Newbie Ion owner

[simon109]

Hi,

Will be getting my Ion soon which I bought second hand but it's unbuilt and has the open tail gearbox and the standard Hacker motor and esc. I'm not new to flying or electrics, have 3dmp and have had logo's but I am a complete MA virgin :? so I am probably going to have loads of questions building it.

I know you can get Fury 3d and FAI etc is the Ion based around one of these models ? or is it completly different ? if not which is most like is the head the same etc ?

Obviously apart from the servo's, rx, blades and lipo's what else will I need, what sort of gearing comes with it, if any ? I'm not after extreme power just the average club flyer setup.

Ant tips, for building it ?

Many Thanks

Simon.

[bighands3d]

The stock configuration will be fine. Recomended blades are the MAH 690 G2's or the TG 690's from MA. For some reason they work the best and give longer flight times.

What chargers do you have the support equipment for this is a bit much. most are using the orbit 6.3 Pros around $341 each. Radicalrc.com has them or the Schultze 636's.

The head is the same as the Xtreme 90. just build it as per insturctions and should be fine.

[Russ McC]

Hi Simon,

The head and tail as well as other components are the same; the frame layout is not the same but is similar in concept to the Fury models.


I believe the model your buying comes with the Hacker motor and ECS and cooling fan. You will need two chargers if you want your total charge time to be close to an hour, I am using two Astro 109 lithium chargers at $125 each and a couple of 23A 13.8V regulated power supplies and a Honda generator. You can charge off your car but in most cases you will have to keep your car running to maintain supply voltage. You will need to choose between something like the UBEC (Ultimate battery circuit eliminator) from Koolflightsystems.com or a separate receiver battery pack, I like the UBEC because it is light and there is no added batteries to charge but there have been some reports of failures of the UBEC so it’s your call.

The instructions are very good. My models are both from the first run so I don’t know if this is covered now but it was not covered in the instructions I have. 1 the ESC is already set so don’t mess with it. 2 run a TH curve in normal 0-40-80-80-80, idle up 1= 80-80-80-80-80, idle up 2= 100-92-85-92-100. I also use enough throttle to cyclic mixing to get full throttle at mid stick and half cyclic.

The best way to start the model is to plug every thing in and or turn it on in hold then when your ready to spool it up turn on idle up 1 or 2 and release hold, this will ensure a soft start every time.

[simon109]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, at the moment I am using Schulze 636 off a Mass 40A power supply or if I'm charging at the field I have a 85Ahr leisure battery which will charge my 10s packs on my MP a few times.

Do they come with tail blades ?

Simon.

[Russ McC]

Tail blades? yes and they don't work to bad What ever you do you need to stay with 95mm on the tail, no 100s or 105s.

[misskimo]

hey , welcome aboard , you will like it , I dont run hacker , Schulze , 40-70 in my Ion , and in my Fury , Im running the 40-160 , actro motors both in gov mod , I like gov , the hacker will do fine though , sounds great , and has alot of power , it does not come with blades , it does come with tail blades , the plastic one do a great job , and also will help the 601 if you use that , they flex just enough to act like a cushin so it dont strip gears in the 9251 , my cuz believes the 502 with the 9254 is the best gyro out there , servo is faster , and cheaper , and should hold just about as good as the 601 , and since there is a bunch of videos out of 601 servos going bad Im thinking about going that route , hate worring about something to come un****ed on me.
chargers , 109s are great , schulze great , orbit is great , , I have the astros and the schulze 636.
Sbec , ubec , well Im thinking of going with rx batteries , tanic has some lipos and voltage reg. that arent to heavy , and plus thats what the esc wants you to use , because its opto ,
but other than that , you will have a smile all day long after your first flight

Tony

[simon109]

Is anyone using 401's ? this is all I have used but was thinking of using 502 or 601 but if the 401's are ok I will stick with them plus they are alot cheaper.

Will use the MAH690's and 9252's, would like to use a seperate rx battery, but what sort of size ?

Wouldn't mind trying some Tanic's on it as I've never used them before and hear lots of good things about them. Which packs do I need looked on their site but find it confusing ? They list them as their mAh and not just 4s or 5s etc.

Simon.

[misskimo]

hey , the 401 will work great , but if you are into heavy 3D backwards stuff , better get some better, the 401 and 9254 is great ,
tanic rx battery with volt reg , 5 volts , bobby at eastcost tanics. over there in the UK , the same battery is duralite for the big cells , but the service from what a few fellow told me , sucks , so if you do get them , get atleast 10s3ps or better , I do like the way they put a space inbetween the cells.
TPs is another good sorce for big packs ,


Tony

[simon109]

My Ion has arrived :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Can you tell I'm a bit happy :glasses:

Simon.

[simon109]

I want to use nicad or nimh rx pack. What sort of size should I go for using 9252's and 401/9254 ? I don't mind charging it after a flight or two.

Simon.

[MinAirChris]

800AR's should work fine. They can be fast charged quicker than the main pack and will have more than enough juice for a flight.

Chris

[Hotshot Charlie]

Ya'll got me wanting a Ion..... bunch of heli bums !!! heheee :mrgreen: I love the electric stuff.....

[misskimo]

Yeh , Rob , get one , What kind of heli is that you holding that has a crome looking battery pack hanging low :lol:

Tony

[freezin eskimo]

Yeah Rob Get One! I Just Picked Up My Second One! Might Have To Get third with and Actro Motor now since the First One Is Stock, Hacker C50-15XL, with MAH 700 G2 blades, the second has a Torcman 430-30-12 10 pole motor with MAH 690mm G2 and SAB 690mm, both have Hacker 77-0-Heli ESC, s9252 on swash, 601/9251 for gyro.

Also got Another Project Under Wraps! Ill bring it to IRCHA This Year! Lets Just Say its gonna have some SNORT!

[Hotshot Charlie]

That is my Gohbee Stinger 50 with the "chrome" battery hanging out !!! :shock:

I wish I could talk David at Gohbee into coming out with an electric version ! The Stinger 50 would be a good platform for an electric.

To be honest, I am still a little nervous about the big lipo packs after my friend Jimmy had his incident. Probably a freak thing, but scary !

[misskimo]

, hey , well convert it , and what Jimmy went through is a very small % incident , and yes a freak thing ,
But , get you a Ion on the side shouldnt hurt gohbee , huh?

Tony

[Hotshot Charlie]

One of the nice things about David at Gohbee, he doesn't mind if we fly something else (occasionally, :wink: ) !

[simon109]

I've hit my first problem. #0866-6 has 8 screws #0088-1 I cann only get 7 in as one of the threads in #0866-6 isn't to good. The thread isn't completly knackered as a long screw will go in and tighten up.

Edit, thread is knackered :arggg:

Any ideas please ?

Is 7 screws enough in there, and I could glue the other screw in to keep it all in balance ?

Simon.

[WillJames]

Get the TPPacks.com V2 Box conversion for your Stinger 50 Rob. Should be a great flyer!!

[BobbySmith]

Simon you will Love youre ION
I also run 2 636 chargers and they work ssweet

You need to find a little bit longer screw for that i have had that problem .
Y ou can try retapping it wiht a 3mm it might save the thread or you can take a counter sink bit to the screw hole in the gear then it might reach
Hope this helps :dontknow
Bobby

[Hotshot Charlie]

TPPacks.com

I will go look, Will ! Thanks !

[ChrisS]

Simon

What you want to do is countersink the hole in the crown gear a little deeper. Then the screw will go in deep enough.

Chris

[simon109]

I've seen lots of posts etc where people run a 55 tooth secondary gear. I've just put my secondary gear in which came in the kit and it is 54 tooth.

Whats the advatages of running the 55 ? I'm using the standard kit motor, pinion etc.

Do you need to change the motor pinion with the 55 ?

Sorry if this is a basic question, but this is my first ion and first MA heli.

I must say out of all the kits I've built this one is amazing to build :glasses2:

Simon.

[MinAirChris]

Hello Simon

The 54 tooth gear will work fine, there is very little difference between the 54 and 55 tooth gears...numerically 21.6:1 versus 22:1, which will make a difference of something like 35 rpm on the head...run it.

With all gearing you use the 15 tooth pinions. Unless you want to go really deep for camera or load carrying use.

Chris

[simon109]

With the Hacker esc is this already programed ready ?

I see in the Ion instructions it says about using your throttle curve with a slight dip in the middle. Is anyone using the governor mode with flat curves ? or do the Hacker governor's not work that well ?

I have a Kontronic 55-10-32 in my 3dmp and the governor works really well, is this Kontronic the equivalent to the Hacker as I was thinking of using one in my Ion ?

Simon.