View Full Version : ION / IB3800's report
lowandslow
05-27-2005, 09:26 PM
So here's the latest.
ION, Hacker combo, SAB 710's, 60T Lay-shaft gear, 32 IB3800's.
The batteries have only two cycles through them so they may pickup a bit. I basically got 8 minutes of steady hovering and slow forward flight. After 8 minutes they start going away pretty fast. I suspect 4 extra pounds of camera gear will put a dent in that. Motor 120 degrees, Batts 130, ESC 89.
Tabbytabb
05-28-2005, 12:09 AM
Not bad at all!
I would think they would come alive a bit more and give slightly increased run times. That should be enough time to get up and get your shots and get back down.
Congrats on the succesful testing!
Tabb
lowandslow
05-29-2005, 12:41 AM
Thanks Tabb. Time to strap on the carrier tomorrow, we'll see how she does then. I'm at a total flying weight of 16 pounds 3oz.
lowandslow
05-29-2005, 10:51 PM
I got a good 7 min with the carrier today. Weird thing, when I went to spool it down after the flight, it went into a pretty violent chicken dance. It stayed upright but I thought it was going to blow apart the carrier for a split second. Not sure where that all came from? I usually spool it down by hitting the throttle cut and keeping the blades at 0 degrees.
misskimo
05-29-2005, 10:58 PM
check the servos for strip gears , do you have rubbers on the skids? landing on grass ?
Tony
Tabbytabb
05-29-2005, 11:20 PM
That is the infamous Ion Chicken dance. It is made worse by landing on hard surfaces for sure.
Most just hit hold and keep the blades at zero pitch.
Sorry to hear that you had it dance on you, try and sort it out before strapping the camera on :)
Tabb
lowandslow
05-30-2005, 01:04 AM
The carrier was on when it did it.
With out the carrier is seems to be fine. I do have foam on he carrier skids and the heli skids and was flying off grass. I generally just hit throttle hold and keep it at 0 degrees until it stops and I thought I did it this time to. It was it's first flight with the carrier. We'll see tomorrow what happens.
lowandslow
05-30-2005, 01:31 AM
BTY, I do have the thick and the thin shims in the head. I'll try removing the thin on each side. I read here that it helps.
Laurens
05-30-2005, 04:19 AM
Ok I had a "chicken dance" too yesterday, with my Caliber. I landed on a hard surface too. Scared me :bomb:
mellen_mpz
06-08-2005, 01:10 AM
What camera are you going to use???? I am setting up an Ion do do aerail photos as well. I went with the 3800's as well just so keep the cost down (I want to set up 4 packs so I can be charging one set while flying another. I am only using 28 cells though....we'll see how it goes. I havent flown the thing yet, although I got the head up to speed this afternoon. I'm gonna wait till this sunday and take it out to the flying site and let someone who actually knows what they are doing go through it!! Its been a while since I have flown a helicopter and I cant bring myself to take it into a hover not knowing if I have it all set up correctly or not.
What did you make your camera carrier/landing gear out of. I got mine all framed up today, ,it actually turned out really good/sturdy. I made it out of 1/2" CPVC pipe and T fittings and such. I'll have to get some pics up on here when I get it all together. Should be the next couple days.
Sounds like this Ion has alot of gremlins!!!!!
lowandslow
06-08-2005, 10:35 AM
I'm using the Sony V3 w/ a Helicam Solutions Pro 60 mount. I don't think the ION really has any gremlins to speak of. All heils have their issues but so far my ION has been perfect. Smooth as glass. The chicken dance I described was most likely caused by the carrier. It doesn't do it at all with out the carrier attached. The dance can be controlled by spinning the heli down at 0 degrees pitch when on the carrier. I just ordered another set of round cells, I'm going to try a set of GP3700's. They will probably be about the same as the IB3800's. Let me know how it does on 28 cells? Have you geared it down?
misskimo
06-08-2005, 12:22 PM
hey , well if you really want a smooth heli , put the tempest 3D head on there ,
Im glad the heli is working great for you , sounds like you are happy , Im happy with mine
Tony
mellen_mpz
06-08-2005, 03:04 PM
hahaha...."the dance"....cant wait till I see it first hand. Just painted the carrier. I'm about to head to my dads shop (he has a mill and a lathe) so dream up a camera mount. I'll let you know how it goes. I cant wait to get this thing up in the air!!!!!
PS...I am just running the stock setup. I talked to the guys at M.A. and they said I should be fine with what I have. I can always go back and re-gear it if necessary.
I bought a Nikon D70 SLR with 6.1 MP to mount to it. Should work well
lowandslow
06-08-2005, 04:33 PM
I suggest if you are running round cells to put the 60t lay-shaft gear on it with 710 blades. You'll need all the minutes you can squeeze out of the batteries. AUW will be around 17 pounds. With the gear change I can manage about 6.5 safe minutes at altitude. 8 without the all the gear. I suspect turning 3D head speeds you'll get about 4.5 to 5 minutes. Not enough time for photo work unless you are really really good. Fortunately for me my wife as plenty of experience working the camera side of a helicam so we can get up and down pretty quickly. Even at that, 7 minutes is hard to really get it done well. You'll find yourself changing batteries a lot. Doable but a real pain.
lowandslow
06-09-2005, 11:34 PM
Looks like the 3800's are going back for repair. It appears I have a couple vented cells already. I've been real easy on the pack too. We'll see how the replacements do. I have set of GP3700's coming to try as well.
misskimo
06-10-2005, 04:41 AM
hey , well thats a sign that the res is to high in the cells , not good for 3Ding , also need to check how hot the cells are getting after a flight , another thing to look out for is who is the builder of the packs ??? if the person isnt doing a good job of preping & covering the ends completely with solder then you will have problems , prep is meaning sanding the ends of every cell , and then putting solder on each cell before joining them , I had a set of 2/3 1700s back in the day , that suppose to be the badest cells on the block creat so much heat that it wasted them in 2 flights on a mild mild 1D heli
Tony
ChrisS
06-10-2005, 09:58 AM
FWIW
When last I used round cells, the cell of choice was the HRSC2600, run them hot off the charger.
Chris
lowandslow
06-11-2005, 11:28 AM
Battle Packs built the cells and they have a rep for doing high quality stuff. I have another set of GP3700's that I'll try this weekend. The packs come off the charger at about 130 degrees. After a full flight they come down at about 110. Not hot at all.
ChrisS
06-11-2005, 12:21 PM
Yeah, that's who I used to get my cells from, they'd zap them for free. But I always end soldered up the packs myself.
Chris
lowandslow
06-11-2005, 01:54 PM
I flew the GP3700's loaded into solderless powertubes this morning. Preformed about as well as the IB3800's 7 1/2 to 8 min. They charge a bit cooler and come down about the same temp 110 - 120.
mellen_mpz
06-13-2005, 12:57 AM
Got my ion in the air today. Definately happy with how it handles......its very stable and should be a good photography bird. Gotta do something about the battery situation. 28 cells simply isnt enough. I could only get a little over 4 minutes and it was time to land. I think I will add a couple cells on each side and see how that goes. If it doesnt go well, looks like it will be time to take out a second mortgage and get some li-po's.
lowandslow
06-13-2005, 10:18 AM
Do you have it geared down? With 32 cells you should be able to get around 6 -7 minutes.
fitenfyr
06-13-2005, 04:27 PM
Gearing is the key with the Ion-X
It was not setup for AP work in kit form.
Call Chris at MA and describe what your needs are for duration and headspeed.
He can help you pick a solid simple gear change to get you there.
Probably just change the secondary to a 60T if you want to use the LiPo's, but round cells are a different beast. :D
I have had great luck with some 5s4p's from MaxAmps.com
About 200.00 less than a set from the other companies too. :D
I will put some more info up on them this week after I shoot a few shots of the packs in the heli and such.
I will even try to get a video of the performance next week along with my new HCS mount I hope. :D
lowandslow
06-13-2005, 05:16 PM
Jason,
Are you saying there is a better combo for round cells than the stock pinon and 60T?
fitenfyr
06-13-2005, 08:02 PM
Maybe....
I don't screw around with ratios and such. I call they guy who built it and let him crunch the numbers. :D :D :D
So long as the motor stays in it's peak efficency range (KV range) then all you are doing is really regulating the headspeed and consquently amp draw by changing gearing.
It is a matter of the right volts with the right ratio at the right headspeed. :D
I am pretty sure Chris told me the 60T and stock pinion (11T I think...) on 30 good round cells was a good combo, but again ask him to be sure he did all the testing on it.
I talked to him a few weeks back about going to round cells again and I think that was the ratio we figured would get me what I wanted on 32 cells.
I went with the MaxAmp liPo's so I don't have any hands on with the round cells at that ratio.
The voltage is different with round cells along with the amp draws, that is what I meant by them being a different beast.