Back in the air!

[R0t0R]

Thanks to Buzz for coming to my rescue with parts I forgot to order when I planned my SD to belt conversion, I'm back in the air! Just got everything put together and got in a quick hover in the garage to check things out. Pretty close to right on, just have a few adjustments to make and experiment with throttle curves for normal flight mode.

Haven't got around to shortening the wires, but made a tray out of 0.93 Lexan that I got from Home Depot. 8"x10" sheet for about $4.00 and plenty for many other parts to be made. Heated up a piece of metal over the stove burner and bent the Lexan over it. It's attached with zip ties to the "forehead" area and is very strong. Seems to balance very well with the 2S battery on the lower frame. Canopy is my first attempt at painting one. Used flourescent paints for a very visible paint job. The flourescents are very dull and soft, but a coat of clear enamel seems to help.

Back to flying and tweaking! Sure I will have more questions as that progresses!

[stoatnchips]

Good Mod R0t0R!! First person i have seen that has mounted the tray like that. It gets rid of the possibility of damaging the airframe in a crash by mounting using bolts but also allows a lipo to used on the lower deck. I think my next rebuild will have to do something similar, i'm tired of trying to adjust the 2100 with it behind the Motor... you just can't see the LEDs properly.... then when you can, your too late and its outta programming mode.. then you hit the tactile switch too many times! its a game ;-)

[small.planes]

We need to start the elite fluorescent squad of the helista :smokin:
anyone else got a blaze canopy?

http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52902&d=1214512778

Dave

[Ecklund1]

That's the first time I've seen a Gyro mounted like that. The base of the Gyro should be parallel to the Rotor Disc, not canted like that. Just an observation.

Jeff

[R0t0R]

Seems to work fine so far canted. Will be trying to make another tray with an additional bend, to keep everything fitting under the canopy and level. I've seen other posts with the gyro mounted at a 45 degree angle and they claim it works, but I need everything in my favor that I can get!

The flourescent paint job kind of kicks us out of the "Covert Ops" assignments! Will be working on a stealth version after I learn to channel the force to where I can fly without being able to see it!

[small.planes]

I know, we can do the Overt ops :cheers

Dave

[Buzzkill]

Sweet! Happy flying!

[stoatnchips]

That's the first time I've seen a Gyro mounted like that. The base of the Gyro should be parallel to the Rotor Disc, not canted like that. Just an observation.

Jeff


Jeff, you're obviously right on this one but i have just stopped to think about how this will work in R0t0Rs case here and i guess he might even benefit from this if he is just doing fff or plain circuits. Things may get a little more interesting if he was going for rapid rolling tic tocs!!

Lets call x the pitch axis, y the roll axis and z the yaw axis. Having the Gyro mounted in this particular orientaion, approximatley 30 degrees down angle at the front. It is now no longer possible to seperate movement in the y axis from being detected by the Gyro and interpreted as unwanted yaw or mevement in the z axis. However, in the event of a banked turn, as soon as lateral cyclic is put in, the Heli will start to bank, the gyro will sense this as movement in the z axis and couter act by pointing the nose into the turn... just by altering the angle at which the Gyro is mounted, it should be possible to set the heli up to naturally complete a perfect banked turn using just cyclic... hmm or am i just thinking about this too much :thinking

[Ecklund1]

Stoat, interesting notion. Now you got me thinking too much... :roll:

[R0t0R]

No need to continue the mental gymnastics! Never one to blow off good input, I made a new tray with an additional bend to put the gyro level with the bottom plate. Still fits under the canopy since the other bend lowers the whole tray. It looks like it is still slanted down, but that's just because of the way it sits on the gear. (Tray is perpendicular to the main shaft.) It is tight, but I may end up changing to a Logitech gyro and servo. Figure that would lighten the overall weight and I can use the gy401 that came with this combo to get the Blade 400 back together. (How's that for rationalizing buying more heli stuff!) Keep the good input coming!

[R0t0R]

Well, it happened already! Not the big, bad one, (a crash) but burned out my s3154 tail servo. Was flying around in my garage and it went into a really cool piro that luckily ended up with a safe piro-ing landing with no other damage. Had trouble getting the tail to hold in analog, so even with all the warnings on here, tried the gy401 in digital. Tail held great right up to the end!

Haven't heard of anyone having major problems with the LogicTech 2100T & LTS-3100G combo, so order one up from RH and should be back up for a lot longer in a few days! Guess its the T-Rex 450 for the next couple of days!

[Buzzkill]

Awww man sucks that you crashed. you'll be back soon!

Not to jack the Thread but, I've got three Gaui 200's with the S3154 on the tail and haven't had a single one burn-out yet.

I'm just curious as to why I'm so lucky? :thinking I mean I've crashed sooooooo many times it ain't funny.:arggg: I've flown in 15 mph winds. Fast forward flight, almost continuous punch-outs, pyro'd like a Tasmanian devil and hovered for hours, nay weeks in the last 8 months. Still not a single fried 3154. I even have the infamous Futaba 3154 killer the Spartan 760 (which by the way performs flawlessly) and my tail servo barely gets warm. The GY401 (on two birds have them) running in DS mode does heat up the tail servo but not hot. :thinking

I'm lucky I know and I'm not trying to be confrontational or argumentative, I'm just trying to figure out why I haven't seen this. I've got 16 2S packs and literally hundreds of flights on these little buggers.

Maybe I did something right for a change and ain't smart enough o know it?

[R0t0R]

Wish I had your luck Buzz! My 3154 was real hot. Don't know what we have set different, but I toasted mine. Luckily, there was no crash associated with the servo going out, just a piro landing. Wish I could say it was all the practice doing slow piros on the sim like LittleMan suggested, but it was spinning way to fast for me to do much other than slowly lower it to the ground before it hit anything. Stayed on it's skids and nothing bent or broke! Was flying nice up to that point. As soon as the new gyro and servo combo gets here, I will just plug them in, set them up and be back in the air enjoying this little beotch!

[Ecklund1]

Nevermind...

[psindrup]

Maybe I did something right for a change and ain't smart enough o know it?

Paul - it could be it - really. :YeaBaby::tongue

No, seriously, it could be really cool to get to the bottom of this.

I fly the 2100T and the 3154 combo in analog mode, as recommended, and my tail servo only gets "warm" (as in, you can feel that it is warmer than the rest of the heli), but I am no 3D flyer yet.

Peter

[Buzzkill]

Paul - it could be it - really. :YeaBaby::tongue

No, seriously, it could be really cool to get to the bottom of this.

I fly the 2100T and the 3154 combo in analog mode, as recommended, and my tail servo only gets "warm" (as in, you can feel that it is warmer than the rest of the heli), but I am no 3D flyer yet.

Peter


Me either unless you count unintentional inverted flight, high-wind flips/rolls and full throttle forward flight.

The tail servo shouldn't get hot hovering in the garage though. When I first installed a Spartan 760 on one I did pitch pumps at a flat 90 throttle curve until I puffed my first Gaui 2S pack to check the temps. Warm but not hot. I do wicked fast pyros and as much pumping as the 401 can handle (doesn't hold like a 760) not to mention windy days and it gets warm but not hot.

One thing I always do when repairing or check the heli is make sure the tail linkage is smooth and easy. Not sloppy but I disconnect the tail linkage from the tail servo and move by hand feeling for tightness and/or sticking. I use silicon spray on dang near everything too.

[Jetleaf]

Has anyone checked their bec output voltage??

[Buzzkill]

Is it adjustable?

[R0t0R]

I had wondered about the voltage issue before and was considering using a step down regulator. Just double checked my previous findings and using an APlus 2S 7.4V pack, AR6100 rx and GY401, the voltage coming out of the gyro is 4.98V. With that, it seems like the voltage is not the problem. The linkage on my 200 is smooth and no binding. Wish I had an answer the to hot s3154 problem. Nice light servo, but since I fried it, am going to the combo LogicTech 2100T & 3100G. Like to use a gyro and servo that are designed to go together, so at least for now, the s3154 is a no go for me. If someone finds a solution, I would consider giving it a go again down the road.

[piper]

My 3154 was getting really hot just hovering with the Spartan 760. I bought a Logitech 3100 and it runs barely warm.

[Jetleaf]

Is it adjustable?

No not adjustable but with all the variables in manufacturing I was thinking maybe yours was lower than those who have smoked their servos. I checked both of mine and they were 5.02 and 5.08 at the receiver.

[Buzzkill]

The stock ESC seems to vary slightly from user to user but averages around 5v. I took my belt drive 401/3154 out todat to re-test the heat issue. Ran it as hard as I could at flat 90% through three packs. A little warm but not hot at all.

I suspected maybe my TT with the phoenix 10 is running less amps and it is. The Stock Gaui ESC runs at 2.0amps the Phoenix 10 at 1.5amps. I havent been able to nail down how many volts the Phoenix 10 is putting out but the Gaui ESC is 5v. This may be a factor in my SD/TT setup not getting hot. I've ran both 2S and 3S batteries wit the phoenix 10 without a problem. The 2S's are what I use 99% of the time though.

Anyone know what the output on a Phoenix 10 BEC is?


[EDIT]

Well now I'm confused. There seems to be two Phoenix 10 ESC manuals. One thats states 1.5a and another that states 3.0a. Back to the drawing board.

[Jetleaf]

I don't have my Phoenix 10 in a bird right now or I would check it.

[Buzzkill]

Did you have any issues with the Phoenix 10 ESC? Mine seems perfectly fine. The new firmware gives it a "turbine" sound when it spools up.