Mini flight stabilisers

[Brian Cooper]

Use them if you must, but they are not for me (in any wind conditions). 

B. C.

Edited By Brian Cooper on 20/07/2020 11:53:40

[Ron Gray]

@BC - Indeed.

@FB3 - yes they can help in that situation. Plus there is a school of thought that says you can overcome tail heavy (warbird) 'planes without adding nose weight! I've not tried this but will be doing so as it intrigues me!

[Mike T]

Can any (or all) of the available stabilisers be set up on a 'pot' to give 0-100% intervention?

The unit in my ZOHD Dart does its job very well, but only has three settings with no scope for adjustment.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Dickw]

Posted by Steve J on 20/07/2020 12:44:37:

Posted by Ron Gray on 20/07/2020 12:17:38:

Plus there is a school of thought that says you can overcome tail heavy (warbird) 'planes without adding nose weight! I've not tried this but will be doing so as it intrigues me!

I don't think that I would fancy a model that couldn't be flown in manual mode.

[looks at his list of airframes for one suitable for an elevator gyro test ]

Edited By Steve J on 20/07/2020 12:45:32

I have a taildragger warbird (Spitfire) that in a fit of madness I fitted with a castoring tailwheel. Manoeuvring on the ground is easy, but the first attempts at take off were hilarious. The use of a gyro on rudder turned up to max damping in a "take off" flight mode solved the problem and it now takes off in a straight line.

I am sure a gyro could be used in a similar way to help fly a tail heavy model but, like Steve J, I am not sure I would want to rely on that for anything decent.

Dick

[Ron Gray]

IIRC there was an article in RCM&E about this some time back and it seemed to work. I’ve got a smallish warbird that needs a bit of extra nose weight so may well give it a go.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Denis Watkins]

Posted by Mike T on 20/07/2020 12:20:56:

Can any (or all) of the available stabilisers be set up on a 'pot' to give 0-100% intervention?

The unit in my ZOHD Dart does its job very well, but only has three settings with no scope for adjustment.

Many have pots on 3 axis Mike, so you can set up properly between 0-100%

When looking you will see 3 small circles for a tiny screwdriver on the face of the unit

[Ron Gray]

There are a few such as the Eagletree Guardian that can have variable gain control set to a pot. I think, but correct me if I’m wrong, that most of the cheaper ones don’t have that feature but the more expensive ones do. The FrSky S series Rx do have that feature too.

[Shaun Walsh]

Posted by Dickw on 20/07/2020 12:58:43:

Posted by Steve J on 20/07/2020 12:44:37:

Posted by Ron Gray on 20/07/2020 12:17:38:

Plus there is a school of thought that says you can overcome tail heavy (warbird) 'planes without adding nose weight! I've not tried this but will be doing so as it intrigues me!

I don't think that I would fancy a model that couldn't be flown in manual mode.

[looks at his list of airframes for one suitable for an elevator gyro test ]

Edited By Steve J on 20/07/2020 12:45:32

I have a taildragger warbird (Spitfire) that in a fit of madness I fitted with a castoring tailwheel. Manoeuvring on the ground is easy, but the first attempts at take off were hilarious. The use of a gyro on rudder turned up to max damping in a "take off" flight mode solved the problem and it now takes off in a straight line.

I am sure a gyro could be used in a similar way to help fly a tail heavy model but, like Steve J, I am not sure I would want to rely on that for anything decent.

Dick

I have a Lemon stabilsed receiver in both a Hobbyking Slowpoke and a Hobbyking skipper. With the stabiliser turned off the Slowpoke will go round in circles rather than take off, turn the stabiliser on and it takes off in a straight line. Both models are much less affected by gusty conditions, in fact you can see the stabiliser correcting for crosswind gusts making it possible to fly in a wider range of wind conditions.

[Jeffrey Cottrell 2]

Posted by Mike T on 20/07/2020 12:20:56:

Can any (or all) of the available stabilisers be set up on a 'pot' to give 0-100% intervention?

Hi Mike

The NX3 units that Martin and I are playing with have gain controls for each individual surface on three pots on the front of the unit.

Not tried it yet, but I understand that the overall gain can also be controlled by a pot on the TX.

What attracted me to these is Bangood has them at a silly price. Nothing much to lose if they turn out to be nbg.

Jeff

[Mike T]

Thanks, guys!

What I really meant was - can the 'gain' be varied in flight from 0-100% via a pot (i.e. rotary knob or lever) on the Tx?

Fly, land, tweak, fly, land, tweak, etc. ad infinitum seems a bit hit or miss to me!

[Jeffrey Cottrell 2]

Hi Mike

Yes, the overall gain can be adjusted from the tx, but individual surfaces have to be adjusted from the pots.

See here

Jeff

[Ron Gray]

And the advantage of the NX3 is that you can have 2 Aileron outputs but I don't think it supports Sbus input does it?

[Denis Watkins]

Posted by Mike T on 20/07/2020 13:58:51:

Thanks, guys!

What I really meant was - can the 'gain' be varied in flight from 0-100% via a pot (i.e. rotary knob or lever) on the Tx?

Fly, land, tweak, fly, land, tweak, etc. ad infinitum seems a bit hit or miss to me!

While on the ground, it is one of the 1st things you think of to adjust in the air.

it is of little use Mike, as once set, you would never want to increase it.

start of with a trimmed model and commit to 1st flights at half pot, so on the ground, turn one way then the other and leave the pots in the middle, then fly it.

I think you will find this too much.

I halfed it again, where the movement can barely be seen, then fly again

and you will be landing cross wind without a hitch.

don't forget, the stabilizer will not fly the model

as soon as you apply a stick movement, you override the gyro on that surface

So have fun rudder side slipping to the ground.

this gives you the stick time to do the same thing with the gyro Off

Edited By Denis Watkins on 20/07/2020 15:30:31

[Martin McIntosh]

I thought that the NX3 ones I was playing with had Tx controllable in air gain but they do not. Some time ago the mag. reviewed some Eagle Tree products so I shall not give up and may look at the reasonably priced one which does not require a PC to set up.

I am led to believe that some of the top class scale guys use stabs., but set up just enough to keep the models level.

I club mate fitted one of some sort to a scale biplane and the difference it made had to be seen.

[Jeffrey Cottrell 2]

Hi Denis

Is this the NX3 we're talking about? If so, I don't think that's quite right.

The pot in the middle (12 o'clock on the dial) is zero gain, no gyro effect at all. Turning the pot in either direction increases the gain.
The reason for going in either direction (clock or anti-clock) is to change the compensation direction.
This is where the manual is not very clear. It suggests 10/2 as a starting point. What it doesn't tell you is 10 o'clock is compensating in one direction, 2 o'clock is the same gain, but compensating on the opposite direction.
Starting at 10 or 2 is probably a good place. Enough gain to see the effect, but not too much if you have it wrong.
So, start with the pot at 10 o'clock and check the compensation direction. If it's wrong, then turn the pot to 2 o'clock.
Same gain, different direction.
The gain can be controlled individually using the pots, but the overall gain for all channels can be controlled from the tx

Jeff

Martin

NX3 gain CAN be controlled from the tx by altering the atv of the channel plugged into Aux-In.

Have a look here, explains a lot.

Jeff

[Martin McIntosh]

JC, I have an i10 and an i6 which I used on quads at one time. How did you set up the i10 to give in flight gain please?

[Ron Gray]

The Eagle Tree Guardian I mentioned on the previous page has TX controlled gain but they were not cheap, when I bought mine 3 years ago they were £50 ish but very good.

I do tend to agree with Denis that once set you shouldn't need to change the pots apart from on and off and maybe different flight modes.

[Martin McIntosh]

Thanks JC, I shall look into that. Not currently using the i10 for anything but no reason why I should not.

[Denis Watkins]

No Jeff, not the NX3 pots, but the NX3 does the business.

Pots on Orange and Lemon set to about 20%

[Jeffrey Cottrell 2]

Hi Martin.

On the i6, assign a pot to the channel you will be plugging into Aux-In. Most seem to be using ch5. Now that pot will control the overall gain of all surfaces.

Be aware, though it's not quite that simple (is it ever).

Turning the pot one way puts it in Rate mode, which applies compensation, but turning the pot the other way, puts the controller in heading hold mode. As I understand it, don't quote me, is HH maintains the attitude of the model until you change it.

So, if you put it in a left hand bank, in HH, the unit will maintain that bank until you tell it do do something else.

Manual is not clear on this, but I'm going by the same terms for a helicopter gyro.

Anyway, problem is if you turn the pot in flight and accidentally go through centre, which is gyro off, you could end up in HH by mistake.

Working on a way to avoid that, give me a minute.

Jeff

[Jeffrey Cottrell 2]

Ok Martin.back with you.

I have yet to get my controller out of its box, so this is based on the instructions, a bit of logic and fiddling with my i6.

So, first of all assign channel 5 to a pot. VRA or VRB doesn't matter.

Now power up the controller and turn the pot fully one way. You should find the status led is on solid or flashing. Fully on is Rate mode, which is the one you want, so if the led's flashing turn the pot the other way.
You should go through the centre point where the led is off, and then should come on steady.
Remember the rotation direction for the steady led.
Now go to the end points screen.
Turn the pot the other way, so the led is flashing, and the end points screen should show an arrow pointing to 100% either one way or the other.
Now reduce the end point the arrow is pointing to to zero.
Don't forget the long push on the cancel button to fix these settings.
Now, you should find on turning the pot, that the led will either be on solid, or at the centre point be off altogether, but it should not ever show flashing.
Means however far you turn the pot, you can't get into HH mode by mistake.
That's the way I would do it, let me know if it works for you.

Jeff

[Martin McIntosh]

Thanks Jeff, but that does not allow me to vary the in flight gain from the TX so I may as well use a three position switch with a JR set.

The problem of sensitivity to input voltage is still there on an i/c model so it may have to be the ET Vector route.

[Mike T]

Thanks again for your input guys. The reason for my question is that many years ago a friend installed a Ripmax HAL on a trainer, with the gain controlled from a rotary knob on his old JR347. It worked superbly (surprise, surprise - I know this unit had a less than starry reputation!). I was able to chuck the plane about at 0% and at 100% it pretty much had the turning circle of a supertanker. At about 60% it provided a lot of comfort to the learner and could be reduced as he gained confidence and improved.

So I was looking for the same capability in a unit for our new club trainer. I take your points that for a particular a/c and pilot, you never need to change it (apart from flight-mode selectivity, perhaps). I know we could achieve much the same thing with channel allocation via the buddy-box, but I never got my head around that and this seemed more straightforward!

I intend to get a ZOHD Kopilot for try in one of my own models, just to see how useful it can be to an experienced (if I say so myself) flyer...