Hover stick position 50% vs 75%

[Snowman]

Can somebody help me with a X2610 radio setup for an old 30 size nitro that is going to be used as a trainer, definately not 3D. I would like some input as to throtle and pitch curves and is there an advantage to hovering at 75% stick over 50% stick?

Thankyou in advance.

Cheers,

[kgfly]

Mate, DEFINITELY setup for 3/4 stick hover. You want your thumbs to learn 3/4 hover for when you fly in idle-up on this or the other helis.

a) Set mechanical pitch range for -10/0/+10
b) Set Normal pitch curve to: 30-45-50-75-100 (-4/0/+10)
c) Set IdleUp pitch curve to: 0-25-50-75-100 (-10/0/+10)

Sorry, I don't know about nitro throttle curves but you want it in idle at bottom stick Normal, and whatever gets you hovering at 3/4 stick, maybe something like
0-40-50-75-100, but that's just a wild guess.

[DebianDog]

Yep I had mine set up for 50% hover when I was learning and it messed me all up when I went into forward flight.

[eeeyal]

I agree with the pitch settings that kgfly said. -10/+10 is what you want.

I use a 9C and I have 5 point curves.

These are my settings:

Pitch curves:

I use the same pitch curves for all modes. i.e. normal, idle up 1/2/3, and hold are identical. 0,25,50,75,100 are the percents for the curves (0=-10deg 25=-5 50=0 75=+5 100=+10)


The only thing you want changing when you flip that idle up switch is your head speed.
If you set your normal/ idle up curves differently; when you transition from normal mode to idle up your pitch will change (although you haven’t moved the collective stick).
This will cause your heli to bob up or down unpredictably when you flip the idle up switch.

When you get into combination autos; you will need the full pitch range for inverted autos and flipping autos so you might as well get used to it now (that is why the hold curve is identical to all the rest)

As for throttle curves:

Every engine is different, thus there is no universal throttle curve. Set your normal curve so that at dead bottom stick your engine idles well but dose not engage the clutch and spin the blades. In normal mode for hovering you need to set up the throttle curve so your engine puts out enough power to keep the heli in the air. For a .30 size machine 5deg of pitch is where they are happy in a hover. 5 deg with the pitch curve I’m using is ¾ (75%) stick, that is about where your heli will hover and you need to adjust the throttle curve accordingly. At full up stick you want 100% throttle. This curve will most likely look like a parabola. Since your 0%, 75%, and 100% should be set by now you will need to tweak the 25% and 50% to get a smooth curve.


Idle up(s):

This curve(s) are used for aerobatics and 3D. they allow you to fly inverted by keeping the head speed as constant as possible. (if you are not using a governor on your nitro heli you may want to spend some time setting these curves right!)

Once again there is no universal curve, you will need set it up for your heli. (I would recruit a buddy with a tachometer for the following…)

I like my idle up 1 head speed to be around 1800 rpm for a 30/50 size heli.

Start by setting the 0% stick to lets say 90% throttle and 100% stick to 90% throttle. Now, you will need your buddy to get a tac reading on your head speed to set the 50% stick. You should have 0deg pitch so you should have a relatively low throttle setting to maintain 1800rpm (25-35% is common). Now that you have these set, I would adjust the 25% stick and 75% stick so the curve looks like a V. now go fly around at 75% stick and climb out at 100% stick. Have your friend get a tac reading for these two stick positions and adjust the curve accordingly to get as close as you can to 1800 rpm (you can duplicate the curve to the 0% and 25% stick. No need to fly inverted).

For idle up 2 repeat the following for 2000/2100 rpm.

For hold set up your curve as an idle flat line. i.e. look at the % throttle at 0% stick in you’re normal curve; make the 0,25,50,75,100 stick positions the same % throttle as you’re idle in normal. This way you get full range of collective with out power to the blades.

Hope this was helpful. Good luck and happy flying!!!

:D

[Snowman]

Thanks guys for all the info, I appreciate it.
Cheers,

[spork]

Just as an interesting note, we used to pretty much always set hover at center stick (at least in normal mode). That no longer seems to be very common at all, and probably just as well. I think a linear pitch curve from bottom to top makes plenty of sense.

[uluaz]

I fly with both 75% and 50% hover. My 3D raptor is set up with 75% hover and my AP heli is set up with 50% hover. Don't really notice the difference when flying the AP heli as you ain't slamming the collective stick at all.

[DebianDog]

Well true... all idle up does on my AP ship is engage the headspeed governor as I am never going to do 3D with it.. ;)

The problem for a newbie with a 50% hover setting is when the pilot goes to idle up with a "standard" pitch and V curve is the helicopter is going to speed towards the ground. This can be "concerning" to a newbie pilot. :lol: