michael marshall

Well I was playing with it today outside. I gave it full throtle, It was very skidish on the ground I can tell you that. BUT IT WOULD NOT LEAVE THE GROUND. Its almost like it just needs a bit more power. Vince youve helped me before, and I hope you can help me again.

HoverDown3K

My Feedback: (2)

Sounds like you may have to adjust the pitch of the main blades.

michael marshall

Iv dont that with the blade tracking. And Iv done it to the limit, If I do it any more the threads will pop out out and it wont have any thing to hold on.

VinceHerman

Hi Michael,
Help out a guy with terrible memory. What is your configuration?
What batteries and how many cells. (what charger and were the batteries fully charged?) What heli, and what non-stock parts?
Any recent crashes since the last successful flight? Any other changes since the last successful flight? (even removing the motor and placing it back)
Any undue vibration?

michael marshall

Well Iv got a Kokam two cell 1500mah battery, Kokams charger for the bateries. Iv got all stock parts. Iv had one crash two days ago with miner damages. My tail motor causes some vibration, and thats about all. OOO and Iv got a hummingbird Elite FP. And have not taken anything off since I started flying.

HoverDown3K

My Feedback: (2)

there is your problem, you have way to much pitch on your blades, move them back all the way. and then start one turn at a time until you have flight

michael marshall

Well thanks Ill try that,

VinceHerman

Any successful flights since that time? What were the damages?
So long as it is not a horrendous shaking, I think that it should be alright. Vibration or wobble in the main rotor is the real power thief.
Flybar paddles flat or slight positive incidence? (I always have mine flat, but a lot of people swear by slight positive incidence)
Gear mesh - just the slightest amount of play between the pinion and main gear?
My Piccolo has a rubber grommet that holds the main shaft. Some times it rubs the mast and sucks up the power. Any such thing on the Hummingbird?

I am trying to look for other sources of power loss. Does the motor sound similar to previous flights?

michael marshall

I havent been flying very much, Im just learning how to fly (following "radd's school of rotory flight"). I have no shaking and wobels in the main blades (I made sure to balance all rotating parts before trying it out). Well the tail works with ball berings. The crash I had was when I was flying a car went by and I got interferance and it went into a pillar. The damage was on the tip of the main blade,it got a small chip in; but I took the chip and set it back in place. I too some clear tap, taped it on the bottom with half of the tap still exsoposed, I placed the chip back inplace (perfectely inlined) and then I floded the rest over to cover the chip. It almost pervect and I could not see a defferane in the attitude of the heli while in service after that. I took your advise Vampyre and adjusted the pitch on the blades and now it wont evan get light on the skids.

VinceHerman

How long have you had the 1500's? When I flew 2 cell LiPos, I flew with smaller cells. Slightly less weight.
I DO know that a 3 cell LiPo setup has power to spare! (rough on stock tail motors)

michael marshall

Well If done about 9 full battery packs on those motors.

michael marshall

Well if taken all the wieght off that I could. I can get in the air now but only an inch or two. Any more help?

tweaksalot

try a new motor

VinceHerman

How many teeth on your pinion? Does your kit come with different sizes?
Also, after you have been trying to lift for a while (use a whole pack), how hot is your battery, and how hot is your motor?

michael marshall

Well my pinion gear is ten teath, and no extra pinions came with. Do you suggest I get a new one, tweaksalot Thanks for that tip I think I will be getting one of them.

VinceHerman

You could try an 11 tooth pinion. This would give you more head speed for the same motor speed. Just monitor motor temp and battery temp. A hot motor indicates that you are pulling too much current.

Leon

I would look at your LiPos, I had a similar thing with a 3S cell pack, I would get about 30 seconds-1 minute of flight before it nearly died, what had happened was that one cell had become very unbalanced, it had about half its charge in it (800mAH, in a 1400mAH pack) this was after about a dozen flights.

The reason for this is that your charger will charge and charge and charge, but if it detects that one or more cells are at their limit (all except for one) then it will stop charging the whole pack leaving one undercharged, so after a few charges, this gets worse and worse.

In your case with two cells it would have one fully charged (stopping the charging process) before both are charged, the other may only have half a charge, this is not only annoying but dangerous, just as with overcharging LiPos draining them will make them explode.

To avoid this !!CAREFULLY!! (dont pierce the LiPo cell) cut open the shrink wrap of the pack and individually charge the cells, remember the capacity is the same, 1400's are still 1400's with one cell or a hundred, but the voltage IS NOT, with an 11.1V 3S pack, each cell is 3.7V, so each cell charged on its own it would be set to V=3.7 C=1.4A

You would have to customise that to your pack, C rate would still be 1.5A, but if its two cells then divide your cell voltage by two and charge each cell at that, chances are one will be very undercharged

michael marshall

Well that would be an explanation for the one pack, but I have two brand new packs and it was the first flight on them.

Leon

In that case I would first check to see if your settings in the transmitter have been altered, if thats not it then it will probably be either your motor or the speed controller

michael marshall

Well now I have replaced all the electronics, and now I can get hur off the ground. Althou not more than a foot or two. Can any body give me some more advice?