12S Ion-X2 Video - Mulberry 2007

[Chachin]

Hello,

Had a blast at the IRCC Mulberry event this weekend, thanks to everybody who made it happen. Lots of friendly people out there. I got a chance to fine tune my new 12S 4500 Extreme setup (upgraded from 10S). Feels like a whole new heli. Check out the blade sound:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showatt.php?attachmentid=1567127

Chachin..

[t-rexn8]

Nice flying, how are you liking 12s compared to 10s?

[Billybuck]

Great sound. Nice flying by the way.

[Chachin]

Thanks guys, yeah the machine is flying real well. This is definitely my favorite heli in the fleet.

T-rexn, let's just say I'm not going back to 10S :D. The heli moves with a lot more authority and ease which gives it that much more presence in the air. The extra power sure loosens up your fingers at the sticks since you have to worry less about bogging it down. It just feels a lot more nimble than before. In fact I had to tame it back down to +/-10deg pitch for me to slowly get used to the power. It should pull harder with a wider range.

One thing I noticed is that my cyclic response is not crisp anymore. I'm suspecting that my 4-cell NiMH Rx pack is at the edge of its capabilities on this 12S setup. So I'm having to increase power to my servos too... hehe. I'm hoping my new Duralite regulator and TP 2S 2100 ProLite pack will fix this. I will give it a try this weekend. Thanks guys.

Chachin..

[TomC]

Nice flying Chachin. Looks like you've got your 12s Ion-x2 dialed in prety good.

I think you are right about the weak 4 cell nimh pack. On both my 10s Ion-x and Trex600 I recently went from a 4 cell 1700 nicad pack to a 5.8v 6amp Align reg w/5.1v stepdown on tail servo, powered by a FP 18c 2s1p Evolite 2100 pack and the cyclic is noticably crisper. Since the 7.4v 2100 lipo has ~2 times the overall capacity of my old 4.8v 1700 nicad pack, I can fly all day without having to top the rx battery up. I use to top the 4.8v nicad rx pack ~ every 5 flights.

How is the Neu motor holding out on 12s and are you starting to see any significant belt wear? Thanks mate.

Cheers,
Tom C

[Chachin]

Thanks Tom, yeah I got it dialed in while at the Mulberry event. I was forced to ground the heli after the event due to the poor cyclic response I mentioned. I did this to avoid a mid air Rx shut down. I am now pretty much done installing the new 5.1v Duralite/ProLite Rx power combo which I'll be test flying tomorrow, weather permitting.

So for this reason I have only put about fifteen 12S flights and most of them were break-in flights (new packs). Yes so far I have noticed a little bit of belt wear in a couple of sections. But I know for a fact that this partial wear was due to my previous 10S with Hacker ESC setup (not due to 12S). The motor start-up was abrupt enough that I could sometimes hear the belt skip a few teeth (not good!) before engaging. The new Kontronik PowerJazz has completely eliminated this problem with its ultra smooth spool up :D, so the belt should last MUCH longer.

Other than on the previous Hacker start-ups, the belt has held superbly and I have never heard it skip in flight. Can't wait to take her up for a couple of flights tomorrow with the new 2S ProLite for Rx power.

Chachin..

[TomC]

Great to hear Chachin. I've been a bit worried about high belt wear with the higher kv Neu's (compared to the Actro's). I think your motor pulley ratio is 44t/17t = 2.6:1 which is well above the optimum < 2:1, and a bit above the max 2.5:1 recommended by Chris (original Ion-x designer).

I'm sure you are going to find a significant cyclic response improvement with a regulated rx power supply. I've found that my heli is a lot easier to stabilize after a rough move and I seem to be able to perform a lot bigger loops than I could before. I think that this is to do with better servo holding power.

I think you are spot-on regarding the PowerJazz esc. It's startup and gov'd power delivery are soooo silky smooth. Recently I've been using my PJ on my 10s SS Ion-x while I wait for Steve Neu to repair my 15s motor. Besides the silky smooth spool-up, I've noticed a little less main gear flight noise and wear. Don't think I'll ever be able to go back to a Hacker 77 heli esc after this. Guess I'll have to ask Santa Bobby to send me another one for Xmas!

All the best, and cheers,

Tom C

[Chachin]

Yeah Tom, that's pretty much why instead of going down to a 16t motor pulley I went up to a 100t main gear for the taller gear ratio (for 12S). I think the 1521/1.5Y has a little too high a Kv for the 12S setup. In the next month or two I should be ready to switch over to the Actro motor. Then I can easily run the 20-22t motor pulleys (more teeth contact) and I can save some weight by dropping back down to the 93t doubled-up main gear and to a lighter 38t secondary pulley. We'll see how that works out, but I have to say that so far the 1521/1.5 is doing real well as is.

I did one of my last break-in flights yesterday with the LiPo/Reg combo and all is good. Unfortunately I ran out of daylight for a 2nd aerobatic flight. Today I should be able to throw it around for both flights and see if I can notice a difference in cyclic response. Hey yeah the PJ has lived up to its Jazz55 reputation :). It's so nice not having to spin the blades manually before spool up. The governor is spot on and I can easily tune my headspeed with slightly different throttle perentages. I hope it maintains this level of performance for years to come.

Glad to hear the SS Ion is going strong. Have you tried the new TST blades by any chance? I'm wondering if their extra efficiency translates to a noticeable increase in flight time.

Chachin..

[TomC]

Chachin,

Haven't tried the v-blade TST's yet. I flew with a guy who just got a set for his Logo 600 3D and said they work great, a bit less pop, but same cyclic response, and a bit more efficient (~+0.5 min runtime). I'm still very happy with my lightish 177g 690 v-blades. It's hard to imagine anything better but I'll probably try a set of TST's sometime soon (yet another thing on my Xmas wish-list!).

I'm going to give my Neu 1521/2Y motor one more try on 15s when I get it back from the Neu repair shop (+3 weeks now, and no word) but I suspect an Actro 32-4 might be a better way for me to go w/15s in the long term, esp with a X2 belt setup.

I still find it hard to believe that a double-main gear is necessary for most of us. I know that B.Watts managed to strip one or two but this was with a pretty aggressive (+/-17 deg pitch) 12s setup and he uses a CC110HV esc, which, imop, does not deliver power as smooth as a PowerJazz.

Cheers,
Tom C