Futaba and Blade CP

[SteveTTL]

I've finally set up my Futaba Tx for the Blade CP. Everything seems fine except for one prob. I have to move the sticks futher to control the copter. The copter seems to respond slower and is less sensitive to the Futaba than it does with the Tx that came with the copter. Any suggestions?

[carlo_the_wonder_frog]

Check your dual rates first, you may have the switch programmed for the wrong amount or something, 100% is what you want when you do initial setup. Also check your exponential for all of the cyclic controls, positive will make it respond much faster around center, negative does the opposite. There is a big difference in how much smoother a good TX makes the twitchy CP, that may be why it feels numb to you.

[furyphoto]

Just Switiched my CP to a Futaba 9chp, MAN what a difference. I Also noticed it is slower on the cyclic, but after a few minutes I got the feel of it, and now my hover is far more stable!

I just need to play with the revo mix, as I have to add a lot of right rudder as the torque increases.

-A

[chopperdudes]

If you mean that your cyclics feels alittle to soft, then adjust the swash adjustment. You should be able to have about 70~80% ail and ele without binding at extreme, ie, corner stick. I set mine to full 100% and it still doesn't bind at full ail/ele, but it will bind in corner stick, but I want the fastest roll/flip rate possible so that’s why I do it. Also, as said, make sure you’ve got 100% for dual rate and 0 for exponents for the test flights, then adjust as you prefer.

oh, btw, i have a 7c on the blade right now

[Skiddz]

Changing to the 9C for control was the best thing I ever did for this CP.. WAY more controllable once ya dial in the mechanics with the radio...

Anyone need some spare parts? Frame? Tail rotor blades/motor? main motors? transmitter on Ch 54? :)

[SteveTTL]

Thanks to everyone for the help. I set the exponent from 0 to 50% and left the dual rate at 100% where it was already at. I'll give that a try as soon as time and weather permits. I've had the swash set at 50% on all three. Mine started to bind at any higher setting when I was first setting it up. I hope to try it out this weekend and play with the settings a bit more. After I first set it up, I learned that the throttle should be at midrange when making any changes. Could that be giving me a problem, should I start over?

[chopperdudes]

just my opinion, you should really set the exponent bak to zero when doing test flights, and no, the max value for pitch if about 35, but the stock motor will bog really bad and the climbout won't be great, i suggest setting the pitch on the swash to 30% and ail and ele to ~80%.

you'll first want to center all servos with subtrim so they are at exactly 90 degrees.

you'll want to have the same swash travel both up and down, so wat i suggest you do when setting up is this, turn up the swash pitch value to around 40, to see if it'll bind at full up/down (motors unplug). if it binds both ways, lower the value until it binds only one way, ie. either up/down. adjust with the links from the servo until there's no binding... i know, it may sound confussing. but should be quite logical.

then you want to adjust the actual pitch itself with the pitch links. set low stick to 50% pitch (normal pitch curve), and adjust pitch of blades at lowstick until they are at 0pitch (with pitch links). then set watever pitch/throttle curve you like.

balance it, test fly it, track the blades, trim it.

[SteveTTL]

I was able to try it out today. Setting the exponent at about 25% seems to give me the response I want with the ail and ele, but the copter seems to be a lot more unstable. The tail is twitchy as all get up. I can hardly hover it then. I've been trying to set this up without moving any of the links on the copter, so when I get aggravated with setting up the 9ch, I can go back to the tx that came with the Blade and calm my nerves down, lol.

[SteveTTL]

Finally! The weather and some free time allowed me a chance to fine tune the tx for the blade cp. A big difference. It's letting be learn the basics a lot faster because the copter seems to hover far more stable with the futaba tx. Thanks for the help you guys gave me! I have a new problem now, which brings me to ask what some might think a stupid question. Is it possible for the futaba transmitter to cause the stock blade 4 in 1 to go bad? I was getting my left side hovering down pat when all of a sudden, the copter slammed down to the ground (thankfully it was only a couple of feet off the ground at that time). I quickly shut off the throttle, the tail rotor stopped, but the main blades kept turning fast. I had to unplug the battery to get them to stop. I then tried the tx that came with the copter, no difference, the main blades wouldn't stop spinning. I then plugged the battery up with no tx turned on and the blades started spinning fast again. The 4in1 unit felt hot on one side, didn't see any smoke but seemed to smell some. Could one of the servos have burnt out the 4in1? I'd hate to burn out another new receiver looking for the cause.