Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

I have not tried it yet I am still in the process of doing body work on the canopy and tail fins I probably won't get it in the air until after thanksgiving and I still need to figure out how to use the gyro with my radio you see this is my first CP Heli and I am a rookie at it.

tnd2000

Is this an indoor/outdoor heli?

And does this really require 7 channels as stated int he manual?

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

Yes it is a indoor and outdoor both but no it only requires 6 channels if you have a dual rate gyro like I do so I can control the Gyro from the radio.

VinceHerman

Wow. I would not have considered the TREX an indoor model. Maybe in a gymnasium or sports dome, but not in my house. I fly FP micros in my house, but their bigger CP cousins have way too much head speed. The damage potential (to walls, furniture and nick nacks) is too great.
I guess I could see it in my basement where she-who-must-be-obeyed does not dwell.

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

I fly mine in the house along with my pic eco v2 that is why I went to electrics,just crazy I guess my wife could care less about where I fly it.

WhirlyGirl

My Feedback: (34)

**SNICKER**

Just buy her one and let her get attached to the hobby! Or, let her try a sim if you have one on a PC.

I let my husband fly once in a while.


* Fast, Furious, and FEMALE!!!

dornier

Hi Everyone,

Just ordered a TREX 450X and have some questions:

1) Will be using a JR XP783 H Radio which has helicopter settings. The radio was sent to JR about 2 years ago and they enabled CCPM. I now have a selection for SWASH and it allows for NORM, 2,3, or 4 servos. Which one do I select for the TREX 450X? Is the TREX a 120 or 180 CCPM helicopter? Honestly, I don't know what version of CCPM I have in this radio since it was an undocumented feature.

2) I'm about to buy a Kokam 3 cell 1500maH battery, will this be okay with the Align motor and Align 25A BEC?

3) Should I buy a heatsink for both the battery and motor?

4) Which pinion should I use? 8T, 9T, 10T, 11T, etc?

5) Will a futaba GY401 work with a JR receiver (226X six channel reciever)?

Thanks,

George

Erich_F

HI,


1) Will be using a JR XP783 H Radio which has helicopter settings. The radio was sent to JR about 2 years ago and they enabled CCPM. I now have a selection for SWASH and it allows for NORM, 2,3, or 4 servos. Which one do I select for the TREX 450X? Is the TREX a 120 or 180 CCPM helicopter? Honestly, I don't know what version of CCPM I have in this radio since it was an undocumented feature.

The Trex is a traditional mix collective system, just like on the Raptor series. You would use the NORM mode.

2) I'm about to buy a Kokam 3 cell 1500maH battery, will this be okay with the Align motor and Align 25A BEC?

Make sure it's the high discharge Kokam. I prefer the ThunderPower Gen 2 2100mA 3S and 1320mA 3S packs.

3) Should I buy a heatsink for both the battery and motor?

Not required, the Trex has a fan integrated with the tail drive gear. Just adds weight.

4) Which pinion should I use? 8T, 9T, 10T, 11T, etc?

The Align Outrunner type 400S motors use the 13T pinion, one of the four supplied in the kit.

5) Will a futaba GY401 work with a JR receiver (226X six channel reciever)?

Yes, it will work with any radio. You use ch5 (gear channel) to set the gain via EPA setting.

[/quote]

Have fun, and welcome to the club. If you want some detailed pics, PM me your email and I will send some to you.

Erich

RCXPLANES

My Feedback: (1)

Dornier,

Erich F is right on the money. I would definitely spend the extra for the Gen 2 Thunder Power 2100. I have been experiencing trouble with my 8C discharge rate Kokam 1500s and a 14 oz foamy. Still trying to figure out what happened.

There is some good info on gyro setup for a JR G500T and JR 8103Tx as I found it the most frustrating thing on the heli to figure out having never had one of any kind. It will translate well for the ATV or Travel limits on the gear channel for the most part with your Futaba GY 401 if it is Head Hold or Rate mode selectable and you can set the gains for each. See that thread here.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_22...tm.htm#2295383

Good luck and have fun with it. The kit will build fast but take your time while you set it up. You will be rewarded with a great flying EP heli.

dornier

Hi,

The battery is a Kokam is a "3 Cell 11.1V 1500mAh High Discharge Lithium Polymer Battery Pack".

SPECS: Applications: Speed 400, parallel for Speed 600 electric aircraft Rating: 8C/82%
Output: 11.1V nominal, 1500mAh

Is this the right one?

Thanks again,

George

Have fun, and welcome to the club. If you want some detailed pics, PM me your email and I will send some to you.

Erich
[/quote]

RCXPLANES

My Feedback: (1)

I have had my troubles with the 8C discharge rate Kokam 1500 3s1p packs and am just learning more about Li-Pos now. The Thunder Power Gen 2, 2100 Li-Po supports a 10 - 12 C nominal Discharge rate and a 15C burst discharge rate.

For the 2100 Mah battery that means 21-25amps continious and 32 amp burst discharge rate which is far superior to the 12 Amp continious rate of the Kokam. That is just on design paper mind you. It remains to be seen if the TP Gen 2 batteries will actually handle this and live well in the long run for me.

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

Well my Trex is finally done and now it is snowing outside oh well just have to wait want to make sure every thing is set up ok before I fly indoors.I would put up a picture but don't know how to do it!!!

Bokx Rc

Hi there,
I just bought my trex from ebay. Here is the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=5936305218.
What do you think about the price? and the configuration?
Also, I'll be using my futaba T6xas, which I use to fly my Hummingbird CP; will this radio be fine? The gut on the auction said I needed a 7ch radio and mine is only 6.
Any recommendations/upgrades I should get.
Thanks.

Bokx Rc

Sorry for the bad link. I didn't know there was a filter on ebay dot com keyword.

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

I have a Eclipse 7 but I am only using six channels on the trex I don't know where he is getting a channel 7 from because I am even using a channel to control my gyro with because I have a dual rate gyro and still I am using only six channels.Even the owners manual shows six channels.

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

I found a way to get pictures up this link will take you to my gallery where the pictures are,the canopy and fins are custom metal flake red and all seams were sealed for a clean finish on the canopy.http://www.rcuniverse.com/gallery/ga...ID=83983,Check it out if you would like.

RCXPLANES

My Feedback: (1)

Mine runs on a 6 channel Rx using Gear JR channel 5 for the gyro sensor. Even if I used one of my 7 channel I would still only use 6 of the channels.

1. ESC batt/Throttle.
2. Aileron.
3. Elevator.
4. Rudder for the tail servo through the gyro.
5. Gear for the gyro dual rate sensor.
6. Colective on JR aux 1.

If I used the 7 Channel Rx I could swap the gyro sens wire form channel 5 to channel 7 JR Aux 2 and use the Aux 2 potentiometer to adjust the gyro from Rate to HH and its gain setting remotely on the fly, still only using six channels.

Bokx Rc

MOE3754, Is that car paint?? and if it is, isn't it too heavy for the trex??

dornier

Hi,

What exactly did you mean by, "a 14 oz foamy". Did the battery fry? I've heard these batteries can get very hot and I've even read some posts about Lipo temperatures reaching 100 degrees. The ESC I'm getting is from Align and it's a 25A unit, is this a problem with a 2100?

Thanks,

George

RCXPLANES

My Feedback: (1)

There is a craze out there within the fixed wing 3D flyers of building small 3D type EP aircraft out of flat foam board. Some you can see at http://www.rcxplanes.com and many other sites as well. E-Flite makes one called the Tribute. This is a "Foamy" and 14 oz. reffers to its AUW.
I did not fry a battery nor do I suspect that I over amped it in charge or discharge. The battery nor motor(s) have never been very warm right after a flight as with the foamy you rarely ever go past 1/2 throtle to hover due to the trust to weight ratios being around 2:1 give or take 0.5 on the thrust side. Also I am conservative in the setting of the ESC to protect the battery and ESC from that dammage.

The problem that I have recently had and am investigating is a sudden loss of power from these Kokam 1500 3s1p 8C discharge batteries. Not one but 4 packs. I do know it is the battery because when the new Thunder Power battery is plugged in, all is fine as I am sure the case would be with a new Kokam 1500 3s1p 8C battery. I just need to find the root cause for the same battery type and brand loosing significant power when they are not very old and have been treated very well and to manufactures requirements before I buy any more of them. The added ability for a battery to discharge at a higher C rating without sustaining dammage is also just a better battery which Kokam may now have. If you need 12 amps continous power, one battery can just make that discharge rate without dammage and another can more than double it, you are better off in the long run using half of the discharge capacity of that battery than taxing the max out of the other one.

12 Amps from the 1500 Kokam will not be enough for long for your T-Rex. The Align 25 amp ESC should be fine but I have no experience as I have a Castle Creations Phoenix 25 ESC. The amp draw is determined by the motor requirements at a specific voltage and load. the ESC and the Battery must be effecient enough and robust enough to deliver the required power to the motor for it to do it's work. It seems like Align has it worked out well enough to use their ESC, Motor, Recomended Pinion and a good battery.

If you do not already have LiPo batteries, at this stage of the game you will likely be spending quite a bit of money just in batteries and a charger. I highly recomend that you get the best available at this time in both LiPos and a charger. For the batteries that means the higher discharge rate and capacity of the TP Gen 2, 2100 Mah 3s1p battery fits right in to the T-Rex and packs a lot of power that it can dish out as opposed to the 8C discharge 1500 Mah Kokam. I think Lipo batteries are going to get better before they level out in the future as manufactures try to out amp each other.

Good Luck

Moe3754

My Feedback: (14)

No it is special RC Paint that was purchased at my hobby store and as for weight I weighed the canopy before and after and all that was gained was one ounce in weight.So it should do fine and balance was checked and it is perfect also.

dornier

Hi everyone,

Decided to buy a Thunder Power 3 cell 1320 mAH 10C+ to save money. Hopefully I made a good choice. Couldn't believe my local hobby store was as cheap if not cheaper than online retailers.

Thanks everyone, I'll let you know how it works out when I get the Trex 450X.

George

tanasit

RE: The gain is always either too high (oscillation) or too low (not holding).

This is what I learnt from gas power helicopters I flew. Tail oscillation in forward flight, if can't be adjusted by the gain control then you have to lower the rotor speed either by lowering the throttle curve or increase the pitch or combination of both. Moreover, you may have to trim down (shorten) the tail blade or use the ones with less control surface. Also when adjust the gyro gain, you must do it little by little. One more thing that is worth trying is changing the hole used for the linkage on the tail servo horn (use inner one for less sensitive).

Erich_F

This is a good reason for having different flight modes setup. Normal mode for general hovering and testing. Idle Up 1 for Fast forward flight (lower gyro gain, moderate head speed). Idle Up 2 for 3D (max gyro gain, high head speed). Of course, if your gyro doesn't support remote gain adjustment, or your heli radio doesn't have flight modes, your stuck with compromising.

Another thing, if you have a gyro with a delay setting (GY401), try increasing the delay first, to reduce wagging in FFF.

Erich

dornier

Hi,

Question for everyone in the group, I have a chance to return the Thunder Power 3 cell 1320 mAH 10C-12C battey and get a Thunder Power 1900mAH 3 cell 10C-15C battery for $20 more. Should I do this or will the 1900mAH be a better choice? The only thing is that the battery is in black shrink wrapping which leads me to believe that it's the previous generation or model. The 1320mAH battery is in the new silver wrapping.

By the way, I received the Trex 450X kit today and just can't wait to start building it. Looks like a quality product and it came with 3 main rotor blades and even the blade holder. Quality all around! Hopefully it will build and fly that way.

Thanks for the help,

George