Sport-flying, and flight duration set-up. Experienced 550 owners review please.

[stvjeep]

Here is my rough set-up so far for sport-flying, and flight duration (NO 3D):

Kit: standard plastic frame and head with no motor or ESC. (Will not exceed 2000 rpm HS for this build.)
Motor: Z20A 980 KV
ESC: HV85 or Align 75A
Servos (Cyclic): JR DS821 (comes with DX7, and AR700)
Servo (Tail): S9650
Gyro: GY401
Pinion: 13T or 14T
Main Gear ratios: UNKNOWN for target of 1800 rpm???
Battery's: EVOlite 2500 3S x 2
Blades: Guai 500mm wood

Please review and let me know what you experienced Hurricane 550 owners figure. In the mean time I will read as much as I can in the Hurricane 550 thread. I beleive this heli will be the best for training as it has a low repair and initial set-up cost. I was also looking at the Logo 500 (high parts costs for a trainer), and T-rex 500 (not as stable, and more geared towards 3D, which I don't need) both great Heli's but not for my current needs.

Thanks

[mjdee14]

http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=71718

see the attached thrad and dowload the calculator...it will alow you to figure exactly what pinions and gears you will need. i usually use about 90% to figure where I'm going to be. Most likely a newer kit will have the 20 t one way bearing....

you could use the 13t with the 42t and be around where yu want to be....and you can also set the throttle curve a little to get your desired rpm.

Your set up look pretty good....and I'm using the z20-980 motor and really like it over the stock Gaui...much better on batteries..

[Mikej]

I have almost exactly the same set up (Z20A 980, DS821s, Gaui 50A ESC) I use a 14T pinion and 50 T primary gear to give a calculated HS of about 1800 at 90% - it flies really nicely :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


Oh forgot to say - I'm on a 20T OWB which gives an extra 100 rpm or so

[Graeme67]

Your set up looks fine for your requirements. I am running virtually the same rig. I am using the Gaui 50A ESC & it is working fine for me.

I have recently installed the Z20 980kv motor & with 75% @ midstick on my throttle curve I have an average headspeed of 1900rpm. My gearing is: 14t pinion - 42t gear. 19t OWB - 61t gear.

You would only need to knock your TC down 5-10% to have your 1800rpm HS.

It was interesting installing an ET logger on to the heli because my HS turned out higher than I expected. I have my idle1 set to give me 100rpm extra HS for when I want to throw it around.

Have a look in the thread "In Flight Graph Database" http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=63001&page=4

I have posted a graph there showing the relationship between HS & power consumption.

Cheers
Graeme

[MarkM1]

I am basically running the same set-up as you have outlined. My only differences are the tail servo and the batteries. I decided to save some weight by going with the Futaba S9257 digital servo on the tail. It requires an adaptor (purchased at ReadyHeli) because its alot smaller than the S9650, but it has plenty of speed and power to do the job (don't forget to step down the voltage from the BEC to 6 volts). The other difference, I selected the new Outrage Lipo's @ 2200mAh - 30C's. Two, 3S1P packs with a series connector, will give me right at 8 minutes of sport flying time with a 14T pinion running between 1850 & 1900 rpms (woodies). The Z20A 980kv is slightly warm at these rpms and so are the packs. Hope this helps.

Mark