tail pushrod to keep the tail centered, or holding steady while it is in rate mode...

Now, you are probably wondering how to change it from HH to Rate...it's pretty easy...go to your gyro settings on the DX6i..and change it....anything ABOVE 50% puts the gyro in HH or heading hold mode....anything BELOW 50% puts it in rate mode...

It's a bit more compliated than that, but that should help ya understand more...remember when we were setting up your 500? The reason the gyro light (HH light) wouldn't go on and stay on was that your radio was at 50%...not enough to engage HH mode...when we bumped it up to 75% or whatever we did...you then had your steady light, indicating HH mode...

Hope that helps some...

I could be a bit off on my understanding, if anyone wants to add or correct, please, by all means, do so !!!

Glenn

J-MICHAEL

Sounds good to me Glenn.....


JPEE ~

The best thing to do is just take the gyro off the heli and fly without it like Glenn had to do back in the ol' Cobra days....LMAO...[8D]

rotarydoc

Jeff,

Thanks!

LOL, I actually DID have a gyro back in the day...still remember it...it was a Futaba...and it was horribly expensive, I think Futaba had the market cornered...I can't remember now what it cost, but it sure seemed like alot at the time (I'm guessing it was $175-$180?)

But it was HUGE by today's standards, and I'm sure very crude...I very seriously doubt it had heading hold at all...heck, I'm surprised they even had them back then!! LOL

I'll have to watch the video again, and see how the tail held back in "the day" LMAO

Glenn