its getting cold!

[xLotek]

Hi, im fairly new to helis and recently built a 450sa, which is basically an SE now.
im doing basic circuits and did one succesful invert, and crashed one im currently
running ds3400g tail servo w/ and eflight HH gyro.

my question is, why doesnt the gyro hold perfectly when there is a lot of collective
given in HH? the heli can turn a full 90 degrees with full stick. it holds well in hover, and the gain is set up 0.5% below when it starts wagging. (65.5%) is this normal?
its getting into 20 degrees in PA right now, how does the cold effect gyros? also, could the inexpensive gyro be a waste of time?

thanks for the help!

[marchambault]

Answer: it's the e-flite gyro .... (G90 or G110)

try a GY401 or logictech LT2100 and you won't have any tail drift with collective input.

[xLotek]

yeah sorry about that. G110.
ill probably end up getting a 401 in the near future

[Timdoggydizzle05]

you know its cold when you cant feel your fingers and your canopy shatterzz into
approximently 48 pieces.

[The Steve-O]

If you bog the head down too much, the tail will kick out. I've had that happen to me with my 450s. Let the gyro cool down to the temp outside before flying or it will have troubles holding the tail in general.

[marchambault]

I forgot to ask ... do you let the heli cool down before you fly it? I don't know about the G110 but most quality gyros have a temp sensor... it needs to reach ambient temperature before you fly otherwise you will drift.

So maybe try letting the heli sit outside for 5-10 minutes and see if it gets any better.

Also, don't forget not to fully charge your lipos when exposed to cold weather ... use 95% charge mode on your charger otherwise at 4.2V/cell in below freezing weather your lipo will be in an overcharged state.

[The Steve-O]

I let the gyro reach ambient temperature. I also keep my batteries warm in a pocket, otherwise they don't give max output at the beginning of the flight, and I have to wait for them to warm up in flight.

[Slyster]

I took my heli from the warm car to 19 degrees (my last flight of the year) and flew within a minute and the 401 was just fine.