Gona' overnight CP2 tomorrow (6/11/10)-Tell me Y i'm excited!

[Stumblebee]

Originally Posted by Boomkidd

At least you (stumblebee) have the advantage of hearing the trial and error before you install yours (whenever it is that you receive it.)

Indeed I do. In the meantime, I have been blowing off quite a few lipos especially this weekend. I haven't broken anything so that is a very good thing. It would be ironic if while I am waiting for the CP II to arrive, I actually learn how to fly this 450 and eliminate the need for the CP II. Somehow, I doubt it will happen. I have found this hobby has a strong element of "hurry up and wait" associated with it. I am fortunate to have at least seven LHS within five miles of where either I live or work. Still, when I was flying the smaller birds the only support was for E-Flite. My other birds required waiting for parts to come either from China (mainly) or the U.S. For one of my brands of birds, I actually collected an "inventory" of parts just because of shipping times. I thought going to the 450 would eliminate all of that since six of the seven LHS around me carry parts for it. Of course I had to come up with the bright idea of buying a CP II. Once again, "hurry up and wait". At least now, I am only waiting for one thing and it is not a "stock" item for my 450.

[Boomkidd]

It does kind of suck when the one hobby shop says, "naw, I'll have to special order that part." I only have 2 hobby shops in the general local area to contend with. The one, closer shop is the prefferred one and I feel silly when he says, "ill have to order that." In my head, I have to come up w/ an innocent excuse that I may order the part but, I have to take the bird (or 'ship' as he says) apart first. In reality, i have to go to the other hobby shop 8 miles away to see if they have it which normally works out for me so far. (fingers crossed.)

[Stumblebee]

I have read about something I have not tried yet. I thought I would ask if anyone here has done it. Apparently with a 450, one way to ensure a soft landing is to switch on throttle hold about two feet before landing. Has anyone here tried this and does it actually make for a soft landing?

[nightflyr]

switching TH 2 feet off the deck does not give you a lot of room for corrections...
If your 2 feet up how tough is it to gentle throttle back to a smooth land?

Or are you attempting an auto-rotation landing?

[Stumblebee]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

switching TH 2 feet off the deck does not give you a lot of room for corrections...
If your 2 feet up how tough is it to gentle throttle back to a smooth land?

Or are you attempting an auto-rotation landing?

I think the idea is to do an AR landing. Like I said, I have never tried this, I have only read about it. So far, I just throttle back which works for me.

[n6nev]

Originally Posted by Stumblebee

Indeed I do. In the meantime, I have been blowing off quite a few lipos especially this weekend. I haven't broken anything so that is a very good thing. It would be ironic if while I am waiting for the CP II to arrive, I actually learn how to fly this 450 and eliminate the need for the CP II. Somehow, I doubt it will happen. I have found this hobby has a strong element of "hurry up and wait" associated with it. I am fortunate to have at least seven LHS within five miles of where either I live or work. Still, when I was flying the smaller birds the only support was for E-Flite. My other birds required waiting for parts to come either from China (mainly) or the U.S. For one of my brands of birds, I actually collected an "inventory" of parts just because of shipping times. I thought going to the 450 would eliminate all of that since six of the seven LHS around me carry parts for it. Of course I had to come up with the bright idea of buying a CP II. Once again, "hurry up and wait". At least now, I am only waiting for one thing and it is not a "stock" item for my 450.

The CP2 to me is not to teach me"how to fly" but as a back up in case I lose orentiaion. It's my parachute. I can try loops /circles/ fig 8 no no fear.. my 2cents Larry

[Boomkidd]

Stumblebee, I had the same thought...What if I crash it right before the CP2 gets here. That reminded me of a thing a friend said to me a few years ago. He said, "every time I go to sell my car, something happens right before the person can check it out. It's like the car knows I'm trying to sell her." It just reminded me of that. I found that to be true sometimes for anything that's anticipated. Murphy's law i suppose.
When are you supposed to get it anyway? (sooon hopefully!)
I just got back w/ my parts from the other crash on Saturday. I wish they had the metal tail booms in stock...the hobby shop guy said the CF booms tend to cut the belt when they break. Not to mention it was 12.99 for 1 CF tail boom as opposed to 2 metal tail booms for the same price. But, it was take it or find the metal booms somewhere else. So, I'm now going to put aloe on this stinging tank-top sunburn, relax on the couch (which consists of replacing heli parts), and go to the little mini field I found real close by to try trimming attempt #2. I believe I should reset all the flight angle settings in the CP2 before I try again. I'll post later on and let ya know how the trimming session went this time. (I hope I don't come back w/ another crash story...almost every time I go to a park I tend to crash.) Nightlyr said it takes a few battery packs to get it as perfect as possible. I want to keep it low but, I believe the CP2 needs at least 15-20' of air to allow its sensors to 'see' the horizon properly.
I thought 2 packs and I'm done at first...wrong! More like 4 packs (i'm guessing.) Check ya later.

[n6nev]

My cp2 works from the gound up. Very stable and 2 ft and can turn 90 degrees. But in all fairness a 500 with 90% idle up, helps a lot

[Stumblebee]

Hey nightflyr, is it my bad eyes or does your new "American Werewolf" not have a CP II installed on it?

[Stumblebee]

Originally Posted by Boomkidd

I thought 2 packs and I'm done at first...wrong! More like 4 packs (i'm guessing.) Check ya later.

Best of luck to you on this one. The CP II was not in today's mail. I don't really expect it before Friday but an early surprise would be nice.

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by Stumblebee

Hey nightflyr, is it my bad eyes or does your new "American Werewolf" not have a CP II installed on it?

Due to the size of the blades and static discharge from them I opted not to install the main sensor right now.
All the other CPII hardware is install and setup

[Boomkidd]

Well, first off, no crashes. I was on the baseball infield in sandles (not the best idea, but whatev.)
I prefer to take off from pavement but, in the baseball field, the dirt is better than grass...I've encountered some evil little grass blades out there grabbin' the landing gear. Anyway, the trimming sessions went ok. It's definitely going to take a few battery packs to get it real good. It's pretty good w/ the CP2 turned on. I have a bit of slight trimming to do but, it is so cool to watch the rotor blades correct when you like, snap the control stick and let it center itself. Since this is the 1st flight after yet another rebuild, I was trimming the rudder also. My gy401 sometimes looses heading hold when you adjust the rudder way to far so the one time, I was flying w/ the light blinking...no heading hold is reeealy difficult to fly. ( I just disconnected the battery, re-connected and presto.) So, because I was trimming the rudder also, I felt the batteries time went quickly. Well, I have another shot tomorrow being I have tomorrow off I'm really taking my time doing it this time around.
I'm so happy i can look over on the table and see a perfectly assembled bird. I hate looking at the bird carcass w/ out the boom and all...
Oh, Nightlfyr, I wanted to ask a flight angles question. Lets say I take off, center the stick and the bird goes foward a bit. Do I want to correct this by going "up" as in nose up? And, how about the roll. If it starts drifting left, do I add some "right"? May sound like a silly question but, I was a little confused about that. N6nev, do you fly around houses or near anything like that? Or, you just fly in the open. I'm curious how this is going to operate in my front yard (suburbs here.)

[Stumblebee]

Originally Posted by Boomkidd

Well, I have another shot tomorrow being I have tomorrow off I'm really taking my time doing it this time around.
I'm so happy i can look over on the table and see a perfectly assembled bird. I hate looking at the bird carcass w/ out the boom and all...

I am really happy this is working out for you. Patience is indeed a virtue. How many lipos are you taking to the field?

[Boomkidd]

Unfortunately, I have been spending $$ on everything except batteries. So, I only have two 2100's. I want 5 in total but, they're about $45 ea at the local hobby store. I know I can find a variety if I search online. I just want to get this bird good. Then, I'm gona get a couple more batteries when I can get more $$. A buddy at work knows of some cheap website from china that he uses. The lipo's are 1/4 of the price than the hobby store.

[n6nev]

The bird flys great around houses and cars, in reference to trim, I just use the dx7 trim and no need to adjust the values thru the irnet controller. or if the heli wants to move left , tilt the main sensor to the left. same for foward etc....and cheap batts are at HK
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s..._25C_Lipo_Pack
but out of stock!

[Boomkidd]

Cool. Thanks n6nev. I thought it was necessary to adjust the trims w/ the programmer for some reason. It would be a bunch easier If I can do this w/ the radio instead.
I tried that tilting thing but, I don't like a crooked object on the tail boom (no, I don't have ocd...lol) Not to mention, I can't tilt it forward while it's on the boom so, I suppose it's all getting done via my radio. which is fine.
Thanks for that link too As soon as I get some pocket $....

[Stumblebee]

So far, I have been happy with the "Mystery" brand of battery from Deal Xtreme. I have a few 2200 units. I have also used "Mystery" batteries with my smaller birds.The thing I really liked about them is they come with the Deans connector attached. They come out of China so you just have to hurry up and wait. The price is good. I hear that domestically, the "Turnigy" brand is supposed to be pretty good and cheap as well. I don't know about the connector issue. Of course everyone has their "favourite" battery.

[Navigator53]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Due to the size of the blades and static discharge from them I opted not to install the main sensor right now.

Hey Night, so true, a big spinning disc in dry weather with who knows how many dust particles making impact.

So....... just do what I do..... a little Downy Fabric softener and water, wipe down the blades, a dose of the same with a Q-tip on the belt = anti-static discharge

Plus, everyone will comment on just how Fresh the flying field smells today...

[nightflyr]

Hey Mel,

Nice thought in theory but the static discharge off the blades can't be fixed the way you described.

[pril250]

This calls for a shield