Copycat 500 build

[Ironrotor]

Headband Cam sounds great; POV!

Finally found some to time to fly but I am having problems with the HK ESC; I think it is shot. It won't initialize, been trying for two days and I think I am just going to toss it. Any recomendations on a reasonable ESC?

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Ironrotor

Headband Cam sounds great; POV!

Finally found some to time to fly but I am having problems with the HK ESC; I think it is shot. It won't initialize, been trying for two days and I think I am just going to toss it. Any recomendations on a reasonable ESC?

the Turnigy 85 amp ESC from hobbyking was the 1st one i used..worked great..and a nice built in power switch too...going to use it again soon on my rebuild... hard to beat for $36...

[Ironrotor]

Thanks JMD. That is a great price for a decent ESC, unfortunately, they showed out of stock @ HK. I went with a Turnigy K-Force ( had a bunch of points to cash in) hopefully it will arrive quickly.

The weather has been great but my heli doesnt fly, BUMMER!

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Ironrotor

Thanks JMD. That is a great price for a decent ESC, unfortunately, they showed out of stock @ HK. I went with a Turnigy K-Force ( had a bunch of points to cash in) hopefully it will arrive quickly.

The weather has been great but my heli doesnt fly, BUMMER!

yeah i think the secret is out on them....worked perfectly for my 1st 500 till it wrecked...i have a Castle Now and i actually don't like it doesn't have a on/off swtich wired in..going to install my own....

[Steemo]

Don't speak too soon JMD, castle speed controllers have some great features you might not have use for quite yet. One is the governor, works amazingly when set up right, and don't think governor mode is only for stick bangers, even if your only flying 8s with banked turns the governor should give you better performance with a longer flight time than if you were trying to achieve that same head speed with just throttle curves.
Then there is data logging, invaluable when you are trying to track down electrical bugs and glitches, or even for crash analysis.
take care if you are going to mod it with a switch, it's be a shame to see a good piece of equipment ruined if it went wrong.

Oh and +1 for the Turnigy Tz85 speed controller, fantastic bit of kit for the price.

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Steemo

Don't speak too soon JMD, castle speed controllers have some great features you might not have use for quite yet. One is the governor, works amazingly when set up right, and don't think governor mode is only for stick bangers, even if your only flying 8s with banked turns the governor should give you better performance with a longer flight time than if you were trying to achieve that same head speed with just throttle curves.
Then there is data logging, invaluable when you are trying to track down electrical bugs and glitches, or even for crash analysis.
take care if you are going to mod it with a switch, it's be a shame to see a good piece of equipment ruined if it went wrong.

Oh and +1 for the Turnigy Tz85 speed controller, fantastic bit of kit for the price.

you are reading WAY to much into what i said lol! ...no question i love the castle...don't get me wrong....the only thing i don't like it no on/off swtich..and i'm not going to mess with the ESC wiring..i'm going to take a external swtich i have..mod a servo extension and just plug it inline with the ESC to create my own on/off swtich..TRUST ME i'd never mod the ESC itself! i have a little more sense than that

[Steemo]

Ah I see, I thought you were going to try and make it the same as the Tz85 switch where the speed controller itself is isolated, what you are doing is isolating the bec power. with the switch off when you plug in a pack the speedy will be powered but not the Rx, where as the Tz85 switch would leave everything without power until switched on.

Just be aware that if the speedy got a mind of it's own without a radio signal it would have power to do what it wanted. Kinda like starting a nitro with the thr servo at idle position but not powering up the Rx. Everything is live but with no radio signal.
Now almost all speed controllers are designed not to arm unroll they get a radio signal low thr, so this should not be a problem. But just something to keep in mind.

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Steemo

Ah I see, I thought you were going to try and make it the same as the Tz85 switch where the speed controller itself is isolated, what you are doing is isolating the bec power. with the switch off when you plug in a pack the speedy will be powered but not the Rx, where as the Tz85 switch would leave everything without power until switched on.

Just be aware that if the speedy got a mind of it's own without a radio signal it would have power to do what it wanted. Kinda like starting a nitro with the thr servo at idle position but not powering up the Rx. Everything is live but with no radio signal.
Now almost all speed controllers are designed not to arm unroll they get a radio signal low thr, so this should not be a problem. But just something to keep in mind.

yeah thought of that already...know the ESC is going to arm and be ready to go and looking for signal....i'm going to test this setup 1st with no motor connected and see what happens..and then try it with no blades on just in case it wants to spool up and cut my head off

[Luke Warmwater]

That sounds dangerous to me! Pretty much the same as switching on the heli without the Tx being on.....it should be safe....but it ain't as safe as doing it the right way.

Your radio is a safety measure and the ESCs reluctance to arm itself if all isn't well is a back-up. If your Rx or Tx isn't powered, then you are taking a safety measure out of the equation.

Why not put a switch between the battery and the ESC? ...that way you keep the ESC dead until you want to rock and roll.

[JettaManDan]

Originally Posted by Luke Warmwater

That sounds dangerous to me! Pretty much the same as switching on the heli without the Tx being on.....it should be safe....but it ain't as safe as doing it the right way.

Your radio is a safety measure and the ESCs reluctance to arm itself if all isn't well is a back-up. If your Rx or Tx isn't powered, then you are taking a safety measure out of the equation.

Why not put a switch between the battery and the ESC? ...that way you keep the ESC dead until you want to rock and roll.

problem is running the wires...with the ESC and how it is setup and oriented it would be hard to hard attach a swtich between the battery and the ESC...at least without running wires back and forth and making it messy....i'll try to figure something out...

on a fun positive note..my 500 GF is up and running well..took it out for a check out flight today at lunch...new tail servo and gyro that replaced the ones that were in my HK kit's crash (and a little suspect) and it was stable and smooth even in 25mph gusts...need to do another rounds of checks on the parts for locktie and stuff being loose...but REALLY glad to have another 500 flight ready...

[Steemo]

Glad to hear it
Enjoy

[Oldladypilot]

That's great JMD!
I didn't know it was a GF, that's the same one I have hanging on the wall over there waiting for my attention.

I did take one of the brand new Hi-tec servos out of the package and look at it today.....does that count?

[Luke Warmwater]

Originally Posted by JettaManDan

problem is running the wires...with the ESC and how it is setup and oriented it would be hard to hard attach a swtich between the battery and the ESC...at least without running wires back and forth and making it messy....i'll try to figure something out...

I put my ESC under the battery mount. There is then enough slack in both battery and ESC wires to poke out of the hole in the bottom front of the canopy. I can reach in, pull the ends out to connect them and then stuff them back in out of the way for flying. Same for disconnecting them. I'd have thought there was enough wire there to add a switch....maybe....lol

[Steemo]

The other problem there is having to use a switch that can handle 60A constant. Pretty chunky I'd imagine :

[Luke Warmwater]

Very true.

The main reason that these heli electrics don't come with switches is just that; it's not that practical, except for some areas....and in those where it is more practical, it isn't really safe.

[boykintom]

I have been thinking that my next build would be a 500, but now I'm thinking 600 instead. The HK450 is doing great and I'm really leaning toward the HK600. What do you guys think?

[Luke Warmwater]

Can't comment....600 is too big and expensive for me at the moment.

[Steemo]

Price out the spares (blades, M/s, F/s, Main gear, boom etc) to see if you could afford to crash it once a month, would be a shame to buy a nice new heli only to have it sit on a shelf coz you can't afford the crash repair costs.

If you can afford it next question is do you have a safe place to fly it. Trust me, a 600 can make a big area seem very small very quickly once it starts moving at speed.

And can you transport it.

If you can say yes to all that then bigger is always better.

My next purchase will be a 600EFL Pro, I'm dead keen on the 12S setup
Might be another couple of months before I can afford the kit tho

[JettaManDan]

yep 600 is too much $$ for me...500 is it....

took my 500 to my fly-in and it was doing somethign wierd..pulling left rudder by itself..had ot hold like 30% right rudder ot keep it straight....everything looked good...so no idea what it is..kep my flying to just hovering and trying to figure it out...oh well...took up my 450 and had some fun...went faster and turned it harder than ever before...my skills are progressing..just really slowly! lol!

[Ironrotor]

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?