Biggest lipo in trex 500.

[NexxuSix]

Sorry for the delayed response. Today, took my helicopter to the hardware store uptown. They have a good old fashioned mechanical scale! I officially weighed the heli in at 5.75 pounds / 2,608.156 grams. This is with the Trex 600 gear on, left over from last weekend's speed runs that I was testing the DJI Naza-H system with. The custom landing gear I built weighs in at 5/8 pound / 283.495 grams

By chance does anyone know the official weight of the Trex 500 and Trex 600 land gear?

[minskie]

I just bought two ChinaHobby 6S 3700mAh 40C LiPos for my T-Rex 500 (they stuffed my order up and sent 3700 instead of 2600).

Anyway, they actually fit my Trex 500E

No canopy or battery tray mods required. Maybe a bit heavy at 597grams.

Big buggers.

I'm fitting a CoPilot II system so will be even heavier time I'm done.

Hope it gets off the deck !

[andione1983]

I tried some revolectrix 3700 40c yesterday in my trex 500, boy it flew well, you could slightly notice the extra weight but flight times were amazing after 4 mins I still had 48* left in the pack :o and that was after smacking it around with a Fu-bar installed

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[minskie]

Originally Posted by andione1983

I tried some revolectrix 3700 40c yesterday in my trex 500, boy it flew well, you could slightly notice the extra weight but flight times were amazing after 4 mins I still had 48* left in the pack :o and that was after smacking it around with a Fu-bar installed

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Thanks andione

Phew, I was starting to think I'd have a pair of paperweights. Either that or I'd have to buy a 550 or 600 to use them !

Do yours fit ok without mods ? Mine just fit. You have to fiddle with the canopy a bit but there's no deforming or rubbing against the gears.

Looks like they are gonna be good !

Cheers!

[andione1983]

Haven't tried it with the canopy on yet... Will have another go today and see if I can get it on... I have the new dfc one.. Whether that's any different..

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[minskie]

Fingers crossed the canopy fits.

My Trex 500E is new. Not sure if they changed the canopy/battery trays on the later versions?

If I can get this battery to fit (it's huge) I'm sure you'll be ok.

Try a few goes. I almost didn't bother as it just looked too big. After a bit of wiggling it fitted right on over the pins and the front lip locked into its slot.

[StatiC]

I am hoping to get Gens Ace 6s 4000mah 25C batteries to fit. I have them leftover from my Trex 700 F3C v2 that I don't have anymore. I have 5 of those batteries. Four have only 10 flights on them and kept at 50% charge during storage. One is brand new that I kept at 50% charge in the fridge to preserve it the best I could.

I have been out of the hobby for 1.5 years now. I needed to scale back and get into a heli I can afford to fix so I got the older model flybar 500e instead of going bigger. This is the newer model of the flybar models with the 70 amp ESC and the frames have been changed by Align like the newer flybarless models to fit bigger batteries.

Has anyone tried the gens ace 4000mah?

Keep in mind that my form of flying is very gradual slow flips, loops, slow rainbows, etc. more like f3c type flying... Not that I am great at it. I am not a hard 3d flyer at all.

UPDATE:
It balances just very slightly front heavy ( not enough to affect flight to me). The canopy does fit but is pretty tight by sliding the battery down a little. It flies very well for my flying style. I should get very long flight times too.

I read that the fusuno ex canopy is slightly larger to fit bigger batteries but I am not seeing much of a difference from the pics in the thread below.

https://www.helifreak.com/showpost.p...5&postcount=17

I will probably end up trying one eventually just to make it easier to get the canopy on.

[HeloMan]

I'm running ECO 3400 mah 30c (A Main Hobby) on my 500 Pro DFC. I think that is about as tall as you can get 46 x 145 x 41. You could go a bit longer but that is all the canopy has room for. Getting 8.5 min. @ 2700 head. Mild 3d, sport flying

[StatiC]

After moving the battery slightly down (maybe 10mm from the top) and getting used to putting the canopy on now I am ok with the fit of the standard canopy now on the 500e (KX017014 belt drive kit) with the Gens Ace 6s 4000mah 25C battery. I would say it is a snug fit but not tight or bulging the canopy.

The dimensions:
140.52 * 43.29 * 52.84mm

I just flew for 11 minutes doing fast forward flight, flips, inverted flight, etc and I was just under the 80% rule. I burn about 300mah/min. I usually fly for 8 minutes though leaving enough in the battery so that I don't have to worry about storage charging. It comes down just close to half charged (60%) at 8 minutes.

Battery comes down barely warm at around 103F in 85 degree weather.

I think I have settled on about 2450 rpm feels great and bumping it to 2500 RPM for idle2 for a little extra umpf occasionally has plenty of power and climb rate for my flying style. I love this thing. I am using the grey dampers so that the flybar head since my headspeed is lower and the softer dampers can help stabilize the heli during gusts of wind. I tend to fly more gradual smooth maneuvers so I shouldn't be wearing out the grey dampers too quickly. Going to black dampers would make the heli more jumpy than the grey with big gusts of wind.

The heli doesn't feel heavy at all to me. Since the kit has a lot of plastic parts to it I bet I am close to an all metal kit but with a lot more juice to go 11 minutes .

[emederos]

I use a turnigy nano tech 5000mah 6s in my trex 500 with Hughes body. I get two 7 minute flights and still have 20% battery from each. I fly scale just above half throttle at all times since im still learning and also my 70amp esc gets kinda hot after 7 minutes because its not getting enough airflow inside the fuselage so i fly 7 minutes land, let it cool off then back up for another 7-8 minutes and still have about 15-20% when i land the second flight. I have 2 of these batteries they balance the bird well so i will keep using them. 4 flights with 2 batteries...cant beat that...

[skypup]

I just ordered the fly barred align 500e. I ordered (3) 3000 mah 45c Pulse Ultra Power series lipos from HeliDirect. They had 15% off. After doing some reading I ordered a 12t motor pinion. At 70% governor it should give a low 2200-2300 headspeed. I'm trying to get the most duration for just cruising and hovering. I could care less about aerobatics except a stall turn or loop. What kind of flight times might I get with this? Thanks!

[StatiC]

Originally Posted by skypup

I just ordered the fly barred align 500e. I ordered (3) 3000 mah 45c Pulse Ultra Power series lipos from HeliDirect. They had 15% off. After doing some reading I ordered a 12t motor pinion. At 70% governor it should give a low 2200-2300 headspeed. I'm trying to get the most duration for just cruising and hovering. I could care less about aerobatics except a stall turn or loop. What kind of flight times might I get with this? Thanks!

You might be able to live with the default pinion with the Align ESC. I run that same model (flybar) with the default 13 tooth pinion. I can't remember what governed throttle percentage I am at but I think it is around 75% (I will double check tonight) and I get 2440rpm governed on the default Align RCE-BL70G ESC. I bet I would get close to 2300 running at 70%. I will try to test it around lunch time tomorrow and see.

I even flew the heli around somewhere around 2100 rpm once and it was still fine for just flying around and even some inverted flight but it did require more pitch input of course to compensate for the lower head speed. It gets more stable in the wind with lower headspeeds.

[skypup]

Originally Posted by xStatiCa

You might be able to live with the default pinion with the Align ESC. I run that same model (flybar) with the default 13 tooth pinion. I can't remember what governed throttle percentage I am at but I think it is around 75% (I will double check tonight) and I get 2440rpm governed on the default Align RCE-BL70G ESC. I bet I would get close to 2300 running at 70%. I will try to test it around lunch time tomorrow and see.

I even flew the heli around somewhere around 2100 rpm once and it was still fine for just flying around and even some inverted flight. It gets more stable in the wind with lower headspeeds.

I'd be interested in knowing what you find out. What kind of flight times are you getting at lower rpm's?

[StatiC]

I am at 75% governed throttle on the Align ESC right now in all modes.

I am drawing around 280mah per minute (averaging 16.8 amp draw) with very easy flights just flying around and some orientation practice. I draw about 330mah per minute (averaging 19.9 amp draw) doing aggressive fast sport flying (forward hurricanes, flips, big loops, with a rainbow, etc).

I just set my throttle curves up for 70% throttle for Normal and Stunt1 and left Stunt2. I still plan to test it at lunch time Tuesday to see what headspeed I am getting and I plan to temp the ESC to make sure it is not getting too hot reducing it from 75% to 70% throttle.

I am pretty sure I need the 2440rpm for rainbows as I can just push the heli through it at full collective at around 12.5 degrees pitch at that rpm to keep it looking decent. Well as decent as I can do them anyway . I tend to have some elevator wise wobble at the stop points which I am pretty sure is because I am running the soft dampers in the head which is preferred for flybar sport flying at lower RPMs. I do a lot more sport flying than soft 3d so I am ok with that.

For those thinking about Gens Ace 25C 4000mah 6s batteries I have shifted the battery down on the battery tray about 13mm and that was enough so that the battery does not touch the canopy at all so I am very happy with this battery setup for my flying style. I can fly very easy flights just flying around for 11 minutes if I wanted to or get about 9.5 minutes with agressive sport flying both of which it would be at 80%. I try to stop around 60% though so that the battery is around storage charge so that I don't have to worry about doing storage charges. I still get about 7 to 8 minute flights depending on hard I fly at 60% discharged.

[skypup]

xStatiCa

Just the type of info I like to research and find very useful. This will help me a lot. I'll be looking forward to hearing about your lunch time test at 70%. Maybe 70% with a 12t pinion will help keep the temps down? Sounds like de-tuned I will get the times I'm looking for. At the lower end I can get 8 minutes with 25% reserve at 280 mah draw with the 3000 mah batteries. I can live with that. Is the Align esc pre programmed for heli governor mode so you can just set throttle curves? Thanks!

[StatiC]

By default it is not in governor mode. It is easy to program though. I always reprogram them as it makes sure the ESC knows my low and high throttle points anyway. I just make sure to set the throttle curve at 0,25,50,75,100 when programming the ESC.

[skypup]

Originally Posted by xStatiCa

By default it is not in governor mode. It is easy to program though. I always reprogram them as it makes sure the ESC knows my low and high throttle points anyway. I just make sure to set the throttle curve at 0,25,50,75,100 when programming the ESC.

Do you need to run a separate bec or is the one in the esc sufficient?

[StatiC]

The Align built in BEC is sufficient on the Trex 500 flybar heli. I do Spektrum flight logging of the rx voltage and with the ESC set to 5.5v it never goes below 5.3v. I use 5.5v instead of 6v as it takes less current at lower voltage which is easier on the BEC. I have a bunch of Spektrum telemetry running off of it too and it is fine with the extra draw of the telemetry.

The best way to test that on the bench is to make sure throttle hold is set of course and stir your sticks around to move all the servos quickly and see if the receiver resets.

[skypup]

Good info....thanks.

[CZorzella]

Originally Posted by xStatiCa

The Align built in BEC is sufficient on the Trex 500 flybar heli. I do Spektrum flight logging of the rx voltage and with the ESC set to 5.5v it never goes below 5.3v. I use 5.5v instead of 6v as it takes less current at lower voltage which is easier on the BEC. I have a bunch of Spektrum telemetry running off of it too and it is fine with the extra draw of the telemetry.

The best way to test that on the bench is to make sure throttle hold is set of course and stir your sticks around to move all the servos quickly and see if the receiver resets.

I do use the Align built in BEC set to 6V on my Trex 500 FB with a TM1100, RPM and temperature telemetry sensors for almost two years and never had an electrical issue.