Blade 130S

[Dave Bran]

Background:- Been around RC Heli's for over ten years. Can do most non Chaos 3D though prefer fast flight and more fixed wing type aerobatics. Thoroughly enjoy taking a TT redline 56 engined 50 class through an aero schedule. Can happily autorotate and practice this regularly from all sorts of attitudes.

OK, so my new 130S was unboxed, checked over and bound to my DX9 (DSM2/DSMX grey case). It bound DSMX 22mS not 11mS as manual. Done three times, never got it other than 22mS.

Tried a 300mAh 3S as stated by Blade being required but this left it ridiculously tail biased on CG, Way WAY out.

It balanced much more closely (but still a mite tail heavy) on the 450mAh 3S normally used on my 180CFX, so this battery has been used so far.

Flew OK but only space to hover in Dining Room yesterday p.m. Two batteries to run it in, all OK.

Took it to an Indoor (Sports Hall) with my small group this morning.

Manual DR/Expo settings quickly found in forward flight to be nowhere near nervous enough for me, so ended up with max safe throws, Max DR, and only 10% Expo.

Flew three batteries and was getting 5 Min 30Sec of increasingly fast high banked circuits and eights and piros with no sign of drop off on the 450mAh 3S. Tested Panic mode to prove working prior to going Idle Up.

Fitted fourth battery, flew off in Normal and on first banked turn the tail motor glitched, violently but only once and fast, then two circuits over same ground with no problem at all, then another tail glitch, same, once, and violent.

At this point I brought it towards a landing at a safe distance but almost down it suddenly spooled up fully and lost tail grip. I cut throttle to zero but as it was looking like going to end up in the person to my right's face I grabbed it, my right thumb getting a couple of decent nicks, but hey, you own it, you take it, eh? There would not have been time for Throttle Hold to have any effect in slowing it or it spooling down and of course once my right hand was away from the Tx................

After grabbing it, it was still trying to run with throttle fully closed IN NORMAL MODE (but not throttle hold on as I had no time to react and not being in Idle Up had not kept finger over Hold switch as I normally would (note to self:- never do that again!!). We proved this error was so and it remained for maybe 15-20 seconds before reverting to normal throttle operation. Four people verified that the Tx was in Normal (switch position and on screen), the throttle was shut, yet it was running both motors seemingly flat out.

The DX 9 (and I after a little blood mopping!) went on to fly a CPS, 130X, 130X BO-105, and a couple of planes with not the slightest sign of any issue.

Back home I inspected it closely all over and the only result of the grab (apart from some blood lubrication to the rotor head) was the main gear had one slightly rough tooth with what looked like a carbon frond loose, which cleaned off and the gear interference is still smooth and correct even at that point on the gear. No other damage visible static or under careful low revs.

SO, under careful scrutiny and mostly hiding behind the door (!!) it lifts off and hovers perfectly well. Too windy to now try outdoors.

Worrying!

[Denis Watkins]

Dave

Brave man, you did the right thing, I found this

Program your transmitter before attempting to bind or fl y
the helicopter. Transmitter programming values are shown
below for the Spektrum DX6i, DX7s, DX6, DX7, DX8, DX9,
DX18 and DX20.
The fi les for models using Spektrum™ transmitters with
AirWare™ software are also available for download online
at www.spektrumrc.com.

You may already know this, but it is worth a shot

[YakMad]

I was looking at getting a 130s but I think I'll wait a while, I wonder is there a bug in the Panic/Recovery software or a power problem with the inbuilt BEC. Let us know Dave if you get to the bottom of this.

[Denis Watkins]

The Instruction Book is available online Yakmad, and is worth a read

The set up is very complex, very precise instructions, but is explained fully

Following the instructions precisely is very necessary, and there is no room for error

[tigerman]

Mmm is it me or are other people finding Horzion Hobby products are not has good has they used to be.I seem to be seeing a lot of problems with there products creeping in For instance I have given up on my Blade helicopter ,they cost more on parts going wrong ie I spent more on servo for my helicopters then the helicopters cost!!! I also read there are some problems with the DR6 transmitters and a few people at our club have problems with there e-flite models electrics going wrong and it now looks like there are a few problems with the new 130s.Yes I know they will sort the problems out and there customer service is outstanding but there products to me seemed to be having a few problems.Our is it just me ?

[Dave Bran]

Posted by YakMad on 07/03/2017 08:49:30:

I was looking at getting a 130s but I think I'll wait a while, I wonder is there a bug in the Panic/Recovery software or a power problem with the inbuilt BEC. Let us know Dave if you get to the bottom of this.

Looking for something else I came across this from March, and am embarrassed to realise I did not feed back here, though I did elsewhere.

In Precis, the loss of stabilisation particularly in left turns was with a couple of others similarly affected worldwide with enough nouse to investigate thoroughly found to occur with high C rated packs, Yes, odd but read on!

The std pack HH/Blade state (but do NOT provide) is relatively low C and only 300mAh 3S. The issue is that the Heli is inherently desperately tail heavy!

Also, many people (like me) would already have a 180CFX with lots of higher C rated 450mAh 3S. You cannot roll over the old 130X packs as they are only 2S.

The giveaway clue to the issue was that the Heli has a ferrite core on the battery lead, extremely unusual in a micro Heli. Ergo, they seem (possibly) to have had feedback interference issues in development and patched it with the core. However, fitting a higher C rated pack and unleashing more current was enough to cause issues .

A 450mAh 65C 3S pack created the issue. A 370mAh 25-40C 3S was completely trouble free. This was duplicated across the world with others, going back and fore till it was beyond doubt. Not using above that pack type, the Heli has been trouble free ever since.

For the record, I have had one other issue, the canopy was not trimmed wide enough at the top and so while the collective servo rod would slide past with clearance, the stepped out plastic end could depending on the canopy rest position catch in the down direction from near fully up, loading up and potentially damaging the linear servo. Easy enough cured, trim the canopy wider with curved nail scissors.

[YakMad]

Dave,

Thanks for the update, so instead of Horizon going back and fixing the problem with the electronics they took the cheapest root and stuck a ferrite core on to mask the problem, so extremely poor development testing done on their part as this should have been one of the first power tests they did, test other batteries and fix the root problem. I haven't bought any Horizon products this year even though I have a DX8 and DX9 which have been trouble free although I've had problems with their 6 and 7 channel rx's and several Blade heli's which after sorting out build issues with them all fly well but I've lost fate in Horizon after the mess they made of the move to German distribution this year.