Tx Settings

[El CID]

Recently come back to helicopters after many years with model aircraft.Can anyone assist with all the settings I will need to input into my Futaba 6EX 2.4 Tx.For some time it will be basic hover training etc.

I prefer to use my own Tx rather than the one supplied with the heli.

The heli is the Century Mini Pred

recommended Pitch and Throttle curve values would be a help?

[wlfk]

I have that TX and will help with specific questions. I don't know the Century Mini Pred. Where have you got to so far? I tend to start with the swashplate settings and servo directions. I think you need 90 degree swash settings (in the manual) and you want to make sure that when you increase the collective the swashplate goes up and that cyclic mirrors the stick movements.

You might need to reverse some of the servos in order to get everything moving as it should.

Do you have a pitch guage?

Start by setting the pitch curve at 0-25-50-75-100 and make sure that the blade pitch is '0' degrees at the 50% level.

You'll then want to adjust the pitch settings so that you get about -3 to +10 degrees of collective.

Unplug the motor whilst you do all this, to avoid catastrophes. Then get back to us with the difficult bits.

K

[El CID]

Many thanks wlfk

I am not allowed to view my new Heli until tomorrow when I will digest the the manual contents and do as you suggest.

The pitch gauge I have yet to get, the model shop where I bought the heli was out of stock, would you recommend any particular one?

R 

[wlfk]

No - I only have one and haven't seen any others - it's a small one for mini-helicopters. You can get them quite cheap on Ebay.

Have fun tmrw,

K

[Alan B]

Hi Cid

If you can wait - They are about £10 from the various heli suppliers. However I just googled picth gauge on the web. Bid for one on E bay at 90 pence and nobody else bid so I got it for 1p + £3.50 p&p from hong kong - took about 10 days.

However the mini pred is pre set on the transmitter supplied for normal flight and 3D and all the pitch and throttle curves are in the supplied manual. All you need to do is enter the values into your own transmitter they should be the same.

As K said - dont use the Lipo supllied to make ajustments you can inadvertently knacker it and you can fire up the heli accidently and get a quick haircut or worse! - When I set up electric helis  I disconnect the Throttle/ ESC from the Receiver and plug a standard Mi-hd 4.8v flight pack into the battery terminal on the RX. You can then ajust your pitch and throttle settings on your transmitter safely.

Regards Al

[El CID]

Hi Al

Many thanks , I am not in a hurry so will have a look on Ebay.

Reg 

[Owen Hailey]

Hi there I to use a 4.8 volt reciver pack to check setting out and this a very safe way of working on the radio settings.

[El CID]

Unfortunately I do not have a 4.8v receiver pack, recent clear out.

Any other suggestions for safely powering the heli whilst setting the radio up

Al

My bid for 1p is on the pitch gauge 

[wlfk]

No need to get an extra pack. Just unplug the motor connectors from the ESC so that the motor can't start up. Same advantage - if the motor aint connected it isn't going to go anywhere.

Make sure the connectors can't short-circuit if they're unplugged.

K

[Alan B]

Hi merry xmas

 Its true what K says - however be careful that you dont over discharge your Lipo Thats why I always use the seperate power pack option.

Ref the pitch gauge - I tried that and was out bid at the very last minute  So I put in automated bid up to 90p  - luckily nobody else put in a bid in so I got it for 1p!

Al

[El CID]

Al

You mention not to let the Lipo over discharge, having scanned the heli instructions it would appear there is no means of regulating what  voltage the battery will  discharge to, if this assumption is correct what is the best way to prevent this?

                 Reg
 

[wlfk]

Simply not leaving the LiPo connected to the helicopter, then forgetting about it.

When you're flying, you'll be drawing many times the current it takes to run the receiver and servos. The worst case scenario is one of the servos is binding and drawing a few amps. Even then, you should get an hour or two of testing before you start to damage the LiPo.

If you put in the LiPo then leave it overnight you might start running into problems.

K

[El CID]

Many thanks

What precautions would you take when flying?

The reason for the concern is that other ESC's I have will auto detect Lipo low voltage and cut off, the one factory fitted to Century Mini Pred/Falcon 3D does not appear to have this facility  

R

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[wlfk]

Ideally you should only use about 80% of a LiPo, so you should be landing before you start to see any power loss. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, you can crash because you don't have enough power to stay in the air. The drop-off can be surprisingly fast.

Secondly, it's better for the batteries, and if you treat them gently they will last longer. There are now some LiPos that are less sensitive to being over-discharged.

You're meant to get a timer to tell you when to land. You start off by playing it safe, then monitoring how much charge you're replacing into the cells.

K

[El CID]

Eric & wlfk

Many thanks for your advice.

Reg