T-Rex 450 se V2 fpv build and set up

[l14m]

Hi all here's my progress with T-rex 450 se V2 for fpv. Iv'e been working on this for approx 1 year and a bit now and it's been a real slog to get all the electronics working well together. Many other people have been a huge help and insperation to me. The first true vid that got me started was from superserver on youtube. Crash9 and among others have been great with tips and tricks so thanks guys.
The most important part of fpv flying with a heli as you will read on many threads is to have the heli set up as near to perfect as possible before you start to add any fpv gear to it. Get rid of any vibrations, I find this can be accomplished by having the blades tracked 100% and all the link rods at correct measurements. You can then set your pitch varibles to your liking.
Be safe and fly away from any passers by and have a spotter as flying a heli fpv is not like flying a foam plane. The one advantage to flying fpv with a heli is there is no more reverse sticks lols although I would recomend you at least learn to fly nose in and be proficient with figure of eights flying.

Ok I'll start with the gear I have so far:

Platform: T-rex 450 se V2
Main Blades Assymetric
Fly bar paddles Gorilla
Gyro gy401
Motor trex 450 pro's
Servos Hitec HS65mg's
Tail Servo Futaba S9257

Rc Thomas Scherrer's Pro near range rx/tx

Fpv Gear:

Camera Fpvcam 480 pal Hobbywireless
Video tx/rx 1.2 ghz 500mw plug and play hobbywireless
Video tx Half wave dipole Ibcrazy design

Osd:

Eagletreesystems osd pro , e-logger v3, gps 5hz v3

Diversity: eagle eyes

I originally started out with Futaba 7c 2.4ghz for rc link but quickly found that although it was a very good system for los it was next to useless for fpv flying. One day i could get nearly 1.5 miles the next only 500 yards ,so after many walks accoss the fields to find the heli I decided to go with 35 mhz and found myself a second hand Futaba 9c with 35 mhz module. My biggest surprise was going back to a 1m long antenna wire which on a heli is a pain in the arse. I then changed the antenna to a base loaded one from QuickUk.com which was ok but I was still really struggling with distance. After researching for a uhf system and asking Thomas a number of questions I gave the near range system a try.
To say it's been hard to get this bird to fly fpv is an understatment. The electronics in the 450 is all in such close proximity thus rf noise radiates almost beyond control but again thanks to the guys on rcgroups I could ask the right questions and most of the time get the answers I needed lols.
Over the comming weeks I will start to post some pics from the heli with all the fpv gear on and how I best manged to place all my electronics. Also my working progress ground station set up.
Hope this will help some of the others that wish to start flying fpv with a heli.
Regards Liam.

[markespina]

Excited to see the photos of your setup.

[l14m]

Ok here's some pics of my set up on the heli I will post some more of my ground station in a couple of days. If there are any improvements that you can see then please don't hesitate in commenting.





























Regards Liam.

[l14m]

Here's a video from the UKfpv meet at Santa Pod from December the 4th 2010.

YouTube

YouTube

and an insite to my ground station gear.

YouTube

YouTube

Regards Liam.

[maxout]

Liam,
That is a really impressive set up you have, can't say enough about it. Great job on the videos and the photos, both were very informative.

[l14m]

Thanks Maxout, it's taken a long time to get this system to a point where I feel comfortable enough to fly a respectable distance out. As with any set up there will always be room for improvement and upgrades. I'm hoping over the comming weeks my work comitments will ease up so as to be able to get some more flying hours in and be able to get my fpv landings and take offs mastered Lols. Waiting for Beastx flybarless control to come in from back order at the moment so hopefully I will be able to go fbl after Xmas.
Regards Liam

[savage 40]

Nice job on the helicopter build! and nice videos! also glad to see the Hobbywireless decal on the side of your bird.. , I make the decals for Hobbywireless.It's good to see them put to good use!.. GREAT people to deal with! So is FPVpilot.com...

[hockeymonkeymark]

I want to see how you squeeze the flybarless system on there! Nice job. I love the eagle tree compartment.

[l14m]

I don't think the beast will be to much of a problem to fit as it will replace the gy401 gyro. I'm sure I will have to make my own servo cables but that won't be a problem. My only concern is the fact that when you crash with the flybarless head it tends to strip the servo gears which is more labour intensive to fix than simply changing a bent main shaft and feathering shaft amongst the usual main blades.
Regards Liam

[l14m]

After a crash just before Christmas I decided to have a little rebuild of the 450 and have moved my video tx much closer to the heli frame. I also made a new antenna placed on the rear fin with extention lead to the v tx. Ive also completly re balanced the whole heli to it now balances perfectly with batteries and fpv gear on board. Reset all throttel and pitch curves to give better power to pitch and hopefully a nicer flying exsperience.
I got a new 1.2ghz 8 dbi patch antenna for Christmas and have found that they are tuned closer to 1160 ghz so have also now tuned my v tx antenna to 1160 ghz and changed the v and rx channels accordingly. Fixed both video recievers to the back of the patch which is fixed to the tripod and linked with wires to the Eagle Eyes ground station for diversity. Im also waiting for an sma 1.2 ghz dummy load so I can put it on the v tx and range text a bit better. More research is needed in this department to find out what range with the dummy load on equals to real range. I also need to range test the Thomas near range rc link again since moving some electronics.
Regards Liam.

[hockeymonkeymark]

I will follow your rebuild closely Liam. Here is something I've been working on. I wanted to play with a go pro and mount it on my 600 esp. I wanted to keep it light so instead of extended landing gear I opted for making 1 inch spacers and use the stock landing gear. If you mount the camera close enough to the front skids, everything is out of frame. Still playing with the tilt servo as it seems too weak and bouncy. I used a hs65mg for it. Any suggestions for a more sturdy, robust servo? It seems to hang up. I've played with several angles to give it the most mechanical advantage I could. I ordered a servo slowdown module to go with it but still waiting on it. 900mhz transmitter on the tail and crash9's gopro mount. The idea being if I want to fly her and do a little 3d, all I have to deal with is 8 screws and I'm back to stock weight. I haven't test flown her yet to fine tune (vibrations). I will get back with an update. I

[l14m]

I was using Crash9's tilt camera mount and cut it down slightly which helped reduce the vibes, I also had the tilt servo linked to the sliders on my futaba 9c so as I had full control over position of camera. I'm afraid I took it of in the end and hard mounted my cam to the heli frame and now I have zero vibes. I'm sure other people get on well with the tilt mech and maybe I will refit it some time. The best bit of kit was Crash9's video tx boom holder which I still use. There's a small hd key cam that I may invest in $39 it seems the lightest option for hd vids on a 450 heli.
Regards Liam

[l14m]

Ok here's a few more photo's of my rig with my old canopy onboard with leds for better viewing for my spotters. Also video tx has been moved to boom surport surplied by Crash9 "Fpvpilot.com" and has a newly made antenna extention with quarter wave antenna tuned to 1160, fixed to rear fin. The heli now balances perfectly, I have also moved my lc-filter to the underside of the heli to allow me to make this a single battery rig.





Regards Liam.

[l14m]

After a lot of research last night and today and many helpful replies on other forums and different threads. I've spoken with Lucien from Scorpionsystems and worked out that the Scorpion HK2221-12 with a 13 toothed pinion should give good results and for £33 in the UK it's not badly priced. Hopefully after setting up in a few days time I will be able to report back my flight times with this set up on 4s.
Regards Liam

[l14m]

I've received my new Beastx flybarless controller and RJX fbl head this week and after a lot of setting up am now happy to start some test flights this week end, weather permitting. I've also fully converted to 2450 4s set up now and have the heli set up with perfect CG. I'm now hoping I will have a big jump up in flight times from my 3s and flybared set up. It's been nearly a month now since my last flight so will have to take it slow again lols. Pics to follow over the next few days and hopefully some vids.
Regards Liam

[tomcarpenter]

hi Liam
I've been successfully been FPVing with a quad and want to move to a 450.
It's built and flying. Camera is on.

But, the aerial on the 1.2G video TX is of course long. Cant point up or it will hit the blades.
Cant point down with out really high skids, cant point horizontally (ideally) as I want vertical polarisation.

So, I assume your "Video tx Half wave dipole Ibcrazy design"

is a way round this?

Is this something I can buy or have to build? Coudl you point me in the direct of the design?


BTW, I've used a load of FBL controllers and BeastX is easily the best and easiest to setup. I've tried 3G (terrible), SK720 and Vbar (those 2 good but mroe involved setup)
BeastX was more plug and play, and it works.

[tomcarpenter]

I think I found it....
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...t=inverted+vee

[l14m]

Yeh that's the link I was going to post Tom, you beat me to it lols. . Ibcrazy is fantastic with his tutorials on different types of antennas and also does a service where you can buy them in kits for your desired frequency or buy ready made ones. I decided to make my own as with his help the basic ones arnt to difficult.
I'm just waiting for good weather here in the Uk for some flights and it will be nice when the evenings get longer.
Regards Liam

[l14m]

Ok here's a couple of badly taken pics lols of the Beastx and the RJX flybarless head. I have only been able to have a couple of quick hovers to check everything is working correctly because of poor weather here in the UK.



I also did a test to see how long the 4s 2450 lipo will last and tried a hover for 9 mins which ran the lipo down to 80%.
Regards Liam

[l14m]

Due to bad weather and over loading with work I haven't been able to fly for a number of weeks now but have been able to get full range with my Thomas near range Rc link. I was having reduced range ( 20% ) which I couldn't sus out but have added a ferrite ring to the cable from osd pro to video tx and range has come back up to 100 % again .
Regards Liam