Help a newbie :)

[iwanttofly]

Have recently been gifted an old Walkera heli from a good friend who has lost interest in the hobby , coupled with a devo 10 transmitter. Before I put the heli into the air and most probably crashing it on my 1st few attempts , would like to ask a few questions

1. The transmitter that was given does not have any cables or accessories (friend said he can't find it anymore in his house.. duh!) ,and checking the standard package for DEVO10 on the internet , it does comes with a bind receiver? and some USB cables ? Where can I get these ?

2. Whats the bind receiver use for ? Seen on the web that it has come pins for a plug to be plug in ? So am I right to say for every new heli or if we replace the receiver board on the heli, we will have to utilise the bind receiver to bind heli to transmitter again ?

Appreciate if can learn more things from the pilots in here

[Imzzaudae]

What helicopter is it ?

Can you post transmitter settings?

Any simulator time? Other helicopter experience?
If the answer is no to the above 2 questions, go to your local hobby shop and try flying a helicopter in the simulator. This will give you some idea what to expect from the real thing and how long it will last.

Better yet. If you want to fly a model helicopter, buy Real flight or Phoenix simulator while your at the hobby shop. Bring it home and spend the next 3 - 6 months learning how to fly on the simulator. Learn how to takeoff, Hover, Forward flight and turns.
Practice Practice and practice some more until you can fly the helicopters in the simulator without thinking about it.

If the helicopter your friend gave you is a collective pitch helicopter. I strongly suggest you do not try flying it until you can fly the simulator very well.


The bind plug is for binding the transmitter to the receiver.
Yes any time you wish to bind you will need the bind plug.

[jml79]

I have a Devo 10. Fantastic tx for helis. The good news is the bind adapter is a standard one. You can get one from any local hobby shop. It's the same as Spektrum. That is if you're using a larger RX. Many of the 1s walkera helis use a smaller connector and the is a bind plug for this smaller connector as well so know what heli you have is kind of important. The other cables that come with this TX is a buddy box cable and a USB cable. Again the buddy box cable is available at your LHS and is the same as Spektrum. The USB cable is available almost anywhere. It is a standard mini USB cable. You likely won't need the USB cable right away but you may.

The Devo 10 can run two different software on it. Devention which is the original from Walkera and Deviation which is a free upgrade. When you first turn on the transmitter it will say Deviation on the screen if you have the upgrade. It is important to know which software you are running and to run the latest version of either.

This transmitter is all you will ever need for flying helis. Huge learning curve ahead of you if you're up for it but we are here to help. This TX will work with many other sims out there after purchasing a cheap adapter. I use NeXT and I have two adapters from hobbyking. They work great. I would recommend Heli-X for a beginner. It has some great learn to fly features and the adapter plus Heli-x is much cheaper then pheonix or real flight.

So. Let us know what software you have and what heli and we'll try to get you flying.

[iwanttofly]

Appreciate your reply guys !!

The heli is actually a Master CP which my friend has been flying for a while, so I believe I will need to change some of the components once I start taking this guy into the air. The transmitter is on the stock firmware from walkera and using the default .bin setting from walkera website.

Think I will drop by a hobby shop to get the cables and what-not as per the advise here, and also to try out the flight sim. Manage to watch Phoenix RC sim on youtube and god.. it's impressive !!!

So I have went online to read up a bit more. There's a bind plug and a receiver (rx-1002 ?) that comes with the transmitter , do we have to use them together ? Correct me if I am wrong, is the rx-1002 just a reciever that you install on a heli coz I saw pins for all the servos and battery, but looking at the master CP , the reciever is like a circuit board and nothing like the rx1002 ??

[jml79]

The master has a different RX but no worries. As long as it's a Devo RX you should be good. The master RX uses normal sized servo ports so a bind plug from Spektrum should work. I wouldn't upgrade the TX yet but when you're ready for your next heli you should look into deviation. The upgrade makes the Devo 10 compatible with all Spektrum receivers. I currently have a few (DSM2 & DSMX) and all of them work perfectly.

Walkera has two bind modes. Dynamic and static. When you put a Walkera Devo RX in bind mode by using a bind plug you are actually just erasing previous bind codes. You put the bind plug in and power the heli up then you power it down. Using the plug resets the RX and puts it into dynamic bind mode. Now you erase the bind code in the TX. Power up the heli and right away turn on the TX. Move the collective to full throttle and back to zero. That should give you a dynamic bind. Now you have to go into the menus (not sure where in the walkera firmware) and set it to a fixed bind code and actually send it to the RX. Then you will have a static bind.

The static bind is preferable. It allows you to turn on the TX before the heli and prevents the rare but possible dynamic bind to someone else's TX. Static bind also speeds up the boot process.

[iwanttofly]

Originally Posted by jml79

The master has a different RX but no worries. As long as it's a Devo RX you should be good. The master RX uses normal sized servo ports so a bind plug from Spektrum should work. I wouldn't upgrade the TX yet but when you're ready for your next heli you should look into deviation. The upgrade makes the Devo 10 compatible with all Spektrum receivers. I currently have a few (DSM2 & DSMX) and all of them work perfectly.

Walkera has two bind modes. Dynamic and static. When you put a Walkera Devo RX in bind mode by using a bind plug you are actually just erasing previous bind codes. You put the bind plug in and power the heli up then you power it down. Using the plug resets the RX and puts it into dynamic bind mode. Now you erase the bind code in the TX. Power up the heli and right away turn on the TX. Move the collective to full throttle and back to zero. That should give you a dynamic bind. Now you have to go into the menus (not sure where in the walkera firmware) and set it to a fixed bind code and actually send it to the RX. Then you will have a static bind.

The static bind is preferable. It allows you to turn on the TX before the heli and prevents the rare but possible dynamic bind to someone else's TX. Static bind also speeds up the boot process.

Thanks for replying, so what I learned so far that the receiver rx1002 should be used on a non walkera heli and if I want it to bind to the devo 10 . So I assume I do not need to get that for the time being until such time I upgrade to another heli.

You mentioned that deviationtx on the devo10 can support DSM2 and DSMX , which I think the blade series is using ? Just thinking of a scenario here, if I get a blade mCPx or nano CP , add in the rx1002 , I can still fly the heli without updating the firmware to deviationtx right ? Or alternatively , upgrade the firmware so that it can communicate with the on board receiver, right ?

[jml79]

Not quite. If you buy a 250 or larger heli with a flybar or separate flybarless controller you can use a Devo RX. And it doesn't have to be the 1002. It can be the less expensive 601,702 etc. the nano and MCPX bl have a flybarless controller and servo drive and esc all on the same board as the receiver. There is no real way to swap it out without disabling the helicopter. But a walkera super CP and V120D02s will work without modifying your TX. They come with a compatible receiver.

To fly a Blade nano or MCPX you will need to get deviationtx. To fly a 450 sized align or gaui x3 or even a blade 300x or larger you can swap out a Devo RX. You may also need to add a FBL controller as well depending on what you remove.

[iwanttofly]

Originally Posted by jml79

Not quite. If you buy a 250 or larger heli with a flybar or separate flybarless controller you can use a Devo RX. And it doesn't have to be the 1002. It can be the less expensive 601,702 etc. the nano and MCPX bl have a flybarless controller and servo drive and esc all on the same board as the receiver. There is no real way to swap it out without disabling the helicopter. But a walkera super CP and V120D02s will work without modifying your TX. They come with a compatible receiver.

To fly a Blade nano or MCPX you will need to get deviationtx. To fly a 450 sized align or gaui x3 or even a blade 300x or larger you can swap out a Devo RX. You may also need to add a FBL controller as well depending on what you remove.

Thats definitely very informative ..thanks much !!!

Dont think i am any where near that phase yet ,googled for 450 heli and they are relatively huge and sure looks expensive on the pocket lol !!

Seems like theres so much to learn in the world of rc heli ..

[jml79]

There is a ton to learn. You're off to a good start. I bought my 450's used and none cost me over about $200 flying. Less for the FB one and parts cost isn't much more than the micros. I'm at the point where the 450 feels small and I want a 600 lol.

A lot of the cost is up front. Good charge setup, helicopter etc. but they seem to last and last. One guy at my club has a bunch of 8-10 year old nitro helis that don't even use transmitter CCPM mixing and he flogs those birds hard. I think Ron's (Imzzaudae) helis might be pushing 20-25 years old. Used helis are available all over and usually for a good price. Strip them down and invest $50 on new shafts, bearings and belts and anything suspect and you have a brand new helicopter. You already have one major expense out of the way. I paid $150 for my Devo 10.

Enjoy the journey. There are lots of people here to help and Ron is an encyclopedia of knowledge. He's helped me lots. Sometimes without even knowing it (reading old posts and problems he solved for someone else)

[iwanttofly]

Finally got the Phoenix RC sim from one of the local hobby shop and connected my transmitter to the PC without any problems. Hovering is not as easy as it seem though, will be following one of the youtube channel "Freddy flight academy" as I think the chap made a good explanation on all his lessons , wish me luck !!

Am guessing is it easier to control a bigger heli due to the weight ? Wish to upgrade to a 450 once I get use to the orientation , or should I progressively upgrade to a 250 then 450 ?

[Imzzaudae]

Once you are set up on the simulator
You can go into your transmitter.

Travel Adjust menu.
Aileron Left 50 Right 50
Elevator Up 50 Down 50

Then go into your DR EXPO menu.

Aileron DR 50 Expo 25
Elevator DR 50 Expo 25
I don't know witch way expo works on Devo 10. Like Spectrum +25 or Futaba -25 to soften center stick. jml79 should be able to help with that.

This will greatly reduce the sensitivity of your cyclic stick and help you get flying.
See Electric Helicopters
Try.
Normal mode
Throttle curve 0 25 50 75 100
Pitch curve 0 25 50 75 100

Start with the Blade CX2 in the Sports Hall
Learn to take off, fly around and enjoy the experience.

Then when you can handle CX2 try Hovering Blade SR in the sport Hall.
You can work on forward flight and turns as well.
Normal mode
Throttle curve 0 40 80 80 80
Pitch curve 25 25 65 75 100

A Real Basic Way To Learn To Fly Your Blade MSR (6 min 19 sec)

Don't worry about the left turn right turn thing he mentions in the video. In the simulator
the helicopter turns equally well ether way.


When you have a handle on SR in the Sports Hall.
Go outside with larger more powerful helicopters and learn how to fly them.
They fly the same as SR only way faster.
I like Flying field.
Set up Stunt mode. Throttle and pitch curves and bump up the Aileron and Elevator
Both in the Travel adjust menu and the DR menu as you get a feel for flying.
Should help you a lot.

Above all Take your time. Lots and lots of time to get a feel for flying.
Simulator crashes are free. The real thing cost big money

[iwanttofly]

Thanks I will try that setting , right now I have only set up a new profile for phoenix so that I do not mess around with original .bin setting for the heli.