gyro problems/question

[808terry]

Hi All,

Played around w/ my set up and can't get it back to flying properly. I did not crash; I just changed things (head and tail) to stock. So, it's all stock except servos and esc. My heli spins out of control and looks like a UFO as soon as it gets light on the training gear. Throttle stick rotor input only changes the direction of spinning. I think it's the gyro, but, I did not touch the gain settings. I only unplugged from the rx when relocating it and the wires. So, to start troubleshooting, I need to make sure my wiring is corrrect. I'm not sure how the connector w/ the single wire should in placed into the rx. I know it goes into channel 5, but, not sure of its orientation. Not sure how to describe it too, so goes it... should that single wire be on the outermost side of the rx or innermost side (one of the sides is closer to the edge)? Or should that single wire line up w/ all the brown wires or orange wires when all the connectors are plugged into the rx? Or should that wire be on the side with the ESky label? I hope one of these made sense.

Also, when the switch on the tx (FM version) is toggled to the two different positions, should the blue light on the gyro (EK2-0704A) do something, e.g. turn off, change color to red? Right on, on start up it's red. Then turns to blue and stays blue even when spinning like a UFO. Also, not sure which position it should be in when flying; well in my case trying to fly.

Thanks,
Terry

[creteus]

Can you take a picture of the tail and post it?

[ShowtimeBIA]

Not going to jump in on the mechanical part of the gyro problem as there are far more knowledgable guys here for that, but can help with the signal wire part. The single wire is a signal carrier. On your receiver, one outside row is ground, the middle row is power and the other outside row is signal. I've only seen 2 different color schemes. Black, red, white and Brown, red, orange. Black/brown is ground, Red is power, and Orange/white is signal. So the single wire, sometimes yellow, plugs in so it lines up with the orange or white signal pins and the two power pins (red row and brown/black row) are empty.

Hope this helps clear it up.

[808terry]

Thanks Creteus and ShowtimeBIA. I'll line up the wire colors accordingly. Also, I need to post pics later as my camera is at work. Sorry about the delay Creteus.

[Jonnyheli]

I think that could solve the problem.

Is your gyro a HH gyro, the rate mode gyro doesn't have the extra yellow wire.

If it is HH then that is probably the problem. It could also be HH is reversed, so instead of the gyro fighting agains the wind, it goes with the wind!

-Jonny

[creteus]

I'm with Jonny. Its probably reversed if its spinning very fast. The more it turns in one direction the more thrust the gyro will apply in the same direction causing it to spin even faster.
Another problem which is very common, and the reason I asked for a picture, is the tail grips may be on backwards. The ball lionks need to be at the leading edge of the blade. If they are trailing the blade that would be your problem

[sutty]

Originally Posted by 808terry

Throttle stick rotor input only changes the direction of spinning.

This statement, I believe, is key to your issue. When it spins out of control, in either direction, dependent on stick input, it is invariably caused by the gyro reversing switch being incorrectly set, but if you didn't change it, how can that be? Well my guess would be that something else has probably changed too.

There are not too many things to check to get your tail right, and in my experience it is perfectly possible to do these things correctly without ever spooling up. If I've missed anything, the others will chime in I'm sure.

Direction of turn. (When spinning the mainblades clockwise, the tailblades should turn anticlockwise, when viewed from the right.
Leading edge control. (It is possible to assemble your tail incorrectly with control on the trailing edge.)
Direction of travel. (When applying left stick, the leading edge of the tailblades should move right, away from the boom, creating left thrust, which moves the tail to the right, which is nose left.)
Direction of correction. (When the heli is rotated clockwise, nose to the right, the leading edge of the tail blades should follow the nose, i.e to the right also, away from the boom.)
Gain. (Set this at 25 or 30 for rate and 70 or 75 for HH and it will be near enough for a test flight. Tweak higher to increase hold, and lower to remove wag.)

And that I believe is that, just 5 steps. Follow those and your tail will hold again, once you have the cables plugged in correctly, as per showtime's post.

Cheers

Sut
EDIT: I'm always too slow, sorry Matt.

[Jonnyheli]

Same quote is when I started to think gyro reversed too sut.

^^

-Jonny

[creteus]

I'm secretly tracking you so I can shoot in real fast and post quicker.

[808terry]

Thanks again.

To start off...my grips positioned wrong. Thanks Creteus! I'll need to re-install them.

After that, I'll go through Sutty's checklist which is extremely helpful. I was struggling to understand how the tail works for a few weeks. e.g. stick movement, blade grip movement on the shaft per the stick input, gyro correction. Got a headache and gave up everytime. You simplified it completely. Thanks Sutty!

Will keep you all posted on my situation...I have time to tinker today.

Terry

[808terry]

Problem solved! Feels good to be flying again. Very thankful for your input. I should have asked weeks ago.

I re-connected the gyro's single wire connector to lined up with the orange/white wires. Then, re-installed the blade grips so that the ball linkage is on the leading edge. Then, running through Sutty's gyro checklist, I found another problem where I had to reverse the rudder movement using the switch on the tx.

Spun up the motor and hovered. No more spinning like a UFO.

Thanks again for your help.

[creteus]

Glad you got it all sorted out