Titan X50 Belt or TT

[Bladecpnitro]

Hey guys, I'm trying to get up a build list for a new Titan X50. I can't decide whether to go with belt or TT, any thoughts?? For the last year all my experience has been electric Heli's.

I haven't flown Nitro before so I really need a few pointers, I hear a lot of stuff about step down regulators, remote glow, governors, 4.8 flight batteries etc,. Most Nitro builds that I have read into, people seem to use 3 different kind of servos on their Nitro Helis, 3 cyclic, 1 rudder and 1 throttle servo. It seems like the Align servos are going to be the best I can get for the lowest dollar.

I know I m gonna need a fuel pump and an engine starter. Im not sure what will be the best gyro for this Heli. I can't afford a 701 w/governor combo right now. In fact I'd like to leave the governor off for a while. Also the flight battery how do I know when that thing is getting dangerously low??

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Rob43]

I don't feel it's much to debate over. By the narrowest margins, sometimes a torque tube drive will perform slightly better. However, in a crash, they are much more easily damaged, and the repairs are more hassle and costly as compared to belt drive. I've not flown a Raptor belt, but my other helis are belts with zero issues.

Servos, gyro - The Align DS610's are really nice for the price. Out of several sets, I've had one fail. Being honest. I really like the DS650 servo for tail, and combined with a Spartan gyro, would be a great combo. I have purchased several Spartan gyro's from the Electronics forum on here with zero issues. I have friends who swear by Hyperion Atlas servos for another great servo value. I'd have to go look at their specs to know which are suitable for cyclic, throttle. I am not aware of a rudder servo in their lineup. Err on the side of buying better for the tail. It needs to be fast for the gyro to work well.

You can avoid the use of a voltage regulator by using a LiFe receiver battery. It's a touch heavier than a LiPo, but operates at slightly lower voltage compatible with 6 volt servos like the Aligns.

Stay simple for your first nitro, in my opinion. I used a SmartGlow on-board glow ignitor on a Fury 55 in 2010 and loved it, but programming it was a challenge for me. You can simply use a battery powered glow ignitor and provided it's a longer one will reach through the "mouth" of the canopy to seat on the glow plug. Get a couple of extra glow plugs to have in your box...I found OS#8's cheap on eBaY. Less than 1/2 the price of hobby shops.

I use a simple hand fuel pump for filling the tank. MPI makes one which is inexpensive and works great. (I tried the popular Dubro one, and the internal gears began to fail pretty quickly). Nothing fancy...A simple cap for the 1 gallon fuel jug with the pump fitting will fill that tank quickly.

On the starter - I had an Align Super Starter. I loved it. 3S1800 lipo made it light and perfect for cranking a 50. Kind of pricey, but was my favorite accessory...comes in it's case with a one way bearing, and the wand needed to engage the starter lug. That way, I didn't need another battery. Easy to carry with other stuff. I sold the one I had due to getting away from nitro for a while. Couldn't stay away! LOL!

Personally, I favored the governor. It made it easy to limit the engine rpm from overrevving. I bet others here may disagree with me. Perhaps they can help you with using throttle curves until you decide on a governor option later. If you do prefer one, the Align RCE-6600 works fine. Inexpensive and works great. You'd need a 7th channel for the gain adjustment. If you don't have a 7 channel radio, the Model Avionics Throttle Jockey can be adjusted using a screwdriver tool.

Hope this helps. PM is you like.

[rcflier1]

the tt kits are on e bay for 329, less blades. it was a nobrainer!

[johnbs8]

the tt kits are on e bay for 329, less blades. it was a nobrainer!

+1 ^^

[Rob43]

Originally Posted by johnbs8

+1 ^^

He sold them out at christmas, and now has (9) more of them...this time $299.

[Bob O]

I've flown torque tube helis for the last two years and decided to go with the belt this time. Never had a problem with any torque tube.

As far as servos, it's hard to beat the Align/Savox servos. DS610 for cyclic, DS650 for the tail, and DS620 for the throttle. My original set of DS610 servos have been going strong for about 300 flights, same for the DS620. The 650 however went bad on me on the 14th flight. I replaced it with a Futaba BLS251 and haven't had anymore problems. Having said all that, I'm probably going to switch to HV servos this year.

For the fuel pump, I'm just using a hand-crank model that attaches to a flight box. And I'm using the Align Super Starter, which has been going strong since day 1. It's powered by a worn out 3S 2200 mAh 12C LiPo battery. It holds a charge forever it seems.

Regarding the flight battery, you need to check it after a flight to see how many mAh were used. Then you can determine how many flights you can safely get out of the battery. I was using 2S 2500 mAh Lipos, and my heli would use about 600 mAh per flight. So I would do three flights then swap out the battery for a fresh one.

Keep asking questions.

[NitroAl]

600Mah is about double what I am pulling per flight!
I like the KongPower 3600Mah Lipo, it balances the heli well and I'll get 8 hard flights with safety.
If you go Spektrum consider spending the extra dosh on a AR7110R and that will be the receiver, gov and step down for the tail and throttle in one unit with one of the best power buses in the hobby. Add to that a perfect regulators on board glow igniter and a good gyro like the GY520 or Spartan and that's the controls taken of with only 3 box's under the hood!

[johnbs8]

650mah per flight is alot. I pull about 250 to 300 mah per flight.

[Bob O]

That's for an 8-minute FBL flight. Some guys are pulling more than that.

[Bladecpnitro]

Thanks for the replies folks. I think I'll go with the belt, I like the red canopy for some reason.

Looks like so far I need and I'll add the prices to every thing later

1 Titan x50B Kit $429.00
4 Align DS 610's 67.99 each x4 $270.64
1 Align DS 650 77.99 each $ 77.99
1 spartan quark gyro - used 75.00 $75.00
2 6.6V Life flight batteries to avoid a regulator
1 6 channel receiver, I already have a 6100e
1 Push glo. Can I plug that into the bind port in the receiver?
1 Motor starter
1 battery voltage tester1

[johnbs8]

you cant put push glow in the bind port. im pretty sure you cant put anything in the bind port. not 100% but would bet on it. you can get a Y harnes and put it on the throttle channel.

Bob O, what FBL heli were you getting 650mah and 8 min flights? whats the setup?

[Bob O]

You don't want to use a park flyer receiver in a bird this size. You'll want to have a full-range receiver with at least one satellite. If you have to buy another receiver, a 7-channel would be a wise choice. That way you can add a governor at a later date, one that you can adjust from the transmitter. Speaking of governors, I'm using the AR7100R receiver with built in Rev Limiter.

I was using the same amount of battery for both my T-Rex 600 and Velocity 50. Both had the same equipment, DS610 x3, DS620, BLS251, MicroBeast, 2S Lipo going into a Fromeco Sahara regulator for 6V to cyclic, SwitchGlo Pro. I'll see if I can did up that old thread I made asking about mAh usage.

Here it is:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread...12#post2906812

[johnbs8]

bob, just seems like alot of mah being used per flight. my buddys with 700's FBL (beast) and same servos dont pull no more than350-400 per flight. im thinking that it may have something to do with the fromeco regulator. gonna have a look at that thread. one more thing, i get 5 min 30sec per tank with my setup smacking it around pretty hard running 2200 head speed. how do you get 8 min flight time?

[Bob O]

I'm going to do away with the extra regulator this year. I'll either go with HV servos or run a LiFe battery with standard servos. Thing is though, others are using the same amount and some even more.

As far as the flight time, I set the timer for 8:00min and activate it when I start spooling up. I normally look to land when the timer starts to go off (7min 30sec). I've run the tank darn near dry a couple of times, and actually shortened the timer by 30 seconds last summer. But still using the same amount of mAh, about 600.

[Bladecpnitro]

Hey Bob O

So I definitely need a 7 channel 7100R then? I'll add that to my build list maybe I can pick up a good used one in the classifieds. I like the idea of a rev limiter. Does that in a round about way alleviate the need for a governor?

I was wondering if these might be worthy servos for the Titan X50? Corona 538MG servos
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s..._0_13sec_.html
They have good specs but do they own up?

[Bob O]

I don't know about the servos.

But the AR7100R "governs" in a Rev Limiter sort of way. I don't run a separate governor with this receiver. What I do is set the governor menu in my transmitter (X9303) for the head speed I don't want to exceed, then use 100% flat throttle curves in Stunt mode. So basically the Rev Limiter is "governing" my HS 100% of the time when in Stunt mode. I have it disabled in Normal mode.

Some guys like an actual governor better than the limiter. I started out with the AR7100R and have had excellent results. I've never actually tried any kind of governor on a nitro bird.

[rcflier1]

your buying a good heli and support equiptment. why would you consider cheep quality servos?

[Bladecpnitro]

Originally Posted by Bob O

I don't know about the servos.

But the AR7100R "governs" in a Rev Limiter sort of way. I don't run a separate governor with this receiver. What I do is set the governor menu in my transmitter (X9303) for the head speed I don't want to exceed, then use 100% flat throttle curves in Stunt mode. So basically the Rev Limiter is "governing" my HS 100% of the time when in Stunt mode. I have it disabled in Normal mode.

Some guys like an actual governor better than the limiter. I started out with the AR7100R and have had excellent results. I've never actually tried any kind of governor on a nitro bird.

I don't know if my DX7 has a governor menu. I don't recall seeing one. I suppose I could use throttle curves??

[Bladecpnitro]

Originally Posted by rcflier1

your buying a good heli and support equiptment. why would you consider cheep quality servos?

Well I hear of peoples fairly new Align servos failing here and there and figured If I'm gonna have a failing servo I might as well to have saved some money and maybe get it in the air a little quicker. I thought maybe I could get 4 of those Corona 538MG ($8.60 each) servos to run cyclic and throttle and get the Align DS 650 and a Quark for the rudder.

I'd love to put Futaba BLS 451s ($109.99 each) on cyclic Futaba S3151 ($29.99) on throttle and a Futaba BLS 251 on rudder ($149.99) but that would be mega bucks. They have a 1 yr warranty on these servos.

Maybe I'll get lucky before I build one and find a BNF Titan X50 with all this stuff on it for a decent price. If not I'll probably end up going with the Align servos though if the Corona's don't seem to be a good idea. Lotta stuff to buy to get into Nitro. Lipo's and motors for big electrics aint cheap either though.

[Bob O]

Originally Posted by Bladecpnitro

I don't know if my DX7 has a governor menu. I don't recall seeing one. I suppose I could use throttle curves??

It doesn't. But you would control the governor with either the Gear or Aux2 channel (using programmable mixes), whichever one you're not using for the gyro gain.