A few questions about X5: ESC / upgrades / motorbearings / other ideas ?

[redbird300]

Just a few questions for the people here that are without a doubt more familiar with the Gaui X5, as I never had a Gaui:

- The stock ESC: seems to be a re-branded Esc with a 4 Amp BEC, which sounds not that high for driving 4 large servos, especially with a V-Bar. Correct ? Best to add a CC 10A/6S BEC or similar ? BTW, I don’t like the idea of adding a separate RX pack.

- What upgrade parts are more or less essential ? Like the frame stiffener, sounds like a healthy idea to me, but I don’t need any “nice to have” options, like CF skids or so.

- The stock motor could use some better bearings, for added long-term reliability ?

- Any other ideas or tips as far as parts are concerned, before I would make an order ?


Thanks in advance for any advice. Just planning on a governed FBL X5 with V-Bar, without the need for extremely high headspeeds, and I wanna get it right the first time. I’m already running several V-Bars on other helis, that’s why I stick with it, no bad word about the Beast-X.

[joe1l]

Originally Posted by redbird300

Just a few questions for the people here that are without a doubt more familiar with the Gaui X5, as I never had a Gaui:

- The stock ESC: seems to be a re-branded Esc with a 4 Amp BEC, which sounds not that high for driving 4 large servos, especially with a V-Bar. Correct ? Best to add a CC 10A/6S BEC or similar ? BTW, I don’t like the idea of adding a separate RX pack.

- What upgrade parts are more or less essential ? Like the frame stiffener, sounds like a healthy idea to me, but I don’t need any “nice to have” options, like CF skids or so.

- The stock motor could use some better bearings, for added long-term reliability ?

- Any other ideas or tips as far as parts are concerned, before I would make an order ?


Thanks in advance for any advice. Just planning on a governed FBL X5 with V-Bar, without the need for extremely high headspeeds, and I wanna get it right the first time. I’m already running several V-Bars on other helis, that’s why I stick with it, no bad word about the Beast-X.

If you get yourself an X5 FES, you will find that everything is going meet/exceed your expectations. The motor is a Scorpion and will provide more power than you will need, bearings though they would be nice to have, are not necessary when it is new. Maybe during the winter you might want to do that after 100 + flights but any sooner would yield little value. The biggest thing you will want/ need is the battery plate/frame stiffener. Mostly because the battery needs some shielding from the motor in-case of nose dive. I have a mini-vbar on one of my X5 and it works excellent...i perfer v5.1 one though. I also have another X5 with a CGY750 and it is proving to be awesome! The one other think i would replace on the X5 that i do replace is the landing gear. You can fit many other brand gear on it.....my preference is the Outrage550 gear. Just requires a center hole to be drilled to mount the gear.. the stock gear are very light and can break easily!

As for ESC and servos, I agree with you, a bigger bec should be used , like the Western Robotics 10amp...(not a castle fan) when going FBL or replace esc with a Jive.

[jrod155]

i put trex 500 gear on mine, much stronger.

forced auto on gaui gear: broke 3 legs, heli fell over, ate tt gears

forced auto on trex legs: broke one leg, put new skid on, good to go.

[redbird300]

Thanks for the tips guys.

In a nutshell, for as far as I understood correctly: frame stiffener and stronger landing gear: OK, no big deal for me. Bearings might need a closer look after 100+ flights, that takes me about a month in summer time, so I might as well do it right away, no big deal either. BTW, did anybody ever tried a Pyro 600-09 in a X5 ? Would it fit ? The Jive rocks, I know, and I can still live with getting a 80+ LV, but will be stuck with the stock ESC, I guess you can't buy a FES X5 kit without the ESC (or even without the motor) ?

[joe1l]

I was in the same boat as you at the time, i had my YGE ESC and actually already owned a 4020-910, but found the FES kit with motor/ESC to be too good a deal to try and buy the basic kit without them. A jive 80LV or even 100LV both will fit but are tight. I use a YGE120 on my Flybar heli and it fits perfect, i use an jive 80lv and 100lv on my FES helis because i already had them. Another option is just upgrading the BEC with a Western or equivalent and using the Gaui ESC. From my understanding the vbar's gov works quite well with the Gaui/Hobbywing ESC. Even if you dont use the ESC and motor, they always come in handy. I have been playing around with some different motors on the X5 and have found the HK4025-1100/890 motors to fit perfect and give an even bigger boost in power without giving up much run time. I dont have a pyro to try but am thinking about fitting my Xera 4020 next to see if it fits!

As far as # of flights before bearing change, i have no clue as how many before they would need changing. I have yet to have issues..i was simply saying after your season is done, it might be worth changing them then. I too would perfer ceramic bearings etc but also know that stock ones are more than adequate for this heli for a long enough period of time that it does not warrant changing ASAP, especially considering how easy it is to access.

My honest suggestion is to feel the heli as is before deciding. Impressively enough the combo leaves little room for much improvement hence the little variation among owners helis.

Originally Posted by redbird300

Thanks for the tips guys.

In a nutshell, for as far as I understood correctly: frame stiffener and stronger landing gear: OK, no big deal for me. Bearings might need a closer look after 100+ flights, that takes me about a month in summer time, so I might as well do it right away, no big deal either. BTW, did anybody ever tried a Pyro 600-09 in a X5 ? Would it fit ? The Jive rocks, I know, and I can still live with getting a 80+ LV, but will be stuck with the stock ESC, I guess you can't buy a FES X5 kit without the ESC (or even without the motor) ?

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by joe1l

I was in the same boat as you at the time, i had my YGE ESC and actually already owned a 4020-910, but found the FES kit with motor/ESC to be too good a deal to try and buy the basic kit without them. A jive 80LV or even 100LV both will fit but are tight. I use a YGE120 on my Flybar heli and it fits perfect, i use an jive 80lv and 100lv on my FES helis because i already had them. Another option is just upgrading the BEC with a Western or equivalent and using the Gaui ESC. From my understanding the vbar's gov works quite well with the Gaui/Hobbywing ESC. Even if you dont use the ESC and motor, they always come in handy. I have been playing around with some different motors on the X5 and have found the HK4025-1100/890 motors to fit perfect and give an even bigger boost in power without giving up much run time. I dont have a pyro to try but am thinking about fitting my Xera 4020 next to see if it fits!

As far as # of flights before bearing change, i have no clue as how many before they would need changing. I have yet to have issues..i was simply saying after your season is done, it might be worth changing them then. I too would perfer ceramic bearings etc but also know that stock ones are more than adequate for this heli for a long enough period of time that it does not warrant changing ASAP, especially considering how easy it is to access.

My honest suggestion is to feel the heli as is before deciding. Impressively enough the combo leaves little room for much improvement hence the little variation among owners helis.

I see where you're going, and I think you also fully understood my way of thinking. I don't like to do half an upgrade. I will leave the X5 stock (but likely with an extra BEC), or do a full upgrade, but nothing in between.
Even guru's like MrMel seem to be happy with the HW ESC/V-Bar governor combo, that should be convincing enough indeed. And I had the same dillemma with my flybarred Atoms: finally tried to fly them stock, as the initial combined offer was too good to be true, and the HW ESCs didn't disappoint until now, and they have a lot of flights. Might have been lucky, you hear a few complaints here and there, don't know, but I did add a BEC though.

On the other hand, the convenience of the Jive and its strong BEC is so appealing, allthough the advantage of having that superior governor is not that big anymore if used with a V-Bar 5.1 which has its own decent governor. I use a Pyro700/80+HV combo in another heli, and couldn't be happier. Pay and cry only once, you know...

Glad to hear about the motor bearings, BTW, do you lubricate your motor bearings every so many flights ?

[redbird300]

One last question, if you don't mind, this might be a silly one:
I read on this forum that the pack shouldn't be much longer than 140 mm, or the canopy won't fit anymore. Looking at the frame, I wonder if there would be enough room to fit a (longer) pack inside the frame though ? Kinda Mikada Logo style. I know it won't be beneficial for the concentration of the mass, and there could be balance issues, but wondering anyway. Anybody kind enough to measure the clearance insde the frame ?

[torana74]

Originally Posted by redbird300

Looking at the frame, I wonder if there would be enough room to fit a (longer) pack inside the frame though ?

ummm i think it might be a struggle to find packs that will




Vas

[redbird300]

OK, that's clear enough, thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

[racin06]

As for ESC and servos, I agree with you, a bigger bec should be used , like the Western Robotics 10amp...(not a castle fan) when going FBL or replace esc with a Jive.

By "castle fan" do you mean the CC BEC Pro?

[savage600]

I have the X5 fbl and love it.

The only upgrades I have on mine is the frame stiffener kit and I don't know if it needs any.

I run the stock speedy( a rebadged hobywing) and am currently playing around with the gov on it. I have updated the firmware within the speedy aswell.

I run a CC bec pro with a seperate receiver pack ( a 2s lipo hidden in the front of the frame) right behind where the main pack goes. I am a believer in running a seperate receiver pack, because I would still have control over the electrics if the main pack failed.

I am also only running the standard skids, as i would rather a skid go than other components( a sacrificial part, so to speak).

Cheers Dave.

[terrabit]

I've been using Kontronik sec's for several years. My thinking was this; I will probably always have a 6s bird spinning 500-560mm blades. Why not use an esc that has proven to function flawlessly for many years. Whether I stick with the x5 (which I plan to) or decide to go another route later. The Jive esc has the one of the best governors in the industry - and, in my opinion, this bird needs one. Maybe I'm just spoiled but, I can't stand having my headspeed wonder all over the place or steadily drop over the course of a flight. Also, the Jive 100LV fits in the frame easily.

I use the frame stiffener/battery guard as well.