Set up help

[c550]

I have been trying to set up my E325S that I put in a Thundertiger Cobra body. I am a novice flyer and just want it to hover and slow forward flight. I have read through the set up and other info, and have made some progress in making the helo a little less sensitive. However it doesn't have a very stable hover. I was hovering yesterday and I decided to land from a very low hover by entering throttle hold and doing a hovering autorotation. The model tilted rapidly left and the blades made contact. No big damage but I can not find the settings to just get a stable flying helicopter. I have a flybarred mini titan and it hovers so much better.

I would greatly appreciate any set up help that someone might have.

Regards,

Dave

[Laurens]

What Tx do you have? It almost seems like you accidently have programmed some kind of input in the Thold mode.

[c550]

I use the Futaba 12 FG. I don't have any mix in throttle hold that would have caused the left tilt. The model is very sensitive and usually does things like this. It is unstable in the hover, and that is about as far in setup as I have gotten. I think when power was reduced it overcompensated for the right drift due to the sudden lack of translating force(slight right cyclic to compensate for tail rotor thrust). In reading the set up info it mentions a lot of things to adjust for 3d flight, but nothing about set up for a stable model for a new pilot. I am just hoping someone has some recomendations about how to get it to settle down. The cyclic moves in the correct direction, and I think the basic setup is ok, but I am lost as to what to adjust to get a tamer bird.

Regards,

Dave

[Laurens]

Lower your cyclic ATV's. Are you sure you don't have any vibration in the heli?

[c550]

I have lowered the ATV, and that helped some.It doesn't sem like there is excessive vibration. I think the problem is that when the controller makes a correction it makes too large a correction. I have read through the manual and set up guides and I really can't figure out what to change to turn down the corrections to make them more mild. I have read a lot of forums and I don't sem to be getting any closer to knowing what to change in set up. I guess the next step is to buy training gear and just start changing values till I find a parameter that helps. Or put a flybar head on it and fly!

[Laurens]

I guess that would be your P gain.

[c550]

I will try adjusting that, I haven't done anything with it in a while.

Thanks for your help!

Dave

[HeliDet]

Hello Dave, not knowing much about your setup I could imagine that if reducing the swashplate "P" and "I" does not seem to make an effect you have to go back and double check all the servo frequencies and travel limits? I saw TT posts a basic GT5.1 setup for the E325 in the manual - well depends on the type servo and original arms you are using how close it matches but I would take it as rough guideline.

Check the servo travel 1-3 (100) and servo limit 1-3 A&B (in the E325 manual set at 200). Rather put those lower to not have a binding swash. If your heli reacts to slow you can always increase those values to reach maximum travel of the swashplate.

All those stick dynamic or expos and so on I would leave at default values. That works well for the beginning.

Maybe you want to read the Gary Wright instructions here. Gives some more insight.

I have two GT5s on my gasser helis and they take those gasser vibrations pretty well. They drift a little more than my electric with GT5 but they are not over sensitive.

That GT5 setup is in the beginning quiet confusing till you get the hang of it. Even since I am using it for a while I think it has too many things to adjust that i probably never touch.

[c550]

Thanks for the help. I have the E325S ARF. I am going to recheck all of the settings. I have read the set up guide but I cant figure out what I need to change to make it less sensitive to corrections.

[HeliDet]

Originally Posted by c550

Thanks for the help. I have the E325S ARF. I am going to recheck all of the settings. I have read the set up guide but I cant figure out what I need to change to make it less sensitive to corrections.

I don't have a E235S myself. The smallest is an TRex 500 I use with a GT5 so I might be off a little with my experience.

Did you set the servo frequency, speed, and pulse length for the center position correct? The BeastX has a good list of servo data. That is the most important thing the GT5 needs to know in order to give the right amount of input for the servo. If you programmed the servo for example slower than it actually is then the GT5 will give it too much signal in order to get to the position it wants to be because it thinks the servo is slower than it actually is. Same with the frequency or center position... if set not correct those all confuse the GT5 because the servo does something else than the gyro expects it to do.

Then the next is the servo arms, mounting points of the push rods and limits in the gyro. In general if you for example use the most outward mounting point you will have to limit the servo movement and you loose resolution but have a speedy reaction. If you move the mounting points to the most inner position you might no have enough throw but you have highest resolution and a more calm reaction. All has to be set for non binding of the swash plate at full throw, and if that is too much for your little heli you might want to reduce the servo throw even more to limit its reaction for either way your given input or a gyro correction.

Mechanically it has to be set right for what you want it be. Depending how bad it is setup mechanically you will not be able to make it behave just with software settings.

But like I said without knowing your heli or having seen it its hard to pinpoint your problem correctly. Maybe I am way off and not even touching your problem. Good luck...

[c550]

I rechecked all the values and set everything the ay the manual states. The helicopter is almost uncontrollable. I will put the ATV back where it was, but I still have no idea what to adjust to make it more stable in the hover. It just seems to want to go off in any direction. It was windy this wekend so I will wait for calmer conditions to try some adjustments. I have re read the manual and it still makes no mention of how to set this thing up for a newbee.

Regards,

Dave

[HeliDet]

hmm, did you check that your gyro is compensating in the right direction? For example if you tilt your heli to the left your swash should tilt visible to the right and vise versa. Or if you tilt the heli back your swash should tilt forward.

It is possible that rudder inputs work in the correct direction but compensation is messed up and goes the wrong way.

One other thing I could think of, a FBL 3 axis gyro does not like any aileron or elevator input while the heli still sits on the ground. If it saw any input while on the ground it tries to reach that position and tips the swash plate more and more by the time you actually lift off the heli will tip extreme into that direction that you gave a little input before.

Sorry if I cant help you this way.

[c550]

Thanks for the reply. The gyro is set up to correct properly-I know what you mean about it wanting to tilt with input. It seems to act like that after I lift off too. Although I am not sure if it is over controlling or over correcting.

Regards,

Dave

[HeliDet]

I am running out of ideas. Maybe some trim on your TX or a not so perfect centering stick? Did you maybe try increasing the deadband for the sticks? There is a deadband for each tail and swashplate.

My DX7 rudder stick has problems too not mechanically centering always in the same spot. I need quiet some deadband on my gyro to ignore it.

[dophuc]

I think maybe yours problem cause by vibration. GT5 cant stand vibration as good as some FBL such as Vbar or ikon, so if you have any mechanic issue can cause vibration, fix it before setup GT5. You can increase Sensor deadband to max value 25 in the sensor menu, max deadband swashplate to value 125, set vibra filter value to 0.

[c550]

Well I made some progress. I increased the vibration filter and "P" I also lowered the ATV. It seems to be hovering better, somehow the collective is now a little too sensitive, but it is definitely better, I will try to do some more tunning tomorrow.

Thanks all who offered advice.
Dave

[Lucasg]

Im glad you making progress
I will point you some tips that helps me with that behavior you describe..
* Are you sure that there´s no up/down or side to side play in your main shaft? pull the rotor upwards and chech this..
if there is adjust and re tight the set screws... even one milimeter in mine alows that bad behavior
* increase 3 point the sensor deadband and test fly
* increase the vibration filter that you talk are playing with
*is your gyro gain in your radio as high as possible?

tell us hoy you goes but i guess you´ll be fine if you do this