Some questions-pliers, remote sat. ext. length, swash tool, ground location, etc

[jmcdonald]

Just prepping for the build and have a few questions. I could probably find these answers and do planning on reading multiple subthreads/build videos, but thought I'd give it a shot and ask anyway.

1. Which ball link pliers are best? The Mavrik pliers fron Nankin? I heard some positive reviews on KSJ plastic pliers that wouldn't chew up the plastic links as bad.

2. Do you really need to run the wire for grounding the boom all the way to the motor mount or can you just secure it to the first hex screw?

3. What is everyone using for the motor/ESC connectors? 4mm bullets? 5.5, 6.5mm? On my CC 2200 BL motor for my Losi 8T truggy I'm using the 6.5mm CC bullets that can handle tons of amps.

4. I just ordered the Spektrum DSMX satellite receiver and I can only find it with the 24" extension. I'm thinking about getting a shorter extension such as 9 or 12" to keep the clean look while saving some grams. What length works best?

5. Which swash plate tool to use?

Thanks for helping, Jesse

[360Wings]

1. Any should do. Im using a no name brand and they have worked fine on all my helis.

2. I have my grounding connection going from the boom to the boom support hex bolt, giving me connectivity between the tail, boom through to the motor..

3. The compasss motor supplied with the kit comes with connectors which are more than adequate.

4. No idea. I use sbus

5. Kit comes with swash leveling tool.

[jmcdonald]

Thank you 360. So you don't need to use a satellite receiver?

[360Wings]

Originally Posted by jmcdonald

Thank you 360. So you don't need to use a satellite receiver?

Nope.. I use a 3ch futaba sbus rx, connected to the beastx via 1 cable. Satellite rx's are a Spectrum/JR solution which was originally developed to overcome signal issues with their earlier protocols i.e. DSM.. Other manufacturers such as Futaba, Hitec and Airtronics/Sanwa dont use Sats.

[Larry227]

Originally Posted by 360Wings

1. Any should do. Im using a no name brand and they have worked fine on all my helis.

2. I have my grounding connection going from the boom to the boom support hex bolt, giving me connectivity between the tail, boom through to the motor..

3. The compasss motor supplied with the kit comes with connectors which are more than adequate.

4. No idea. I use sbus

5. Kit comes with swash leveling tool.

1. Same here. No name brand from Deal Extreme I bought years ago

2. My ground wire goes from bottom of the boom to one of the motor mounts.

3. Same answer

4. I use two sats with Vbar. What FBL are you going with?

5. Use the leveling tool that comes with the kit for swash height and 0 pitch at midstick. For high and low stick I use a clip on tool from RDLhor like this.

[lazor 22]

1. Cheap revolution black ones
2. From boom to boom clamp bolt
3. It comes with 4mm ones I belive that are fine
4. I'd just use the 24inch ones and bunch them up don't waste money on smaller ones. And the "extra weight" will be nothing lol
5. It comes with one which is cool since you don't have to remove the head but I usually just eyeball it then double check with pitch guage.

[jmcdonald]

Thanks Larry. I'm going with the 7200BX FBL unit. That swash tool looks convenient to dial in max neg and pos pitch with head attached. Saved to my favorites and will likely purchase.

[Rodney Kirstine]

I'm using an AR7200BX and I'm using a satellite mounted up front under the battery tray.

Originally Posted by jmcdonald

Thanks Larry. I'm going with the 7200BX FBL unit. That swash tool looks convenient to dial in max neg and pos pitch with head attached. Saved to my favorites and will likely purchase.

[Andy.Kim]

2: I would recommend to ground the tail boom but I did not. Instead I apply oil to the belt every few flights to keep the static away.

3: I use these for my lipo connection, http://www.progressiverc.com/prc6-co...s-2-pairs.html

I prefer them over EC5. Many prefer EC5's but check out this article, http://mattbotos.com/2012/high-volta...ss-connectors/

[jmcdonald]

How are you applying the oil to the belt? Turning the main rotor while spraying the teeth of the belt as it passes by?

[Ah Clem]

"1. Which ball link pliers are best? The Mavrik pliers fron Nankin? I heard some positive reviews on KSJ plastic pliers that wouldn't chew up the plastic links as bad."

I have two sets, purchased a very long time ago: one has curved jaws, one has straight jaws. I would not part with either one, as it is easier to access the links with the curved jaws, in some cases, and the straight jaws, in others. There is no maker's mark on them.

"2. Do you really need to run the wire for grounding the boom all the way to the motor mount or can you just secure it to the first hex screw?"

I would run it to the motor mount. Static can be extremely nasty in terms of glitches, also hard on electronics. Spraying silicone down the boom helps too.

"3. What is everyone using for the motor/ESC connectors? 4mm bullets? 5.5, 6.5mm? On my CC 2200 BL motor for my Losi 8T truggy I'm using the 6.5mm CC bullets that can handle tons of amps."

I am running EC5's. I have seen Dave Ketelhut's ship (he runs very high RPM and I assume the current draw is hellatious, compared to mine). He had some very stout bullets on his-probably 6mm.

"4. I just ordered the Spektrum DSMX satellite receiver and I can only find it with the 24" extension. I'm thinking about getting a shorter extension such as 9 or 12" to keep the clean look while saving some grams. What length works best?"

The additional weight of the small 3-conductor cable will never be felt by a 6HV. I would put one sat towards the front of the ship, and one towards the back. On some machines, I have made custom length cables.

"5. Which swash plate tool to use?"

The stock tool is brilliant-I would use it.

[Andy.Kim]

Originally Posted by jmcdonald

How are you applying the oil to the belt? Turning the main rotor while spraying the teeth of the belt as it passes by?

I turn the main rotor with one hand and apply oil at the pulley on the tail case. I try to apply the oil so it gets under the belt.

[360Wings]

Originally Posted by Ah Clem

"1.

"
I am running EC5's. I have seen Dave Ketelhut's ship (he runs very high RPM and I assume the current draw is hellatious, compared to mine). He had some very stout bullets on his-probably 6mm.

Ive done a few flights on my 6hv using 11t pinion @ 2250h/s gov. . Max. current spike across the flights was 73amps. I certainly wasnt pushing it but i was surprised as i was expecting the avg to be at around 60-70amps with spikes 90-100amps... Maybe if i do some harder flying i might start seeing those numbers..

Im just using connectors that came with the kit and they are fine..

[jmcdonald]

Thanks fellas

[skunkworx]

Originally Posted by 360Wings

Ive done a few flights on my 6hv using 11t pinion @ 2250h/s gov. . Max. current spike across the flights was 73amps. I certainly wasnt pushing it but i was surprised as i was expecting the avg to be at around 60-70amps with spikes 90-100amps... Maybe if i do some harder flying i might start seeing those numbers..

Remember, it's not so much a matter of how high you can get the numbers to peak out at to tell how powerful your setup is; it's about getting identical performance throughout the flight that matters.

High peaks can mean several things (highly resistive circuitry and/or wiring, bad batteries, bad motor, bad gearing choices, etc...). I know a lot of people really focus on the peaks because that's a way to show off the sheer ability of the system, but it's the rpm dips and spikes you want to watch the most. If you end up with under 200-300 rpm fluctuations and only pulling a max of 70A, that's a lot better than dropping over 600rpm and spiking at over 90A. Granted, a lot of it is directly tied to how high you run your headspeeds and the gearing you select, but all the other little stuff adds up quickly without most people noticing.

If you're on governed mode, you're a lot less likely to ever see super high spikes (the whole purpose is to keep the rpm constant and the best way to do that is to keep everything else level and tame too). Again, peak current spikes and wild rpm changes are not what is most desirable or good for consistent flights, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Your setup looks absolutely bullet-proof with only a couple minor dips and variances (looks like a big loop or hard pull-out about 1/3 way through and a couple small, hard pitchy moves 3/4 and 7/8ths of the way though).

[360Wings]

Thanks for the concise explanation

I think that it helps that I have decent collective management and attempt to fly as smooth as possible.. The spikes you are referring to at the end of the flight are some piro tic-tocs and piro pogo's.

[skunkworx]

Regardless of management skills, the governor works to keep it flat and level as possible which is evidenced by the tiny spikes above the desired speed like at the 55sec and 85sec marks. I interpret that as a quick drop in altitude or where you might've gone to 0 pitch for a split second and it overspeeded a little but dropped quickly back down and then re-leveled afterwards. Kinda neat how you can see what was going on in the flight based on the little lines or even the raw numbers if you're looking at those, but they tell a pretty good story if you take the time to understand them.

In any event, your governor is working very well because the speed doesn't drop off at all, all the way to the end and stayed really close even when doing the piro-tocs and piro-pogos.