New owner with battery question

[XMXER51]

hello everyone, i just got a new blade 400. it is my first helicopter. i have flown it about 10 times just hovering and a very little bit of forward flight. heres the problem...even just hovering in ground effect in my garage i can only get about 1:30 - 2:00 min before the battery gives out and the heli drops to the floor. if i power it up more it will fly for another 10 sec. or so then drop again. power up again and it goes maybe 5 sec. i have 3 batteries and they are all the same. when i put the batteries on the charger they show full charge in about 30 min. they are not really warm at all when they are done if that means anything. when i remove them from the heli they are a very little bit warm. i thought i had a problem with the charger so i went to my LHS and bought a "better" one, but still have the same problem. any ideas would really be appreciated. thanks - mark

[Slyster]

Very common problem. Your ESC is over heating. Install a BEC or make sure the rotor turns freely and tail belt isn't too tight. Here' a pretty good thread with the same situation.

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?p=896831

[XMXER51]

if the esc is overheating would it be hot to the touch?

[RVFR]

Hmm I thinking that there's something going on with the charging process, It takes at least a better part of an hour at the minimum on each one for all my batteries to charge, it takes an average from what I'm experiencing an hour 15, of course this is after I use the battery pretty much up for what I consider safe, which under normal circumstances I see 7+ minutes of flight time, and I know I have more to go too, but no pushing my luck in deep cycling it out. I'm just hovering going back and forth too. I'd look into the charging first, A stock B400 isn't going to over heat IMO, Well I've never heard of one do that, now one that is modded out and doing 3d that's different.

[clamman]

i had the same problem it was the esc they replaced it free and i also put in a bec to keep the esc cool

[Arsenix2001]

just by chance, do you have a pitch guage? Mine stock had positive pitch of like 16 degrees and was killing my flight time. should be around 10 deg + at full collective.

[XMXER51]

i dont have a pitch guage, but i will get one and check that. thanks

[XMXER51]

if i need a bec or another esc i dont know what i will do. i dont think i am qualified to make these repairs or whatever programming may be necessary.

[RVFR]

Originally Posted by XMXER51

when i put the batteries on the charger they show full charge in about 30 min.

Even thou you got another charger don't figure you're out of the woods just yet, if they only take a 1/2 hour to charge, there's something else going on. A 80% discharged battery should take an hour plus to charge, that said I'm not saying the ESC isn't at fault, I've read a many threads that have faulty ESC right out of the box, just seems simpler to double check your batteries too.

[Ozz58]

Touch your ESC after a flight, it should be warm, not hot. You will have to push your fingers down hard on it to tell.

Mine was doing the same thing, it was summer in Dallas so it was hot outside. I moved my ESC to the outside of the frame, that helped some, but the BEC fixed the problem. A BEC is cheap $20, and not that hard to wire in.

Let us know if you need help doing this,

Craig

[XMXER51]

RVFR, if the esc is getting hot and it shuts down in just 1:30 min. wouldnt it be normal that the batteries would recharge in just 30 min or so?

[Ozz58]

I can answer, after a 1-2 min. flight it will take around 20 - 30 min to charge on the stock charger.

[XMXER51]

sounds about right. so im back to needing a BEC probably. i had to replace the main shaft and feathering pin after a stupid little roll over in deep grass and found the repairblade400 web site that showed me step by step how to do it really easily. do you know of a site that would show how to add a BEC?

[Ozz58]

The directions that came with my Castle BEC were pretty good, I also think there's a video in the newbie link showing how.

[Slyster]

XM.. you might as well get your hands dirty and install a BEC your self... trust me. you will know this heli inside and out.. every washer.. every bearing... even the insides of the servos... You will rebuild it many times! (well.. most do anyway.. crashes).. it's not hard.

[XMXER51]

thanks Ozz58 i will check it out.

[mr008]

Originally Posted by XMXER51

sounds about right. so im back to needing a BEC probably. i had to replace the main shaft and feathering pin after a stupid little roll over in deep grass and found the repairblade400 web site that showed me step by step how to do it really easily. do you know of a site that would show how to add a BEC?

also make sure there is no binding anywhere , servos, tail push rod etc, binding will cause the esc to overheat, had kinda the same problem my first few flight and it was a crooked pushrod.

[bobyjimmie]

XM I was in your boat, there are great teachers here. Very insightful and patient. You, like all of us, will know this heli inside and out very very soon and you will no longer be intimidated by it. Its actually very simple.

I highly recommend buying a pitch gauge and two new alans. Driver kind, like a screw driver. You need 1.5 and 2mm if I recall right. Your life will be easier and they are by far the most used tools on that heli.

Btw in a very short while you will find tinkering on the heli to be rather fun and often very relaxing. Watch Sokals vids on head setup if you havnt already.

[Larry227]

If you get a SportBEC all you have to do is unplug your ESC, plug it into the Sport and plug the Sport into the reciever where the ESC was plugged in. Then just add the power and ground wires to the battery connector. Might as well order some Dean's connectors also and go ahead and make the switch to those. Good time to do it.

[XMXER51]

i can do structural repairs. nothing electronic though. especially if it involves soldering. i will try to find someone else to send it to for whatever fix it needs. its sucks that they sell these with electronics in them that wont even run non 3d without overheating. i would have bought something different if i had know that it wouldnt ever work right from day 1.