Astroid Designs Mild Brushless Kit Battery Thurst Test

[vertico]

Hi everyone, I have performed a series of thrust tests with my Astroid Designs Nano brushless Mild kit. I tested each battery in Idle Up governed at 68%. I will follow up with the same test at 75%

AUW
29.06 eFlite 150mAh
29.05 Turnigy Nanotech 160mAh
30.41 Hyperion 180mAh with Astroid Designs mount
31.74 Hyperion 240mAh with Astroid Designs mount

I sampled negative thrust every 30 seconds down to .01 grams. Results are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Min ----eFlite 150 ---Nanotech 160 --- Hyperion 180 ---Hyperion 240
0:30 ---43 --------------37 --------------------54 -------------------55
1:00 ---36 --------------33 ------------------- 52 -------------------52
1:30 ---28 --------------31 --------------------36 -------------------50
2:00 ---27 --------------30 --------------------27 -------------------45
2:30 ---23 --------------26 --------------------25 ------------------ 45
3:00 ---20 --------------21 ------------------- 23 -------------------44
3:30 ---10 --------------16 --------------------20 -------------------35
4:00 ---n/a ---------------8 --------------------13 -------------------27
4:30 ---n/a ------------- n/a ------------------ n/a ------------------21
5:00 ---n/a --------------n/a ------------------ n/a ------------------12
The numbers don't speak the truth about the eFlite batteries compared to the Nanotechs. In flight the eFlite batteries perform 3D much better than the Nanotechs.
I have yet to perform flight tests with the Hyperions but based on these numbers I expect excellent results. I will update this post on my thoughts of the Hyperion after flight tests.

On a side note I am completely impressed with the design of the Astroid battery mounts. I was skeptical that they might not stay on well but the design is brilliant, easy to install and very solid. Well done Dylan!

(Well i fixed the format for pc users but looks bad on tapatalk, use a pc to view)

[MattRendall]

Wow! Great testing. I'm curious to see your flight tests. I have 6 of the e flights so i'll feel real silly if the hyps blow them out of the water.

Sent from my Verizon Galaxy SIII

[unit3890]

Please let us know how the hyperion 240s affect flight characteristics! I would love 5 minute flight times.

[donaldsneffe]

I made the same experience - Eflite batteries are much better than (both) Nanotech (types).

Walter

[blbills]

This is great data. I too am interested in how the hyperions perform in flight!

[hoggy]

Hey guys just hooked up my mild brushless kit the motor sometimes does not spin up and the esc beeps at me is there an arming sequence? when it does work it feels lacking in power and does not hold a steady headspeed i was just wondering what throttle curve do i use?

thanks in advance for your help.

[Daryoon]

Yes, I have an idea. Are you using:

Governor TX or Governor ARM?

[Nytflyer]

Originally Posted by hoggy

Hey guys just hooked up my mild brushless kit the motor sometimes does not spin up and the esc beeps at me is there an arming sequence? when it does work it feels lacking in power and does not hold a steady headspeed i was just wondering what throttle curve do i use?

thanks in advance for your help.

Yes there is an arming sequence with BLheli. This is a GREAT thread and if you are not familiar with BLheli I suggest you read. Thanks DoubleCH

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread...ix#post3904838

[Gameburg]

Looks great with the 240 battery, I have 10 of them going in my direction from Fast-lad (they got a really nice price right now £2.99). Looking forward to get those and my mild kit that is on the way.
Only problem right now is that I made a misstake when ordering from Dylan, I ordered the 180 battery holder instead of 240
I'll see if I will make a solution of my own or put another order, but the shipping to sweden costs a lot.

[SHYguy]

Originally Posted by hoggy

Hey guys just hooked up my mild brushless kit the motor sometimes does not spin up and the esc beeps at me is there an arming sequence? when it does work it feels lacking in power and does not hold a steady headspeed i was just wondering what throttle curve do i use?

thanks in advance for your help.

I think I know what you mean, I experience the same now and then. There's a very long spool up time in the BLHeli version on the first Mild kits (I have one from the 1st batch). 8 secs I think.

First you need to arm it by moving the throttle a little, then back (in normal mode, with std settings). It confirms with some beeps. Then you can spool up. But sometimes it doesen't manage to spin the motor (the main stops, but the tail revs up). I then just throttle down, and very gently give very little throttle at first. Or you can flip it to IU and let it spool up. As I understand the latest code has a faster spool up time.

The only thing that matters here is that you set a flat idle up (stunt mode) throttle curve. Experiment with what you find suitable. I'm at 80% now on my DX6i radio. In order to make good use of the brushless (and to use governor) you must be in "fixed speed" = "idle up". I only use standard mode for spooling up and landing. I find it spools up faster if you first gently spool up in normal mode, then flick to IU.

[Finix]

So I was a "lucky one" and was able to snag a mild kit. It is being shipped today. Has anyone tried the Hyperion 250mah mCPx battery? I have 6 fresh ones laying around and I am thinking I can use the mCPx stock skids to hold the 250 battery. I know I will have to swap the connector, but while I have the soldering iron out, I might as well swap the connector.

[Nytflyer]

I tried it out and was not super impressed. Flies fine for just sport zipping around flying but as soon as I started flipping and such it just seemed to heavy and bogged the heli down. My cells are sort of old though with at least 100 cycles from the mcpx so take it for what it's worth.

Tried a few different batts now and the stock eflites seem to be the best.....well that is if you get a good one. I have bought 8 in the past month and only 4 of them have been good.

[lespaulrob]

How long is everyong flying on the stock e-flite batteries? From the OP's graph, it looks like 3:30 MAX and that might even hit an LVR. Do you just set your timers at 3:00 and land from there?

[desertstalker]

I get 4mins easily from the stock packs, Mild Kit at 72% TC.

[Nytflyer]

I set mine to 3:30. Seems to be perfect.

[JoelTaylor]

I was another of those very fortunate folks to score a 'mild' kit. Very impressed with the quailty if the bits, Everything went together without any fuss. I followed the instructions and armed the ESC and was running strong.

Now for my question...

I have tried to find the transmitter settings for 'GOV' mode. I set my motor curve to a flat 70%. When I power up it is like I am in idle up mode. Everything works fine, pitch control is good, TH will cut off the motor... but the thing has a head speed that is a bit much, even at 'stick down' position. Once I arm the ESC, it spools up and just sits there at high head speed.

If this is 'normal', I am OK with it, although I am getting LV cutout at around 3 min just hovering. Seems a bit excessive.

Can someone point me to how to set up a JR 9303 radio with a Spektrum module?

[vertico]

Originally Posted by JoelTaylor

I was another of those very fortunate folks to score a 'mild' kit. Very impressed with the quailty if the bits, Everything went together without any fuss. I followed the instructions and armed the ESC and was running strong.

Now for my question...

I have tried to find the transmitter settings for 'GOV' mode. I set my motor curve to a flat 70%. When I power up it is like I am in idle up mode. Everything works fine, pitch control is good, TH will cut off the motor... but the thing has a head speed that is a bit much, even at 'stick down' position. Once I arm the ESC, it spools up and just sits there at high head speed.

If this is 'normal', I am OK with it, although I am getting LV cutout at around 3 min just hovering. Seems a bit excessive.

Can someone point me to how to set up a JR 9303 radio with a Spektrum module?

Everything you are describing sounds normal however it sounds like you are not using your flight mode switch at f mode 0 you should set throttle 0-60-60-60, this will allow at stick down your heli does not spool up. In fmode 1 you should set your flat curve, try 68 all across it is good for sport flying. In this mode you will always be at full head speed based on your gov %
With this setup when you plug in your heli should not spool up

[JoelTaylor]

Ahh, the fine print. Everthing I was reading was about setting a flat curve. I took this literally to mean even at NORM mode.

I will try the 0 for point 1 on NORM mode. than make sure that things are flat.

[Daryoon]

It's a preference thing. With brushless and the BLheli code flashed to the ESC, you suddenly have more variables to fine tune to your needs.

Some ppl like a flat throttle curve in Normal mode. Using throttle hold to arm and then spool up. Getting into Stunt modes quickly.

Others prefer Normal mode to spool up more like a FP Heli cuz that's where some of us is coming from. In that the throttle stick controls the throttle as well.

Or some prefer to arm with the stick instead of throttle hold.

Then there's the Governor Arm mode. Where in Normal mode, during the arming...the max value the ESC sees is the value it will govern at. Then when you switch to stunt mode, the throttle curve is now controlling the tail mix instead of defining the governor percent. Very cool stuff.

All this power sometimes mean conflicting advices.

Also, remember that once you're below 20%, the ESC kicks out of governor mode and your throttle is now lock step with your stick. That is by design so you can land with the stick in Normal mode.

Those with flat curves in normal mode will not go below 20%, so they just use throttle cut switch to power down.

[Milo.]

Originally Posted by unit3890

Please let us know how the hyperion 240s affect flight characteristics! I would love 5 minute flight times.

I just finished flight testing the 240 Hyperions on a mild kit and they're awesome!!!
The heli does feel a bit heavier (which to me is a good thing, more similar to my 450), but the extra power compensates nicely.

Sport flying (circle, fig8, stalled turn, funnels, sloppy flips), they give full power all the way up 5-6 minutes (at least, as far as I can tell). Just out of curiosity I went on flying and then with some slow circles and stuff (I even managed to flip it at 7 minutes in), I hit LVC at 9 minutes! I had to look twice at the timer to verify (I had the timer set for 5:30, and it went on until it showed UP3:33), as the OP table shows something like 5 or 5:30, but it really was 9 minutes total flight. I did do a 3 cycle break-in on the iCharger before flying, maybe that helped.
I'm currently using 69% throttle where it feels pretty similar to stock without the bogging. Tried 70%, that got out of control too easily at the end of maneuvers (stock used to struggle for power). I might up it a bit when I get more used to flying without bogging.