mCP X v2 drifting backward

[clough42]

My mCP X v2 was acting strangely today. At times, it would act like it was trimmed with backward cyclic. I had to give it 1/4 to 1/3 forward cyclic to hold it in a hover. If I centered the cyclic, it would take off backward. I fought it for about ten seconds, then set it down and lifted off again and it hovered perfectly. I could take my hands off the sticks and it would just sit there or drift gently forward. I flew three batteries, and this happened two or three times. Each time, setting it down and lifting off again caused it to stop.

The heli has forty flights on it and has been crashed several times. The changes I made right before this started happening:

• New tail boom assembly
• New feathering shaft and dampers
• New MicroHeli aluminum swash

Any ideas what could be causing this? I was flying indoors, so it wasn't wind. I can't see how any of the mechanical parts could cause something intermittent like this, but I suppose it's possible. It feels like the gyro is getting confused about it's inertial state and is trying to correct.

It looks pretty smooth in flight. The blades appear to be tracking well and the tail is still (it had been vibrating badly before I replaced the split tail boom and feathering shaft.)

I'm using a DX6i with the factory settings (30% expo, 0-40-60-80-100 throttle, 30-40-50-75-100 pitch). All trims are centered. The heli is stock, except for the MicroHeli swash. I'm flying the 300mAH nano-tech batteries.

[My98stang46]

Check your servo elevator servo arm to see if it's bent. Also check to make sure your swash is level

[Edwii]

Mine started doing something identical to you if understand you correctly. i tore it down, cleaned all the electronics, lubed up all the moving parts, reassembled on a new frame. perfected the trim, and it was running very smooth, but then randomly in flight it starts over compinsating backwards, if you watch it from the side you can see the back servo move down as if i was telling it to pitch back.

I striped down the servo again, this time cleaning it just cleaning the silver servo strip with just alcohol(not contact cleaner) let it dry, and for the sake of good measure also cleaned the main board with alcohol(remove any hand sweat/oils that may be on it) I have only flown it a couple times... but the backwards servo pitching seems to be gone...(tho i thought i saw it once or twice, so it is at least better i hope)

If cleaning your servo's doesn't help then it is probably mechanical. Clean, lube, and realign everything else. Added friction to the main motor causes torquing issues that change the flight characteristics, same thing applies if a servo is forced to work harder then the others. if your getting even a small amount of vibration it could be messing a bit with the fbl system / gyro, put a couple o rings/grommets between the board and the frame to help dampen it

[GeKu]

Mine did the same thing. I bought mine in the beginning of January and it started to do it around the beginning of Feb. Due to the winter, I've only been flying around in my house and practising orientations with side in, tail nose, etc. It started to drift randomly backwards usually by the third battery. I let it rest for a couple minutes in between and no difference. It just randomly drifts backwards. I have to do the same and land it and give it some elevator commands and usually it will reset. Most of the time, I unplug and reinitialize it. I contacted HH twice. The first guy wanted me to send it in from Canada and said it was out of warranty. I called again after a couple weeks thinking I could live with it. The second rep said that even though it is out of warranty, he is going to send me a new V2 board but they are on B/O until early April. I would contact support anyways. The more that let them know about this issue, then maybe the more likely they will do something about it. I've done everything as well as cleaning servos, levelled swash, checking cg, moving battery forward went over the head with a fine toothed comb but it didn't solve anything. I now have a V1 board and absolutely no problems with it anymore.

[Edwii]

Originally Posted by GeKu

Mine did the same thing. I bought mine in the beginning of January and it started to do it around the beginning of Feb. Due to the winter, I've only been flying around in my house and practising orientations with side in, tail nose, etc. It started to drift randomly backwards usually by the third battery. I let it rest for a couple minutes in between and no difference. It just randomly drifts backwards. I have to do the same and land it and give it some elevator commands and usually it will reset. Most of the time, I unplug and reinitialize it. I contacted HH twice. The first guy wanted me to send it in from Canada and said it was out of warranty. I called again after a couple weeks thinking I could live with it. The second rep said that even though it is out of warranty, he is going to send me a new V2 board but they are on B/O until early April. I would contact support anyways. The more that let them know about this issue, then maybe the more likely they will do something about it. I've done everything as well as cleaning servos, levelled swash, checking cg, moving battery forward went over the head with a fine toothed comb but it didn't solve anything. I now have a V1 board and absolutely no problems with it anymore.

I got mine in jan, and has started doing it too as of this week, I will take your advice and give them a call, how much warranty do you get any ways? 30days? lol

[clough42]

I put in a ticket with HH through the web site. I've not dealt with them before. Should I call instead?

[Liduno]

Originally Posted by clough42

I put in a ticket with HH through the web site. I've not dealt with them before. Should I call instead?

Yes, their customer service is A1 but their e mail response time isn't..lol

[clough42]

Update: I had some silicone o-rings coming in the mail, so I decided to wait and see if they helped. As far as I can tell from flying seven batteries, the backward drift is gone.

I have o-rings on all of the links, and around the 3-in-1 mounting screws (on both sides of the board). The screws are just tight enough to start to compress the o-rings, but not tight enough to flatten them. I also loosened up the tail wires a touch to make sure they weren't transmitting vibes to the board.

I'm guessing it was caused (or at least aggravated) by vibrations in the frame and isolating the board solved it.

[GeKu]

I also have o rings on as well as the MH swash. I have the stock o rings on the lower swash and got some more from a fellow freaker to put on the inner swash as well as the blade grip balls. I still had the random drift problem. I have not tried putting some o rings in between the 3 in 1 though. I've been flying my V2 with a V1 board since late Feb. I'm gonna try mounting the V2 3 in 1 with a bit of gyro tape and see if that stops the backward drift. Still waiting for HH to send me a new V2 board.

[clough42]

Update: after another 30 or so batteries, the backward drift is still gone. I'm going to call the silicone o-rings under the mounting screws on both sides of the board the fix.

Incidentally, it was still holding and flying straight after I bent a feathering shaft so badly that the whole heli was just a blur, sitting there in a hover. I didn't fly it long in that condition, but I was shocked that the gyros could sense anything in that mess.

[Liduno]

Originally Posted by clough42

Update: after another 30 or so batteries, the backward drift is still gone. I'm going to call the silicone o-rings under the mounting screws on both sides of the board the fix.

Incidentally, it was still holding and flying straight after I bent a feathering shaft so badly that the whole heli was just a blur, sitting there in a hover. I didn't fly it long in that condition, but I was shocked that the gyros could sense anything in that mess.

I got one of those rdhol isolating boards and like you with a bent feathering shaft the heli still flew.

It would never do that with out isolating the board, the thing would be twitching 90 degrees all over the place..lol