RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Jay/Donica, welcome back! You must be out of the air and on American soil by now ;o) Hope you both had a wonderful trip. Would that be funny if someone were flying an RC heli in Rome, and you came along and asked him to try, and started flyin all over ;o) hahhah, that would be hilarious. Chopper Chuck! Feels good doesn't it, flying and not crashing ;o) I took 2 quick flights and all went well, my first since winter hit. My blade tracking was really off, so the thing was vibrating like mad, I can't get it to track right, so I think I'm gonna take these blades off and try new, balanced/CG'd ones. What kinda generator did you buy? Is it heavy? Hey Jim, sounds like you're having fun flying ;o) Ya, bugs in the eyes kinda sucks. Maybe you could wear safety goggles that completely surround your eyes, that would look kinda stupid, but it would do the trick if the bugs are that bad! Hope everyone's doing great!
Posted on: 5/26/2011 11:41 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10542787

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Chuck, we all understand! [8D] We all get that feeling, you're flying and you're like [X(], but after you land, it's all worth it, and you fee like [:D] The anticipation of going out there to fly is awesome too. There's nothing like it, and that's why we all do it! Celebrating with ice cream is a great idea!
Posted on: 5/10/2011 10:28 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10513188

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Congratulations Donica and Jay! What a coincidence! My best buddy just got married yesterday, May 7th, I was the best man, had to do a speech and embarrass him, I'm sure Jay's buddy did the same! Matty, I've been around, been super busy tho, barely had time to write a speech for yesterday. Donica, are you gonna post some wedding photos? My buddy had his wedding in the rain, and as they exchanged rings, and signed the papers, the rain stopped and sun came out, it was surreal, I can't wait to see the photographer's pictures, the transition from rain to shine within minutes will be amazing. Don't get that everyday. It's one of those heli breaks, I shoulda brought my heli to the ceremony! Good to hear you're feeling better Jim! Get out there and do some flyin ;o) Hope everyone's having a great weekend. I've gotta return the tux now, before they charge me late fee! They close in 35 mins, so I better scooooot. Cheers.
Posted on: 5/8/2011 4:24 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10508748

RE: Trinity 1/16 NOW Brushless Super Truggy RTR.....
Hey! For everyone! It's the Turnigy Monster Beatle now! 1/16th! From hobbyking.com. Lots of spare parts!! Cheers. Dave.
Posted on: 4/25/2011 10:36 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10485347

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Happy Easter Weekend Everyone! Hope everyone has had some R&R and some flyin, and got some good eatin' in there too! Chuck even got in some shoppin at the LHS! Sounds like quite the show you put on, with the synchronized flyin and all! They must have been amazed, maybe some of them are gonna get into the hobby too! Hope everyone burned up all their fuel and enjoyed every drop!
Posted on: 4/24/2011 2:23 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10481553

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Andy that's awesome! Golf is a perfect place to do aerial photography!! It'll be spectacular, you'll have to post some of the video. Jacksonville is the place to be May 20-22! It'll be fantastic I'm sure! Karl, that's awesome how they just sent you a new one. That's customer service to talk about, can't really beat that. It's nice when companies treat you like customers! My Thunder Power 610C's screen went dark, common problem, and after 2 years I decided to ask them about it, they just said send it back, we'll replace it. I sent it back and a brand new one came back to me! It was good customer service! It's sunny and warm out, but I'm heading to work. Will be done when the sun goes down, oh well. Hope everyone has a wonderful day! Cheers, David.
Posted on: 4/19/2011 9:46 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10472202

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Andy, I'm glad you shared that with us! I also think it's the capacitors causing the dead short, and in doing that, it's taking the blunt of the "surge", so that the ESC is only exposed to conditioned power, 0-12.6V over a range of time instead of instantly. Makes sense right? Adding more capacitors will make our systems even better. Spectrum has a capacitor they sell that plugs into the Rx, it's supposed to stop the brown outs and loss of control, that was before they came up with the new 1.6 firmware for the AR6100 tho, now it reconnects instantly after a brown out. You guys know what we all need? A SuperSwitch with an 18ga connection to battery! It's only $5495 for a 2 pak! hahahah. I'll just buy 2 for $29.95 each... Hey Mack! Glad to hear you got your parts in, we all know how that feels, feels like Christmas right before you pick up your presents and open them up! There are always upsides to crashing, you get to buy new toys ;o) I actually haven't gotten out, still bad weather or busy when it's sunny! That's life on the west coast, or "wet coast" as we call it. Chuck, I bet your data center IS COOL!! Mack, I bet it's cool enough so that you can cut ice with your nipples!! HAHAHHA. They usually keep them pretty darn cold, especially when the mechanical guys put double the amount of cooling in there that it needs, hahah. Good for the electronics tho. I bet they did, sounds like your UPS is probably over designed too. Do you guys cycle your batteries? Or do the UPSes cycle them? That would increase their lifespan I bet. Kinda like our lipos, except they don't like too much of a discharge, and not too fast. Hey Jim, I'm in the same boat, have all the connectors, but haven't had time to do the entire swap, it's tricky because you have to do it all at once, or else you're stuck with a heli that doesn't work with all the batts. haha. So you need a few hours free, uninterrupted! No worries, we'll get it done. Hope everyone has a great day! Cheers!
Posted on: 4/19/2011 12:32 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10471490

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Chuck, That's a cool data center you got there! That's a massive UPS loading you can have!!!! Damn!! Haha. You must have a lot connected! As for the arc, I don't think it gets past the capacitor, because it's connected in parallel with input power to the ESC. So the capacitors are causing the arc by creating a dead short across the positive and negative wires we plug into the lipo. We could always check this by connecting the esc without capacitors but I think they were meant to allow us to connect the esc with a slow ramping voltage, so that might not be a good idea, or it may not really matter if it's only a few times. Have a good day everyone!
Posted on: 4/18/2011 9:26 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10469776

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Everyone! Spectacular crash Mack! Thank you for describing it in great detail! Jim believes: if you're going to crash, make it spectacular! You did exactly that ;o) Good job! Is it possible to convert to electric if the motor is broken? That would be fun. Donica, I've sometimes taken off without checking my controls on the skids first, my tail started to spin and about 2 revolutions later I got it to land, almost crashed but managed to not tip over. It's good practice to always check your controls before jumping into the air, but that requires discipline! I don't always have the patience for that. It's good that some of you do tho, it'll save you from trouble! A switch would be a good idea. Also, I was thinking that it's mainly the capacitors taking the blunt of the surge, since they are creating a short across the input leads of the ESC when discharged, so effectively, you're plugging in a shorted wire to the lipo, until the capacitors charge up to the same voltage as the lipo, then the capacitor becomes an open circuit, invisable to the circuit until there's a voltage drop, where it'll supply current to try and keep the DC power constant, or "condition" the power. So the arc might not be that bad for the electronics after all, it's just the capacitors taking it all. Hope everyone had a great weekend! Cheers, David.
Posted on: 4/17/2011 11:42 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10469149

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Jim, glad to hear you like the connectors! Mine actually didn't come with heat shrink, but I found some at a $2 store, a whole package of 4mm for $2, like 1.7m of it! It fits perfectly into the recessed spaces around the connectors. You can preshrink the tips a little with your torch, just enough so you can slide them in, then finish it off and shrink it completely. That's what I did initially when I had the dean heat shrinks which were also too big to fit inside the recessed spaces. Give that a shot, hopefully it works! Also, if you over shrink the heat shrink, you can just stretch it out again with a flat head screw driver or whatever you have, you can heat it up again to shrink it, you can do that a bunch of times! When heat shrink is too small, I usually use needle nose pliers to make them bigger, you can still shrink them with heat, but of course it won't shrink to it's original size, but still works to do it's job! You can expand and contract(using heat) polymers over and over again, you're basically breaking the tertiary and quaternary bonds, as long as you don't stretch it too much so that it breaks the primary bonds, it can rebond using heat and come back to it's original shape. Jay, what are you gonna try out first? I agree that the solid state relay is another point of failure, and since it could overheat and stop working, it doesn't add confidence to a heli, but if we use something that's very reliable, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The PPTC devices sounds like a great overload protector, I like the idea of that! If you had a short and it cut power to the heli, would it restore power quick enough to power up again? Or would we need to autorotate? Jim, let us know how the connectors work out for you! Do you like soldering to them? I found the soldering nice and easy! Hope everyone has a great weekend! Cheers! David.
Posted on: 4/16/2011 4:47 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10465754

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey everyone, Hey Jim, Glad to hear you had a great time flying! And flying everything at that! haha. Hey Jay, welcome back. Sounds like you got some great info with the techs. Solid state relays are a great idea! Jim might have a point about having a "simple" solution, but hey, if we wanted simple would we be into heli's?? hahahha.. Our computerized radios and flying contraptions look anything but simple ;o) I like it when people walk up to you in the park and see the radio and helicopter, they have no idea what all those little interacting parts do, must be pretty complicated to them. I looked up some relays, and I found this one: 50VDC/80A, seems pretty good for a 500 sized helicopter, it weighs in at 80grams, but also requires a heat sink, so that might add some weight. It needs airflow over the heat sink, but that's not a problem on our heli's. The SS Relay sells for about $23 before shipping, so it's not too expensive. It would be great to install one of these into a heli, I'd probably do that if I had a 500. To power and operate the relay, I would probably just install a switch, it will still arc inside, but would probably last the entire lifetime of the heli, so that option could work. You might lose some flight time because of the energy losses at the relay though, hopefully it's not very much. Drumheller Dave, that sounds like a horrible drive to work, it snowed here in Vancouver too, but it wasn't as bad as you had it. Sounds like that guy was going a little too fast for the conditions, but that happens too often in the snow. You need good winter tires in the snow, it makes all the difference. I really like the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires, they are all season tires, but work very well in all conditions, snow, rain, or dry conditions, they grip the road like no tomorrow! In the rain, they stop in about 1/3 the distance that my current tires would, I never thought I could get so much grip on wet pavement, but the soft rubber just sticks to the wet surface. They are only rated at 70,000kms, instead of the 130,000kms like my Harmony's, but it's worth the loss of 40,000kms! I would rather have control for 70,000kms than no control for 130,000kms(Which could lead to an accident!). If anyone is looking for tires that can save your life, I would definitely recommend Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's all around! Hope everyone has a great Friday! TGIF! Cheers, David.
Posted on: 4/15/2011 12:11 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10463703

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
That's great, well, if it can take a few crashes, that sure beats a 450! You can't make any mistakes with a 450. I was checking out hobbyking's motors, and there are so many brushless motors out there, we could probably find something that would fit. How much RPM does the head need to spin, and what's the gearing? We could figure out what ####kV we would want the motor to be. How many amps does it pull from the battery? Or how many watts does the heli consume? Here is a 6100kV motor that runs at 2.7A, 1S lipo, 12.6W total power handling. [link=http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9996]6100kV 12.6W Brushless Motor[/link] And would this little brushless ESC for 5A 1S lipo work? [link=http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10573]5A Brushless ESC[/link] Just curious. Cheers. David.
Posted on: 4/13/2011 11:29 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10461716

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Jim, thanks for posting that solution, sounds like a winner! Jay and Donica should set theirs up with that system. Ya, Canadian customs can keep things for 2 weeks, but that's one of of ten shipments, usually it's 2 to 5 days. Mcpx sounds fun! You can crash it without damage? That's pretty cool, sounds like a winner! Can you crank the cyclic speed up? Maybe with a brushless upgrade and lighter shorter blades? Cyclic management is good to learn tho. Angel18, are you from the Northwest Territories? That'd be cool! I've been up there before, it's really nice! I was there both in the winter and summer, and was lucky enough to witness the Northern Lights, a very cool thing to see in person. (If you're not from the NT, then ignore everything I've said!) What events are you looking to follow? Cheers. David.
Posted on: 4/13/2011 9:14 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10461593

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Karl Thanks, I'll take a look!
Posted on: 4/13/2011 9:25 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10460386

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Thanks Jim! That's a great idea, very light weight solution! Is he using a 1/4watt resistor? I think that'd be enough, if not, you could CA some aluminum around it to give it some thermal mass for the initial surge. That'll save a lot of connectors and I'm sure it's better for the electronics. Hope everyone has a great day!
Posted on: 4/13/2011 7:50 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10460231

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Donica, that's an awesome move you made, testing the tale and aborting the flight right there, it shows that you're an awesome pilot who's in tune with the heli ;o) You are one with the heli. I can imagine you sneaking out and jumping on the forum while everyone's taking a test, that's so funny, pretty cool too ;o) TonyL, you should get back into the hobby! There are so many new great things to enjoy, brushless motors, lipos, 2.4ghz, flybarless setups! If I were you, I'd probably get the module that Jim's talking about, make your radio 2.4ghz, then go from there. I would suggest getting into electric heli's and planes, but if you're down with nitro you could go that way, but the parks are more friendly towards electrics, and it's always nice to just go to the park and start flying around. Jim, that's a good find for the XT60s, the ProTek's look like they'll be better quality than the hobbyking ones too, not sure why I say that, but must be the packaging and slogan "A higher level of performance" haha. Ya, it's good to buy local and support the local business. That'd be good if you can find the arc suppression circuits, it could help us out. Ya, that pop can't be good for anything! That's cool that the heads came in, that was fast! Actually, to talk about arc flashes in greater magnitude, they can be quite dangerous; for those working on high voltage switch gear, an arc flash can cause serious injury and death, and causes serious property damage, they happen in the same way as in our helis, but thousands of times worse. If you haven't seen how serious arc flashes can be, check out this video where they test out various PPE meant to protect people working on switchgear: [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFlBLQjOAJI&feature=player_detailpage#t=130s]CLICK HERE - ARC FLASH PPE TESTING[/link] I though it'd be nice to put a sense of scale to our problem. Cheers! David.
Posted on: 4/12/2011 9:10 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10459659

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Matt! Welcome to your new place! Glad to hear everything went well! Ya, way to keep it nice and short, unlike my post...[:)] hahah. Hope you get to fly some! Those are bad hours tho.. During the best daylight! I don't know why we work the hours we do... it really interferes with flying!
Posted on: 4/12/2011 12:43 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10457732

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Jim, 70A continuous would be awesome, perfect for 450's. Not sure about the 500s tho? Do people use deans for those packs as well? I'm not sure if I believe anything they tell us tho, how well will they perform in the real RC field? If you get your hands on some, when they come in stock, please let us know what you think of them. Being optimistic, hopefully they pan out to be as great as they sound, and you adopt them and carry some at your store. Hobbyking sent out an email a while back, saying they have store fronts now, and that they would like to work with Hobby stores to stock some of their things, if you find some good stuff from them, you should stock their stuff too, maybe it'll save people from paying the ridiculous shipping costs. I purchased the XT60s with my last order of batteries, they were very light, so I added them without an additional cost. That's the only way to do it, otherwise $20 for shipping just doesn't make sense. I just did some quick reading on the subject of arcs, interesting phenomenon, strange one... The arc voltage where the metal of our connectors breaks down into vapour/ionized gas/plasma might be around 15V(depends on the metal they used), so if you're going above 3S lipos, you'll start noticing bigger and bigger sparks, and erosion of the connectors. I'm only running 3S mostly, so I don't notice much. The connectors probably don't hold up under 6S very well, that's 25.2V! Yikes. I'm not sure what the mechanism is, of the arc when we connect, as most of the documents talk about the arc caused when you break a connection under load, but I think it's almost the same principles as when we make our connections, whereas the voltage difference between conductors cause the air in between the conductors to ionize, vaporize a bit of metal which becomes charged vapor called plasma which is conductive and sort like a mini explosion, causing the damage to our conductors. I'm thinking that it's like our metal halide lamps that are in our street lights. Those use high voltage, like 33,000V, heat up and vaporize a bunch of metal in the bulb, and create an arc that's a couple cms long of plasma, producing the bright light, they're also known as high intensity discharge (HID) lamps. I have an HID hand held lamp at home, got it on sale, it's a quick strike HID, so it can create the arc and be within full temperature in 10 seconds: if you use a couple CD's, and look at the plasma arc, you can actually see it pretty clearly without blinding yourself (Don't try that at home, it's probably bad for you!). Street lamps are also known as high pressure sodium lamps, those use arc's too, but produce more orange/yellow light, they're the older type. Anyways, I find this stuff pretty interesting, as you can probably tell, hope I'm not boring you guys! I guess you guys see why I'm staying with electrics and not going to nitro... hahaha. Chuck, I'd be interested in seeing what the capacitor/resistor circuit looks like, that you were talking about for reducing or stopping the arcing, if you find it please share it with us! I was thinking that an inductor in line on the load side would reduce the arc, because it's an open circuit till the field builds up right? It might even help with voltage sags, but it'd be heavy, which wouldn't fly with our heli's so well. A capacitor would be great to use, as they can be pretty light weight, and won't mess with our heli's too much. They use sacrificial contactors in large motorized breakers so that the smaller replaceable contacts take all the arcing and eroding, leaving the main contacts protected, so maybe it's accepted that the arc destroys contacts, but there must be a solution for us that's better than sacrificial contacts. Now you've got me thinking.. this is all fun and interesting stuff! ;o) In the end, it's probably just cheaper to replace contacts and plugs rather than find ways of eliminating the arc, but we're here to think outside the box! Hope everyone's having a good week! Cheers. David.
Posted on: 4/12/2011 12:25 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10457715

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey guys, Jim, let us know what you think of them! They don't have a definite current rating, but they say they're good up to and beyond 65A. That's probably because they've never gone through certified testing, a UL test or similar. Wiring and connector current ratings are based on how much it takes to melt the insulation, and that changes with the air temp they're used at, testing is probably done at room temp. I would guess these are good up to 60A under normal flying conditions during summer, especially under air flow. If the application uses anything above 60A, there are XT150 connectors also, that are good up to 250A. [link=http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=12887]XT150s.[/link] It's funny, wiring is sized the same way, current rating is based on when the insulation melts, the conductor will keep doing it's job even when the insulation is long gone, as long as it doesn't short on anything. So 10AWG with 90C rated insulation will have a lower current rating than the 200C rated silicone rubber insulated 10AWG found on hobbyking. But again, I don't think that's been tested so we can assume it has a higher current rating, but nothing officially listed. As long as the wires aren't melted after the flight, we'll be fine. Chuck, you're right, switches are bad to use in cases where it arc's every time you connect, the contacts inside will get destroyed over time. I'm not using 6S, but I've been thinking of ways to get around that. Some people connect first with a disposable connector, let that take all the arc's and destroy that, and then they connect with the big connectors used for flying, that way they don't destroy those. But that's not the best way to do it. The best way I think would be to have an ESC with an on switch from the board, so the solid state components do all the work, then there's no spark at all. I don't think I'm getting a Trex 500 anytime soon though, so I don't need to worry about that yet. Hope everyone has a great day! Cheers, David.
Posted on: 4/11/2011 8:29 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10456035

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Jay, great to hear from you! Men in the air with tool belts, that counts! Sounds like you guys did a great job! Now time for you to head back and have some fun! Chuck, sounds like you had a great full day of flying! That's awesome!! Jim, sounds like an awesome heli, that sounds really stable! I can't imagine that type of stability, it's amazing, you don't need to worry about losing orientation and crashing because of the wind! Only getting blown up and down isn't so bad. It'd be fun to test that in some really gusty winds.. If you have fast enough digital servos you could probably crank the gain up and really get it to hold tight. I'm in the same boat as Jay with the deans connectors, they've been giving me problems since early on, shortly after I finished with the Raptor G2 SE and went onto the Trex 450XL, the deans started losing connection even if they were fully plugged in, the contact wasn't very reliable. The two problems I found with the deans was that the surface coating oxidized, which doesn't lend itself to a great contact, and the spring tab that was arched to give compression would deform and become flat, reducing the amount of compression it delivered to the contact. I tried cleaning the contacts a bit and using copper conductive grease, but that didn't seem to work that well. In the end, I found that the best option was to replace the deans whenever it showed signs of wear. I've been eyeing the XT60's from hobbyking for some time, and recently when I realized it would cost more to buy more deans for new batteries, and replace the worn connectors on stuff, I purchased 15 sets of XT60s for $12 or so. I haven't put them through much testing yet, but I like how easy it is to solder onto them, it was fine to solder onto the deans, but the XT60 has a lip and insert that's perfect for a 12AWG wire. The heat shrink also slides into a recess in the case, which makes it really easy not have a gap between the heat shrink and plug, as you can see in the picture. They don't come with heat shrink, but I got some 4mm heat shrink and it works perfectly. They have great contact, and hold together really tight, I like the 4 sections they use to create the spring tension, not sure if this will lose it's springyness, but you can bend them outwards easily, that will be the real test of time. The little grips on the side also make them easy to hang on to and unplug. I found out by mistake, that the plastic melts at the same temp as the deans, I've melted both by overheating while soldering, but just use less heat and it's fine. The coating looks good now, but might oxidize, we'll see what happens throughout the flying season. I can't recommend them, since I haven't started using them, but they "seem" to be good quality, and have promise of being a great plug. I bet there are a bunch of reviews out there though. Cheers, David.
Posted on: 4/10/2011 11:36 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10455523

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hi! Great to hear the MCPX is flying well! The FBL must be great in the wind, those quick flips and tilts that the wind causes will be softened, if not eliminated, by the FBL 3-axis system wouldn't it? That's pretty cool, because that's usually the big problem with the wind. It probably doesn't take care of up or down for the heli, but if you're flying sideways when the wind hits, moving up or down will actually only be horizontal to the ground, so the wind can't really affect you that much! They should put a 4th axis sensor, which stabilizes the pitch and adjusts pitch to mitigate any unwanted movement. Or have they already done something like that? Probably not right? The pitch probably doesn't change unless you move the throttle stick. Donica, sounds like you're an advanced pilot now! You can probably take out that nitro by yourself, we all have confidence in you and your capabilities. You're way beyond me, I'm stuck on electric helis, and electric helis is stuck on me. ;o) Sounds like a great flight out with Amanda, those are the best, near crashes ;o) Gives you an adenaline rush doesn't it? Feels great when you pull out of those without a scratch. Nice mods Chuck. Do you use Deans? Mine started having bad contacts, they get dirty over time and oxidize. I've purchased some XT60s and will replace all mine, it was cheaper to replace all my deans, than to just replace my broken deans plugs. And like Jim says, sometimes when you plug in deans, you miss the plug and brown out the contacts sometimes, deans are kind of annoying to plug in because of that, the XT60s are really well designed plugs, great contact and easy to solder and use, because of the grips they've got. It's about time someone designed a plug with RC use in mind. How many people here have gone to XT60s? Hope everyone has a great weekend, get some flying in! I probably won't be able to fly again, gotta work, but I'll sim ;o) Cheers! David.
Posted on: 4/9/2011 8:08 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10452574

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Jim! Congratulations!! That's awesome that you can download stuff to the DX8! Downloadable setups, FBL programming, man, that's some advanced stuff! Funny how things change so quickly, what will it be in a few years? How about wireless trainer radio connections? They got that yet? Well, let us know how things go with your new heli! Maybe some videos of the maiden and flights? Hehe. It's always fun to read all your posts. Some of which I don't understand, but still enjoy ;o) Amada's gonna be another heli enthusiast? It all germinates with the sim!! Side effects include an itch, it's soothed by the purchase of a mini sized heli, but quickly comes back as a rash, which can only be cured by lithium... of the polymer type, applied with carbon fiber and CNC aluminum! Some may experience the urge to go nitro.. Good night all, dream of heli's! Take care.
Posted on: 4/8/2011 12:25 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10450512

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Sounds like some fierce winds down there, hope you all stay safe. Good night Jim! Chopper, I agree, taking it home in once piece is a great move! That's why I'm simming so much, gotta get good before I try anything crazy. I've got the 3 out of 4 funnels I need before doing the piro funnels. I just started doing the right side forward clockwise funnel, it's really hard, it's funny how I can fly around all fine, but then all of a sudden when I try that new funnel, I go crashing into the ground. haha. No matter how long you've been in the hobby, there will always be new moves! Haha, good job with the words, you've impressed me with confusion ;o) Welcome back Dave! I see you're a neighbour, sorta. What service do you use to get your parts usually? I usually get them shipped from the US, but when I need it quick, I use www.rcflightstore.com, they are local for me so I get it in 1 day, but they probably can ship to you within 2-3 days? It's great for when you just need some simple parts, umbrella gears or something. Good night everyone!
Posted on: 4/5/2011 9:11 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10445905

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey Mike, I know what you're saying, there's nothing like the real thing. And $200 is a lot to pay for it. With the amount of damage I was causing through crashes, it made sense to get the simulator, since going to the club for a professional trainer was more expensive, but probably more fun and a better experience. I have been trying to set up my Heli to fly like the sim, as opposed to setting up the sim to fly like the Heli. Haha, it's a backwards approach, but works well because the Heli in the sim is doing what it's supposed to. I haven't tried 5 yet, the hobby shop still has 4 on display. Sounds promising. Jim, I like the idea of the 3/4 bump, I should try that out. Oh so the TH button uses a HT curve, I guess there's no way to change that. Ya, I keep the positive pitch curve the same for all modes, so it shouldn't make a difference unless I'm doing negative. Everyone: What new move should I practice after the piro funnel? Any ideas guys? What are your favorite moves? Have a great day!
Posted on: 4/5/2011 10:24 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10444573

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey RCers! Donica, thanks! I enjoy reading all the posts and being a part of this energetic thread! Everyone here really puts the meaning into RC enthusiast! This place has always been full of positive enthusiastic people. Hey, you've gone a long way since the days of hovering your first 450! Have you posted any videos of you and Jay flying? Let's see! Chuck, those rims are real shiny!! Haha, do they, spin? Haha. Well, you're the RC veteran! You're showing us how it's done old skool? I like it! Mack, I've been attempting piro funnels right now. I'm trying to master the clockwise funnels both tail forward, left side forward, nose forward, and right side forward, hopefully after I master those 4 orientations, I can start piroetting and still keep it in a controlled funnel. I've seen people do it, and it's amazing!! That's what I really like about RC helicopters, you see all these amazing things they can do, and you can practice for hours to master it. Usually, once I can do it for 10 minutes straight without crashing, I'll go out there and try it for the first time. That's worked out pretty well for me. I learned the hard way of course. At first I tried something on the sim, and I could do it, barely, so I tried it in real life, but I failed and crashed. That was an inverted flip. So while I waited for parts, for 2 weeks, I would sim and sim, with determination, until I totally mastered it, after that, I went out and tried it with my newly repaired heli, and although it was much harder than in the sim, I pulled it off because I had actually mastered it. It feels like you've got to be 10 times as good in the sim, before you go try it, because it's 10 times harder in real life. Jim, is it more fun building, or flying? Some of us are more builders than flyers. I think I'm 50/50. I have a question about the DX6i, for the throttle hold button, if you're in Normal mode when you hit the button, will the pitch curve be the normal curve? And in idle up, if you hit the HT, will the pitch curve be the idle up curve? Or does it change to the HT pitch curve? Because it'd be nice if it stayed the same as the mode you were in. On the DX7 it jumps straight to theHT pitch curve, and that's not good when you're in normal mode hovering above the ground. Mike, 60MPH winds are something to complain about! Damn.. Can't fly in that. Unless maybe you have an RC jet? But still, that'd be hard to land in. So I guess you're simming a lot? Which sim do you run? Andy, that's pretty cool! I looked up some of the guys you mentioned, no wonder they fly better than you do! They're pros! hahaha. That must have been awesome and inspiring! What sim is everyone running on? Maybe we can have a SIM night where we all get together and fly? Have we done that yet? I know we've talked about it before, but nothing happened. Hope everyone has a great day! Cheers, David.
Posted on: 4/5/2011 1:03 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10443850

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hey everyone! Hope everyone's having a good weekend! Out flying, in simming? Doesn't matter, as long as you're enjoying it. Matty! You've got a herd indeed! That 500 will make a good addition I think, that should be fun! Are you buying a new align kit? AR6200 for $34? That's insane! AR6100E for $8.99?? Wow, that is a great deal! Hope the moves goes well, you must be finishing up now? Jim, oh ya, I remember the small Gaui, you upgraded the motor and it had more than enough power. I guess if you're used to something that small and fast, then the MCPX isn't much of a jump for you. I could imagine a jump from 450 to 100 being a little challenging. The DX6i is great bang for the buck, definitely, it all comes down to that, and that's why nobody's going for the DX7. The DX7 has it's problems, it's CG is off, so you need to buy a bracket, it uses 8AA, so you need to buy a lipo, etc. It just makes sense to pay less for the DX6i, which has incorporated fixes to some of the DX7 problems. The throttle hold button is pretty cool to have, just mash the button! Ya, I like that, like laying down the horn! haha. I see what you're saying though, you need to be on top of the newest technology, it doesn't really sell well if you just say "Oh I'm running an old DX7". It's ok for me though, does what I need. That's awesome that you're fixing heli's all day, if I won the lotto, I would open a shop and do that too. Mack, I'm glad I'm not alone! Ya, I remember you were running a Sceadu before too, good that it's still running strong! Well, we just need to go at our own pace. If you practice 1 hour a day like Donica, you'll be flying backwards inverted figure 8's in no time! I wish I could do that. I'm going to try and sim more; on the train ride to work every day on a laptop. Thanks for the Rat Club report. Ronnie really took it to heart: "If you're gonna crash, make it a good one!" (Jim). That sounds like quite a mess, like a bomb went off. A piece of the RX cover? Wow, that must have been fun to watch(Not for Ronnie). You know what? They should install PVR cameras at the RC clubs, then you'd get some spectacular crashes, imagine combining them at the end of the year and showing it at the RC club Christmas party or something! Hi Donica! I wish we had that on tape ;o) Would have been great to see you let them have it! But ya, you gotta be serious sometimes, it's good you can switch from having fun, to being serious when you need to. That's cool that you can get 1 hour of simming in after work. I find myself too busy to do that, I think I better get off work earlier, so I can get some simming in too! Do you find that it's a nice way to wind down after work? Or do you sim before bed? That'd be cool, sim on the laptop by the bedside, although it doesn't put you to sleep, so that might not be a great idea, it kinda does the opposite. Jay's a tough guy, but he's lucky to have you taking care of him! Hi Jay! Hi Chuck! Wow 20 years, you're no noob, you know the core basics, and that's important. It must be exciting coming back into the hobby. What do you think of all the changes? Solid state technology, gyros, 2.4ghz, brushless/motors, lipos, carbon fiber, I guess it changes things a little bit right? Oh ya, and the simulator, have you gotten one? Which one are you running? I'm all for G3.5, that's where I learned everything. I tried G4, and didn't like it. Haven't tried 4.5 or 5.5 yet. I'm happy with 3.5 Are you gonna be doing piro flips with your mCPX soon? It's one crazy heli! It'll be fun. Oh ya, Jay's snake bite was a bad one, he was on his break, just relaxing out by a tree, when the snake bit him, good thing though, he beat the crap out of the snake with something, I forget, a shovel maybe? Since he caught the snake, they knew what type of venom it was, that probably saved his life, he is his own hero! Not sure, but I think this happened back in 2008? Hope everyone's having a great weekend! Cheers! David.
Posted on: 4/3/2011 4:43 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10439616

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Thanks for filling me in! A new DX.... that's scary... But if spectrum made it, it's gotta be good! For some time, didn't you have the DX6i? What did you do with that one? Glad to hear some people are still sticking with the DX7. I saw the spectrum video displaying the DSMX, looks pretty cool, they've got 100 radios or so on, and still no interference, it's amazing. Is your DX8 updated with that? Apparently anyone can get it, you just need to send your radio in for reprogramming. I usually fly by myself at the park though, so I don't think I'll need that. A while back, I was losing reception on my Funtana, I figured out what it was, one of the antenna wires were broken, so I was flying with only 1 antenna.... For a long time.. haha. After I found that out, I bought an AR7000 and put it in the Funtana, I figured it's $80 but well worth it, since it prevents my airplane from losing control, which is a pretty darn scary thing, well worth $80! I got that last year, but haven't had a chance to fly it, it's been sitting up on my wall since last summer. I don't like the cold, just like you! That, and it's always raining here. Indoor flying would be nice. I checked out the Mcpx on youtube, WOW, it's amazing! It can do everything a 450 can, and it doesn't seem that twitchy, not much faster than the 450 I'd say. I remember you said the 250 was really fast, do you think the Mcpx is slow compared to the 250? How do they compare in size? Batteries have gone out of hand too, haha. 5C charge? that's unheard of! I remember you swore by 1C max, has this changed with the release of the new battery packs? Uh oh, you're getting me into all the RC stuff again!!!! I thank you, but my bank account does not! How was the dream job today? Did you set up some new customers and teach them the do's and don'ts of RC? Charge safe, in a lipo sack! ;o) David.
Posted on: 3/30/2011 11:56 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10433970

RE: Heli stuff and fellowship
Hi Everyone! Just wanted to say a quick hi, I've been working too hard and haven't had much time for RC. To put it in a language we all understand, I have flown past the timer and my Lipos are below 2.8VDC!! That's a metaphor, Jim has taught me well and I never overdischarge and have put my packs on storage voltages for hibernation! But, that's no excuse to stop flying, or simming. I've been thinking of getting a small laptop so I can Velcro strap it to the chair in front of me on the subway/skytrain/bus and sim while in transit! Otherwise I would get no RC time in. I'm on the train for 90 mins a day! Imagine how much practice I could get! Ive been trying to read back on the forum to get filled in! You have all gotten so far! Donica and Jay have a herd! Jim has gone flybarless! Well, I think lots have, I just haven't read back far enough yet! I'm left out, I'm still back in the days of GY401 and dx7! My lipos are from the same era! "If you're not crashing, you're not flying" (Jim 2008). I haven't crashed!! Oh no!! But reading up on here, I've gotten new motivation to get out there and join y'all in some air thrashing! Take care everyone! You're a great bunch. Fly safe. David. PS: Thanks Jim! Well, I haven't been really gone, but it feels like I turned around for a second, looked back and everything in your lives have changed! From jobs to the helis and technology you guys own! What radios are you guys using nowadays? First attempt to post this failed. Glad the iphone has select all and copy/paste! Very handy!
Posted on: 3/30/2011 11:41 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Helicopter Beginners Forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10432592

RE: HobbyKing Store Front
Hi guys, I got the email too, it'll be awesome if we could get one in town. I imagine a stores like this in any downtown would sell a lot of things, very quickly. This will give access to aggressively priced parts/kits [>:]. It's what we hobbyists need; you crash, you go buy the parts you need, and you're back up and running, none of this waiting 2 weeks for a part you need. Summer, only being 2 months long here, makes 2 weeks of wait take 25% out of your prime flight season! [:@] Those in Canada who are familiar with NCIX will know how well a low priced, quick ship, company can do for themselves. They went from one store front to 2, 3, 4.... still growing. I hope that HK will be as successful as NCIX, they should practice the same great pricing, stocking, mediocre customer service, and quick shipping. It's all about mediocre customer service, if you have great customer service, the price starts to get overinflated, like Future Shop or London Drugs, nobody buys parts from those places, except your grandparents. I think it'll be easy, like Deans vs. XT60. [:)] Here's to no more overpriced RTF kits sitting in hobbyshops collecting dust! Waiting for the unsuspecting customer who impulse buys. Cheers.
Posted on: 3/28/2011 7:35 PM by Author "David867" in the forum "RC Electric Off-Road Trucks, Buggies, Truggies and more"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10429189

RE: CopterX 450 PRO V3
Thanks for the review soneebee, much appreciated! It was very good and thorough. Looks like a sweet heli, and flys really well too. We may have another winner! How about a follow up? Has the swash plate held up? The bearings had a tendency to loosen up on the 450 SE V2's, both Align and CopterX. Anything else wearing out too quickly? Thanks man!
Posted on: 2/21/2010 6:01 AM by Author "David867" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=9522258