MSH Protos is INSANE!

[Cryofix]

Got my Protos Thursday, (Thanks ReadyHeli) finished up the build by Saturday night and took it out for its test flight on Sunday and all I have to say is this thing is a ROCKET!

This hands down the fastest moving cyclic/collective heli I have ever flown and it almost makes me feel like I have to start over again in learning.

The Protos is brand new and the very very first from MSH so there are few bumps and bruises to deal with but none that are flight stopping so far. I set up my 0 pitch and left my radio set at 60% pitch mix without testing what my full pitch range was and then went flying, this thing was sooooo fast I actually considered putting expo on my throttle.

Last night after the sun went down i decided to to pitch it out and finalize my setup, so woth the pitch gauge on I was off the scale and my gauge goes to 15! so I was flying with probably 16/16 pitch and 10 degrees cyclic no wonder it was sooo fast.

Biggest thing from all of this is there was no motor bog, and no problems

Here is my Setup

Protos
7S A123
CC 80
HS 82 MG
4 amp 6 volt BEC
401/9254

I couldn't be more happy or giddy with heli right now, I feel like a little kid!

[Roadrune]

It's on my "to-buy" list :D

[enahs]

How much are those batteries you're using?

[Gscott]

What flight times are you getting with the 7s A123 packs? What type of flying?

[Cryofix]

I need to get a 15/16 tooth pinion, once I have that Ill be able to get better reports on the battery use, as of right now I had to lower my throttle curve down so far and it makes the machine inefficient, I am running 2850 head speed, at 60% throttle.

My guesstimate is right now is 5 min hard core, 6-7 FF again i will know more when I change out the pinion and finely tweak the bird.

My flight style is Beginner, Tic tocs, Loops, flips, FF, inverted hover practice.

[JKos]

> How much are those batteries you're using?

A 7S A123 pack would be about $70.

- John

[DierWolf]

someone needs to link me up with these batteries, Lipo's are just getting to darn expensive now, and the charging time vs flight time really sucks....

[JKos]

The Protos is an excellent platform for A123 packs due to its low weight and they fit under the canopy nicely. The Protos with a 7S A123 pack weighs over 100 g less than the lightest T-Rex 500! With all the same electronics, the Protos weighs about 350 g less than a T-Rex 500.

- John

[WillJames]

The Protos is an excellent platform for A123 packs due to its low weight and they fit under the canopy nicely. The Protos with a 7S A123 pack weighs over 100 g less than the lightest T-Rex 500! With all the same electronics, the Protos weighs about 350 g less than a T-Rex 500.

- John

Very interesting info. Thanks John.

[utahrcracer]

someone needs to link me up with these batteries, Lipo's are just getting to darn expensive now, and the charging time vs flight time really sucks....

http://www.a123racing.com/

A lot of people use these batteries in on-road racing. They are very powerful and also they don't "puff " they really are the future in my opinion. If you read about them A123 is the leading company making the power for all our future electric cars. :thumbup:

Now if Nomadio would just make a heli TX my world world be ok :YeaBaby:

I don't have a heli yet, but I have been looking into the Protos, I am glad to see someone who has used it. It looks amazing!!!!! Anyone know if it is on the Phoenix sim yet??

[Cryofix]

> How much are those batteries you're using?

A 7S A123 pack would be about $70.

- John

I got 2 packs from a guy here on the freak selling, recondition/factory test packs, I paid $180 for 20 cells, which will make me 2 packs and if I want I could do 3 packs, however these charge in 15 minutes so I pretty much dont have down time for this.

I also fly my 600 with 14S so between this and my Protos I would have no down time at all.

[Gscott]

What power source are you sing to field charge these? I assume a 15 minute charge is something like 4 or 5C and that would require a generator or hefty field battery.

[Cryofix]

I use a Mastech HY2050E its a 50 Volt 20 amp AC/Dc converter with CC/CV I charge at 10 amps.

I can also do my 14S pack in 15 minutes on this charger as the converter will goto 51 volts.

My field has electricty to it so no problems at the home field, and when I travel I have a coleman 1850 generator.

[Razor_Racer]

A guy on rc groups found a "zap charge" method where you hook the battery up to a car battery and it charges from there in 15 minutes.

[JKos]

> A guy on rc groups found a "zap charge" method...

Yep, using a "calibrated" piece of zip cord as the charge current control device. You can charge 3S A123 this way. Probably 7S using two lead acids in series.

- John

[Finless]

Boy thats old school! I use to have one of those (actually I still do) for charging my 6 cell RC car nicad packs!

Bob

[JKos]

Bob,
Yeah, it sure is. I had one too. It had a temperature sensor to terminate the charge.

The A123 cells are so tolerant of over-voltage during charge that you simply adjust the length of the zip cord to the desired charge rate and then they are done when the charge current drops to around 1/10 of the initial rate.

While they don't need balanced from a safety standpoint, it is good practice to balance the packs at least on occasion. More than one person has been caught off guard when a pack drops off prematurely because a cell or two wasn't actually fully charged.

- John

[ping]

The only need to balance is like you said for consistent runtime. I don't bother balancing my packs and land about 1minute to 30 seconds early.

This post really makes me want to sell my rex 500. That thing is a pig on 7S A123, weight is up around 1950g . It's a little lighter on 6S but not anything near the power it needs for 3D just hovering and fast FF.

I think I'll wait for the second run of kits and pick one up.

[JKos]

With a 7S A123 pack and a full-size servo on board, my Protos weighs 1729 g. A half pound lighter than your T-Rex 500.

- John

[JKos]

Hey, for those looking at 7S A123 on the Protos, I came across a better pack layout that allows the canopy to fit on easily. Turn the top two cells perpendicular to the bottom five cells and center them.

- John

[stvjeep]

So, I wonder if Finless will do a build on the MSH Protos? He must have a Heli garage for all his stuff!

I really like the looks of the Protos so far. I'm so close to picking up a first heli and I've been looking at the T-rex 500 and 600 too. I want to run strictly A123, so the Protos is looking great. I'd just like to wait for some of the first minor but understandable production run bugs to be worked out...

[ozace]

Nice reading Cryo, its nice to read positive reviews about new machines. Its also great the A123's are working out for You and JKos as well.

[JKos]

Here's a pic of the config that works. Maybe cheat the top cells toward what would be the lower end a bit. It seems to be working centered for me.

- John

[ping]

My wallet cannot repel a thread of this magnitude :(

[Cryofix]

I did not have any problems with my 7 s pack fitting under the canopy, however I take the cardboard off each cell and individually shrink wrap the cells

www.tanicpacks.com has the goods!

my 2 cells are stacked on in the middle of the pack