Review - FMA's new Co-Pilot II

[mtnbike101]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Al, The verticals have not posed any problem so far with the CPII and I've been running the system every chance I can, she's been balanced and trimmed to the point of hands off hover for 15 seconds at 3 feet off the ground before I installed the CPII but good eye and if you look real close you'll notice the sensor is placed in such a position that the field of view being blocked is at an absolute minimum besides I wouldn't lose my verticals no matter what...keep my bird very stable in turns and reduces tail slide with less tail rotor input

So what happens after 15 seconds?

From the website based on the original CoPilot:

In a helicopter equipped with Co-Pilot and with a gyro for tail rotor, one can lift into hover with collective pitch, then set the transmitter down until the fuel runs out and the helicopter will remain where it is as long as no wind is present to cause translation.

I'm very intersted in this product, but would like to know limitations and benefits for a complete newbie. My ETA for getting my Furion off the ground is about 2-4 weeks depending on when I find a mentor in my area.

Thanks for any insight!

[nightflyr]

Natural tendency for a heli is to drift to the left even in a perfect hover, but depending on how good or bad you get it trimmed out it can go in any direction.

So far the CPII has proven to be a very stable flight system, have over a dozen testing flights with it... BUT be aware it is NOT meant to fly your heli, YOU have to be in control of it at all times. It is designed to stabilize and put you into a level hover or level flight attitude in case of pilot control error. it can sustain a hover but will drift if any outside force is applied eg. wind...and will"slide" if the terrain is not flat also when flying if engaged your heli will continue to move in the direction it was going . You can still plant your bird in a tree, car, fence or the dirt if your not careful

For someone just starting out it will take a lot of the stress out from getting into a hover, which is the first lesson in flight to be learned, second is a stable hover..it also has a 3D mode for practicing stabilized inverted flying. The advantage is as your skills get better you can turn down the amount of control the CPII has on your heli, till you feel you can fly on your own or just use it as a safetynet (panic button) for your heli

[rockjock3]

I wanted to tell you all my initial setup for the CP II.

--I left my initial gain settings Pitch and Roll at the defaults of 70% and 50%.
--I dialed my stick priority to 60%.
--I am using remote ON/OFF using a two position switch. I configured this to my AUX2 switch on my DX7.
--I have flight mode 0 set to: OFF and flight mode 1 set to Level Flight
--I have Emergency Recovery set to off for now.

NOTE: I am going to play with the Emergency Recovery setting after I get used to the device. This setting sounds really nice. For a Heli, if you exceed 45 degrees, and have this set to on, the CP II supplies 2X the gain for 2 seconds or until the heli is level. This should be really nice for beginning hover training as well as learning basic maneuvers that are supposed to keep the heli more level.

A note on a couple of the settings.

Stick priority--

This setting helps you get a more “natural” feel. If you dial in a higher number, say 100%, you will get more control over the heli and less "fight" from the CoPilot even near the center.

If I set the number to say 50% (or any number lower than 100%) then the control will be higher and you will have more "fight" from the unit even further from the center of the sticks.

Gain—

Reducing gain reduces the amount of throw of the servos during correction. This will give a more “natural feel to correction given by the CP II as smaller throws will give you less aggressive correction when traveling away from level flight.

[nightflyr]

Good Luck, should have a easy time tweaking it in

[rockjock3]

Originally Posted by Black Sparrow

rockjock3

Greetings. Im just gonna ask, how far apart are your main sensor and vertical sensor? Nice install...

My main and vertical sensor are 2.5 inches apart.

[rockjock3]

Originally Posted by mtnbike101

Thanks for posting this review; I'm very interested. I have a feeling this setup may end up on my Furion for safe measure during my learning process.

I don't know how crucial this is, but you may want to double check your measurements prior to flight.

The Main Sensor Module can be mounted anywhere on the aircraft, as long as the following requirements are met:

Should be at least 6 inches from other components (including the Vertical Sensor Module, IRNet Router, digital servos, vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer and landing gear) and at

least 12 inches from engine and muffler.

It looks like the two sensors are pretty close to one another; you may want to move the Vertical Sensor Module closer to the body.

I believe, as stated by others, that the separation distance is more for a "clear view" than it is interference. I have seen pics of a few installs and don't recall any of them really meeting that requirement. In fact on my heli that would be spatially impossible. Unless I removed my vertical stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer, digital servo and landing gear. There wouldn't be any way to seperate all the compononts from themselves and other components by 6 inches. I will get confirmation on this, however, and advise.

[mtnbike101]

Thanks RockJock3, my configuration (Furion 450) will be as tight as yours; so any feedback would be welcomed!

[nightflyr]

I have mine under 6 inches apart....no ill effect to speak of..... your major concern would be blocking the IR view of the sensor's

[rockjock3]

I have gotten confirmation from FMA on this issue. It isn't about interferce it all about getting a clear view for the sensors. The cones coming out of the sensors have a 120 degree angle. If part of that cone is blocked you might not get an accurate IR temperature reading. This might cause you to require more trim when the unit is on as well as needing to use Set Angles in the Preferneces menu to compensate for the obscurred sensor.


Nightflyr,

This might be the problem you are having with slight drift to one side. If getting to an open area doesn't resolve your problem then try working with your trim and set angles to resolve the problem. Please let us know any results you get from that too.

[nightflyr]

Thx RJ,
Open area pretty much solved the drift issue, guess it's trying to tell me stay out of residential area's, when flying....which isn't a bad idea anyway

[rockjock3]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Thx RJ,
Open area pretty much solved the drift issue, guess it's trying to tell me stay out of residential area's, when flying....which isn't a bad idea anyway

That's the "undocumented" neighborhood protection function. Defaulted to ON and not user programmable.

[nightflyr]

Always need those hidden safety features keeps people honest

[ElectricSheep]

Originally Posted by rockjock3

This might be the problem you are having with slight drift to one side. If getting to an open area doesn't resolve your problem then try working with your trim and set angles to resolve the problem. Please let us know any results you get from that too.

Hey rj3 and nightflyr, thanks for the info. I have some major trim issues to work out, but it may be because I put my main sensor in front of the horizontal stabilizer. I get major drift to the left and rear so I need to work with the angles (via the programming unit) to compensate.

rj3 and nightflyer, how far is your main sensor from the horizontal stabilizer? Have you made any angle changes or do you trim mostly from the transmitter?

BTW, I'm only using mine as a panic button for now because I want to be solid without the CPII helping me (during flight)... I could move around OK before getting the CPII, but if nothing else, the psychological factor of being able to switch it on helps a little. Maybe I'll actually try flying with it on and see how that goes...

[ElectricSheep]

Originally Posted by ElectricSheep

rj3 and nightflyer, how far is your main sensor from the horizontal stabilizer? Have you made any angle changes or do you trim mostly from the transmitter?

Oops, never mind about that first question. I just looked at your photos again... But I'm curious about the 2nd question (angle changes vs. trim via TX).

[nightflyr]

ELECTRIC SHEEP, here you go hope it helps!!

here's my setup got about a dozen flights on it ..no problems to report so far...
https://www.helifreak.com/attachment....2&d=1240952867

https://www.helifreak.com/attachment....3&d=1240952867

https://www.helifreak.com/attachment....4&d=1240952867

https://www.helifreak.com/attachment....3&d=1240953337

https://www.helifreak.com/attachment....1&d=1240953337

https://www.helifreak.com/attachment....2&d=1240953337

[nightflyr]

never changed the default angles, just added a few clicks of trim to smooth out the hover, also be aware of whats around you..buildings cars..the ground being level..all can effect the way the CPII operates

[rockjock3]

I did my first few flight today. It was, how do I put this, AWESOME. At this point I really like it. I am just getting used to it and have some inital technical difficulty (self imposed, not due to the unit). I did finally get all systems go and it was really fun. I do need to work some slight trim issues out. I am going to try and get the heli out to a larger area in the next day or two so that I can confirm nothing in the area is affecting it and trim it out if necessary. It was really neat to flip the heli around and have it bring it right back when I released the sticks.

The system is very easy to work with in the field (as far as checking/changing programming via the IRNet programmer. With my configuration (2 way switch) it worked great and gave no glitches at all when switching the CPII on and off. With my current settings the control actually felt very nice when it was on. I could tell I was fighting the CPII a bit, but am at a place in the settings that I can dial that up or down quite a bit based on preference and what I am doing for that day.

All in all it was a very fun day and I learned a lot. Much more to come.

[nightflyr]

[rockjock3]

Originally Posted by ElectricSheep

Hey rj3 and nightflyr, thanks for the info. I have some major trim issues to work out, but it may be because I put my main sensor in front of the horizontal stabilizer. I get major drift to the left and rear so I need to work with the angles (via the programming unit) to compensate.

rj3 and nightflyer, how far is your main sensor from the horizontal stabilizer? Have you made any angle changes or do you trim mostly from the transmitter?

BTW, I'm only using mine as a panic button for now because I want to be solid without the CPII helping me (during flight)... I could move around OK before getting the CPII, but if nothing else, the psychological factor of being able to switch it on helps a little. Maybe I'll actually try flying with it on and see how that goes...

Your trim should be adjusted from the TXr. You trim the heli with CPII off, then trim the heli with CPII on (hovering). Now, when you turn the CPII off your heli should remain trimmed. If it doesn't then you can turn autotrim up until the CPII trim doesn't change much between on/off.

If it seems that once you turn off the CPII that it is controlling your heli too much you can turn the autotrim back down. If this is the case, then you can reaquire trim of the system, when the CPII is on, by using the Set Angles menus under Preferences.

[nightflyr]

RJ....see your getting it tweaked up SweeeeeeeeT