Nose drifts left constantly?

[Copternewbi]

So, had the power shut off 2 weeks ago inflight and it nose dived into the soft ground and amazingly no damage other than cracked canopy and a partially sliced tail belt. So duct tape canopy and new belt and flew again but this time nose left and some bank left immediately after lift off, panicked, throttle hold and it landed back down but cracked a main blade (been using Align 380 blades). So looked at ikon setup on computer, all looked ok. Logs have never worked on my pc, when I select it program shuts down. MSH knows this problem.
So put on original SAB blades now and selected to take off in Auto level, not rescue. Went to park this morning, calm wind, and took off. Well didn't see any left bank but I need constant right rudder input to keep nose straight! Not sure if auto level was fixing the bank or not.
Did I screw something up on installing new tail belt. It rotates correctly. There is no vibration, it's a smooth hover. Any thoughts? Hate wasting a nice flying day in the computer?



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[Copternewbi]

I checked all transmitter trims and sub trims, all are zero. Could the tail gain do this? I though that was for wagging, not drifting?


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[K2Freak]

Carefully check your control rod.

[Doom Buggy]

What happens when you fly without auto level?

Just running the one Sat?

Also- recommend tape/shrink wrap this motor bullets- they touch or become disconnected and it can get ugly.

[Copternewbi]

I'll have to try it again without autolevel, but that's what I did last week and had to land it quickly, and hard, so a little afraid to turn it off till yaw (rudder)motion is fixed.

I am running 2 sats. And I agree, the shrink wrap for motors is an excellent t idea.

K2Freak, I will take a look at the control rod, anything specific? Maybe it's coming undone and has more length and is causing an immediate turn bc that was its precious neutral position. Good idea! Thanks


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[Doom Buggy]

Trim/sub trim on the radio?

[Copternewbi]

Already checked the transmitter trim and subtrim.


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[Copternewbi]

Gonna re measure the control rod.


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[Doom Buggy]

Blades are centered when you initialize?
Also- check your max throws.

[learnedthehardway]

Are you flying in rate mode? Would think the fbl would correct for the drift if you were in heading hold mode unless your tx needs to be recalibrated.

Idk it may probably acts different in auto level which I didn't even know you could use to fly around.

If it's a auto level issue them maybe something got a little tweaked during the first mishap and there are some vibrations messing with the accelerometers?

[Doom Buggy]

Is this the tail moving to the left (i.e.- Heli doesn't move laterally, just spins), or is the Heli drifting left?

[Copternewbi]

Originally Posted by Doom Buggy

Is this the tail moving to the left (i.e.- Heli doesn't move laterally, just spins), or is the Heli drifting left?

Nose just turns left gradually, probably a 360 in 10 seconds. So I turned off auto level and flew. I took off and there was no banking, just nose turns left. Checked the computer and it is in Heading mode, so it should correct for it.
Prior to flying I measured the control rod for the tail, it was 470 mm, supposed to be about 474 according to directions. Thought it was right the first time, but one end didn't glue as well as I had hoped. I reset it to 474 and reglued it. Then went into computer again and reset the tail rotor max points which surprisingly had quite a bit to go for right rudder and was binding at full left. Odd? After reset noticed that when tail is centered on the transmitter, it looks like one of the tail rotors is not lined up with the other. Attached a pic but hard to tell. Maybe a tail grip is bent?


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[Doom Buggy]

The FBL should be correcting that rotation. Sometimes when the ikon/brain gets a bit off a full reset should take care of it, unless an something went bad inside. I would write down all of your settings and start there.

Looks like the blades are going in opposite directions- which is good. The centering is going to be affected by the length of the tail rod- when centered in the FBL you will have to crank the rod ends until centered. Then reset your max throws to fit the new rod length. *This may need to be done when adjusting the tails I gain independently as well.

[tonys-heli]

when setting up any tail, disconnect the tail rod. i fold the tail blades till they almost touch. that way you can see where center is..0 degrees. then look and see if the tail slider is 90 degrees at the tail and servo. adjust rod accordingly.. done
some helis when the tail bell crank is 90 deg theres a little right rudder so tail blades wont be centered. that's ok.
but that should get you in the ball park.

[Copternewbi]

Originally Posted by Doom Buggy

The FBL should be correcting that rotation. Sometimes when the ikon/brain gets a bit off a full reset should take care of it, unless an something went bad inside. I would write down all of your settings and start there.



Looks like the blades are going in opposite directions- which is good. The centering is going to be affected by the length of the tail rod- when centered in the FBL you will have to crank the rod ends until centered. Then reset your max throws to fit the new rod length. *This may need to be done when adjusting the tails I gain independently as well.

Thanks, when I get home again in a few days, I'll try cranking the rod ends to center the tail on the slider. Maybe I'll order some tail grips anyway. If this doesn't work. I'll try a full reset of the ikon. Ugh. Figures this would happen as soon as the sun comes out in CT!


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[Doom Buggy]

The FBL should compensate regardless- thats what got me a bit confused man.....

The tail rod thing is just for a good setup.

[learnedthehardway]

Originally Posted by Doom Buggy

The FBL should compensate regardless- thats what got me a bit confused man.....

The tail rod thing is just for a good setup.

+1
As long as your endpoints are set well center is pretty much meaningless.
Is there a spot in the fbl software where you calibrate centers and endpoints between your tx and the fbl? If so resetting those may help.

If you have a sim maybe check to see if the sim heli drifts too, then you'll know your tx itself needs to be recalibrated. Although it sounds like that's not the case but a quick and easy thing to check.

[Dawiev]

To my knowledge, you should not take off in SL mode. You must go into a hover and then engage it. Neither will the SL mode hold it perfectly still in place.

Search or post this in the MSH forum and see what you get.

[jrman83]

+1 and the SL was not intended to be flown around in full time. It was designed to get you back to a relative safe position and then switched out of.

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[Copternewbi]

Originally Posted by learnedthehardway

+1

As long as your endpoints are set well center is pretty much meaningless.

Is there a spot in the fbl software where you calibrate centers and endpoints between your tx and the fbl? If so resetting those may help.



If you have a sim maybe check to see if the sim heli drifts too, then you'll know your tx itself needs to be recalibrated. Although it sounds like that's not the case but a quick and easy thing to check.

I'm gonna try that idea using the transmitter on my simulator. I'll also check the "monitor" screen on my Dx6i to see what the rudder input is doing.

If all else fails I'll reset the ikon like someone suggested, but have no idea how to do it!


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