Got a New Bird Today

[grgbulldog]

There she is. 1st two flights were decent. 1 crash and one hard landing but thats it. It feels so crisp compared to the FP's. I like it. I want to do the sr120 tail mod to it pretty soon though before i really get the hang of it.

 

[HPIguy]

That's awesome, congrats bulldog!! A couple things that really help;

1. put a spare canopy grommet on both of the aileron servo balls on the swashplate, takes out slop and makes things more precise and locked in feeling when flying.

2. Adjust your servo links so you have 0 pitch at mid stick

3. Use some dental floss, or a garbage bag tie (just the wire) and tie the pitch links together so that in a crash, they don't get thrown as far (if at all) and are much easier to find.

I just got done with a brushless main swap, and the SR 120 tail swap with extended boom. Going flying after work, I'll get some video if I keep it in one piece long enough.

 

[grgbulldog]

That sounds awesome. You had to Put a new esc in it for brushless? You put the grommets on the balls then put the links over them? Also, I was looking at the pitch with the links adjusted. I was wondering if it willhover upside down like that, or if I can some how adjust throttle curves to can adjust something to make it go further down

 

[HPIguy]

That sounds awesome. You had to Put a new esc in it for brushless? You put the grommets on the balls then put the links over them? Also, I was looking at the pitch with the links adjusted. I was wondering if it willhover upside down like that, or if I can some how adjust throttle curves to can adjust something to make it go further down

Yep, I used a heli max 11,000kv motor and their ESC as well, $29 for both. You also need a brushed to brushless signal converter. I used the Steve converter, about $20 straight from Steve himself.

Yeah, you put the grommets on the swash, then pop your servo links on. The grommets simply keep a little pressure on the links, and take out the slop.

Getting the swash level, and 0 pitch at mid stick makes a difference for sure.

I have some radio settings depending on what TX you're using if you're interested. I fly a DX6i, and have model profiles built for both indoors and out. I've learned a few tricks along the way too, if there's anything I can help with, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[grgbulldog]

I too am on the dx6i. Factory set up right now. I've flown 7 packs through it as of now.

 

[grgbulldog]

Had something strange just happen. I charged the battery at 0.3 amps after I read a thing about batteries and charging them. This is of course afte rthe manual says to charge at 0.7 amps. When I went to fly the thing the motor would randomly speed up and slow down again. All in all the battery lastEd a total of about 30 seconds. Have you heard anything of this

 

[grgbulldog]

[ame]http://youtu.be/-2s44ocBkfU[/ame]

Only mods are the hot glue mod on the forks to keep the linkages in and the grommet mod right now.

 

[HPIguy]

^^Nice flying bulldog. I've been a little under the weather, so I haven't flown in a few days now.

Had something strange just happen. I charged the battery at 0.3 amps after I read a thing about batteries and charging them. This is of course afte rthe manual says to charge at 0.7 amps. When I went to fly the thing the motor would randomly speed up and slow down again. All in all the battery lastEd a total of about 30 seconds. Have you heard anything of this

Hmmm, I haven't heard of this actually. Are you using the stock charger, or a higher end charger that can show you the voltage level on the pack? Also, do other packs do this, or only the one pack?

 

[grgbulldog]

Its the stock charger. After it did it with the 1st pack I didn't try it again.

 

[HPIguy]

Its the stock charger. After it did it with the 1st pack I didn't try it again.

The stock charger is known to charge at .7a for a .2a pack, that's over 3C, and there have been numerous reports throughout E Flites history of both bad packs, and chargers that are way overcharging their own packs. Conspiracy theorists say it's to sell more packs due to shortened life cycle. I personally use a higher end charger, and never charge over 2C rates and my packs seem to last well. My original MSR packs are still going almost two years later.

 

[grgbulldog]

all my msr packs are dead. I plan to get a better charger soon. Just don't really know much about that stuff. Do you just have little connector wire like the 120 and the mcp came with to charge off a good charger?

Theres a new blade about to be released. Theyre releasing videos on the site about 1 a week for a few weeks. In the 1st vid it sounded like it had multiple rotors. A new blade quadcopter? Or maybe a CPx with no m.

 

[HPIguy]

all my msr packs are dead. I plan to get a better charger soon. Just don't really know much about that stuff. Do you just have little connector wire like the 120 and the mcp came with to charge off a good charger?

Theres a new blade about to be released. Theyre releasing videos on the site about 1 a week for a few weeks. In the 1st vid it sounded like it had multiple rotors. A new blade quadcopter? Or maybe a CPx with no m.

I highly recommend the Thunder AC 6, although there are many off brands that are exactly like it. I think I paid about $70 for mine a few years ago with AC power supply and a ton of charging squids, USB to PC link, etc. I use a 6X parallel charging squid so I can charge 6 packs at once actually, and I'm going to get two more of them so I can charge 16 packs at once (limited only by charger output of 5ah) , since I have 22 packs for the MCP. Yes, I said 22 packs. HK has their turnigy 300maH mCPX packs for like $2.79 each, so I bought a bunch.

Yeah, I saw the vid, it was kinda cheesy I thought, but as always I'm interested to see what it is. I truly hope it's not a multi rotor craft. I'm really hoping a CPX 120 as you mention.

I've been trouble shooting a nasty vibration all weekend since a crash on Thursday. Turns out the brushless setup doesn't like any slop in the head at all, and there's a good bit stock. I ended up filing down my feathering spindle .4mm, and still used a tiny washer as a shim to get rid of it. But, it's nice and smooth now. Supposed to have an indoor fly in next weekend at the High School gymnasium with the local flying club I'm about to join. If I make it out, I'll get a bunch of video.

 

[grgbulldog]

Sounds like fun to me. Id like to with other people that are into this stuff too. This little thing is amazing. I'm now completely comfortable hovering around the house. Now if only the wind would die so I could do more outside. I got the 120 out yesterday for the 1st time since I got it. I can believe how easy that thing seems now. Almost boring.

 

[HPIguy]

Sounds like fun to me. Id like to with other people that are into this stuff too. This little thing is amazing. I'm now completely comfortable hovering around the house. Now if only the wind would die so I could do more outside. I got the 120 out yesterday for the 1st time since I got it. I can believe how easy that thing seems now. Almost boring.

Yeah, I'm going to join up next year just for the knowledge that's available as I move into bigger birds. The mCPX has renewed my interest in the aerial portion of the hobby, so I now want to conquer helis again, if there is such a thing.

Get that thing outside, I've flown in 10-12mph winds with no problem. It's a real hoot once you have some room.

Yep, I don't even fly the MSR or SR120 anymore because it just screws me up when I grab the mCP muscle memory wise.

 

[grgbulldog]

Yeah, I'm going to join up next year just for the knowledge that's available as I move into bigger birds. The mCPX has renewed my interest in the aerial portion of the hobby, so I now want to conquer helis again, if there is such a thing.

Get that thing outside, I've flown in 10-12mph winds with no problem. It's a real hoot once you have some room.

Yep, I don't even fly the MSR or SR120 anymore because it just screws me up when I grab the mCP muscle memory wise.

I've had it outside, but nowhere with a lot of room. It took me a sec to get used to the FP again. I had that thing in a rock steady hover that I've never been able to do.

 

[grgbulldog]

I highly recommend the Thunder AC 6, although there are many off brands that are exactly like it. I think I paid about $70 for mine a few years ago with AC power supply and a ton of charging squids, USB to PC link, etc. I use a 6X parallel charging squid so I can charge 6 packs at once actually, and I'm going to get two more of them so I can charge 16 packs at once (limited only by charger output of 5ah) , since I have 22 packs for the MCP. Yes, I said 22 packs. HK has their turnigy 300maH mCPX packs for like $2.79 each, so I bought a bunch.

I was looking at that charger a few weeks back on xheli. Where do you get the parellel squid?

The turnigys are 4.99 now.

 

[HPIguy]

I've had it outside, but nowhere with a lot of room. It took me a sec to get used to the FP again. I had that thing in a rock steady hover that I've never been able to do.

Yeah, it's easy after flying the mCP for a bit. I've started having little challenges, like landing on a magazine on the coffee table, low hover ground effect stuff, anyting I can do indoors pretty much since you can't really go nuts.

I was looking at that charger a few weeks back on xheli. Where do you get the parellel squid?

The turnigys are 4.99 now.

You can get both here, and if you buy the squid for $1.37, you get the packs for $2.96 each.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=18867

 

[grgbulldog]

Great, thanks for the info. I did a lot of forward flight today, but it finally broke. The tail boom snapped near the frame. She won't be in the air for a few days.