QUESTIONS FOR A CENTURY REP

[jeff wissmann]

Hi my name is Jeff and I usually post on rcgroups but I have a question for century and I think that they monitor this site. OK so here I go! I bought a package deal from heliworld last september as a labor day special. It came with the following.
swift arf
401
4s1p fp 3700
14t pinion
electron 80 esc
futaba 6exh
3151 servos
outrunner 600 (original)
upgraded to 9254 tail servo
As a novice I was confident that I would get what I needed to fly at my level of experince. I assembled my heli with the utmost presion reading over and over again. As my knowledge grew and I mastered head speed clacs I began to realize that this setup would not fly. My HS is only 1389.So I called heliworld and was told that there was nothing that they could do and they assured me that it would fly. But I still ordered the 55o+ and a 9t pinion upon reccomendations. They came yesterday and all was good except that they failed to ship the pinion (no check mark on the slip) So I took the heli to my local rc guru today for it's first flight and he confirmed that the HS is too low with the original pkg. to fly right.
My question is why was I sold this pkg by a company that has the knowledge that I did not posses at the time knowing full well that it was not flightn worthy?
Just rambling,
Jeff :?:

[Coolice]

Hey,

I'm am sorry to hear about this problem. I am sure it was a genuine silly mistake but either way a very frustrating one and so please accept my appologies.

I am going to highlight this the the rest of the Century Team and see if we can get you sorted out properly as soon as possible.
.

[RAV50]

Just an observation. I do not see how the "local expert" can say that a heli, as light as the Swift, "cannot fly" at a rotor speed of 1390. I fly a heavy scale 30 that flies very well at only 1290 on 550 blades all the time! This lowerhead speed means that it will require more collective pitch (e.g. maybe 11 at the top instead of 9 and maybe 6.5 at hover instead of 5) but it should still fly.

The only concern I would have is that, if the damping is too hard, it will have a tendency to nod in the hover. But I do not think that would be the case here, because I have a club-mate that has flown his at 1440 (tached)....and even did mild 3D with it (mind, he is a good pilot that is experienced at collective/cyclic management).

And for a newbie, the slower head speed is usually a plus because it should make the cyclic softer and easier to handle and the heli less intimidating.

The problem will be later, when one wants to go to a higher head speed for hotter aerobatics/3D. As one would need a pinion with 17T or so to get a 1900/2100 head speed.

[ddheli]

latest summer i've tested swift with lightning 600(black) and 4lipo or 12nimh. my opinion-this is good and "soft" heli for newbie. positive of this combo - only simple change of battery from 4lipo to 6lipo - and you have not a bad aerobatics machine.

[RAV50]

ddheli,

I am with you there. A simple change of pinion and to a 5 or 6 cell battery later on, with the older 600 will turn this heli into a great 3D machine. Better then the 550+ on 4 cells.

[Coolice]

Hey,

I have been told you were offered a good deal with the 550+ which was happily accepted and so I call this a job well done.

Looking further into the setup it appears while it would work reasonably well you would not have set the air alight, but would then have had a solid base for moving up to a 5/6s configuration as skill levels improved.
.

[RAV50]

jeff wismann,

Coolice stated "I have been told you were offered a good deal with the 550+ which was happily accepted".

Can you confirm that?

[jeff wissmann]

Hi guys.
I am sorry for the delay but I just got a chance to get online. My new pinion will be here within 3 days and I will be able to use the new 550+. That will give me the opportunity to use my existing 4s1p packs and charger until I can afford to upgrade both in the future and use the 600.
As far as this post is concerned I am truly amazed at the customer support offered by century as a company. I do not see this as the norm these days. At this point I am a very happy camper and am glad that I chose century.
Thanks also to Coolice and Saul at heliworld for your help!

[Coolice]

Hey Jeff,

Your welcome, glad we got you sorted out and ready to go.

Have fun with your new high power Swift :D
.

[Finless]

Thumbs up to the Swift team for taking care of this guy :thumbup:


I love when a story like this turns good :)


Bob

[Jermo]

wow..if the T-Rex 500 doesn't work out I'll be looking at Swift.

[vbcoder]

I am in the same situation as Jeff, I am about to buy a Swift 16. I do not know what will or will not work with it, so I will just buy a package as he did. I am trying to understand what the problem was in his original setup with the 600 (original) and 4S1P. I had read many posts around the Internet of Swift owners having good non-3D flying with a 4S1P power. So I am about to buy what Jeff bought except for now the 600+ instead of his 600 (Original). Jeff and his LHS seems to think his would not get off the ground without his swap to the 550+.

Am I doing the wrong thing by buying the Swift 16 with 600 + and the recommended 4S1P or NIMH for a beginner who will just hover and maybe FF for many months? This setup is one of the three combo deals Century supports (but with 13T instead of Jeffs 14T and 600 + instead of 600 (original).

a) ELECTRON NIMH 12C 30A 14.4V BATTERY, or....
b) FLIGHTPOWER LI-PO 3700MAH 6S1P 22.2V, or...
c) FlightPower 3700mAh 14.8V 4S1P LI-PO

I plan on buying a) above to start out. Am I going to have the same problem getting off the ground Jeff had? I do not understand what was wrong with Jeff's original configuration since the Swift 16 is supposed to fly with what he bought. What was wrong? Am I following his footsteps?

Thank you for advice before I buy.

[Coolice]

Hey,

The bottom line is the original Century 600 Outrunner does not produce enough Kv (RPM's per volt) to work with 4s packs very well as it is designed for 6s. Hence the lack of lift due to too low a head speed. The 600+ is better as the Kv is raised to 1110 rpm's/volt, where as the original 600 was only 715Kv.

This Kv figure along with battery voltage is then used to work out a suitable pinion to acheive the rotor rpm you need. Obviously for a beginner you do not need so much and so will use a lower pinion than a 3D flier, in doing so you will also increase flight time which is handy while learning.
But if you buy a motor which can then go onto the more aggresive flying, then later on as skill increases you will not need to purchase another one.

From hands on experience the 550+ with 4s works very well combined with 515~530 blades and a 10/11T pinion giving about 2000rpm or slightly less on the head.
Also I have heard the 600+, with an 80amp ESC and 4s works well to. The plus of this package over the 550+ is that if in time you wanted to go to 6s LiPo's you could, as where as the 550+ cannot take above 4s.
The difference in ESC's comes from the lesser voltage setup drawing more amps and so the esc needs to be beefier to cope, as where as the 550+ & 4s you could easily use a 60amp ESC no trouble.

Personally I'd say go the route of the 600+ with an 80amp ESC for running 4s in the first stages. Then as your flying gets better you may not want the expense of 6s but you could go 5s to get that little extra power without paying to much for it.

Shopping list :

- Century 550+
- Century Electron 80amp
- 4/5s LiPo
.

[vbcoder]

Ian:

Nice explanation, and I understand this thread well now. My finger is on the buy button. Thank you for your clear and detailed reply.

[Coolice]

Hey,

Your very welcome and glad to help.

Go on press it :wink:

Any problems or questions myself along with others are here to help you.
.

[cmezip]

I would have to agree to go with the 600+ in the first place I have swift/550/electron 50-60 and it does fly fine, basic arobatics but now that I am ready to move upto 6s I need to purchase another motor and speed controller to do so. My Hdx-450 has a castle creation speed controller and I miss the abilty to set my low voltage cutoff and as a result both of my Megapower 4s 3600's are bad (low voltage cutoff does not happen till my cells are in the 3.1v range with the electron controller) I have no regrets about buying the swift, I have about 80 flights on it and love it.


Hey,

The bottom line is the original Century 600 Outrunner does not produce enough Kv (RPM's per volt) to work with 4s packs very well as it is designed for 6s. Hence the lack of lift due to too low a head speed. The 600+ is better as the Kv is raised to 1110 rpm's/volt, where as the original 600 was only 715Kv.

This Kv figure along with battery voltage is then used to work out a suitable pinion to acheive the rotor rpm you need. Obviously for a beginner you do not need so much and so will use a lower pinion than a 3D flier, in doing so you will also increase flight time which is handy while learning.
But if you buy a motor which can then go onto the more aggresive flying, then later on as skill increases you will not need to purchase another one.

From hands on experience the 550+ with 4s works very well combined with 515~530 blades and a 10/11T pinion giving about 2000rpm or slightly less on the head.
Also I have heard the 600+, with an 80amp ESC and 4s works well to. The plus of this package over the 550+ is that if in time you wanted to go to 6s LiPo's you could, as where as the 550+ cannot take above 4s.
The difference in ESC's comes from the lesser voltage setup drawing more amps and so the esc needs to be beefier to cope, as where as the 550+ & 4s you could easily use a 60amp ESC no trouble.

Personally I'd say go the route of the 600+ with an 80amp ESC for running 4s in the first stages. Then as your flying gets better you may not want the expense of 6s but you could go 5s to get that little extra power without paying to much for it.

Shopping list :

- Century 550+
- Century Electron 80amp
- 4/5s LiPo
.