Ion Actro 32-3 Finally Flying!

[LCHelilover]

Well, I finally got the Ion flying today! I'm very happy with it for the first few flights.

I do have question though. I'm flying it with TP 8000 pro lites and the Hacker esc as Chris sent it. I'm running the throttle curve as suggested in the docs- 0 at low, 85% from 25 to 100% for Normal and 100%-85%-100% for "V" curve. I didn't tack it but I couldn't tell any change in headspeed going from normal to V.

My question is this.... It seems that sometimes the headspeed builds up very slowly...like over 30 to 45 seconds after it gets airborne....other times it seems to spool up much faster- comes right up to speed within a few seconds on the ground. Is this usual, or is there something I need to change?

I flew it for about 5 minutes each for two flights today- first flight just hovering and a few circuits, second some tic tocs, rolls and loops and flips.....nothing was hottter than "warm to touch" after landing from both flights.

[fitenfyr]

On mine with the Hacker there is kind of a two stage soft start.
If you don't get the stick right up to half after the blades start to spool it will stay slow for a few seconds then step up a bit more.
I have caught myself taking off when the head hadn't hit that second stage and after a delay the head spools up a bit more in the air.

[WillJames]

I have experienced exactly what you are describing Jason. Where it takes a lot longer for the headspeed to come back up, like after doing autos. It will sometimes take about 3 times longer to get back to full headspeed after coming out of hold. Weird.

[ChrisS]

You know, I have gotten intot he habit of just flipping right into Idle1 from a dead stop, raising the stick to 0 and waiting for the head speed to peak off. I don't even use normal anymore just Idle1 and hold...I would suggest that you NOT fly your nitro helis back to back with this kind of use

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Chris

Oh yeah, in practice, you will not see much difference between 80% and 100% on the ESC.

[misskimo]

hey , with the schulze , you can tell at 95% from 100%
one think I noticed with kontronics too , I had to dial down to around 70% to get the headspeed to change
that actro torque is something huh? and the sound , like a 4 barrel with the breather flipped hittin about 5500 RPM with glass-pacs , YEEHHhhh!

[WillJames]

Speaking of ESC starting procedures....


On the HV-110, unless you are in Governor mode, you cannot just move the stick to 1/2 stick when you softstart or your heli will piro a few times on the ground. ;) It seems in noon-gov mode, when you softstart with a normal linear (more like S curve a 0-25-50-85-100 N type curve) curve, it will only softstart as far as you moove the stick up until you get through about roughly (I need more experience with it to say for sure) approx 50% then it spools on up. If you hold the stick at 1/4 throttle, it will softstart up to about 1/4 throttle or so and just stay there as long as you keep the throttle at 1/4. I really like how it starts.

Does anyone else have any comments on this? Maybe I should have made it a new topic.

[LCHelilover]

On mine with the Hacker there is kind of a two stage soft start.
If you don't get the stick right up to half after the blades start to spool it will stay slow for a few seconds then step up a bit more.
I have caught myself taking off when the head hadn't hit that second stage and after a delay the head spools up a bit more in the air.

Yes, I think that is what I'm describing. If I just bring the stick up to 1/4 or so, it seems to take a lot longer to spool up that if I bring it up to 1/2 stick....which doesn't make much sense to me since my normal throttle curve is flat at 85% from 25 to 100%. Any Hacker savant's know why this happens?

[MinAirChris]

"On the HV-110, unless you are in Governor mode, you cannot just move the stick to 1/2 stick when you softstart or your heli will piro a few times on the ground."

Yes, I saw that too and have always run the thing in gov mode, which works pretty good with this control, except when down shifting from a high speed to low speed...at that time you will get a tail swing, no way around it as long as you are two-speeding.

With the Hacker, I have noticed the 2 stage softstart thing too. I suspect that this is Hackers way of getting a positive motor start every time, with any motor. Those that may have tried some of the early brushless setups may remember how some speed controls had serious problems getting started. Drove me crazy four years ago.

With the Hacker control, I have arrived at the habit of just flipping the thing into idle1 from a dead stop, feathering the collective to 0 degrees, waiting for the head to come up to speed and then go fly. I use a very shallow "V" curve of 100,95,90,95,100 and I always auto down. About the only time I even use normal mode is just when I first turn everything on. This works well for me and avoids the shortcomings of the control.


Chris

[WillJames]

With the Hacker control, I have arrived at the habit of just flipping the thing into idle1 from a dead stop, feathering the collective to 0 degrees, waiting for the head to come up to speed and then go fly. I use a very shallow "V" curve of 100,95,90,95,100 and I always auto down. About the only time I even use normal mode is just when I first turn everything on. This works well for me and avoids the shortcomings of the control.


Good advice, but I have to say that it takes a pretty heavy pair of nuts to flip that I1 switch the first time. Every time other people fly my Ion's they are always apprehensive of the startup. Once the thing is up to speed they fly it like they own it. ;)