Skookum 540

[Mr.HillBilly]

Anyone tried a Skookum 540 on a gasser yet?

I went to a FF a couple of weeks ago and my 750 started pulling the slow roll thing again, the first 2 times I was high enough to keep her alive, but the 3rd. time I was inverted coming straight at me and I tried to roll back to upright and it took about 2 secs. to roll back upright. Well I almost made it but not quite there. Minimal damage considering I was cooking right along.

Anyways about a hour after my punch in, the pilots raffle came around and I lucked out and was the 3rd. number drawn. There was a good sized quad and on the way up someone said "Here goes the quad" I said back "I hate quads" and then I saw the 540 sitting there... That is the best thing on the table for me so I snagged it up.

I have the new version Clear case and I guess it is the same as the red one but gov. is disabled and a couple of other things. Rep there told me for $20 I can download the new software and have it just like the red one.

I have had three 750s act up on me now (two of them both started acting up at 50-60 hours of flight time, not sure on this one) so wanting to try something different or I am going back to NoBar on the G20. I flew the G20 NoBar for a good bit of time and it did OK other than high wind.

Anyways, anyone tried it on a gasser?

[fastflyer20]

I test flew one on a Whip gasser helping someone out at a fun fly. It was extremely nervous and the heli was drifting bad. There was no time to dig into it further to see if there was a major vibe upsetting it.

[USA_1_INK]

I have 3 installed on my gassers . 2 Whiplashes , 1 Goblin Gasser . I have no complaints . They work Great . The Gov. is not the greatest for gasser . I never could get it to work every time . But with good throttle curves , no issues . I have let a couple guys fly my Goblin Gasser , and they couldn't believe how well it performed with the SK540 in it .

[trillian]

Hi USA_1_INK,

Two questions on the SK540:

1. Have you had any issues with heat under the canopy? I have heard of other FBL units being sensitive to heat.

2. You mention throttle curves, do you set actual curves in the TX and if so does it matter if there's a curve vs just a set value? The governor doesn't seem to pay any attention, it just tries to hold the selected speed for each flight mode based on the throttle crossing the correct threshold.

[USA_1_INK]

Trillian .
I have never had a heat issue with mine . Has always flown flawlessly . My only issue I have had is the Gov. getting it to work all the time . Something about a Gasser it doesn't like . I have heard they are working on an update for the Gov. But no idea when it will be released .

When running a throttle curve in the radio . Which is a non-Gov.
Something like this for no-Gov.
Normal Mode 0-18-22-32-100
Idle up 1 100-42-28-42-100
Idle up 2 100-45-32-45-100
These numbers may not be exact but it gives you an idea .

The Skookum has a set value for the curve they want .
Normal Mode 0-40-40
Idle up 1 60-60-60
Idle up 2 100-100-100
Starting Gain is about 28
There is just a lot of testing to get the testing to get the Low Ramp, High Ramp and Overdrive set up correctly .

I hope this might help a little . I am still messing with mine trying to get figured out .
Karl

[trillian]

Thanks Karl,

Mine is on a Helix and I saw another thread somewhere mentioning heat inside the canopy which I had not thought of before. I'm using a Rave ENV canopy that has more room above the frames in front than a Trex canopy would so that might help as well.

This is my first Skookum and so far it's working pretty good. I just updated to version 4.07 firmware and did the whole throttle setup again and have yet to test it now that I can adjust the gov gain from the TX.

I'm using a regular sensor with three magnets on the main gear as I bought the heli 2nd hand bind 'n fly. It definitely works but just felt like it needed a bit more gain last time out.