Upgrades Anonymous :)

[mkovalcson]

Hi, my name is Mark and I am an upgrad-o-holic

I think I've resigned myself to the fact that if anything looks stronger or tighter or just cooler, it's going to end up on my heli.

I'm really happy that there is such a strong ecosystem supporting the TREX 550E.

It makes things fun!

Recent upgrades:

• KDE main gears with thrust bearings ( really nice improvement)
• KDE battery tray( helps secure my buffer battery better )
• KDE tail upgrade ( seems nice )
• KDE Head ( nice clamping mechanism, minor improvement )
• 600 EFL blade holders and arms ( total bling, but looks stronger)
• Tarot 2.0mm frames ( cheaper stronger )

There is very little Align left in my 550E other than the crash parts, but I guess those are the parts that I will buy again and again

[60something]

I added the KDE front mount plate (alu) and the KDE Anti-rotation/gyro plate (alu - the anti-rotation loop is a separate piece for those with FBL.) Really strengthens/stiffens the top half of the frame. I added 4 frame spreader bars - one under the battery tray, upper, one under the main gear, drilled a pair of holes and mounted one below the main gear at the bottom tray (just above it), and I re-machined one to fit between the strut mounts at the rear base of the chassis above the rear LG mount. I made one for the front chassis base over the front LG mount but can't use it until I re-engineer the canopy mounting. All of the above made the stock frame very much stiffer and I believe, stronger. Hasn't crashed yet but has taken some hard landings with no ills.

[mkovalcson]

I actually did get an extra pair of spreader bars after seeing your suggestion earlier.

I will put them below the main gear and by the battery tray when I rebuild.

I'm glad the Tarot 2.0mm frame is thicker as I was needing extra carbon shims to keep my 8717's from touching. Hopefully I can eliminate those shims now with the extra .4mm wall thickness on each side since the servos will be .8mm further apart now.

[60something]

Adding the stiffeners and plates probably added back the weight saved from going to the thinner frames, but adding the parts was easier than changing out the frames to 2mm frames - a lot easier. Mind you, I don't know how strong you can make it to keep one of those batteries from falling right through it. I also put washers on all the bolts - looks better and my thinking is if a bolt pulls through, the frame is susceptible to flexing and fracturing.

[mkovalcson]

Ouch, looks like my one way bearing may be shot too...

Hmmm.....

Did someone say you could buy the hub with the OWB preinstalled. My last attempt to press ( read hammer ) one in didn't go well....

[dct]

Except for the CC BEC Pro... my Trex 550e 3GX V2 is all stock and works....... Great just like it is!!!!!!! 26 flights and more to come...!!!
Oh,, my Trex 450 V2 has about 2000 flights on it now and it still works GREAT ...!!!
IMO the best up grade is more batteries.... That will give you more flight time and that will make YOU a better pilot....!! Not more BLING!!

[chrismechanic]

Originally Posted by mkovalcson

Ouch, looks like my one way bearing may be shot too...

Hmmm.....

Did someone say you could buy the hub with the OWB preinstalled. My last attempt to press ( read hammer ) one in didn't go well....

yes... imo the owb is £9.99 and a new sleeve is £4.59...but the whole new hub is £12.49 its a no brainer..... you cannot hammer in owb...it has to be pressed in using a drift with an angle of relief cut on. no angle and it will damage the owb casing
chris

[mkovalcson]

My OWB is fine. I had something jammed in there and it was dragging a little. Now it is spinning freely!

If upgrading my heli is a foolish waste of money, the bigger question is when does this hobby become foolish?

To date my PowerLab 8 V2 can recharge my Hyperions as fast as I can use them at the airfield. I have 12 batteries for my mCPX's and another dozen batteries for my kids acrobatic foamies. I'm not battery limited

The whole point of this is to have fun!

For different people that fun comes from different things. I saw on the main forum where one guy just loved building heli's and would buy kits build them up and sell them at a loss. For some people it is getting a scale model one step closer to perfection in appearance to a real heli. This can be incredibly time consuming and costly. For someone else it is FPV and flying the heli with goggles on. Once again the dollar signs can escalate pretty quickly.

To someone who is having trouble paying the bills and putting food on the table, this whole hobby is a complete waste of money and would seem foolish.

At the other end of the spectrum, I have a friend who flies RC jets with real turbines running jet fuel. He has an 8' long F-16 that goes over 200mph and he has about $12,000 in it. His engine needs to go in for service for a complete tear down periodically. He drives over 2 hours to get to an airfield with a long enough runway for him to take of and land safely.

Do I consider that foolish? For me, it would be, but for him this is his one real passion outside of work. It is not a financial burden for him or taking away from anything for his family. He loves jets, and you can see it in his face when he talks about them.

Three months ago if I knew what I was going to spend both in terms of time and money on the hobby, I might have backed off. However, I'm really enjoying this hobby and my wife says she hasn't seen a boyish grin like this on me in a while.

My 550E has only seen about 20 flights before this last crash, but each flight has been memorable and exciting. I hope to have many more flights with my blinged out 550E and I'm sure there will be new upgrades that I will want for it.

This hobby has been way too much fun!!!

[1004ron]

Originally Posted by mkovalcson

This hobby has been way too much fun!!!

I think you meant IS way too much fun.

We all indulge in bling to some degree, and I see no harm in that, and no need to defend it - enjoy what you can afford.

[dct]

I will stick with,,, ( most BLING will not make you or your helicopter fly BETTER ...!) Some people try to justify there BLING , saying it makes my helicopter fly sooooooo much better!!
After years of fly helicopter's all I'm saying is.. ( no it doesn't...)
I agree some Bling might help a little...! But most of it is just a pi$$ing contest ...!

[mkovalcson]

I've seen Al Szabo Jr. fly a stock 550E in video. I do not in any way shape or form expect that I will ever match his flying ability no matter how much Bling I have on my heli.

I'm not competing with anyone for a blinged out heli boobie prize. I'm just having fun



Fly what you've got and have fun!!!!

[WBFines]

Mkovalcson I'm with you, I enjoy the bling. Granted 90% of the bling won't make it fly any better. That's where practice comes in. And I also didn't buy a Smart phone with any intentions of it making me smarter. But it sure looks cool. Just like chrome valve covers on a Big Block.


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[mkovalcson]

My new KDE head and KDE replacement battery tray just arrived.

2 more shipments need to arrive before I get to put humpty back together again.

Waiting oh so patiently.... Not!

Now back to work so I can pay for all this "useless" Bling

[Phaedrus]

Here's what upgraded/changed on my FB:

MicroHeli tail rotor control arms

ADK frame stiffener

Two additional Trex 600 frame spacers one under the main gear the other under the battery tray

Quick UK carbon fiber tail rotor pushrod and guide

Align metal servo arms

2mm tail fin (Trex 600)

Futaba GY520 gyro

Separate RX/Servo battery (Hyperion 1,450 mAh LiFePO4)

Emcotec magnetically actuated switch

RCBooya canopy latches


Links:

http://www.microheli.com/store/produ...roducts_id/368

http://grandrc.com/Elec.-Helis-&-Par...rame-Stiffener

http://www.readyheli.com/TX55T24-BK-...k_p_37843.html
/product_info.html

http://www.rcbooya.com/550-series.html

http://shop.rc-electronic.com/e-vend...=6&c=541&p=541

[daloops]

Originally Posted by dct

Except for the CC BEC Pro... my Trex 550e 3GX V2 is all stock and works....... Great just like it is!!!!!!!

Why did you add the CC BEC Pro? Are the stock Align parts not good enough?

[dct]

Originally Posted by daloops

Why did you add the CC BEC Pro? Are the stock Align parts not good enough?

Not sure why you are asking? But I always use one for anything these size.. Using full size digital servos ...
I don't call a CC Bec Pro,,,, bling....
And ,, If you do.....??You don't know what Bling is...!

[mkovalcson]

There are far too many reports of the stock BEC burning up and toasting other much more expensive parts of the helicopter.

There are some graphic images if you look around. Most people seem to agree that adding a BEC upgrade is a really good form of insurance.

On that note, I would point out that many of the upgrades I "initiallly" made were as insurance. The Jive 100+LV is admittedly an expensive piece of equipment, and I probably could have made do with a Jive 80LV, but I wanted a safety margin and no worries about failure. I also have Buffer Battery to suppliment the 5A continuous draw 15A peak of my Jive 100LV BEC circuit. This means that if my Flight battery dies, or the BEC should ever fail how ever unlikely that is that I can auto down. To my best knowledge Kontroniks is the only ESC/BEC that allows a buffer battery.

I watched a friend flying two weeks ago whose heli crashed after loosing power, and his first comment was that if he had buffer battery like I did that he could have landed it.

I'd read more than a few accounts of how much smoother the Futaba BLS251 was and how many problems it solved for different people. It is also brushless and should have a much longer life than the stock tail servo.

Some expenditures are for "insurance" and safety, not just because a part looks pretty.

Many things are bling and may not impact performance, but some things are just preventative as many of the stock parts that work fine for a while are known to fail and sometimes catastrophically.

[daloops]

Originally Posted by dct

Not sure why you are asking? But I always use one for anything these size.. Using full size digital servos ...
I don't call a CC Bec Pro,,,, bling....
And ,, If you do.....??You don't know what Bling is...!

I'm not calling and nor did I indicate a CC BEC Pro as "BLING" ... I was merely trying to ask if the stock Align BEC was not good enough and an "UPGRADE" was necessary.

Thank you mkovalcson for seeing past the "BLING" hangup and simply explaining it for me. I have a 550E 3GX on order and have just ordered a CC BEC Pro to install once I get it.

[Phaedrus]

Why bother with a "buffer" pack? Why not just use a separate pack for the electronics? I mean, the pack is there, why not just use it and eliminate the BEC all together?

[mkovalcson]

Why bother with a buffer pack?

1. It is MUCH easier to deal with. I only charge it once in a blue moon, and the BEC keeps it topped off.
2. It is a second source for current if the Motor is drawing a lot of current and the BEC circuit is being shorted at all. So extra current to drive my servo's SK-720, TM-1000 etc is there.
3. They offer redundancy to the BEC, relying exclusively on a second battery would give me an additional failure point instead of one less failure point.
4. They don't weigh that much since they are only used for peak current draw or in the event of a BEC failure.
5. They are a perfect weight to get my COG right where I want it.

I think that is about it

BTW this is just a 2000mah NiMH eneloop 4 cell battery which is what Kontroniks recommends be placed in parallel with their BEC. They very specifically support and suggest this setup as a safety measure.