VBar Control on TDR

[CyprusFlyer]

Resistance is futile, my TDR has been assimilated!

Bought the VBar control system this week after a friend bought one, I was helping to resolve a few problems and got hooked. Very impressed with the ease of setup and facilities available, it has all the telemetry built in.

The whole concept is quite refreshing and well thought out, a few uh's at first but once you "get it" no problem. For instance I thought where the hell is the throttle curve?, concept unnecessary now. At first you designate 3 mandatory switches for:


Banks: Old normal/Idle 1/Idle 2, but now banks 1, 2 and 3 that are switched with headspeed, either as actual with internal governor or ESC output for External governor like Kontronic.


Motor: Like old “Hold”, but now Motor Off/Idle/On, if the motor has been running, then idle gives slow motor run for Auto bailout, alternatively Bank 4 can be assigned to this position and ESC output dialed in, I have the normal Kosmic Auto Bailout function now.


The other switch is Buddy box, no wires you bind a second TX to the RX and select what functions the slave has access to.


The optional switches allow things like talking telemetry where a flick will speak up to 4 parameters, like voltage battery Mah Used etc. Also screen shot is useful for the spectrum analyser that can be retrieved later.



I have fitted the UI sensor that accurately measures Voltage and Current, that works with the Battery Log book application. Batteries are individually created with capacity, voltage and how much % you wish to use. Alarms are triggered to land in time, no need for a normal timer in this case! On run down you get a summary of battery usage that is logged in the memory.


The PC is not needed anymore, indeed the helicopter can be tuned on the fly using a potentiometer for any of the gain variables, look forward to doing a better job of this, one does get lazy, not bothering to fine tune due to the need for a PC.


I noticed that you can also have 2 (Mini) or 4 (Full size Vbar) extra outputs and assign to pot or switch, ideal for retracts or night flying etc.


The other move away from the norm is model memory, not much stored in the TX, its all in the VBar and is called up once the link is established. You can force the TX to create a backup file that can be retrieved by a PC as the TX USB appears as a USB drive.


So quite impressed with this, VBar users will also love it I expect, loads more goodies and as Mikado creates more “Apps” for the system, the possibilities are limitless.

[Vinger]

Very happy with my JR DMSS systems, but as a VBar user only this intrigues me, hopefully their plank support will come out soon, then I might consider it.

[CyprusFlyer]

I am stuck with my Spektrum for one BD3SX so may get rid of that and all my Spektrum stuff, have the Taranis for planks and FPV with Dragon link so do need to consolodate a bit.
One thing is becoming clear, we should not need to fit extra boxes to facilitate telemetry these days, the 2.4Ghz are I suspect mostly tranceivers borrowed from wireless router technology so the downlink is there as used by Vbar and Taranis.
The main downside of the Vbar control is the investment required in Rxs and sensors although the Rx cost about the same as 2 Spektrum satellites so comparable.

Had a break in our rainy weather, tested the TDR in a hover and checked the head speeds again, nice thing is I did not touch the Kosmic at all, I copied the ESC levels from my Spektrum into the VBar Control and they were all spot on. But now I have 1400, 1700 and 1950 all available and can easily adjust any parameter for each, and also for the Idle/Auto rotation position, which was nice

[HilliHeli]

The other switch is Buddy box, no wires you bind a second TX to the RX and select what functions the slave has access to.

I was discussing this feature with someone that I Fly with, he told me that the "Buddy" can have access to specific-parameters that you would like adjusted (fine-tuned) and that he can tune these as you Fly

Pretty-cool

[CyprusFlyer]

Flew today and wow, just loving the VBar Control concept, especially the telemetry with battery capacity being clearly announced every 10%, switched off the normal timer and varied style flying means varied flight times.
Smiled to myself when the 10% announcments speeded up dramatically during high power speed runs.
Tuning was a breeze, all parameters available on the TX to tweek for each bank, well recommended

[mkovalcson]

I hope all the other vendors take notice. Mikado has found a much simpler way to do things and the path or least resistance always wins

[helicraze]

I love mine and my tdr!

[CyprusFlyer]

Bit sad on xmas eve maybe but had a fiddle around with the Mini Vbar, specifically the Pro Aux application for VBar Control. This shows 4 outputs that can be assigned to any switch or Pot on the TX.
So I wired up temporary cables to a servo, seperate power and single servo signal outputs from the RX A port.
Lo and behold, the "Elevator" function controlled a servo connected to the middle pin, "Rudder" controlled the output off the bottom pin and moved the servo proportionally on each.
I know the top pin is assigned as an input for a phase sensor for head speed telemetry or Vbar governor.
The full size Vbar will have all 4 outputs.
Gets even better, you can program centre and both endpoints of travel and even failsafe position!
Just thinking ahead to the new TDR if retracts required, then easily configured

[RyanW]

I need to double check, but I think Mikado make a cable just for the Mini VBar that separates these out.

[CyprusFlyer]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I need to double check, but I think Mikado make a cable just for the Mini VBar that separates these out.

Easy enough to make up yourself if you have a crimp tool available, done loads of bespoke cables with the Hanson Hobbies crimps, dont know how I managed without, must have paid for itself.

[RyanW]

Funny you say that. I am taking inventory in the toy room and have an order to Hansen for more pins and connectors top on the list!

[CyprusFlyer]

It will be interesting to see how Mikado impliments plank control on this radio, it occured to me that there are no trims! In my experience, 9 out of 10 planks require a quick application of trim on maiden flights to lower the blood pressure a bit! As far as flight simming goes, would be cheaper to have a cheapo TX for that purpose than use a VBar and RX.

Still think its a great product, have the GPS Sensor comming for the TDR and assimilating all my heli's now, nearly got caught out yesterday using 2 transmitters with different models, almost got confused.

[helicraze]

You wouldnt need trim as the vbar takes care of drift

[mkovalcson]

Originally Posted by helicraze

You wouldnt need trim as the vbar takes care of drift

Bingo! Blade has already done this with their little planes that would be really difficult to keep in the air like the Gee Bee's which are not forgiving in the least. These tiny foam planes are stable because of the stability controller. Mikado will do the same thing.

[Vinger]

Update available for VControl, lots of refinements.

http://www.vstabi.info/en/christmasupdate

[helicraze]

My update went smooth as, nice little additions, really happy with update.

Love this radio, just fly fly fly, no complaints

[CyprusFlyer]

Done the xmas update, they send an email now to notify, they cocked up the normal timer a bit but resolved in a later App update, must say the response to snags is immediate, very good service.
GPS sensor arrived yesterday, hooked up to my LOGO 600 for a quick test, wow, locked on within 60 secs and that was inside my shed with a tin roof, cold start and completely new geographical location!
TX picked it up immediatley and we can set talking speed parameters etc, nice.
Enough RX's now to do my fleet and re-soldered another UI Sensor for my Logo600.

[CyprusFlyer]

As mentioned was impressed by the GPS sensor, seems to sort itself out much quicker that others I have used, photo below. In fact the UI senor is impressive too, very accurate and highlighted that so far, only Optipower batteries were accurate regarding their capacity from new! Be good if Tom reversed engineered the serial bus protocol for these, be a great upgrade for the JLog too
Not flown with it yet, raining monsoon style here



Sent from my scabby old laptop with knackerd "s" key!