View Full Version : can you bail out of an auto if your using soft start?
justin keaton
03-19-2008, 02:15 PM
hello i posted earlier about a problem i had with my 500 spooling back up after an auto if the blades are turning still it takes for ever. soo i was wondering if you could bail out of an auto if your using soft start or is my motor or esc just messing up?
LoveMyTrex
03-19-2008, 02:45 PM
I think you can down to a certain HS, not sure.
JaggedEdge
03-19-2008, 02:48 PM
I think you can down to a certain HS, not sure.
If the blades are spinning then there wont be much of a soft start. I bet you could bail out pretty late if you're ready for the tail.
Finless
03-19-2008, 02:57 PM
It depends.... If you try to bail out low to the ground your going to be dead. Higher up will give it time to get the head speed back up.
The soft start has a timeout period. I don't know what it is but probably 15 seconds. e.g. if you come out of hold within the time out soft start wont happen.
Either way be careful. If your in idle up and bail out before the timer and your head speed has dropped really low, you could have a boom strike. On any heli even nitro it is safer to bail out in normal instead of idle up so you dont get a massive torque jumping back up into idle up.
Bob
I've found soft-start only works during initial spool-up. If you comeout of TH it spools up pretty quick. For this reason i've got a 1.5sec delay setup with my 9X2(9303).
int2str
03-19-2008, 04:49 PM
Agree with all of the above. Though just some anecdotal evidence that it can be done:
I just did it on my 450. Came in pretty hot for an auto and caught a bad wind-gust at around 3 feet that sent the heli back up a good 4-5 feet. I didn't feel like I could "re-flare" after that so I decided to try a bail out. Since it was under 15sec, there was no soft-start. The ESC kicked in hard (100% throttle in idle-up) and instantly spun back up. Minor tail kick, but I was able to fly it out.
When I decided to "bail", I didn't go full-positive pitch or anything though. In fact, before I released throttle-hold, I put the stick at right below center for a slight bit off negative pitch. That put less strain on the main gear (hopefully) and allowed me to gently "catch" the heli at about 2 feet off the ground.
All in all it worked quite well for an unplanned bail out.
Moral of the story?
a) Yes, you can bail out within 15sec without any soft-start problems
b) Don't try to auto in high, gusty winds if you're a rookie :D
visayan
03-19-2008, 10:56 PM
[quote=int2str;595556]Agree with all of the above. Though just some anecdotal evidence that it can be done:
I just did it on my 450. Came in pretty hot for an auto and caught a bad wind-gust at around 3 feet that sent the heli back up a good 4-5 feet. I didn't feel like I could "re-flare" after that so I decided to try a bail out. Since it was under 15sec, there was no soft-start. The ESC kicked in hard (100% throttle in idle-up) and instantly spun back up. Minor tail kick, but I was able to fly it out.
You're lucky all you got was a tail kick. I did the exact same thing on my 450 and when I flipped throttle hold off, the heli spun out of control and met dirt. I didn't have enough tail and the torque from the main blades were too much.
Socal500
03-19-2008, 11:04 PM
hello i posted earlier about a problem i had with my 500 spooling back up after an auto if the blades are turning still it takes for ever. soo i was wondering if you could bail out of an auto if your using soft start or is my motor or esc just messing up?
I tested this on the ground and IMO the answer is no unless you are a good 30 feet or so when you do it. Sitting on the ground, hitting TH, letting it spool down for just a second or so, disabled TH, ended up taking a substantial amount of time before spool up. This is with the stock Align ESC.
Test yours on the ground where your safe.
JollyRoger
03-20-2008, 04:56 AM
Lol not really, I always found the ground was the most dangerous for my helis!;)
sbmon
03-20-2008, 07:19 AM
I'm with socal500 on this no bailing if doing the auto from a decent altitude.
I tried to bail an auto (came out of TH around 5-6 ft) that I started around 60-70 ft and soft start was in full effect. Fortunately no damage. I need to do the ground test but the delay to engage soft start has got to be shorter than the previously mentioned 15 seconds. This is with the stock align t500 esc.
Socal500
03-20-2008, 08:46 AM
Lol not really, I always found the ground was the most dangerous for my helis!;)
Hehe.. only after you leave it ;) .
There are exceptions to that as well but that is reserved for the really stupid.
Finless
03-21-2008, 04:38 AM
Interesting as my ESC for sure has a timer.... I know this because I was spooling up one day got to 100% and hit hold... then 3 seconds later came out of hold and BAM... instant head speed.... Seems once again a code change to the ESC has happened?
Socal500... you sure you hit 100% before doing that test? If your running a lower idle curve that may effect soft start? Just a guess as to why you saw something different than I did?
Bob