2bluerussian

I just noticed in my 2009 catalog that HeliMax has put a heading hold gyro on the market (HM4000). Has anyone out there put one of these gyros on an Axe? I'm looking to upgrade my Axe CP to heading hold, but it is tough to spend 50+% of the price of the kit on a gyro (GY240). This looks like a better deal from a money perspective, but I'm wondering if you get what you pay for and would be fighting drift issues or other annoyances that have plagued less expensive HH gyros in the past.

Love to hear if anyone is using this gyro (on any machine) yet and get an update on how they feel it works!

BLevesque

I am runing the HM4000 gyro on my axe cp. I'm a newbi so I realy don't know if it works good or not. I seems a little better than the 3in1 board but it drifts and doesn't seem to ever lock. I think I should of go the 240. if it hm one was good then why does hilemax run the 240 in the axe cpv3 man?

johrich

I have an AXE CP running separates with a GY 240 Gyro, however, I also have a Thunder Tiger Mini Titan that was running a GY401, which worked very well, until it died about a month ago. I replaced the GY401 with a Helimax HM 4000 gyro. It took me a bit of trimming and one thing that seems to help is to run the tail full left and full right before applying power, but it does seem to be holding the Mini Titan pretty well. Still have to fly it so more to render final judgement, but so far it seems to be OK. It is the Gyro that will be on the new AXE 400.

Johrich

jrizzle

My Feedback: (16)

Any other thoughts or problems?

johrich

It works pretty well. It doesn't seem to hold the tail as well as the GY 401, and it required a little more trimming to get it to hold, but it does work. I think I am using the collective a bit more with it, but for the money and having a remote gain, it's not too bad. I am not sure how it would hold up with 3D, I am not in to 3D.

johrich

ben45750

I have the Heli Max CP and bought a HM4000 and cannot figure out how to install it?

BLevesque

If you have a stock axe cp then you can just install it like the man says, But you do not have to buy the C12 you can use the GWS esc from tower $11

Let me know if you need more help.

ben45750

It sounds like a simple install but I'm still confused. The gyro's 3 prong plug goes to channel 4. The single white wire goes to channel 5, lines up with the other white wires. Then it says to plug in the tail rotor servo into the gyro. The Axe CP doesn't have a tail rotor gyro? I'm not sure what to plug into the gyro. I'm also not sure where the orange wire goes that was originally in channel 4?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PilotLight

My Feedback: (1)

You need another ESC to plug into the HM4000 to run the tail motor. However, there is a way to make it work without buying an ESC but its a bit more difficult to get to run correctly. Plug the HM4000 into channel 4. Leave the single white wire from the HM4000 unplugged (this will cause you to turn the screw for gain adjustment instead of remote adjustment). Next, plug the orange wire from the 3in1 into the "s" pin or the signal pin on the HM4000. Basically, the channel 4 will send signals to the HM4000 gyro which will send signals to the orange wire on the 3in1. The 3in1 will still have the internal gyro "modifying" this signal and then send power to the tail motor. The idea is the HM4000 will over power and respond quicker to heading changes. Mine worked, but eventually I bought another pair of ESC's and ditched the 3in1 altogether.

BLevesque

He is right. I tried the same thing he describes. I found that a separate esc for the tail worked best with stock transmitter and 3n1 board.
If you are using a separate esc then :

gyro white wire = not used
gyro = chan. 4
orange wire from 3n1 = chan. 5
esc = gyro

set the gyro manual gain to about 45%

Don't forget to test the gyro direction be for you try to fly.
After you arm the tail esc rotate the nose to the left, The tail motor run. If it don't rev the gyro

ben45750

Thanks for the help guys. It sounds like I'm better off the purchase a separate ESC?

This Axe has been a nightmare. It has a mind of it's own. I have spent over 2 weeks just trying to fine tune it so it will hover somewhat straight. It is getting better, adding Carbon Fiber blades made a pretty big difference for some reason.

A friend that I have tried flying it (he has had several helis) and he can't fly mine.

johrich

Your blades may not have been balanced before you switched to the carbon blades. Make sure your flybar is also balanced, i.e., the distance from the center hub to the end of the paddle is exactly the same on both sides. Make sure your servos are set for 90 degrees with the blade angle at zero and the swashplate level. Correct any tendencies to drift one way or the other using the trim tabs on your controller. Hope this helps.

johrich

lsfence

I just finished installing my HM4000 gyro and c-12 esc and it seems to be running fine. what I did is I plugged the black and white wires from the C-12 esc to the servo out of the gyro. I powered it up and wala I pushed the stick to the right and got a comfimation beep then to the left and comfirmation beep then i tried picking up my heli and the tail started to spina little. You might want to try it. Let me know if it works out for you.

stevenfox905

Im running the HM 4000 on my Axe 400. i had a lot of drifting issues at first... gain too high and the tail would wag, too low and it would drift and required constant trimming. Then i found that there is a second adjustment pot underneath the label. it is right next to the gain pot but under the label. I set the gain to 50 percent and then manually adusted this pot until the tail started to hold much better. once this is tuned in the adjustments on the gain through the tx seemed to work alot better. I got it tuned in pretty well, it does not drift and it only kicks a little bit when you punch the throttle but it holds even under full power. Icant speak to 3d ability as i cant fly at that level... hope this helps, good luck!

dragus359

My Feedback: (1)

I just got the Axe 400 and the HM4000 seems to do it's job. Just gotta make sure your endpoint adjustments on the TX are proper and the rest is pretty straightforward. With the not so lovely weather we've been having around here lately I haven't had much of a chance to see how well it performs in full flight, but as far as hovering, my tail is rock solid. The one time I was able to take it up for a full flight, I did notice a little bit of wag on some of the harsher turns, but that was before my endpoint adjustments. I have a feeling it'll perform though. I'll repost if it turns out that this doesn't hold true.

johrich

Just an update. I never really got the HM 4000 on the AXE CP running the way I wanted. Even after adjusting the secret trim pot, it drifted and I seemed to be fighting the tail more than I really thought I needed to. I took off the HM 4000 and replaced it with a Telebee gyro with much better results. It came a lot closer to what I remembered the AXE flying with the GY 240 I originally had on it (which is now on my son's 450 sized heli).

Looking back at the posts I made on this thread back in 2008, the HM 4000 that I had on my AXE, I had originally bought to replace a GY 401 that had died on my Mini Titan. After putting the HM 4000 on my mini Titan, I found my GY 401 was still under warranty and sure enough Futaba replaced it, and I put the new 401 on the Mini Titan. Later I put the HM 4000 on a TREX 450S, which was OK, but not great and the tendency of the HM 4000 to suddenly Piro after only a slight collective caused me to take it off the TREX, I later put it on the AXE, which is my fly in the yard heli, but eventually gave up and put the Telebee on it. THe HM 4000 is now in my junk box.


johrich

stevenfox905

Hello, i have been running the hm4000 on an axe 400 but i recently crashed the axe and decided not to rebuild. i am putting all of the electronics into an exi 450. i stripped one of the 3114 servos that came on the axe so i ordered a futaba 3154 digital servo for the tail. i know this tail setup is not ideal but i dont have the money to upgrade the gyro right now. i need to know if the 3154 will work with the hm4000. the servo is digital and the hm4000 manual says it supports some digital servos but there is no digital mode i am aware of. i dont know if it does this automatically and if it will work with the 3154? any help would be apreciated. if this setup will not work, can anyone suggest a buget friendly yet reliable gyro/servo combo to spring for? Thanks again.

dragus359

My Feedback: (1)

Update: I've taken the Axe 400 out a few times now and my gyro gain is around 50/60-something (don't have my Tx right now, so I can't give the exact numbers). It's to the point where I only need to make adjustments when there is a vast temperature difference. Other than that, the HM4000 holds the tail well in hovers, even in windy conditions. In flight I haven't had any problems with loops or flips. The tail stays right where I put it. The only issue I have is that my piro rate is mind numbingly slow (ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but compared to my modded Axe CP's piro rate, my 400 is a bit slow).