jroo

I was asking if the one listed in the link was the sonix one... I dont see anywhere on the helidirect website, nor in the pics, where it says Sonix like yours. They look the same, but I just wanted to make sure.

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Jreue,
I saw a thread on HF and this [link=http://www.cnchelicopter.com/servlet/the-Eflite-Blade-400/searchpath/80415/start/1/total/49/Categories]website[/link] was suggested. I personally haven't gotten anything from them but they seem to have decent prices and it did appear that in the head description they listed Sonix as a brand. Just something to check out.

Mark

evdreamer

It has been pretty quiet lately. I have been working on my power panel some more and just need to make a few more adjustments on the circuit board. If I could buy supplies for a 100 of them I could make it cheaper than one of the Hobbico power panels and about the same price as some others. I have to save for tuition, so I probably won't be able to build the first one until sometime in December.

jroo

Man, that Sonix head and tail looks sharp. Arg; maybe Christmas...

It's amazing, I'm just starting out in this hobby and already I want a $100 upgrade. haha, gotta love it!

jroo

ok what the heck is going on here?!?

These Zippy 2200 mAh batteries in my Blade 400 are driving me insane.....

I just got finished with my rebuild after my last crash. I have a new set of Align wooden blades and I needed to retrim and all.

I pop in the E-Flite 1800 mah and hover a bit. Everything works fine for this battery.
I pop in the Zippy 2200 mAh battery.
I set it down and start to spool up
About 1/2 throttle, right before take off, the heli SHOOTS around in a complete 180
I unplug the battery and retry
Same thing
Remember before how you guys told me to adjust my gyro settings on my DX6i so all I would have to do to 'reset' the gyro is flip the Gyro switch...
I flip it to rate mode... it centers
I flip it to heading, it pins all the way full pitch to the left
I do it again. Same thing...
I unplug battery, and try again
Same thing; very forceful yaw at 1/2 throttle
I leave to the store for awhile
I remember you guys saying that the higher amperage 1800 to 2200 may make it where i need to adjust the gyro gain to 'keep up'
I adjust the gain on the physical gyro on the heli by rotating the little screw to the + position.
It was already in the dead center so i moved it about to 2 o'clock
Spool up
Same thing.....

What is going on?? I can't even get off the ground an inch without the heli rotating very forcefully... It so bad, I almost have tipped over and I'm not even off the ground!

evdreamer

Jreue,

As long as you have the gain wire plugged into the receiver, the pot. on the gyro won't do anything. What gain do you have programmed into the transmitter? Are you using the gyro menu? You can also try using the travel adjustments on the gear channel to control the gain, but you will probably have to program the transmitter to do that and I am not familiar with the DX6i. It might be something mechanical. The easiest thing to do would be to put a different gyro on and see what happens, but I don't know if you have an extra one.

Nick

JPEE

Jreue,

I sent you a PM with a plan to help you out of this problem with the tail.

JPEE

jroo

Nick,
Well that makes sense concerning the pot dial not having any effect.

My gain settings on my transmitter:
0: <- 64.0%
1: 40.0%

This gain of 64% works great using my 1800 mAh battery, but right when I use that 2200 mAh battery, we are out of control.

So, as I understand, I will try increasing the gain until the tail starts to wag, and then back off a bit...

I suppose once I find the magic number for the 2200 mAh batteries, I could set this value to setting 1 on my Transmitters '1' setting. This way, I could just flip to 0 for 1800 mah and flip to 1 for 2200 mah.

Nick, JPEE
Thanks for the assist fellas. It's pitch black dark now, so I will try setting my gyro gain tomorrow morning and let you all know.

evdreamer

I wonder if Glenn got to fly at the heli club today?

JPEE

Nick,
I checked his weather and he "should have" had a nice day there so lets hope he did.

I ran to the Club field and flew 3 packs, one 400, one 500, one 600. It was a blowing pretty good so I left the plane in the truck and it was getting dark too. There was another guy there with a PIPER CUB that was very cool. It was a foamie but a nice one with running and landing lights. The details were really nice. He took a lap and dang near could not get it back as the wind wanted to carry the thing away. Then he took out a foamie jet fighter of some model and flew that. It can fly either with one fan or two. The fan motor part of the body slides off the belly of the plane and is enterchangeable so you can fly one fan or two. It does have a real problem in that with either one or two fans running with "brushed" motors they are very weak!!!!!!!!!! to say the least. If he can do his upgrade and install a brushless he'll have a home run.

JPEE

evdreamer

JPEE,

That is cool you got to fly today. The weather was alright for me to fly, but I think I am just going to pack things up until spring. I don't want to buy fuel and have it sitting around all winter. There is a guy at my club that has a CUB too and he won't fly it unless it is really calm out, because it gets pushed around by the wind too.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

JPEE,
My stryker also has a brushed motor and even with the lipo it is a bit on the weak side. It is fun to fly on windy days but you really can't let it go with the wind otherwise it is easy to lose it.

Nick,
Sorry winter snuck up on you before you could fly the Velocity some more - I know I don't like having my airplane fuel sitting around for several months. Your video was quite exceptional. Just out of curiosity do you find it easier to fly with the nitro verses the electrics, power wise, with the level of flying that you are at?

Jrure,
Good luck with your gyro - hopefully you can get things sorted out, just be patient.

Tried to fly this morning but upon pre-flight inspection I noticed that one of the linkages on the flybar cage (flybar control rod, actually) had come loose. Looks like it just wore down (probably from past crashes and general use) - so I just finished replacing the flybar cage and mixing arms from my AXI head. Now, between replacing the belt and all the old plastic parts on the head I am sure I should be able to get some flights in with no interruption.

Awaiting a flight report from Glenn in MD!

Mark

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Wow, I missed out on some stuff today...would have logged on sooner, but it said RCU was down, but I finally got it to come up for me by going to the main page first, then our thread....kinda strange...

Anyways, not much going on here...the rain finally stopped...but everything is just soaking wet...I don't think going to any field around here with out hip high wading boots would be a good idea, until maybe tomorrow...

I still have not seen that bright ball of fire in the sky yet....oh...yeah, that's called the SUN...LOL...I havn't seen it in so long, I almost forgot what it's called...

I would probably have tried to tread on the soggy field today had the wind not been still blowing pretty good...flags were at full extension...

There's not a wind symbol showing on my weather station for today/tomorrow....so maybe some flying is a possibility....

If it is too windy, then I'll head to the new heli club field, and check it out...but I'd rather fly first...or maybe I'll go to the field with helis and see if it's not windy...don't know yet...

JPEE,

Glad you got some flying in today, although it sounds like it was pretty windy...

Nick,

Going to pack it up for the winter so soon?? I guess it's going to get cold and stay that way soon....my weather forecaster shows 60's all week here coming up....but I know it can get brutal out your way sooner than it does here, for sure...

jreue,

Good luck in the troubleshooting, that is strange that there is that much difference in the gyro operation from one pack to the next....there should not be that much difference, I have never had that happen from an 1800 to a 2100 or 2200 before...

Keep us posted...


Glenn

rotarydoc

Hey guys,


Accuweather says 7-8 MPH winds tomorrow...so that's too close to call...I'll see tomorrow what it really is...

It would be a good day to go up to the MHA field and have a look...hopefully it won't be a mudbath....

I have packs charged and ready for the B400 and 450 Pro...

Hope you guys get to fly some tomorrow...

Nick,

How's the power panel coming along now?

Glenn

evdreamer

Mark,

With the Nitro it is a lot easier to do power hungry moves like Tic Tocs and Power loops. However, I was flying with A123's on my electric and they are heavier than a LiPo, so it might be closer with a LiPo power wise.

Glenn,

Sorry you couldn't fly yesterday.

Yeah I think I am going to pack it up for winter and just concentrate on school.

I am done designing the circuit board and I just need to get my hands on an electric fuel pump to see how much current it draws. I am just guessing it is around 200mA, so I designed the electronics around that. However, if it draws more I will have to go back to the drawing board. I will be able to afford tuition by the end of the month then I can start buying parts in December.

Nick

jroo

Well I sent this over to JPEE in an email, but I figured I should share it with you guys as well. Maybe someone can shed some light here

Well I'm really lost now.

I just got back from the basketball court across the street for the tests.
It was really foggy and no wind.

I plugged in the E-Flite 1800 mAh to ensure it still operated properly.
Armed
Didn't move it. Rudder was in center position on the shaft
Spun up very slowly.
Right before lift off, she spun 180 degrees
Spun down
Tried again
Same thing
Flipped from HH to Rate and back a few times
Tried again
Same
Adjusted the Gyro settings from the my 64.0% to around 66%.
Similar effect
Tried to hover a bit around 2 ft. It is still wanting to rotate counterclockwise
Set it down because I was afraid I would come down to hard on the concrete.
Stepped out into the grass
Set the Gyro to 61.5
Strange enough, it settled down
Hovered a bit with very little counterclockwise yaw
Adjusted the trim a little
Hovering ok
Battery dead by now; tail wagging
Set it down

**
**** At this point I am kicking myself for, once again, not letting the gyro acclimate to the outside weather. It is 67 degrees outside and 73 in my house ***
**** In fact I never do this although I've been told time and time again, and even the docs state you are suppose to let it sit for 15 minutes.....
**** Maybe I'm wasting my time banging myhead against the wall concerning this issue, when all i really need to do it let it sit for awhile.
**

I thought I had it figured out.
I plugged in the Zippy 2200 mah
Armed
Spun up slowly
I was on grass, but as I increased the throttle, I could see it was already wanting to spin.
I set the Gyro back to 64%
Tried again.
Same
Mind you, I never got off the ground. It was acting very different than the usual little rotation that you 'wag off' and then take off. Attempting to flip from HH to Rate and then back does nothing. It does not 'reset' the HH center. Its the kind of rotation where even if i got off the ground, I guarantee it would spin completely around and I would probably crash before I could get it under control
I set the Gyro to like 70%
Spun it up slowly
* The tail rudder starts wagging back and forth fast, about 5 times a second *
At this point, I'm like "Cool, All i need to do now is drop the Gyro setting down a bit till it stops wagging"
WRONG
It wont stop wagging; even with no throttle and on Throttle hold. The tail servo is going nuts back and forth....
I unplug the battery
Plug it back in
Arms
Rudder is going back and forth real fast just by itself
Plug in the Eflite battery
Arms
same thing. udder servo is automatically just going ..... Left-right-left-right-left-right-left-right

bah.
Is this servo shot or something....

If i learned anything, I need to ENSURE I acclimate this gyro to the environment before I attempt to do anything. I think I am skewing my testing by not having this important baseline...

Do I just need to get a GY401 and a good digital tali servo and be done with this nonsense?

Its just EXTREMELY ODD that I 'never' had this issue until I plugged in that Zippy 2200 mah for the first time a few weeks ago.
I flew 25 battery packs worth of 1800 mah before I switched the Zippy's to EC3 and flew them and never had an issue.
In fact, I flew an entire 1800 mah battery back that day just fine, and then put in the Zippy for the first time, and that's when all this started happening.
That's what so odd. If it really was 'not acclimating the gyro', then why was I flying perfectly that day with the Eflite battery, then 5 minutes later, the heli is completely out of whack with that Zippy battery?

Very strange..

jroo

Just started thinking. Like i said, it was very foggy and dew on the grass. Could something have gotten wet and caused this rudder servo to have a seizure?

off to mow the grass!

evdreamer

Jreue,

I have no idea what is going on, since I don't have any experience with the B400 and the G110.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Well, I did go to the MHA field (Maryland Helicoper Association) for a look see....very, very nice!!

I was a bit late in leaving, so I didn't take any helis....although I could have flown had I taken them....

I did get there just in time, turns out I just missed alot of people, and the club President was mowing the field grass....no easy task, as much as there is....they have a tractor (like a REAL FARM tractor), and a huge mower that they pull behind it... gets the job done nicely...

It's big...hard to put a size on it, but it's proabably at least two football fields wide, and one deep...depending on where you are standing...and it was nice to see that the afternoon/evening sun is over to the left, pretty much over your left shoulder...at least this time of the year.

The grass is nice, pretty green, well maintained, lush, looks like some of those fields in Phoenix...lol...almost like a lawn...

Very informal, it's basically someone's farm...Nick, I felt more like I was in Nebraska than Maryland!! Old farm equipment laying around, and barns...very cool setting! They have a couple of benches there for the pit area, nothing too special, no power for sure...

I met Wayne, the club president, and he's very cool...nice guy...invited me up next weekend to fly if the weather is nice. I asked him if the field is ever closed, and he said for about a week in shotgun hunting season, it's closed, which is coming up soon, he thought.

Gunfire could be heard in the not-to-distant area while we were talking...it's nothing like around here!! It' like a whole 'nother world...

It took about 35 mins, and it's 22 miles...almost exactly...so it's not too bad of a drive, really, considering how much time I waste driving from field to field to find a place to fly...

All in all, it looks very promising...he said they have about 35 members, nearly half of what they used to...the economy taking it's toll on the hobbies...[&o]

He said if I join now, I'm good through all of next year...

I asked about what most guys fly, and he said it's about a 50/50 split, nitro vs electric..

We also had a discussion about why plane and heli guys don't really get along, and the problems associated with having fields that support both; we both agreed that having an all heli club is the way to go if you fly helis....they formed MHA when the other flying club kicked out all the heli guys, apparently, it was kind of mutual, since the plane guys only gave the helis 15 minutes of each hour to fly....[X(]

It was a very interesting trip...for sure...l took some pics...I'll have to upload them in a bit...got some stuff to do around here first...

Glenn

rotarydoc

jreue,

Wow, bummer on the continuing saga...hmmmm...

Well, you could try to substitute a known good servo for the tail rudder, and see what happens? They are not terribly expensive, or you could even swap one of the cyclics, just for testing, but that's kinda risky, if the servo whacked out, you might have a minor crash...might be OK if you just barely lifted off, just enough to see how the tail reacts on liftoff...

Sounds like a gyro issue to me...and it can happen just like that; just like a switch....when I lost the gyro on my all stock B400 and has it's first crash, it gave no warning whatsoever....just in mid flight, the tail went away...

Then, when I tried to fly it again, it acted alot like what you are describing...but, a bad servo could do similar things...

I do know this much...if you spend money anywhere in the B400, it should be to upgrade the electronics, all of them...save for maybe the motor, but, even it too, will eventually go, the bearings will fail over time...I can't remember if you have upgraded the cyclic servos or not?

I know the cool CNC stuff is hard to resist...but you'd be better off in the long run to upgrade the servos, and gyro, at the minimum...see how the ESC holds up, and do it later if/when it fails...and the motor should last a good bit, try to lube the bearings, or even be pro-active, as I have been and replace the bearings BEFORE they fail and wipe out the motor shaft...

Just my 2 cents....I just flew my B400...and it's doing great...but, not a single piece of electronics is original...the basic B400 is not a bad heli, once you get the electronics upgraded, they do fly decently!!

Probably not what you wanted to hear, I know....buying servos just doesn't seem cool....they are not a particluarly exciting or visual upgrade, as is the gyro....but oh man, what a difference when you see/know how much better they fly!

Keep us posted...

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

Too bad you didn't take the helis.

You mean they weren't cutting the grass with the helis.

That is about the same amount of time it takes me to get to my field.

That sounds like a good deal on joining now.

It sounds like a cool place to fly. Does one person fly at a time or is there little sections that each person flies in?

Nick

JPEE

Hello Glenn,

Well all in all sounds like you had a great afternoon. The conversation you had with the Prez was nice too. We all know that planes and helis dont get along very well. I use this analogy. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines are all USA military soldiers. But, if a Navy man walks in a bar say...full of Marines.................he is in a world of hurt. I think its like that between helis and plankers. It is ashame as both sides are missing new friends and seeing both sides of the hobby.

As I said, my Club field is 10 miles away. But the good part is I am only a quarter mile from the on ramp at each end of the drive. I may have posted this last night but while sitting here at home I thought, I have a few hours before sundown perhaps I'll go fly a few packs. I got there in a few minutes and got to fly the 400-500-600 all one pack. The sun set and another guy and I left and locked the gate. I kind-ah got my fix in before the high winds were to come and boy oh boy did they come last night and today.

A am really getting concerned about my lipos and their charging and storage. I have made up mind in two areas LOL charging and storage LOL. Tomorrow I am going to buy a few cinder blocks like you will find used on a block wall. You set them on the floor and fill the empty cells with packs. Then you set a cap flat block on top and you have a fire proof lipo vault! As far as charging I am no longer charging in the house, wheather I am sitting there or not. If a pack puffs or blows there will not be enough time to stop the situation. So I used a little metal cart we had here with a few open wire basket type shelves. I placed my seven chargers in those trays and then on top I put three power supplies so I can turn off and on banks of chargers if I choose. I take the cart and roll it out of the garage and set it out on the patio and plug in the tri cord for the three powe supplies and charge 8 packs at a time, safely. This whole thing has been eating at me a bit so today I made a remedy I could live with.

I hope you'll join your Club Field and have some fun.

Smiles JPEE

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Nick,

Yeah, I think there is one member of that club that CAN cut the grass with his heli....he did it at my local club over the summer, when they had a plane fun fly....for whatever reason, he and his dad (he's like 15 or something) stopped in, and I caught about half of his flight when he was there...he was clipping the top of some tall grass at the edge of the runway while inverted....pretty cool...you could hear the blades smacking the tall grass...he did it a few times too...pretty amazing, maybe I'll get to see more of his flying at MHA, since they are from there, and had the T-shirts...should be fun!

I'm not sure how it's setup for flying multiple helis...it is certainly big enough that more than one pilot can fly at a time...I wish I had known to get there earlier....seems they are more into early flying...I might have to change my ways...lol...it was a gorgeus day to fly here, I did get one flight in after I got home, just before dusk with the B400...it was fun to fly again, the weather is supposed to be awesome all week....kinda wish I had taken another week off of work...esp since I found out I had disability coverage through the 25th of this month!!

JPEE,

Glad you got some afternoon/evening flights in....something a bit different than getting out there at the crack of dawn, I guess....lol...

Cool on the new charging and storage systems...I don't go to such lengths, but I DO have a new, fully charged A-B-C fire extinguisher right here on the wall, ready at a moment's notice....but still, it's easy to get distracted, so your method is clearly the way to go for maximum safety.


Man, on the way out there, I got to see how the "other half" of the world lives...the RICH half....or should I say the rich 1/100th.... There are some homes out there that just blew me away....huge houses, on HUGE lots, on tops of hills, with private tennis and basketball courts, multi, multi million dollar houses, each one with acres of golf course like grass....unreal!!!! I almost stopped to take some pics...


Speaking of which...courtesy of the iPhone....

Glenn

rotarydoc

And some more....

rotarydoc

They are large, so one more group....

There is one pic of a kinda small, separate little field, might be good for small heli testing...