Underpowered?

[agran1021]

I'm new to the sport. Bought a Lama and fly it with no problems regardless of the heli's orientation. Bought a HPFP as the next stage. Followed RADD's flight training course through battery #10. Also have a good flight simulator and have spent hours on it.

Here's the rub: I can't get the HB off the ground. Started out with training gear and after many batteries and many attempts, couldn't get it more than an 1" off the deck. Said, "What the he__, maybe the training gear is too heavy." Took it off and still can't get the HB off the deck more than an inch, and then, it's just hopping along.

I'm flying the HPFP "straight out of the box." Have three 8.4v, 650mAh NI-MH batteries and none seem to perform differently than the others. I am using the ESky charger that came with the heli. Charge the batteries for approximately two hours until they are hot. Voltmeter shows they have a full charge.

I've noted in other threads that someone suggested moving to an 8.4v 800 mAh LiPo battery. I can't find such a battery. I only see 7.4v or 11.1v LiPo's. It seems to me the 11.1v would burn out the motor.

Help!

[kodak_jack]

Don't jump into new batteries yet. The amount of lift depends on the pitch of the blades too. One quick suggestion I've seen is to pick up the heli by the blade tips and give them an outward pull. Another is to use pieces of tape on 1/2 of the blade root in an effort to change the pitch. Tape on one side would give positive pitch while on the opposite side would give negative pitch. There are benefits to modding your heli, but when just starting out, keep it as stock as possible so you're not introducing too many variables.

[PAS]

I would recommend that you switch to a 2S lipo (7.4v) battery. They are much lighter and the HBFP will fly well with it. You must use a charger that is designed for lipos. If that does not help, it may be that the motor brushes are worn out. In that case you will need a new motor. I also recommend that you buy the motor heatsinks because when you are just in the hovering stages, the motors get very warm.
-Paul

[agran1021]

I'll try my 7.4v Lama LiPo's to see if they help. I'll also try the tape idea. Seems to make sense to me. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Mr.Andersen]

There is a two things that comes to mind when reading these tread.

1- Rotorblades are mounted upside down, these way you will get to litle lift from blades that are running reverse.
Its like backing with a boat, you get thrust but not the same amount as forward.

2- Something is to tight in your powertrain.
It can be bad bearing, motor pinion to close to the main gear.
Check that the main shaft are running freely.

[agran1021]

Checked power train and blades. Blades are right side up. Power train turns easily and smoothly by hand.

Tried my Lama LiPo's. Without the training gear installed, I'm able to get about 3' off the deck. :clappp Better than before, but obviously I won't be doing any 3D with this setup :YeaBaby:

So I guess I'm setup okay to practice hovering but, for some reason, I guess I need to order a new motor. Are these difficult to install? Also, the one that came with the bird sure didn't last very long. What's the life expectancy?

[clockedup]

i doubt its the motor i had the same problems your explaining and put it down to bad setup i had superskids on aswell. make sure the heli, main an tail blades are all balanced also check your flybar is set at 0 pitch. some people say they run a little positive on the flybar i i didnt think it made any difference to my bird but just check both paddles are aligned correctly with one another. the next thing is blade tracking with the blades spinning at 'nearly' take off speed get on the ground and check that the blades are running in line/level. if not loosen/tighten the blades to roughly the same both sides. if all thats in order an your still not getting any further off the ground then id have to agree an try changing the motor but as its 'new' i really doubt this is the cause. hope this helps :Bang

[agran1021]

Helps big time; thanks. I've not had much luck seeing anything when checking blade tracking. Looks okay to me, but I don't know what out-of-track blades should look like. I'll give it another try. When you check blade and flybar pitch, do you check the blade near the tip or near the root? Also, when checking the motor pinion and main gear, it APPEARS to be okay (the teeth on the pinion do not reach the bottom of the main gear teeth but how do you know)? Should there be a little bit of play?

[clockedup]

the perfect gear mesh would have no play at all but were talkin mass produced jap plastics so yeah you will get a little but just make sure its as little as possible i spend a good little while playin about with this. best way is to just remove the main blades this way you can hold the bird properly and also see what youre doing better (when its upside down). get the point of the gear motor almost touching the inner groove of the main gear. when its right it will spin freely and have hardly any noise when spinning if it does make noise its to tight. an little trick is to put a piece of paper in between the gears then fasten as when you remove the paper it leaves a small gap but triala n error is the best way imo. you cant adjust blade pitch as its a fixed pitch but anyways get the blades parallel to the boom and get your swash plate level (dont forget this). now you should have the flybar poking out from each side of the heli, the fins need to be level. but first without the paddels (fins) and weights measure each end to make sure its central, if not adjust. the long edge of the fin is the trailing edge i.e. goes at the back, get the fins as level as possible and make sure the fixing screws are nice an tight but be careful as they can move quite easy when your tightening them. then as for flybar weights thats upto you but if its your first them have them on. your tracking is quite easy put the heli on a table an spin up blades not to fast as it takes off! look at the heli front on and look at the spinning blades they should look straight and level if it looks any diff u need to adjust by tightenin the screws that fasten the blade to the head, they should both be of very similar 'tightness'

[agran1021]

Well, the LiPo battery solution worked great. The reduced battery weight made all of the difference in the world. Used my Lama LiPo's and they worked. Purchased some inexpensive LiPo's from Ka Planes and Kopters, Deal Extreme, and LiPo Stuff. All have worked just fine. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. Thanks.:thumbup:

[UAV_PILOT]

Well, the LiPo battery solution worked great. The reduced battery weight made all of the difference in the world. Used my Lama LiPo's and they worked. Purchased some inexpensive LiPo's from Ka Planes and Kopters, Deal Extreme, and LiPo Stuff. All have worked just fine. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. Thanks.:thumbup:
so is the bird flying normal now? I mean can you do forward flight and hover higher then 6 feet off the ground? I tried the 2s 7.4 lipos I had in my co comanche and it still would only get a foot off the ground.

[agran1021]

Unfortunately, I can't answer your question. I'm a newbie, so a 6' tail-in hover is all I want to do. But there seems to be sufficient power for a much higher hover and for forward flight. This is with 7.4v 900 mAh LiPo's.