Hobby Eagle

[Den Moran]

Bother! I've been trying to set up a Hobby Eagle A3V2 gyro, and the manual is optimistic, to say the least!

I now have a continuously flashing red light? I can move from it into the 'selection box' , but when I try to get out of that, it goes back to a continuous flashing red light. This isn't mentioned in any manual or video, and I'm a bit stuck? Help,please? Den

[Denis Watkins]

These things are quite straight forward Den

Can I ask, are we just passing three regular servos through it ?

Through a regular Rx?

Are you electric or I/C with this fixed wing?

Are you NiMH or Lipo powered?

Are all the yellow signal wires at the top, button face, of the unit?

Edited By Denis Watkins on 26/11/2018 13:55:45

[Den Moran]

Hi, Den,

yes,yes,electric,Lipo,yes at the top. So, the flashing red is - what? It's not mentioned at all in the manual, or any of the videos I have seen.

I'll try going back to factory default tomorrow, I have cleared any 'mixes', as per, and everything seems in order, I just can't get back to the 'normal' mode blue-light status. Cheers, Den.

[Denis Watkins]

This unit is an " all singing, all dancing gyro " and as you know, has different modes.

This can be set to many operations

As you pass through the selections, or incomplete selection

Is the flashing red light ! !

If you have your gyro connected to MODE on Ch6, then for simplicity, disconnect this for now.

The gyro will now operate as NORMAL mode

Turn the 1st gain fully clockwise to show clearly the control surfaces go up when you lift that surface up from horizontal

This will tell us the gyro is working

Turn all three gains just below the middle of their movement, or less for flight

You want the least gain as possible in the air

The model would now fly stabilised at this setting

Now decide, if you need a different Mode, off etc, and join up CH 6

Go through the 8 flashing sequences to get where you want to be

The suggestions here are to prove your gyro is ok

[Den Moran]

Hi, Den

This a.m. I tried again, and got as far as your advice line ending in '......disconnect this for now'.

No result - just a continuous flashing red light. So I decided to carry out a 'factory default' reset. As my granddaughter says ...' This is tricky', because you have to depress the little black control button on the unit, keep it depressed, and THEN connect the battery - not easy with an XT60 connector!

Having done this, I discovered that Robert was my mum's brother, and the unit went back to 'normal' - showing the blue light. Then I carried out the further lines of your advice, and found out some interesting things:

a. The pots need a really small slot head screwdriver to turn them, but you have to be patient and find the 'ends' of the travel , clockwise and anti-clockwise - at the centre of this travel its the null point - no movement of the relative servo will occur.

b. I now saw a tiny movement (from the rudder) when I turned the aircraft, and, after further tweaking the left hand pot (aileron) I got that moving as well. The elevator didn't move, but it's servo did,so that needs investigating, probably an old servo where the arm isn't gripping. Both the aileron and the elevator needed to be reversed, but following the instructions for that is easy, and for me, it worked.So I now have the gyro doing its job.

I still don't know what happened to demand a factory reset, but, hey, as long as it worked, who cares?!

I know you are well up on this unit, but I have described my setup in case some other poor sod comes across the dreaded 'Continuous flashing red light' ( akin to pc blackscreen, I suspect!), and casts his household into sackcloth and ashes mode!

Thank you very much for your help, not for the first time, I know, and I'll let you know how it does in the air, and if I'm brave enough to try a 'mode 3' setup!

Diolch yn fawr'to, Den

[Den Moran]

Hi, Den - One last thing (I hope!). I've made great advances in my understanding of this unit, and have now successfully setup using 'Mode' 2 - Normal, off, and Auto-balance on my three-way switch.

In switch position one,Normal, the throws are correct.

In switch position two, all is off, correct.

and now the oddball - in switch position three, Auto balance, the throws for the aileron and rudder are good, but the elevator is going to the end of the servo travel when switched on ( the aircraft is 'at rest' on my table, so no positional or attitude change has taken place).

Any ideas on this one,please? Cheers, Den

[Denis Watkins]

Right Den

The unit is sensing " upside down " I think.

Does the surface appear to push the nose Up or Down?

Also

In a low winger, the unit is not the same attitude as a high winger.

For the sake of explanation, in a high winger, mode button up, and servo connectors to the rear

Now put this in a low winger, it is " upside down ", and the rudder wrong handed.

It is a different mindset, setting up a low winger, and must be tested on its undercarriage for correct sense.

If you are not upside down, we need to swap plugs carefully noting in that channel, does a different servo go full deflection

[Attilio Rausse]

try lifting the back end until flight stabiliser is level.

[Den Moran]

Hi! I checked that the 'position ' is correct in the manual - here is a photo ( 'flat' :

I swopped the elevator and rudder leads, and sure enough, the rudder did the same thing in switch three 'auto-balance' position.So it is a gyro setting, not the elevator servo.

I then did a level reset in normal mode - same result. Ditto in auto balance - same result.Here is a photo of the aircraft at rest:

all else seems ok?

[Denis Watkins]

Try the relevant pots again Den

Maybe wrong side of centre

But they do need to be low for flight

But try the lowest possible input

[Den Moran]

I'm there! The gain on the right side pot was the culprit - I now have the elevator control surface level in all switch positions. There isn't much response from the elevator in any position, so I suspect that the rod/horn settings need to be revisited.

It was such a relief to see the elevator flick back to 'horizontal' ! Thank you very much for your time, patience and expertise, it certainly made me feel that there was a solution to the problem, and it would have taken me ages to arrive (if ever!) at this point.

Diolch yn fawr, Den