Tail Rotates Right

[kent83]

I am at the still trying to get my first good hover stage (so that's how new I am) ... I've replaced the tail boom and blades after a crash, but now the tail rotates to the right (counter clockwise) as soon as I give it any throttle. I've tried to adjust the server, but I have to slide the tail control arm all the way to the right (so that it can't go any further towards the blades) and that will barely stop the tail rotation to the right, but I can't rotate to the left at all with the stick because the control arm is as far as it can go. So, what adjustment do I have to make so that it won't rotate when the tail control arm is in the middle? This just doesn't make sense to me.

Thanks!

[mnwizard]

First thing to check is that the tail rotor is turning in the correct direction.

If you're looking at the left side of the heli, if you turn the main rotor clockwise, the tail rotor should also turn clockwise, toward the leading edges of the tail blades.

If they're turning the other direction, there's a twist in the belt.

If that's ok, then unplug 2 of the 3 motor wires, remove the linkage from the tail servo, make sure idle up is off, turn your Tx on, plug in the battery and wait for the gyro to spin up.

Double check to make sure the servo arm is at a right angle to the servo. If it's not, unplug the battery, being careful not to move the servo shaft, unscrew the servo arm and reposition it on the servo. Screw the servo arm on tight.

Plug the battery back in, wait for the gyro to wind up and double check to make sure the servo arm is in the correct position.

Unplug the battery, and loosen the 2 screws holding the tail servo to the boom.

Look at the end of one of the tail blades, as you move the entire servo back and forth (being careful not to rotate the servo arm) you will see the pitch of the blade change.

When the main blades spin up, the torque will push the tail to the right, opposite the rotation of the main blades, so you want to have a small amount of positive pitch on the tail blades when the throttle is off. That is the leading edges of the tail blades will be twisted toward the boom. The exact amount of the initial pitch will vary from heli to heli and trial and error is the only way to get it "dead on"

If your heli is rotating to the right, you probably need to move the servo so there is a little more positive pitch on the tail blades when the throttle is off.

You want the tail blades to have just enough starting pitch to keep the heli from rotating when you first start to add throttle.

Dierwolf has a vid posted in the stickies about this too, so be sure and take a look at it.

From your discription I don't think your adjustment is far off, you don't have to move the servo very far to get it "just right".

[Real_Sparky]

It sounds to me that your tail grips are on back to front.
Pop the 2 links off the grips and turn the grips 180 degrees. put links back on and turn the blades around. problem should now be fixed.

Darin

[DierWolf]

Agreed, common problem especially when one changed from plastic tail to cnc..

to elliminate that its not the grips on the wrong way simply slide the tail servo all the way up against the boom block. you should then have too much and tail will swing clockwise.

but from reading your post you tried pretty much all positions so the only thing it could be is the grips on the wrong way...... or dead servo/gyro.

[kent83]

Thanks everyone -- I feel so dumb. Jack nailed it -- I had a twist in the belt. I would have never thought of that and figured it was my lack of setup skill, so I was fiddling with the servo etc. I've said it before -- I don't know how anyone would do this hobby without the help of you kind souls on this forum.

I just had my first flight without any crashes on the belt! Granted, I never got more than a few inches off the ground, but I felt more or less in control and had some decent hovering time (at least compared to what I was doing). Flying my Lama IV definitely helps in terms of just learning the mechanics of helicopters and what the sticks do and the progression from tail-in to tail-out etc. But I have to say being fairly proficient with the Lama (and doing OK on the ClearView sim and using training gear) makes me think I should be doing more than just bunny-hopping with the belt cp, but I've learned the hard way and with two crashes already that the belt cp is a completely different world from the Lama, so it's definitely back to taking baby steps! That's OK -- I'm already starting to see the improvement, and when my ego gets beat up, I can always fly the Lama for a confidence boost. And my last flight has definitely taught me that taking baby steps is cheaper!

That brings me to one other question, and I had this with my Lama IV -- how far do you run your battery down before you recharge it? When the battery gets to the point where the blades are just spinning but the bird won't lift off the ground, do you run the battery down until the blades stop, or do you throttle down and recharge as soon as you lose enough power to keep it in flight? Or is there some other guideline? I've read about the 80% rule on the forum, but don't quite get it.

Thanks again for all the help!

[another_finn]

do you run the battery down until the blades stop, or do you throttle down and recharge as soon as you lose enough power to keep it in flight? Or is there some other guideline? I've read about the 80% rule on the forum, but don't quite get it.
There's no way to reliably follow the 80% rule until you get a decent charger that can tell you just how much it put back in the battery. A cheap LiPo alarm device will tell you when voltage drops below safe limit, and that's long before you lose the ability to fly. You should never, ever let a LiPo battery drop below 3V per cell (6V on the Lama's 2S battery, 9V on the Belt CP's 3S) or it's going to get damaged. If you run it until the blades no longer turn, it's a paperweight. You should land before you feel any loss of power at all to keep the batteries in good condition.

[mnwizard]

Kent83 - Glad you're up and flying!

Little baby steps are fine! When you're ready, you'll find that hovering 3-4 feet high is easier than hovering just inches above the ground as you get up and out of ground effect.

Here's a link to a free Belt CP model for your ClearView Sim. It's surprisingly accurate and I use it a lot.

http://my.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=292465&ck=

[kent83]

Thanks for all the help. Good to know about the batteries -- I think I've been running them too long. I was assuming that like other rechargeables, it was best to run them down because of the "memory" issue some batteries have. And I appreciate the pointer to the Belt CP for ClearView -- I've been using the King and Trex which seemed the closest.

Thanks again all!