New Mikado 500 3D owner question

[Z-man]

I just got the 500 3D, a Hacker 40-10L 8-pole, 500 main rotor, 21 t pinion with mod. 5 gear, 5000 mah 6s lipo battery. Thinking of using Futaba BLS451 servos, Futaba 401 gyro and S9254, Futaba R319 DPS receiver and the Jazz 80. Without using the BEC what flight pack battery do you recommend ? Any other help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Also got the Super Brain 989 charger for Christmas hope this was a good choice ? Thanks, Z-man

[Mercuriell]

The FP 6S 5000 packs fit perfectly and give about 8 mins of flight - the FP 4900 packs won't fit under the pinion but I use them (from my TREX600) satisfactorily by making sure they're anchored securely with Velcro and bands - with a light Rx battery mounted it CGs OK - I'm having good result too with some FP EVO30 4350 packs - some have also reported good reults from the FP EVO Lite 6S 5350 packs. I don't think the Kong or Air Thunder packs fit satisfactorily.

[OICU812]

Kong or AirThunder packs in the 6S variety "DO NOT" fit, this has been confirmed.

[th3tick]

Well, they "fit", just not in any useful way ;)

http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28959&d=1192983483

John

[Z-man]

I've been reading and some say the jazz 80 wasn't a good idea for more than 3 digital servos, what esc are you using ? the kit also shipped with both mod 5 and mod 7 gear, why ?

[BruceW]

I'm running the Jazz 80 and it works great with the 5003D on 6S - probably the best one you can get. The BEC is also rated at 4Amps but only 5V. My original intention was to run the Western Robotics 5A BEC @ 6V but its not compatible with FM/PCM radios so I'm using the Jazz BEC in the meantime. Its running 3x BLS451 + the BLS251 tail servo and its only coming down warm without the heat sink mod (which I will do later). Once I get back to 6V, my servo speed/torque ratings will go up but so far it doesn't seem like its affecting performance. Tic-tocs and rolls/flips are quick for a bird of this size.

I decided to run mod 0.7 gears instead of the 0.5 because the gears have deeper teeth which should prevent stripping but I'm guessing a 500 won't have problems on 0.5. Right now my setup has the Hacker A40-10L-8 with 15T mod 0.7 and get about 2320 head speed at 85% TC on Rotortech 560mm blades. If your running 500mm rotors, you might want faster HS and try a 22T mod 0.5 or switch to mod 0.7 and try 16T. It all depends on what type of flying you plan on doing.

[Z-man]

Thanks BruceW, I'll go with the jazz 80. I only chose the 500 blades & pinion based on Makido's recomendations. What if I don't use the BEC & use a seperat flight pack for the servos?
Z-man

[BruceW]

Its fine to go with a separate flight pack but you'll need to get a regulator that can step the voltage down from 7.4V (2S lipo) to 6V-5V (depending on servos you choose). Tail servos are usually limited to 5.1V. If you do go with a flight pack for the Rx/servos be aware that you'll probably get about 4-5 flights before it needs to be recharged.

I like the BEC method for the L500 because its easier to not worry about recharging a flight pack and simplifies the number of components on the helicopter.

Is there a reason you don't want to use a BEC?

[Z-man]

Just thought I'd save 6s for motor & use nicad for rx. But your point is valid. Where can I ger a jazz 80? Can't come up with 1 anywhere.
Z-man