JPEE

Hey Guys,

Nothing to report, just doing a bit of snooping. I ordered a new HEXA 550 FlameWheel copter. Turns out my little 450 Quad with the load of my extended landing gear and servo driven camera gimbal won't not carry the load safely. So now with 6 motors and props, that punk should pick up anything I wanna put on there. Here is a representation of what mine will look like when complete. I have the legs and gimbal now, and the Hexa should arrive by tomorrow.

Aframomum

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JPEE,

That looks to be one mean machine...bet it'll have no problem lifting anything you attach to it. How's the weather and have you gotten any flying in lately?

I finished and remaidened my 500 last week. Noticed it had some tail wag so thought maybe something in the pitch slider may have gotten messed up from the crash that I missed but after going over it found one of the screws to the grip had some excess loctite and was causing a bit of binding. Cleaned it up and no more wag. I also did my first canopy repair using 5 minute epoxy and fiberglass...worked really great and the grommet fit perfectly into the repaired area. It's nice to have my 500 flying again.

Nick,

Sorry you had to work on your birthday...at least you did get the chance to spend some time with the family.

Looking forward to some upcoming airshows the next 2 months...they are supposed to have a big one in April that I missed last year due to working that weekend so I made sure I took off for this years event. Its something I know my son will love seeing!

Take care everyone,

Mark

Aframomum

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Sorry guys but only had a little time before work to get the video link up...from this mornings flight.

A bit of inverted tail and nose as well as some other things I've been practicing on...and trying to get back in the groove (so to speak) after that crash in December.

https://vimeo.com/60041198

Mark

JPEE

Hello Mark,

What a great flight! And tell your camera person WELL DONE too. I am telling you, you make me pucker when you come in low and nearly strafe the road with your skids. WOW-WEE you have some kick ***** head speed too. That video makes me miss flying my 500 because of what they can do. Pound for pound I still the say the 500-550 are good handling fast and agile machines. You've got some good inverted going on there son congrats on getting her back in the air.


I have been working on my 550 Hexa. Oh she flies fine, but there is a vibration that is coming down the legs and into the gimbal resulting in JELLO videos ICK. I have already re-balanced all 6 blades, no help.[&o] Today, I used TREX 500 skid rubbers (blue in color) from the skid tubes and placed them vertically and put them in between the Hexa and the Landing gear and........ I left the screws a bit loose too and had to use double nts for safety. I put the rubber under the landing gear so the weight on the landing gear was hanging downward on the rubber. I shot a garage and driveway video (it is pouring here) and still I have Jello.[X(] The last thing I can do is put my Hexa on the bench and disconnect all but one motor. Then rev that motor up to max with the prop on to look for vibrations. This is a tedious job because then I have to then disconnect that motor and then move to the next one and do them one at a time.......... gaddds-zooks this vibration has me baffled.

Aframomum

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Hi JPEE,

And that camera guy would be me and my trusty hat cam that you guys devised some years ago.

Thanks for the compliments as I took Nicks advise and worked on my tail in hovering before attempting any more rainbows. And now that I'm attempting them again I'm doing them much higher but have noticed when things get out of alignment while inverted I'm much more comfortable with making the corrections.

Your funny with my straffe runs...I must think I've got a warbird or something there. I do think Align did a good thing when they upped the headspeed but regeared the tail...I do like the responsiveness compared to my old 500ESP.

My next plan is to do some changes to my charging systems...this charging my batteries the night before and taking 50 minutes per batt is growing old. So I want to get a Powerlab 6 charger along with a Feathermerchant 12V47A server powersupply, this way I can hook up 3 of my 6S 2600 batts and charge them together in the morning before I walk out the door. How nice that sounds.

Sorry to hear about your chasing down vibration issues...they really are a pain. I hope you are able to pin it down in the first few motor tests. That thing looks like a real beast.

Just did a bit of searching for you and found some guys talking about anti-vibration pads which may help out... [link=http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=492837&highlight=HEXA+550]Link[/link]

Mark

JPEE

Mark,

If you are handy at all with electronic's I can show you how to make a power supply like I did by banding two computer server power supplies together at 750 watts each and you'll be able to charge your pants off like I do. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seasonic-SS-...item53f51024f5

That and............. if your flush with cash get the Power Lab, but for a lot less you can get a iCharger with a Buddy board and I charge "6 each" 6S 5300 all at once! I am not saying the Power LAB is not good mind you but you can come away cheaper with this and............ they give you the free "Buddy Board. http://epbuddy.com/index.php?main_pa...roducts_id=106 The example of the buddy board is with a smaller charger but you'll get the idea. If you want more details let me know and I'll give you my phone number, it is easier that way.

JPEE/ John


PS: if you charger at 12vt input to either charger then your 1000 watts of charging power is less, about half. Here is a clip from Power lab-6

Maximum charge power capacity: 1000W @ 30V DC; 408W @ 12V)

Aframomum

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Hi JPEE,

I would be interested in the powersupply conversion. I remember seeing pictures of some of your wiring but would need a much watered down version to do it myself. I'm feeling a bit out of my league on this...

I haven't decided yet on the charger...I want to get the powersupply first and go from there.

So yes, any help you can offer would be appreciated and welcomed!

Mark

JPEE

I'll get back with you soon on the PS and how to build Mark.

JPEE

Hello Mark,

Here is the site for Feather Merchant. [link=http://www.feathermerchantrc.com/]LINK[/link] It gives you a close look at what he and I did to make PS (power supplies) out of computer server PS. The trick is to isolate one PS from the other. You accomplish that by cutting the ground wire off of the plug end that you plug into the wall. Next "they" cannot touch each other so I used a sheet of rubber to separate them. The last part it to get a mapping of their pin and what does what, and each manufacture is different. What you need to do is to see where you want to get your PS's 2ea, and then look up their pinning. The secret is finding the the two contacts that fire the server PS. Then connecting them is kids play, really. Here is an example [link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1382457&highlight=nps330bb]LINK[/link].

Here is the big link with 100 pages that gives you almost every PS and it's wiring plan. [link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1292514]LINK[/link]

Here is where I bought my Delta DPS 750 from [link=http://www.ebay.com/itm/Delta-Electronics-Power-Supply-model-DPS-750EB-Rev-Part-D20850-006-750W-Max-/181080141192?_trksid=p2047675.m1850&_trkparms=aid% 3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14293%2 6meid%3D5740565474749312014%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3 D1095%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D390364033125%26]PS LINK[/link] They are $20.00 each. I will post picks of my LIKE PS wired.

So Mark give this a look see and tell me what you'd like to do. If you get two like mine, we have can you done in one hour and pinch, plus the female banana receivers for your charger inputs. As you will notice I mounted mine in a box to insure "no shocks" because when you cut the ground off of one PS you do run the risk of being grounded at the field with your feet and then coming into contact with that one PS and zappo. But that's only of thae PS went to a dead short. I am just being safe that's all. If you were here I would show you how to open the PS and isolate the board and guts "inside" then you would leave them both grounded on their wires. Gonna send you my number on a PM.


John
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO8UTrJKnpA[/youtube]

Aframomum

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Hi JPEE,

And thanks for all the info! I just want to make clear that the PS you linked to ebay uses a board that needs soldering all connectors to right? Just want to make certain that before I proceed.

I do like your case that houses it all...I try to involve my 4 year old son in everything dad does hobby related but will rather want to keep high power electronics away from him for now.

Let me look through the RCG 5 page thread you linked to...but I will probably be ordering those 2 PS from ebay you linked as they are $19 each and includes free shipping, can't beat that deal.

P.S. - I PM'd you as well and I do have skype so this may wind up going live when I'm ready to wire/solder my units up...if you don't mind!

Mark

JPEE

Mark, NO there is no other board! we just stack the two PS and solder wire from one to the other. As the videos shows in my little box I ran may power cords from the PS up to the accessible banana females up on top. However, my buddy soldered his right down to those copper strips on the back side of the PS. For me I wanted the box as a multi-propose to carry my charger and all of my different battery adapters and other related stuff's. Now a days I don't put the charger inside at all. I throw that on the seat of my truck and have added the cables inside the box in tray for the NAZA on board my Quad and Hex, my GOPRO cable, battery checkers and such. On occasion I will put my Hyperion in the top of the box because it is smaller and here is why. In order for me to charge my 700 trays I cannot get the battery close enough to the buddy board to plug in all of the balance connectors! So I added 6S extensions to all ports on the board. That allows me to stack my 700 trays around the charger. I'll show you in a min with a picture. As you can see the photos, those tentacles do kinda make a rats nest when they are all crammed together should I shove them in the box. I used to carry all of the other stuff in my radio box but I found keeping ALL battery related stuff in the one box worked the best. Oh! we should be able to make a 12vt port too if you wanted to use another charger, perhaps older and that won't accept 24 vts. Just let me know how you wanna go on this. I personally gar-own-teeee you'll be happy with this for about $45.00 less the box. That is far better than other places we talked about.
Lastly, don't hang up if you call the house and I don't answer. We are buried under these political calls now so just let the machine pick up and say ITS ME MARK, if I am home I'll grab it. I always pick up the cell unless I am driving.

PS: Back again, I just found the pin-out chart for the power supplies. This might give you a better perspective. And YES I do Skype [link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4013688]PS Pinning[/link]

Aframomum

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Hi JPEE,

I never thought about adding extensions to the board as I was originally considering using those 'squid' type cables to charge, but since most of the chargers today include a free board your idea is looking sweet. On the 12V hookup, are we just talking about 2 additional wires soldered to only 1 PS (+ and -)?

I was looking at the pin diagram but really cannot make head or tails of it...your wiring in the picture has the following (from what I can see):

2 large gauge red wires going from the 12V plate of PS #1 (2 wires for what, 2 separate chargers?)
2 large gauge black wires going from the ground plate of PS #2 (same question as before)
1 large gauge black wire connecting 12V plate (PS #2) to ground plate (PS #1) (reason for connecting wire?)

Kinda get lost at this point...

1 small gauge wire red from pin 1 (12VLS) on PS #1 to ground plate
1 small gauge wire black from pin 2 (PWOK) on PS #1 also to ground plate

1 small gauge wire black from pin 1 or 2 (?) on PS #2 to ground plate

Now to my questons:
what are the individual pins for (don't know what 12VLS and PWOK stand for or mean)
the soldering of the wires to the pins needs to be very clean and no run over of solder from one pin to the other I presume
the rubber mat will go between PS #1 and PS #2 right, then tape them together?
Are the fans loud (crazy high srill or like your computer PS fans, and there is 2 of them, right)?
Are the fans controlled by a thermostat or just run whenever the powersupply is functioning?
Will I get zapped if I touch the casing?

Sorry if these questions sound silly but I really do not know anything about this type of equipment or setup so am treading very slowly, just so I get it right.

Thanks for the help!

Mark

JPEE

Mark,

Slow down son, your getting a head of yourself lol. No need to understand all of the pinning and what they do. Just get the server PS's and we'll do the soldering, there are only like 7 points of contact. I am sorry, perhaps I overwhelmed you with to much information. My goal was just to show you whats going on in the area. This is a no brainer as long you have a good soldering iron

I made a video yesterday which I need to compress tonight in a bit and I will send it to you. Yes you can change the fan speed, But I left mine on high. In the video you'll hear it running while I am charging 6 ea. 6S 5300 Gens and 6 ea 3S 2250 Nanos. The PS was blowing warn air, so for my needs the high fan speed is the way to go. As far as the cords, look around anywhere they have old computers, old TVs they are all the same, their ends look like a tombstone. They cost as low as $3.00 each on Amazon.

John
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO8UTrJKnpA[/youtube]

JPEE

Hi Guys, read this and you'll have a Ca-nip-tion Fit!

Video: http://landru.leg.state.or.us/13reg/...0071.intro.pdf

The Law and proposed Bill:
http://landru.leg.state.or.us/13reg/...0071.intro.pdf

Aframomum

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Hi JPEE,

2 PS on their way to me! Now the waiting game.

I did see a thread on the Oregon bill on HF, crazy stuff indeed.

Mark

JPEE

Cool Mark,

Lets get the soldering party going. Stop by an electronics store or Radio shack and see what female banana plugs are available to you, heavy duty are what I used. Ill send you a photo.

evdreamer

It has been awhile since I wrote a post.

John,

Cool new heli.

Mark,

Nice flying. You must be getting really comfortable doing inverted flight to hover that low to the ground!

John made a good point earlier about most chargers won't work at their full power at 12V. It took me awhile to figure that one out. I didn't look at the charger manual when I got it and had to look real close to find that info. Good luck with the new power supplies.

We were supposed to get a really big snow storm here a few days ago. We were lucky and the worst of it went into Kansas.

I am learning how to create databases in my computer class now. It was another big learning curve because I had to learn a new language to write to code for it.

Nick

Aframomum

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Hi Nick,

Hope you have been fairing well with all the Feb storms the midwest has been getting...I'm sure you guys are all ready for spring.

I'm still practicing most of my flying waaaay up high as most of the video shows, just confident to get down low with my nose in only, when I switched to tail in right back up I went.

My powersupplies are due to arrive Thursday, so looks like I'll be a bit busy this weekend with soldering and Johns online help! I also got one of those LED Voltmeter readout meters so I can monitor the output voltage constantly while the charger runs. It only had 2 wires (red and black, instead of an additional yellow) so I'm going to hook it up to the output leads. I do plan to incorporate John's case idea as I don't want my son to accidently touch anything on the PS. I read that they can be lethal and still produce power after they are physically unplugged, so utmost respect for them.

Still undecided on the Powerlab 6 and the Icharger 306, but have time to do more research. Also keeping an eye on the classifieds for a deal.

Other than that getting my stuff together for this project.

Mark

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

It's been WAY TOO long since I checked in last! Not really much new going on, the same old work stuff, really.

JPEE,

Congrats on the new quad, that thing looks like it would be stable, I actually caught your You Tube video from the 22nd last night, looks great and stable up there lookin around!

Mark,

So glad to hear that you got the 500 back in the air, and are slowly building back up confidence again.

Glad you got the car fixed and found the bad reman part. We get a few cars in now and then with faulty reman stuff...most if it's fine, but you never can count on OEM like quality usually.

Nick,

Looks like you had a few close brushes with big storms...hope you fared OK in the snow...I saw some video of downtown Lincoln, but it looked like you guys missed the worst of it...

Not much new, I did talk to Mike, my old pal from MHA....and he told me that the last he heard, they (the MHA members) were talking with the plane club I used to belong to....

Seems that the area we had talked about a couple of years back for helis, way off to the left of the plane flight line, might be a possibility for the MHA guys...I'll have to see how it shapes up.

I must say, that might help re-kindle my heli interest, if there was a club that close (the plane club is about 5 miles from home, vs. 50 mile round trip for MHA)...

We'll see...hope you guys are all doing well, and are gearing up for the upcoming flying season!

Take care all....

Glenn

Aframomum

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An update...got the Powersupplies on Thursday but haven't been able to do anything with them since my son's been sick.

Good to see you Glenn...hope something close works out for you closeby as you've been missed.

Mark

rotarydoc

Hey Mark,

Thanks, I'll try to keep more in touch, between the cold winter and my other hobby (gadgets) just haven't thought much about the helis, and not much need to post, as there isn't really any news...

Good luck on the power supply, hope it all works out for ya.

I'm bracing for what looks like the most significant snow event so far this year, and it's in March...I though we made it relatively snow free...

Talk to you guys later,

Glenn

Scotts CP

JPEE,
A little off topic but I drove though Quartzite twice last weekend while taking my Dad to visit his brother. We were visiting him in Chandler AZ (he has been ill) and I convinced him to let me drive him to Palm Springs so he could visit for a day.
Quartzite is very strange place! RV's scattered hither and yon in the desert for maybe a mile on both sides of the town with quads and side by sides darting all over the place. My dad called them Desert Rats and Rock Nockers. The town is just about the halfway point between the two brothers places so that is where I stopped for gas (I sure did not want to buy gas in Kalifornia) and was surpised it was JUST $3.795 for regular in Quartzite.

Anyway, when we saw this place I thought of you visiting with friends in there and thought I would say I was there....
Scott

JPEE

Hello Scott, My Diesel will carry us loaded from San Fernando Valley to Quartzite on one 33 gallon fill up $$$ and yes gas is priced very well there. The RV's you saw are just mere amount now that the rock fest and stuff are coming to a close. My friend Fast Phil and write nearly daily so we can keep up on what doing there between our both flying at our homes and our RZR side by sides. So glad your Dad got out and made the trip, very sorry to hear he is ill. Your Dad's nick names are dead on from that era too. But where your driving a 50K truck with a 24K trailer and a 16K side by side or a 100K Motorhome, your not a desert rat............. your either rich or deep in debt or crazy! LOL

Here are a few shots from RZR drive they had this week. Take care and stop here and say hi again.

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Guys,

What's been up with everyone? Thread back up!

2 weeks of fun with illness...one gets sick then the rest follow, so to speak. Sorry for the hiatus. []

JPEE,

Got your email...PS been put in the closet since getting them and really needing to get finished. I got this weekend off so looking forward to doing it then.

Did you see the SpaceX splashdown today? Got a chance to follow the progress from deorbit burn to splashdown on Spaceflightnow.com.

Got some airshows in April looking forward to seeing and taking the little guy to see also!

Mark

JPEE

Hello Mark,

Sorry to hear the bug has settled in your home. Let me know if ya need help with your PS.

John