KrisK_Ottawa

Hello. I'm fairly new to RC heli's. I received my DF V Ti and put it together correctly I believe. My problem is with calibration of the trimmers on the transmitter. As soon as I increase the throttle to get it to 'hop' it flips over onto the canopy pretty much right away. I am not giving it a lot of throttle, maybe only a ¼. At a lower throttle, the rotors spin, it's just when I try to get it to do a hop. This is happening indoors and outdoors. I also tried to get it to hover using the TI; but again, as soon as I give it throttle, she just flips over immediately.

I'm really hoping this has happened to someone before. It is probably an ID10T error (user error) on my part.

Any advice would be so greatly appreciated.

Cheers
[&:]

RGalati

man that is weird. I just got my DF back from getting fixed and it's doing the same thing. I was going to post this exact message.

KrisK_Ottawa

I just got off the phone with DFI and they told me to check the gyro's on the circuit board. They think that they are not connected properly and to solder them if that is the case. I'm not very comfortable with doing that; but we'll see. I'll let you know. They said that it would have been ‘test’ flown before it was shipped so something must have happened during shipping. I’m skeptical at this point. []

laceycopter

I'm sure you checked these things already but it's all I can think of at the moment.
1) Make sure the motors are level.....blades parallel to the ground
2) Make sure you have the blades on right...counter-clockwise front and rear and clockwise left and right.
3) check that the curcuit board didn't pop out of a mount and the front is facing the red dot.
4) check that the wires to the motor are on right colored wire by the dot.
5) center all your trim (except throtle which should be all the way down.. arm it on a level surface and do the throttle down and to the right to save level in the memory.
Try it.....if it still tries to flip.
Hold it by the base and give it a little throttle....tilt it left and right...forward and backward and see if the motors change speed to try and level it....if they do then the gyros are working and it is either a mechanical or balance problem
Good Luck,
Lacey

RGalati

The circuit board is installed wrong ) I just called Mike and he walked me through it.

Have the green LEDS facing away from you. Now look at the motor closest to you. The wire should be Black and Yellow. The motor across from it should be Black and Red
Now look at the left motor. The wires should be Black and Green...One on the right should be Black and Blue.

I had my turned 180 degrees.

Also check your landing gear..One of the landing gears should have a red sticker dot on it. That needs to be facing the red wired motor. Hope this help..I'm back to flying again..

laceycopter

Yep,
Circuit board in backwards will do it too.
Glad you got it fixed.
Happy Flyin
Lacey

Sky High

I thought DFs came pre-assembled now and with preflight checks. I don't see how anything could be mounted wrong if this is the case.

KrisK_Ottawa, did you buy your DF new or used? If it was new, everything should be wired correctly and yes, it should have been test flown before it shipped. Are you trying to fly indoors while flying with Ti? If so, that won't work. I don't recommend the hopping to set the trims because it's so abrupt, you can't really see if the trim is set enough because there's not enough airtime. I just slowly give it throttle and see which way it wants to drift and then correct the trim.

RGalati, you performed a miracle by mounting that board backwards because Jeremy told me that he intentionally makes the harness short enough on the board side to prevent the possibility of mounting it backwards.

RGalati

I have an older one maybe they had longer wires back then. Older meaning about a year old.

KrisK_Ottawa

THANK YOU RGalati (and Mike)!!! I did exactly what you indicated in in the post and it worked...It no longer flips right away. As I thought; it was me and not the DF…thankfully! I was very discouraged yesterday. I thought I was going to be packing it up today to send back. I’m happy it was just my error. I was able to hover it briefly; but the wind was making it hard to control, so now I just have to wait (patiently) for the wind to die down.

Thanks again for the info, I really appreciate it!

Hi Sky High: Thanks for your reply. I purchased my DF VTi new directly from DFI (via eBay). It was only partly pre-assembled. It would be nice if was fully assembled as I wouldn’t have had my original issue. Perhaps the Pro or industrial version come pre-assembled. My first test flight was inside as I have very flat hardwood floors and I thought it might be easier to do the ‘hops’ for calibration; but when it flipped over I decided to take it outside to try the Ti. I will however be doing the rest of my training outside with Ti on for sure and I’ll also be following your guide from the FAQ’s section. Thanks for posting that!

Thanks to everyone else who offered input on my problem/screw-up. [&:] It’s nice to know there is a place we can all go to share our ups and downs (no pun intended) of our experience with the DF. [8D]

Cheers!