wlfk
02-02-2008, 07:48 PM
Just got my 600dx off the ground for the first time. 4 quick flights today, and it's a blast! I had a few panics before I got it dialled in properly, but after I did it felt very secure. Love it. Unfortunately I forgot my watch so I'm not sure what the flight times were - I'd estimate 5-10 minutes but it's hard to be sure. Time flies when you're having fun.
Most of you guys will be familiar with the differences between big and small helis already, but it was my first big helicopter experience:
I've just moved up from a T-Rex 450, which was only running 2500 headspeed with light paddles. I have a 1.4kg battery in the logo (9s2p A123) and it's the DX with heavy paddles. I'd imagined it would be more sedate than the tiny T-Rex - how wrong I was. The climb and roll rates were far more than I was used to - or at least had anticipated. I was a little disappointed with the stability, until I realised that the wind had picked up to a level where flying the T-Rex would be a blast (i.e. inadvisable but fun) and I was still quite comfortable.
Hit a vortex ring a few times. Not a problem, but perhaps more noticeable than with the T-Rex. I found myself going by the book - down collective, nose forward and fly out of it - rather than simply adding full collective, which I'm sure would also have worked and is what I would have done on the rex.
Disconcerting how much it floats. I always do power-off landings with the Rexie - hit throttle hold and try to keep it from the ground as long as possible. If I miscalculate and add too much collective it shoots up to 3 feet, stalls and crashes. I miscalculated today with the logo - it went up to 5 feet; the blades slowed hugely but were still providing plenty of lift. And I still had enough energy to make a nice landing 2nd time round! I found you can't land and then assume that the job's done - if you accidentally hit the cyclic you could probably still crash for a long while until the blades are almost stopped.
Orientation was a problem a couple of times - looking at it side-on when you see the tail get shorter but don't know whether it's pointing 45 degrees towards or away from you. Have considered putting decals on the canopy though I quite like it vanilla.
~~~~~~~~
Anyway, I love it and might have to get a 3rd A123 battery (ouch!). But I'd quite like to move to a lower headspeed to get more duration at the expense of a little pep. Ultimately this is to be a stretched AP ship running 720s. Currently I'm running 600s at 2000 RPM on a 19T pinion (Z50-780kv motor) with the ESC at 85% on governor mode (CC HV85). I'm going to try it dialled down to 1830rpm tomorrow and I'll remember my watch for the flight times.
Could anybody suggest a good target headspeed for my purposes? And am I OK to experiment with low governor settings on the ESC before I invest in a new pinion, or would this run the risk of burning it out?
Thanks,
K
Most of you guys will be familiar with the differences between big and small helis already, but it was my first big helicopter experience:
I've just moved up from a T-Rex 450, which was only running 2500 headspeed with light paddles. I have a 1.4kg battery in the logo (9s2p A123) and it's the DX with heavy paddles. I'd imagined it would be more sedate than the tiny T-Rex - how wrong I was. The climb and roll rates were far more than I was used to - or at least had anticipated. I was a little disappointed with the stability, until I realised that the wind had picked up to a level where flying the T-Rex would be a blast (i.e. inadvisable but fun) and I was still quite comfortable.
Hit a vortex ring a few times. Not a problem, but perhaps more noticeable than with the T-Rex. I found myself going by the book - down collective, nose forward and fly out of it - rather than simply adding full collective, which I'm sure would also have worked and is what I would have done on the rex.
Disconcerting how much it floats. I always do power-off landings with the Rexie - hit throttle hold and try to keep it from the ground as long as possible. If I miscalculate and add too much collective it shoots up to 3 feet, stalls and crashes. I miscalculated today with the logo - it went up to 5 feet; the blades slowed hugely but were still providing plenty of lift. And I still had enough energy to make a nice landing 2nd time round! I found you can't land and then assume that the job's done - if you accidentally hit the cyclic you could probably still crash for a long while until the blades are almost stopped.
Orientation was a problem a couple of times - looking at it side-on when you see the tail get shorter but don't know whether it's pointing 45 degrees towards or away from you. Have considered putting decals on the canopy though I quite like it vanilla.
~~~~~~~~
Anyway, I love it and might have to get a 3rd A123 battery (ouch!). But I'd quite like to move to a lower headspeed to get more duration at the expense of a little pep. Ultimately this is to be a stretched AP ship running 720s. Currently I'm running 600s at 2000 RPM on a 19T pinion (Z50-780kv motor) with the ESC at 85% on governor mode (CC HV85). I'm going to try it dialled down to 1830rpm tomorrow and I'll remember my watch for the flight times.
Could anybody suggest a good target headspeed for my purposes? And am I OK to experiment with low governor settings on the ESC before I invest in a new pinion, or would this run the risk of burning it out?
Thanks,
K