New addition to the hanger (Walkera 4G3)

[KCMike]

It's brushed.

Would the 2 at the bottom of this page work?

http://rotorfever.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=15

[Dusty1000]

It's not too hard to solder, my soldering skills are average at best and I've managed it, Here's a pic I took at the time



The wire goes right through the circuit board, and to ensure an adequate connection you have to clean out the hole, then poke the wire through it again before applying solder. Merely soldering the wire onto what's already there isn't good enough - I tried. Also I had to widen the hole a fraction to get the wires back through.

The wires on mine became detached due to the strain of the battery popping out of the tray in repeated crashes.

Of course the other option is to upgrade to brushless. The motor and esc in your link will work fine with your existing 4 in 1. For best performance I'd recommend a bigger pinion as the stock is (12t) a bit under-geared. 18t is what I use

On the comments about Walkera's quality, they are the world leaders in designing and manufacturing micro-helis. No one else seems to be able to compete with them. All other manufacturers of micro helis seem like they are 2 steps behind. CP helis are always much more fragile and harder to set up than FPs, which is all the other main manufacturers have come up with so far - Walkera was there years ago with the original 4#3 and 5#6

...and on the comparison to Align, if it were Mikado and Align who were the main manufacturers of micro helis, would you touch the inferior Align product?

Dusty

[Beckler]

Are you sure no one can compete with them? Who is even trying? I think Align could. A Trex250 is already around the same price as 4G6; I'm sure they could make a Trex150 for the same price, in which case no one would choose the Walkera because it would be massively inferior.

Driving a self tapping set screw against a carbon tailboom to hold it on?! Come on, you have to be joking... Or the complete junk brushless tail motor on the 4G3 that has no clean solution. 2.9g motor works well but isnt' even designed for it and so has many silly issues as well. These are some of the ridiculous issues I'm talking about.

[KCMike]

Thanks for the info Dusty. That doesn't look very fun at all!

After looking at my heli, I've noticed something really odd. Why would I have the RX2605A if this is the brushed version? Since this has the "A" would I only need a brushed motor and speed control?

[Dusty1000]

Originally Posted by Beckler

Are you sure no one can compete with them? Who is even trying? I think Align could.

I wonder why they don't then. It's not hard to see how popular micro helis are. Take a look at rcgroups forum and you'll see there are several manufacturers. Walkera are the only ones so far to come up with such a small CP heli. Why have E-flite waited until now to release the mSR, and why didn't they release a miniature CP while they were at it? - I would think that fitting all these electronics into such a small package isn't easy and involves a fair amount of R&D.

A Trex250 is already around the same price as 4G6; I'm sure they could make a Trex150 for the same price

The Trex250 is way heavier then a 4G6, it would have to be more like a Trex75, and I think it will be a long time before Align manage that - if they ever decide to put in the R&D etc etc. Although they are not really competitors as such since Align sell only kits, whereas Walkera micro helis are all RTF. Of course when buying a Trex250 combo you have to add in TX, RX, battery and charger, which bumps the price up somewhat - so you can't really compare the price of a kit to a RTF heli.[/QUOTE}

Driving a self tapping set screw against a carbon tailboom to hold it on?! Come on, you have to be joking... Or the complete junk brushless tail motor on the 4G3 that has no clean solution. 2.9g motor works well but isnt' even designed for it and so has many silly issues as well. These are some of the ridiculous issues I'm talking about.

The tailboom is carbon because carbon is light and rigid, and a screw would seem to be a good way of keeping the heli light, and costs down. Do you have a better solution? My 4G3 is on it's 2nd ever tailboom and it's hit the deck loads of times - so it works well enough for me.

The solution to the brushed tail motor is to upgrade to brushless. Yes it is really hard to set the heli up with the brushed tail, and one whack and you have to start from scratch. Also Walkera brought the 4G3 out before such small brushless motors existed, so really it was the only solution at the time.

Tail motored CP helis, particularly with rate gyros, are always going to be compromised compared to belt driven and torque tube etc due to the motor having to speed up and slow down as quickly as the blades change pitch.

I do pity all the folk that buy the outdated Novus helis though, but anyone who does enough research first should know what they are buying. I bought my HBK2 then wished I'd bought a Blade 400 instead, and although the Blade is loads better despite it's questionable and now upgraded E-flite electronics (nothing wrong with my Walkera electronics), I still think the King is ok for what it costs. One heli I certainly don't regret buying is my 4G3

Dusty

[Dusty1000]

Originally Posted by KCMike

Thanks for the info Dusty. That doesn't look very fun at all!

Hehe, I must admit it's not, but it is doable

Yes your 4 in 1 will work perfectly with the brushless motor and esc, as will the RX2605. I've tried it as have several others, and it's a myth that you need the RX2605A to run a brushless motor.

Get a bigger pinion while you're at it and you won't believe the power

Dusty

[KCMike]

I purchased the following ...

Walkera Brushless motor 11000kv @ $16.50
Walkera Electronic Speed Controller @ $12.50

Total OTD was $34.00.

Which 18t do you recommended? Rotorfever.com didn't have any that I could find via the search menu.

Here's a 16t from wowhobbies.com:
http://www.wowhobbies.com/11tpinion64pitch-1.aspx

Here's there 20t:
http://www.wowhobbies.com/11tpinion64pitch-1-1.aspx

[jgupton]

Originally Posted by KCMike

I purchased the following ...

Walkera Brushless motor 11000kv @ $16.50
Walkera Electronic Speed Controller @ $12.50

Total OTD was $34.00.

Which 18t do you recommended? Rotorfever.com didn't have any that I could find via the search menu.

Here's a 16t from wowhobbies.com:
http://www.wowhobbies.com/11tpinion64pitch-1.aspx

Here's there 20t:
http://www.wowhobbies.com/11tpinion64pitch-1-1.aspx

I've heard that the 14t or the 16t is the best for this bird/motor combo. I fly that motor with the 16t gear from Wow. Also check with Vi at rotorfever as I think he has that same esc for $9 (he's clearing everything out).

As for the 2605a with brushed question, I'm not sure if perhaps they're including that with ever v2 4g3 now - maybe someone else on the board can help out.

Since you're upgrading to the brushless main, you're probably going to want/have to do the tail next .

Ah well, this hobby is nothing if it isn't expensive!

[KCMike]

Originally Posted by jgupton

Ah well, this hobby is nothing if it isn't expensive!

Yea, tell me about it. I've been into nitro r/c cars as well in the past few years. It's sucking me dry! For some reason though, I can't make myself quite. My LHS really loves when I come thru the door.

What's the "Vi"? Should I change my order and go w/ the $9 ESC? Or will either work?

[jgupton]

Originally Posted by KCMike

Yea, tell me about it. I've been into nitro r/c cars as well in the past few years. It's sucking me dry! For some reason though, I can't make myself quite. My LHS really loves when I come thru the door.

What's the "Vi"? Should I change my order and go w/ the $9 ESC? Or will either work?

Vi is the owner (I believe) of rotorfever. I think that the esc's are the same, but Vi can confirm 100% (he's getting out of the business, so there's probably just an error between the two listings - check the clearance page). I'd send an e-mail - the customer service is outstanding.

Another note on the pinion gear, the higher the tooth count, the higher the head speed, the more any imbalance will cause vibration which leads to more twitchyness of the gyro and then the tail. I'm sure people have succeeded with the higher tooth count, but I would expect that the setup would have to be REALLY good. I often get a lot of jumpiness on my 4g3 without much perceptible vibration, so I would think that a higher tooth count (for me at least) would cause issues.

My LHS loves me thanks to this addiction, the wife on the other hand...

[KCMike]

Ahh, ok. Thanks for the clarification on Vi.