Don't give up on the 100s.. my report

[firedude52]

Well when I first got it the little bugger was a handful. The tail was out of control and the thing had a mind of it's own. I did a lot of research on it in different places and came up with a few tweaks. It crashed more than it flew! I can say it'll take a beating though as the only thing I broke was a main blade and it was easily repaired with CA. I did have to replace the main board however it's fine now and has a couple dozen flights in. After a few more little teaks and trim adjustments I took it out back tonight at sunset and the little guy hovered hands off for a LONG time! I brought it back in and it now pulls straight up into a nice transitional hover. No more lurching to the left on t/o. It can now even be easily flown inside the RV if I choose. Below are the things I did besides some weird trim settings on the Tx.

1. Put an msr tail blade on and cured the twitchy erratic tail (along with some trim).
2. Servo linkage is on the inner holes on the servo horns.
3. Moved vertical tail fin forward about a half inch or more. Not critical, just needs to be moved forward of the tail rotor wash.
4. I'm using the long ball links on the swash plate.
5. I bind it each time I fly by putting the battery in first then turn on the Tx. This somehow makes a difference.

Again it'll hover hands off providing no wind. It now flies like a dream. I fly it out back and over grass so there's no hard impacts to break anything. The only drawback is the weak canopy which cracks at the slightest crash/contact. Solved by using packing tape to line the inside of canopy before even using it. The new canopy has not a single crack in it and no longer an issue if it does go down out back.

It flies very smooth and like a dream now. Just took a bit to get it there.

Bottom line Align could have done a LOT better for an RTF out of the box, but in the end? It's a perfect little FP micro now. Too many gave up too soon on this little guy. See You Tube video link and below... Also pic of the magical trim settings as weird as it may look.

On edit....Oh and forgot to mention the stock batteries aren't too swift. The heli works extremely well with the Turnigy 3.7v 160 mah batteries.

Trimming Align Trex 100s for hands off hovering - indoor flight (1 min 46 sec)

[Palmore]

Nice! It hovers beautifully.

The boom swap is the biggest help for the 100s imo. Have you tried the Xtreme 190mah batteries yet? I have 2 fully charged sitting in wait for my second heli to get put together next week =)

Where did you pick up your 160 batts from and how much? I found a great vendor on eBay that had them for under $4 each.

[firedude52]

I haven't tried the boom swap yet as I really saw no need, but will give it a shot though! I have it flying so well I'm afraid to mess with it lol. It flies like a dream, smooth and stable as can be. I found the Turnigy's on the Bay for a couple dollars each and bought 5. They make a lot of difference imo. Maybe I'll try a couple of the Xtremes. Thanks for the heads up!

[jorgenr]

Originally Posted by Palmore

Where did you pick up your 160 batts from and how much? I found a great vendor on eBay that had them for under $4 each.

$1.17 each at Hobby King, about 1g lighter than stock makes some improvement, but they degrade after a dozen of flights or so.
I think maybe the original charger isn't too good for those lipo's, has anyone found a better option?
I have a couple of landing gears on order, and will convert those to fit a Hyperion balancing charger to see if that works better. Problem is that it will only take two cells or more, so I will need two sockets or more plus connectors etc.

[firedude52]

I've not had any problems with the Turnigy 160mah batteries and the stock charger at all. I have 5 of them plus the 2 stock batteries. I've got literally dozens of flights on the Turnigy's and check their voltage often and all are right on? Maybe you got a hold of a "bad" stock Trex charger? Mine have performed flawlessly and hold their full charge a couple days without losing anything. I paid a wee bit more because I didn't want to wait on HK, but very happy with them.

[reALIGNed]

Flies nice, another trick or mod., is to put a small dabb of RTV (silicone sealer) on the gyro, located at back side bottom of the board. It does two things, works as a vibration damper, and also protects it in a crash, they're know to fall off the board in a hard crash.

[jorgenr]

Originally Posted by firedude52

I've not had any problems with the Turnigy 160mah batteries and the stock charger at all.

...
Strange, both my Align CH-100 chargers and the TX think that 4.11V is fine, both for original and Turnigy batteries.

[firedude52]

Originally Posted by jorgenr

...
Strange, both my Align CH-100 chargers and the TX think that 4.11V is fine, both for original and Turnigy batteries.

Hmmmmmm. Just charged 3 batteries. 1 stock and 2 of the 160 Turnigy's. Upon full charge I had 3.9v on the stock and 4v on the Turnigy's.

[jorgenr]

Originally Posted by firedude52

Hmmmmmm. Just charged 3 batteries. 1 stock and 2 of the 160 Turnigy's. Upon full charge I had 3.9v on the stock and 4v on the Turnigy's.

That explains short flying time - it should be 4.2V exact. But at least they're conservative and don't overcharge the cells...

[jbrown287]

How long are your servo arms?

[firedude52]

Originally Posted by jbrown287

How long are your servo arms?

I've not really measured them, no need too. Everything is stock except msr tail rotor blade. Only adjustment I made to servo linkage is to level swash is all. As well as the setup for the servo linkage mentioned in original post.

[firedude52]

Happy to say both 100's are now hoverig hands off.

[maxbreaker]

Bravo!!!!

[maxbreaker]

Originally Posted by reALIGNed

Flies nice, another trick or mod., is to put a small dabb of RTV (silicone sealer) on the gyro, located at back side bottom of the board. It does two things, works as a vibration damper, and also protects it in a crash, they're know to fall off the board in a hard crash.

Can you pls post a picture. Thx,

[firedude52]

Originally Posted by jbrown287

How long are your servo arms?

JB my apologies for not seeing this post. I've had a lot going on. I've never measured them actually, but will. I just simply fly/adjust the linkages as need to achieve my goal, test, adjust, fly and repeat until objective was met.

Both 100s heli's now fly great and will hands off hover as seen in my other videos. Just took time to work out the linkage adjustment as well as successful trimming. Linkage lengths go hand in hand with trimming, something that you do as you go so it's hard to specify a certain length as it depends a lot on trimming.

I'm just happy both heli's are now stable and flying well along with hands off hovering.