Pitch and Throttle Curves?

[Drew816]

Ok, we're about ready to go fire up the 550 for the first time (hell YEAH!!) and I thought I'd ask, what are your curves and settings? I'm a rookie mind you, not too concerned about Idle 1 and 2 at this stage, but Normal mode I'd love to know. I saw in the Gaui Manual they stated to have 3 Degrees of positive pitch at 50% Throttle; maybe because of the additional mass of the helo? I'm used to the T-Rex 450 having 0 at 50.

Time to take her out, check tracking and see if I can get her airborne!

[skigolfmike]

What's your setup? Motor, motor kV, ESC, batts gearing, blades? That would help.

[Drew816]

DUH! Stock 500 Woodie blades, Gaui 1100 Super-Pig motor (my own name, I think they should brand it!), Stock gearing (not even sure, 14 for sure to start, 21, etc?), Align 75 amp ESC, two 3S1P, 11.1 volt G-Force 2250 mah batteries.

[mysticmead]

I have 0 degrees at mid stick.

here's MY TC and PC for normal mode... adjust to what ever makes you comfortable.

PC: 30%-INH-50%-INH-100%
TC: 0%-INH-75%-INH-90%

for Idle 1 TC is a flat 90% for idle 2 it's a flat 100%
PC for both is a linear 0%-100%

just remember TC and PC are personal settings.. what works good for me might not be good for you..and what you like might not be what I or someone else likes

[skigolfmike]

If you have the stock 42T gear, you are looking at a head speed at about 2400. With 0 degree pitch at 1/2 stick I think I would try 0-40-60-70-80 to start. I wouldn't want to turn the woodies much over 2000. The 50T main gear would get you more in the ball park.

[mysticmead]

doh... yeah... that's why I run a 50T :D yeah... adjust accordingly for your gearing... that's why I said TC and PC are different for each person... so many gear options... unlike those Align guys.. they all run a 13T pinion...and no other gear options.. so they can give standard settings... me..I prefer having choices

[skigolfmike]

I have the RevCo gears and with the H18 power sucking motor I ran 19T pinion with a 68T main and 20T OWB. The throttle curve was 0-50-70-80-90 to get 2000 headspeed. With the CF blades, all metal head and the Scorpion 1400kV motor I'm turning 2400 in hover. Got to get an 18T pinion.

[Drew816]

Ok, just counted off the teeth on the two tranny gears and he's what I've got:

14 - 42 - 19 - 61 - The first and last are correct since I have the package for the first and I can see the number on the last; the other two I counted twice so...

That being said I'll be turning too high a headspeed as is eh? So drop my Throttle settings to what you spec'ed and put a 50T on the list of parts to acquire soon.

[skigolfmike]

Oh yeah - set you timer at 3:00 to start until you figure your mAh usage and work from there. I never got much in the way of flight times with the H18 motor and I have 3200s.

[mysticmead]

Ok, just counted off the teeth on the two tranny gears and he's what I've got:

14 - 42 - 19 - 61 - The first and last are correct since I have the package for the first and I can see the number on the last; the other two I counted twice so...

That being said I'll be turning too high a headspeed as is eh? So drop my Throttle settings to what you spec'ed and put a 50T on the list of parts to acquire soon.

change that 19T OWB out for a 20T..I'm surprised that your kit had a 19T in it...

[Drew816]

I might have miscounted on the 19, I'll have to check again and see what (if anything!) I have available... Where is the gearing and head speed calculator you guys all refer too by the way?

Now back to the head wobble problem on my other thread, arrrghhhh....

[mjdee14]

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

try this thread...it has the hs calc...best one I have seen for the 550...I have it downloadedon my desktop and use it quite often....

[kahn10]

drew tone your throttle curve down to 70 75 for the last two points with your gearing 1100kv and the 75 amp esc that will give you heaps..... if it seems to bog cut your +pitch back a little.but it won't unless your hammering it......

[jayrok1018]

Hey Drew, looks like we're in the same boat. Yours came with the 14t first gear, mine is the 15t. I haven't counted the others, but I just got my kit about a month ago too. Which kit did you get?

[Drew816]

I got the standard entry level kit but with the ESC and Motor. I just ordered two 50 t gears to drop my headspeed down, in the meantime I took everyone's advice and dropped them down via the Transmitter and it made a BIG difference in feel for sure. 2200+ RPM made this monster pretty zippy, more so then I was ready for; 1700 rpm is more like it for me. ;)

[jayrok1018]

I'm thinking the same thing with trying to keep HS down for now, but aside from my first spin ups / hover with the 550 (the APUFF woes mentioned in another thread), and the crappy weather lately, I haven't had much of a chance to get out. Not to mention, my HS seems low to begin with, but that was likely the bad batts. Hopefully this week will be better in all respects.

A question about lowering HS via throttle curves/endpoints... does it have any adverse effects like motor/ESC burnout or battery life?

[kahn10]

as i understand it lowering your headspeed like this should take the load off your esc and batteries resulting in longer flight times and cooler everything as long as you aren't bogging the blades.if you are try lowering your upper pitch levels slightly

[jayrok1018]

riiiiite.... low hs + big pitch = blade bog, likely culprit :arggg: - lemmie check that pitch again...

[Mikej]

A question about lowering HS via throttle curves/endpoints... does it have any adverse effects like motor/ESC burnout or battery life?

as i understand it lowering your headspeed like this should take the load off your esc and batteries resulting in longer flight times and cooler everything as long as you aren't bogging the blades.if you are try lowering your upper pitch levels slightly

Not completely - there is an explanation on here somewhere, but basically an ESC is more efficient and runs cooler by being closer to flat out. From memory the ESC doesn't change the amount of power that is passed to the motor (but always passes full voltage) what it does to alter power is to change how often it switches the power through - and as it gets nearer to flat out it is "on" more of the time, it prefers being "on" all of the time rather than switching on and off. Think of it as a light switch being switched on and off very quickly - to increase the amount of light given the switch is flicked on and off very quickly rather than putting more voltage through.

Brushless motors also prefer being run closer to flat out and are more efficient like this - by changing the gearing you are able to achieve this. The best analogy that I can think of for this is riding a bike - you can go the same speed by being in a very high gear and pushing really hard and slow, or be in a much lower gear and "spin" it along.

[kahn10]

yeah i thought of that but in practice it seems as long as your not bogging your blades everything does seem to run cooler with markedly increased run times.weird how theory and practical work sometimes......:thinking

[jayrok1018]

I remember reading something a while back about brushless efficiency etc. but couldn't fully remember. Will have to search through my bookmarks. Once I get my battery woes out of the way, I'll be out seeing how the below work for me.

Current settings on 9C, getting 0 pitch at center in both modes.
Throttle
Norm 0 - 40 - 75.5 - 80 - 80
Idle1 85.5 - 80 - 75 - 80 - 85.5

Pitch
Norm 40 - 50 - 55.5 - 75 - 85 - gives -3 to +8 (i sometimes still slam the CP2 down don't wanna be doing that here ;))
Idle1 15 - 25 - 55.5 - 75 - 85 - gives -8 to +8

I'm hoping to get some decent flight times some sporty stuff in this summer, we'll see if these settings keep her nice & slow for starters tho.

[mjdee14]

Jayrok...

be careful with the +8...I haven't seen anyone run with that low a top pitch.....as long as you have plenty of pitch to pull up it should be OK...and you will know that just hovering....

Most run 9 -10 deg of pos.

let us know how the 8 feels in hover...

[mysticmead]

yeah... that +8 isn't a whole lot of pitch... I know I run +-12 in idle up mode.. and -4 to +10 in normal mode

[jayrok1018]

I'm still waiting to hear back about my lipos, but will post back once I'm in the air again.

My KP 6S bridge decided to short today; and melted. On the first attempt with all brand new batts, charger etc. So no charging till I'm finished dealing with that :mad:...and.... ReadyHeli's waiting to hear back from KP, so here we go on the waiting game.) I'm not gonna hijack this thread with my battery probs tho... :thumbup:

ACTUALLY Now that I think about it.... that was likely a BIG part of why mine was so incredibly sluggish on her maiden. I was about 2 clicks from full throttle/cyclic when she finally lifted off, and I was only running 8 then too.

[kahn10]

ok fella i'm only gonna warn ya once.round here there ain't no hijaks::smokin: