New SK720 Owner w/1st of Many Questions

[byter182]

Originally Posted by gmcallister

=] Byter, if you position the bus like this the cyclic cables are long enough and dont need extensions, run the SK cables on the outside is better, I tried it like yours but its too confined. I went outside and used a cable tie on the slope...



this is from a lipo break-in with 3 hops, aim low on vibes!



Cascade, do you honestly think I do anything that conforms to the norm??!

I'm re-routing the wires as I speak.

[Cascade]

Are both the sats identical? If they're DSMX then 2048 is good. Might wanna try a rebind or you have a faulty satellite?
Not familiar with the DX8, there may be a firmware update for it, I haven't seen a bind error before with the 720, especially on only one satellite.

[byter182]

OK... Got the blinking Sat problem fixed. It was a faulty wire. Problem went away after replacing the twisted wire that connects the Sat Rx to the SK unit.

[byter182]

I've gone through the Init Setup, Cyclic and Tail Wizzards and am noticing that my software does not have a Throttle Wizzard. I looked at the Throttle VID on the sticky here and my Drive System Tab in my skookum software looks different than the one on the VID. On my software I only see a FailSafe button. Don't see Throttle Endpoints buttons. My SK Software is Firmware Rev. 2.04.

[Groucho_]

Byter, you should update your software.

It's at version 3.00 or 3.02 or 3.20... I can't seem to remember right now...

You just select 'update' in the SK software.

[georgi UK]

=] download the latest from here, and go thro' the wizzes again, especially the tail,

http://www.skookumrobotics.com/updates/

[byter182]

Spent hours going through those wizzards... Will the throttle not work w/the old version 2.04?

EDIT: How about the firmware on my SK720? Does that have to be updated too? If so, how do you do that?

Thank you

[Groucho_]

Byter:

1. Download and install latest software from skookum website.

2. Update SK-720 firmware from function in software menu.

3. There is no step three.

[byter182]

OK... Nevermind... Software & Firmware Updates Rev. 3.03 Installed.

[georgi UK]

=] you good there now??!

[byter182]

Originally Posted by gmcallister

=] you good there now??!

Yeah... Thanks Georgi. Got the version upgrade figured out.

Went through the Throttle Wizzard today but still a little confused as to how to setup my THRO endpoints w/a CC ICE2 80HV. Decided not to do GOV mode just yet until I can get a feel of this thing on Fixed Endpoints. Endpoint setup w/the CC ICE is not gonna be 100%/100% as suggested in the wizzard for the SK. So do I set the THRO endpoints in the Tx to correspond to the CC ICE and then set the the SK THRO endpoints to what the ICE uses?

[byter182]

Well Guys... I want to thank you all for your inputs and more importantly patience as I bombarded you w/nubee questions. Don't think I would have gotten done w/o your help.

Put my 600 EFL Pro into a maiden hover a few minutes ago. I got it up in the air but it doesn't feel right. It hovered pretty much hands off but the tail is acting jittery w/the default gains of 50% for both cyclic and tail. Played around w/different gains to see if it would improve, but increasing tail gain made it feel more jiffery and decreasing helped but then tail was mushy. Don't know if it's a tuning issue or something else. Using DS650 for tail servo. My blades are NOT perfectly tracked yet so don't know how much that's contributing to the problem but they're only off by about an 1/8th to 1/2 of an inch. Will get 'em better tracked later. So where do I go from here? With so many parameters to tweak not sure where to start? Any ideas?

[martin_]

That's so much parameter to tweak but don't fall in the paranoia of wanting each param to the perfection at the start, we all do this, do it slowly one at a time, or for what you need.

I don't know what you really mean by the tail jittery...... if you feel the need of more expo but adding more make the tail mushy and still too crsip and very sensitive at center stick, you have to lower the ''start acceleration'' tail parameter, then do it for stop accel if it stop too crisp, or bounce.

Tail gain will only be too high if you get fast wag while flying, just decrease it untill the wag dissapear, usually you make this adjustment at your highest headspeed (iu2).

From there, you can enjoy flying and get used to the feeling and fine tune later progressively when you notice something.

[georgi UK]

=] my T6efl tail is a brick wall from the onset at base settings. check the tail banks. updating the software would have reset bank 2 to a rate gyro, you may have missed this?

the hold gain should show 60% not zero....

[byter182]

Originally Posted by martin_

That's so much parameter to tweak but don't fall in the paranoia of wanting each param to the perfection at the start, we all do this, do it slowly one at a time, or for what you need.

I don't know what you really mean by the tail jittery...... if you feel the need of more expo but adding more make the tail mushy and still too crsip and very sensitive at center stick, you have to lower the ''start acceleration'' tail parameter, then do it for stop accel if it stop too crisp, or bounce.

Tail gain will only be too high if you get fast wag while flying, just decrease it untill the wag dissapear, usually you make this adjustment at your highest headspeed (iu2).

From there, you can enjoy flying and get used to the feeling and fine tune later progressively when you notice something.

Great advise Martin,

Will try that w/the tail Start/Stop Acceleration. I was reading through the troubleshooting guide on the SK website and one of the problems they described sounds very similar to what I'm experiencing. They're blaming it on Gyro Mounting & Tension on the servo cables. And as I mentioned my main blades aren't tracking perfectly so I'm gonna start there and then try and mount my SK on that Zeal Gel and figure out how to add more slack on the cables. Don't know how da heck I'm gonna do that as there really is only one mounting orientation on the 600EFL Pro.

Thank for the quick reply.
Peace Out,
Byter182

[byter182]

Originally Posted by gmcallister

=] my T6efl tail is a brick wall from the onset at base settings. check the tail banks. updating the software would have reset bank 2 to a rate gyro, you may have missed this?

the hold gain should show 60% not zero....

Will have to check on those tail banks. I mounted the SK pretty much the way you have yours Georgi, except that I do not have it sitting on Zeal Tape and it's not strapped. Gonna give that a go but am concerned about how to create more slack on those servo wires extending from the unit. Not to many options... If you add more slack then the wires are too close to the motor. If you take away slack then too much tension. If you turn unit around, then you can't access the USB port.

I'll throw in some PICS later you can see how I have it mounted.

Thanks,
Byter

[byter182]

Here're some PICS:

[georgi UK]

=] I think your first cable tie is too close to the unit? maybe anchor the wires further down the slope, this will give you more to play with....

[byter182]

That worked Geogi,

I also replaced the stock foam pads w/the Align Zeal Gel as you have on yours. The tail is pretty solid now and the heli feels way smoother now in a hover. I even threw it into SL already while hovering and it seemed to work well. Didn't get the Green/Red vibration LED.

Only thing I gotta fix now is bird is slightly drifting to the left in normal non-SL mode. Once I do that then it's only a matter of tuning the heli to my specific taste and style. How do you make cyclic trims? I went into the Swash Servos Tab and tweaked the Left & Right Servo trims a bit to compensate but that only adjusts one servo at a time. Is there a way to adjust throws? Also, is there a trim flight feature?

Here's how I got it mounted now:




Thanks again,
Byter182

[georgi UK]

=] I did need one turn on each aileron link (one longer, one shorter) to have a hands free hover, it was drifting lightly to the left. now it just sits there!

using the SK software servo trims will achieve the same thing....