Hillery Decay - Sport Flying

[#1RCHelifan]

Got the 540 and Compass 7hv. I only fly sport such as figure 8's, stall turns and circles. I really like flying big and wide. What would be a good starting setting for hiller decay for my flying style?

[RontaryUS]

I would start around 150% and go down as you like (the lower, the more locked in/'robotic' it feels). The other parameters are important too in order to get it fly to your liking.

[Xrayted]

I would suggest 125% if that is all you are doing and want a real locked in feeling without feeling too robotic.. You can send the heli across the field, release the sticks and just stand there until it gets to where you need to make the next move and it wont deviate. The lower you go will make the heli feel more robotic, and 75 feels like the sim

[anthony1]

I've often wondered why there is a heading hold parameter in the tail section , it seems that it does the same thing as hiller decay, is there a reason that this is separate? just curious. what happens when you play with this parameter? don't want to derail the thread if this isn't relevant to the above question, ignore it as I said just curious.
Anthony

[RontaryUS]

Hiller decay is for cyclic (ele, ail), heading hold is for tail (rudder).

[Xrayted]

Originally Posted by anthony1

I've often wondered why there is a heading hold parameter in the tail section , it seems that it does the same thing as hiller decay, is there a reason that this is separate? just curious. what happens when you play with this parameter? don't want to derail the thread if this isn't relevant to the above question, ignore it as I said just curious.
Anthony

Hiller Decay pertains the cyclic and not the tail. It determines how quickly the swash will decay back to neutral position after releasing the sticks. For example, a lower HD will mean you can add forward elevator, release the sticks and the heli will keep moving forward until you give another command. Higher HD means that you might have to keep adding forward elevator to keep the heli moving forward and not trying to level itself back out. High HD will make the heli feel less stable hovering in wind.

The rate gain on the tail tab is the tails primary gain. According to the original SK manual regarding Hold Gain setting:

"The response of the tail blades to accumulated tail position error. This allows the gyro to trim the tail and compensate for wind.Set this value to 0% for rate mode, and about 60% for HH mode"

The only time I have ever heard any suggestion from SK to change this value was if your tail is blowing out in backward flight or in wind, then raise the hold gain a little. Alvins advanced tuning guide recommends leaving them alone, so if they work for him, I know my sedate flight style wont cause any issues!

[lcc014]

Originally Posted by Xrayted

I would suggest 125% if that is all you are doing and want a real locked in feeling without feeling too robotic.. You can send the heli across the field, release the sticks and just stand there until it gets to where you need to make the next move and it wont deviate. The lower you go will make the heli feel more robotic, and 75 feels like the sim

May I ask, the lower the hiller decay value, the swashplate would stay tilted until cyclic stick moves to some other direction again ? In other words, swashplate would not return to level when stick is released to center ?

Thanks.

[Xrayted]

That is correct. It takes longer for it to return with lower values......see recent post above

[lcc014]

Originally Posted by Xrayted

That is correct. It takes longer for it to return with lower values......see recent post above

Thanks for the explanation. Another question, in Alvin's tuning guide (Basic), last step was to set HD to max. 200, and hover in no wind (outdoor) to finre tune the swashplate to level as much as possible. What is the reason to use max. HD. value here ? You mentioned that higher HD makes heli less stable hovering in wind.

[Xrayted]

Originally Posted by lcc014

Thanks for the explanation. Another question, in Alvin's tuning guide (Basic), last step was to set HD to max. 200, and hover in no wind (outdoor) to finre tune the swashplate to level as much as possible. What is the reason to use max. HD. value here ? You mentioned that higher HD makes heli less stable hovering in wind.

That is the point with the 200% HD tuning. This is so you can see any drift that needs to be adjusted out mechanically, and removing any electronic assistance from the swash makes any drift more obvious. We aren't talking about any random little drift, as no heli just sits in one place for long, but any drift that seems to favor a certain direction as if out of trim. This rarely requires more than a turn or two if at all if the heli was set up well from the beginning.

You correct the drift with the links and then set the HD back down where it was.

[lcc014]

Originally Posted by Xrayted

That is the point with the 200% HD tuning. This is so you can see any drift that needs to be adjusted out mechanically, and removing any electronic assistance from the swash makes any drift more obvious. We aren't talking about any random little drift, as no heli just sits in one place for long, but any drift that seems to favor a certain direction as if out of trim. This rarely requires more than a turn or two if at all if the heli was set up well from the beginning.

You correct the drift with the links and then set the HD back down where it was.

Thank you for detail explanation

[anthony1]

thank you , very helpful explanation, i thought i knew the answer but its nice to have it confirmed by someone with a lot more knowledge than myself

[mkovalcson]

Is there ever a point where the swash won't go back to level?

I've got mine down to 65% so far and my heli is still returning to level when I want it to stay tilted forward in FFF flight.

I'm going to drop it to 50% next time I go out there. I'm not sure how low I can go before strange things start to happen.

[georgi UK]

Originally Posted by mkovalcson

Is there ever a point where the swash won't go back to level?

I've got mine down to 65% so far and my heli is still returning to level when I want it to stay tilted forward in FFF flight.

I'm going to drop it to 50% next time I go out there. I'm not sure how low I can go before strange things start to happen.

=] sounds like hiller gain is too low??

[Groucho_]

This is a topic of interest of mine... Subscribed.

[mkovalcson]

Originally Posted by georgi UK

=] sounds like hiller gain is too low??

So if I've got 55% right now and bump that up to say 70% and then go up in 10% increments I should hit a point where it holds an angle in FFF ?

If my Hiller Decay is 65% should I increase that or leave it alone.

[Xrayted]

Originally Posted by Groucho_

This is a topic of interest of mine... Subscribed.

Same here. I've been down to 75% before on mine and the heli would stay locked into whatever trajectory I sent it until I intervened, but who knows what would happen with enough distance. I tried a higher value like 150% and didn't like it. The heli would level off and slow down on long runs, however I didn't experiment with raising the Hiller gain which is the real HH on cyclic

I have no idea if there is ever a point where the swash never comes back. HD Its similar to what a FB heli will do when you jab the stick and quickly let go......the disc will tilt but then slowly decay back level again with the FB. This is the same thing only electronically, and we can control how long it takes to come back, however too low HD is said to cause oscillations in 3D flight.

I think its one of those personal feel things with a combo of the HG and HD, and there is no right answer for what everyone should be using.

[mkovalcson]

I'm coming smoothly out of a high dive at a higher than average Poo Bear speed with full collective and find the heli is lifting off rather than maintaining trajectory.

This is not an issue with the blades and I'm using blades with a known track record for stable FFFF.

But I suspect with a little tweaking I'll be able to get it flying in the goldilocks zone.

I'm aiming for 3.5F for now

[Groucho_]

I've not found the sweet spot for a speed run after a dive yet, but I haven't really applied myself.

What I do at the moment is maintain a little bit of forward cyclic throughout the run.

[mkovalcson]

Originally Posted by Groucho_

I've not found the sweet spot for a speed run after a dive yet, but I haven't really applied myself.

What I do at the moment is maintain a little bit of forward cyclic throughout the run.

I've verified with other speed fliers using 3 other FBL controllers that should not be necessary.