Some Questions for my Blade CP Pro

[Slick]

OK, I have a couple of questions.

First question is: I have the parts for upgrading to the brushless motor. I followed the parts suggested in the manual so it is all Eflite stuff. Is there any thing I should know before starting the procedure? Or just follow the manual just like it says?

Second question: I have already burned out one 3 in 1 from a stupid mistake. I will be adding a 7.5 amp mini fuse and a 3 amp mini fuse for the tail. My question is, where would I put the 7.5 amp mini fuse? Just before it goes into the 3 in 1? With the ESC now, do I even need to add a fuse? I really don’t want to burn out another 3 in 1 hehe J

Third question: How is the landing gear attached to the frame? Is it glued in? Do you have to rip out the landing gear every time you change the main shaft? If this is the case, how have other people been attaching the landing gear and the tail boom? The guy at the local hobby store sold me some Shoe Goo to use to put my replacement tail boom in. Is this strong enough to hold it in?

Thank you for any help.

-Craig

[matthewgow]

Hi Craig,
I've had my CP Pro for quite some time. I have yet to upgrade my motors, its all very stock except for an aluminum swashplate and the Bell Hiller upgrade kit. The landing is designed to be kept in place I believe by the little frame that holds the battery which has all the frames for the skids go through, it then has the little pieces rubber hose which keeps that tight.
I wouldn't glue it as for the frequent changes of the main shaft. have you found any one that sells a more durable main shaft?
Matt

[Pinecone]

Fuse goes between 3 in 1 and motor.

[Cru2]

Ok I'm stumpped where are you guys getting the mini fuses from? Radoi Shack doesnt seem to have themon their website unless I'm looking in the wrong place :(

[Slick]

Oh, so the legs are not glued into the frame. That will make it a lot easier. Thanks for the info Matt.

OK, so the fuse should go between the motor and the 3 in 1. Once I start putting the brushless motor in I think I will see where it goes. That makes a lot of sense now that I think of it. Thank you for your input Terry.

As for the fuses, a co-worker and I picked them up at the local auto parts store. From what we could tell there are two types of fuses. Fuses and Mini Fuses. We were able to buy a package each of 7.5 A mini fuse and 3 A mini fuse. There are a few different ways to put them in but the fuse mod that I read somewhere else showed that he would just solder the fuse to the wire to save the weight of a fuse holder of some sort.

When I put this back together, I will be definitely be adding the fuses. I was not very happy with such a minor mishap and to have to buy a new 3 in 1. Not fun!

Thanks for all your help,

Still hoping someone who did the brushless mod might chime in :D

Thanks,

Craig

[Funky]

I have the Brushless mod from the Pro's manual. E-Flite 20 amp ESC and Brushless 370 4100kv motor. I love the new motor... but.... I have run into some problems. The power is great. It has some serious punch to it, Climb rate is probably almost triple what it was stock... unfortunately it pirroettes the whole way up. The stock tail just cant keep up with the new motor. I also added the G90 gyro before the brushless mod, but the tail still cant keep up. It works fine in a hover, but when you punch the throttle the tail cannot compensate. I am using an aftermarket radio which lets me adjust the throttle curve. If I turn my max point down in my throttle curve (0, 50, 80, 90, 90) I can get the tail to hold. It still slightly turns when i punch the throttle, but usually recovers quickly and holds as the heli climbs. I didn't try the brushless motor before changing transmitters so I cant say how it will work for your situation. You should have enough room to adjust with your throttle trim, but I can't say for sure since I never tried it. With my throttle curve maxing out at 90, I dont have the "power" climbouts it has with full 100% throttle. The way it is set up now it climbs slightly faster than the stock setup, but not a huge difference like it is with 100% throttle. I plan on changing the tail to brushless soon with a different prop. I hear a lot of people have good luck with the Brushless Fiego motors on the tail. Once I take care of some other helis I will be back to try the tail mod on my Blade. For now, it looks like less power is the cheapest fix. On a good note, the motor runs super smooth and is much easier to manage collective response without the motor bogging out.

[Slick]

That is excellent information. It sounds like the stock tail motor might have reached its limitations. Well if that is the worst to expect, I think I will be in for a great surprise at the new performance! “Flies so fast the tail can’t keep her in check!”

Thanks for your input Funky, I appreciate it!

-Craig

[Funky]

No problem Slick, I've had so much great advice from all the Helifreaks so I try to help whenever I can. You're really going to love the brushless difference. Its definately a night and day difference from the stock motor. I am running cut down rex blades currently and with the stock motor the climb rate was extremely poor running these blades. They hovered great, but if I got into trouble flying around, the motor didnt have the power to keep the headspeed up in a hard collective input without bogging and hitting the ground. Since the brushless setup it spins those blades like a champ. Climb outs are great and its really hard to bog the motor even with the heavy blades. It always seems to have enough reserve power to save me. I'll switch back to normal E-Flite blades once I break these. I put them on after breaking my other set of carbons and I didn't have any spares. I keep a few spares for my Rex so cutting up some 12 dollar blades didnt bother me too much. Let us know how the motor works with the stock TX, I am very curious.

[carlo_the_wonder_frog]

Twin tail motors are a big improvement also, will help with the revo mixing to do its job.

[Slick]

I will for sure let you all know how my experience is with updating the brushless motor. Both my coworker and I got the same set up. I have all the stuff but he is waiting for the 8T pinion to come in. Hopefully next Tuesday it will be in. We plan on starting the job this next Monday after work. We are both very excited to see what a difference there is.

Again, thanks for all your help! We are really excited to get these baby’s up in the air.

-Craig

[Slick]

Hmm we have both been a bit nervous to do the dual tail motor job. Some of the stories I have been reading about the added weight and having to possibly modify the tail boom made us a littler nervour about getting into that mod. I think we will probably do it though.

Does the dual tail motor help with the added power needed with the extra torque of the brushless?

If so then we will make sure to add that mod sooner then later.

Thanks for you help carlo_the_wonder_frog!

-Craig

[carlo_the_wonder_frog]

Yeah the added motor does set off your CG back some, but I compensate by moving the battery forward. Big difference in flight, it doesn't hold like a rock, but its at least twice as good as the single. When the battery is getting low you will lose some authority just like the stock one, but its not hard to learn to compensate for it. Tail holds steady from takeoff to full pitch full throttle take offs with just a little rotation. I notice the tail does want to weathervane when going over 20 MPH though its not bad and you can get it to respond with more rudder input. I was very happy with the tail mod and felt it, the bell mixer option and LiPo power were the best mods to do to a Blade CP.

CtWF

[steve28]

My CP pro is on brushless with a 10 amp ESC , and 1 tail motor . the brushless motor is e -Flight park 370 3600 KV . this is the only motor that will work effectivly to my experience . you need to be using a programmable radio aswell so you can turn the throtle down on the main motor because 100 % is too fast for the tail , you need to dial the main throttle down to around 60 - 70 % max . you can get a good tail hold in a hover with that setup then use your radios revo mixing to get your tail not to piro while going up or down . In my set up I have ditched the 3 in one all together and Im running a DC ESC on the tail motor around 5 amps and a G190 gyro from futaba , have had 50 flights or so on it , changed the tail motor twice in that time before a failure occurred in flight . heli has good punchout speed and its real fast . tail rotor is geared not direct . it works but its an expensive little heli after all the mods , also using the carbon blades , the aluminum swashplate TP 1320 batteries 11.1 volts also aluminum tail motor mount

[JesusFreak]

I would not put a fuse on the main motor. If it goes in the air, your in serious trouble. The can motors are only 5 or 10 bucks, and I'd wrather have control and ruin the motor then have not control at all.

Cheers!
Lee

[Slick]

Hmm, I am not necessarily worried about the motor as I am for my 3 in 1. Also the motor will be a brushless motor. I just want to protect the 3 in 1.

Thanks,

Craig

[Danyboy]

If you are using a brushless setup, than you got an additional ESC anyway, and most ESC's are protected against overcurrent.
Additionally, with a brushless, it is not advisable to solder things inline between motor and ESC due to the ESC measuring the motor to produce exact timing. As soon as you change something in the cable, the resistance is also changed...

My advise: Don't fuse on main-motor (as long it's brushless), put a fuse on the tail if you leave it brushless, since that's the thing that will block if you land normal in grass...

Cheers from Daniel, stock and fuseless... ;)

PS: I rather shut down the motor if it's still 3 feet above the ground and out of control, with that little weight of the BladeCP, there's not much to break... At least more than what would, if the motor is still producing power on impact...

[Slick]

Danyboy,

Thanks a lot for that information. That is exactly what I was looking for and hoping. I thought that the ESC would/should be able to help but I was not sure.

Thank you for your input. I think I will put a fuse in line with the tail motor and leave the motor to the 3 in 1 and see how that works.

Thanks everyone for your input. I greatly appreciate all the help!

-Slick