Copycat 500 build

[JettaManDan]

Surprisingly, the Turnigy 70A K Force ESC arrived today (super fast for HK), unfortunately, it does not have a BEC circuit and I will have to provide a seperate power source for the reciever. I have not done a two battery set-up before, does anybody have any advice or is there a resource for this type of set-up?

if you are using deans...buy one of these..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350548728121...84.m1439.l2649

then you can power the BEC right off of that tap and not have to wire anything...then run the BEC into the batt slot on the Rx and you are rocking...

[Ironrotor]

Originally Posted by JettaManDan

if you are using deans...buy one of these..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350548728121...84.m1439.l2649

then you can power the BEC right off of that tap and not have to wire anything...then run the BEC into the batt slot on the Rx and you are rocking...

Thanks JMD,

Great connector but mine is all EC3, I couldnt find and EC3 variant. I will rig some type of harness to a BEC.

I ordered a Turnigy HV 5A UBEC from HK ( had some good reviews for the 500 heli); says it can be wired directly to the mains or seperate battery. I will opt for wiring directly to the mains for now.

On a seperate note: the Turnigy 70A K-Force ESC really appears to be a high quality unit and great instructions. I cant wait to get it all together and fly.urTurnigy HV SBEC 5A Switch Regulator (8-42V input)
nigy HV SBEC 5A Switch Regulator (8-42V input)

Thanks for the advice JMD.

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Ironrotor

Thanks JMD,

Great connector but mine is all EC3, I couldnt find and EC3 variant. I will rig some type of harness to a BEC.

I ordered a Turnigy HV 5A UBEC from HK ( had some good reviews for the 500 heli); says it can be wired directly to the mains or seperate battery. I will opt for wiring directly to the mains for now.

On a seperate note: the Turnigy 70A K-Force ESC really appears to be a high quality unit and great instructions. I cant wait to get it all together and fly.urTurnigy HV SBEC 5A Switch Regulator (8-42V input)
nigy HV SBEC 5A Switch Regulator (8-42V input)

Thanks for the advice JMD.

yeah i don't see a EC3 variant anywhere...i only found that when i added a fan to my R/C truck and wanted a way to power it without making a parallel harness...i've made them 100 times before but just wanted to be lazy this time lol!

[Ironrotor]

Thinking ahead; is it a good idea to utilize the governor feature on the ESC? I have not had the option on my past esc's and I am just now figuring how it works and the benefits it provides. Is the governor more like a cruise control/ stabilizer for motor speed?

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Ironrotor

Thinking ahead; is it a good idea to utilize the governor feature on the ESC? I have not had the option on my past esc's and I am just now figuring how it works and the benefits it provides. Is the governor more like a cruise control/ stabilizer for motor speed?

if you set it up correctly then yes it is worth it...will really help the heli react to heavy pitch inputs better...i haven't used it on my heli's yet but flew a friends with it setup and it really made it smoother...

[JettaManDan]

so here i wanted to show off my 500 at my Fly-in 2 weeks ago..and the tail was not cooperating...it was trying to go left on me hard..had to hold it over right rudder to keep it straight so yesterday i had a few minutes to monkey with it and it looks like one of the tail blades was jammed loosened up the blade grips a bit...they got free...and took it out and drained a battery with it being perfectly fine....all of 20 seconds to fix... well at least it is back to flying again..i HATE the little stuff!

you mess with yours any OLP?

[Oldladypilot]

At least it was a simple fix, and it didn't cost you a cent!

I haven't worked on my 500's at all. I went with my Nephew and Grand Nephew to the field the other evening and they had a blast flying the Champ. I've got an rcsolutions light kit on it so it can be seen at night.

I flew the Mustang a little but then it got too dark to see it. I've put a 2 blade Spitfire prop and spinner on it and you can sure tell the difference in the way it sounds and the increase in speed.

I'll get back to the helis as soon as I have time.

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Oldladypilot

At least it was a simple fix, and it didn't cost you a cent!

I haven't worked on my 500's at all. I went with my Nephew and Grand Nephew to the field the other evening and they had a blast flying the Champ. I've got an rcsolutions light kit on it so it can be seen at night.

I flew the Mustang a little but then it got too dark to see it. I've put a 2 blade Spitfire prop and spinner on it and you can sure tell the difference in the way it sounds and the increase in speed.

I'll get back to the helis as soon as I have time.

cool cool..i flew my planes 40 times at the GTG...got a little burnt out on it lol!

[Ironrotor]

Originally Posted by JettaManDan

cool cool..i flew my planes 40 times at the GTG...got a little burnt out on it lol!

JMD,

Wish I could find the time to do 40 of anything . Since the 500 I have basically retired the B400; reading that you have been flying your 450 reminded me that I do have a working Heli. I might have to spool her up again!

The Turnigy BEC arrived from HK, they have been surprisingly fast for me lately. I have some free time coming up in about a week or so, I will concentrate on building a wiring harness then. I think I have a pretty good design laid out for the K-Force/ BEC/Lipo, a lot of soldering is in order. I will post pics of the progress.

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Ironrotor

JMD,

Wish I could find the time to do 40 of anything . Since the 500 I have basically retired the B400; reading that you have been flying your 450 reminded me that I do have a working Heli. I might have to spool her up again!

The Turnigy BEC arrived from HK, they have been surprisingly fast for me lately. I have some free time coming up in about a week or so, I will concentrate on building a wiring harness then. I think I have a pretty good design laid out for the K-Force/ BEC/Lipo, a lot of soldering is in order. I will post pics of the progress.

yeah please do post them when you get it going...

i have one 450 that i have that fly's awesome..and has for a while..so it is always my go-to when my other heli's are being a pain lol! I have all the parts needed ot get my other 500 built..so may do that slowly...always want ot have a spare up and running in case..and got my align parts for my 2nd 450 to swap out the tail section..need to get that flying as well...still have two scale projects i want to undertake...

[JettaManDan]

Flew my 500 a bit today..kicked up throttle and headspeed a bit..all seemed to be good..but it was really sensative on pitch...going to tame down my pitch curve a bit and see if it helps....but all good for now...have some video i'll post later...

anyone else flying this weekend?

Dan

[Oldladypilot]

There's an air show at the AFB!
You know where I'll be tomorrow!

B-52
B-2
B-1
A-10 Thunderbolt
MIG-21
F22 Raptor
C5 Galaxy
P-51 Mustang
F4U Corsair
AH64 Apache Longbow
UH1H Huey
B-25
MQ-1 Predator

Aircraft nut heaven!!

[Ironrotor]

No Flying here! Still need to build to do some work on the 500; probably next week. Next week I will post some photos of the wiring harness and ESC/BEC build-up.

[Ironrotor]

Here is the Turnigy K-Force ESC and Turnigy BEC for my HK500 "rebuild". I plan to build a wiring harness running all from the single Lipo. I will post pictures of the progress.

[JettaManDan]

nice..post up when you got them!

[Ironrotor]

Did some soldering this morning; got the BEC jumper/ battery connector and the BEC connectors together.

I will power the BEC off the battery connector with small jumper to JST plug. I used the JST and gold pins as I use the JST plug for other reasons from time to time so I figured I could recycle it this way.

[Ironrotor]

Here is the ESC with connectors and the complete wiring harness together. Hind sight being 20/20 I should have included a switch for the battery or BEC or both.

I put a piece of the nylon mesh guard on the ESC rx lead.

[Ironrotor]

Now just how to put it all back? The wiring and fittment will have to wait until this weekend or early next week. It appears there will be some tight fits; I think the BEC will have to mounted on the side frame.

Does anyone know if the ESC rx lead shoud have a ferrite ring? And where is the best position on the lead for a ferrite ring? They get in the way of routing but I have heard they are wothwhile to keep on. Any thoughts?

Picture 1 shows battery tray removed for access.
Picture 2 shows the basic "planned" position of ESC (beneath tray).

[Ironrotor]

Happy Memorial Day Weekend Everyone.

Put it all back together, I routed the wire leads and tie wrapped everything. It was a tight fit around the Rx. The way I have things the ESC's anti-spark connector is a little difficult to get to but do'able.

I programmed the Turnigy 70A K-Force using the Tx, very simple; instructions are very good. Did a few ground run-ups and ended up having to use the super soft start feature as normal and soft settings are a little violent; even the super soft is a little abrubt, but it is substantially better than the previous HK 70AESC/BEC. Based on the few ground run-ups; this ESC is absolutely smooth, crisp, precise and very stable. Everything seemed very very linear. I am probably dreaming but the heli seemed to make a better sound as well.

I will get some test flights in and report back.

[Steemo]

Originally Posted by Ironrotor

...I am probably dreaming but the heli seemed to make a better sound as well...

No you are probably not dreaming, ESCs can affect the way the motor sounds when it's running. First time I spooled up my 450 with the Castle Ice 50 on it i thought the motor was broken because it made this sound that almost sounded like a whistle at the start of the spool up. But I've learned that many Castle speedies make different motors sound like this, it's just a trait they have.
So yes the motor in your 500 probably does sound different