CPII with Mikado V-Bar

[dbruna]

Has anyone installed a CoPilot II with Hard Deck module on a helicopter using a Mikado VBar? Does it work okay?

[nightflyr]

Been there done it ..yes it works fine.

[dbruna]

Thanks for the reply, nightflyr. Revolectrix couldn't tell me and some of the info on their site lead me to believe that it might not work. I'm wanting to learn Heli Aerobatics and have crashed twice from pretty high because I couldn't recover (even after 3 mistakes) from a botched maneuver. I'm hoping the CPII and Hard Deck can pay for itself in saved repairs.

Thanks again.

[nightflyr]

Be sure that I have flown the setup and it works so hopefully it will help you out

[dbruna]

Are you doing okay after Hurricane Sandy?

[nightflyr]

As best as we can thank you

[sutty]

Originally Posted by dbruna

Thanks for the reply, nightflyr. Revolectrix couldn't tell me and some of the info on their site lead me to believe that it might not work.

As a matter of interest what was it that FMA said to lead you to believe that it wouldn't work. They reference in their HD module manual the use of CPII in conjunction with FBL controllers, and whilst this is a general statement, I wouldn't think there is anything too much different for the V-Bar.

I have been using CPII in conjunction with the MicroBeast FBL controller on my 600, and it works perfectly.

I completed the process following the advice night has just provided, in that I made sure I had a perfectly set-up and tuned MicroBeast, flying just how I like it. I then popped the CPII between that and the receiver, and then set the CPII up as I wanted it, testing manual bail out etc, etc. Next, once it had arrived, I installed the HD module and repeated my CPII set-up, having already made a note of my flight angles, so that I could just enter those values again.

If night says it works with V-Bar, then you will have nothing to fear, other than to make sure you follow the general guidlines for the use of an FBL controller in conjunction with the CPII, which can be found elsewhere in the forum.

As a very quick summary:

Make sure the CPII is placed between the FBL controller and the Rx as follows:

Rx -> CPII -> FBL -> Servos

Make sure you connect collective pitch control too, in order to make use of the new feature of the HD bailout, which involves collective pitch during recovery. I imagine if you don't then the HD set-up will fail.

Make sure, if V-Bar works with an unmixed Tx signal, the MicroBeast is like this, that you select N during set-up of the CPII with HD Module fitted, when asked if your helicopter is 3 x 120 ccpm. Y is only appropriate when your Tx is sending a mixed signal, and if your helicopter is 3 x 120 ccpm.

If you go ahead, good luck, and do please let us know how you get on.

Cheers

Sutty

[dbruna]

First of all, good to hear you're doing ok after the storm nightflyr.

Sutty, I contacted Revolectrix directly and the response from Howard Matos is as follows:

"I am sorry but I am not familiar with your particular FBL system but as long as you can connect the CPII computer module between your receiver and FBL controller, you would be good to go. The systems that are not compatible are systems that have the receiver integrated into the FBL controller."

Since my V-Bar system has two satellite receivers only, I thought the CPII would not work since there is no other receiver to put it inbetween. Since they are not familiar with the V-Bar, I gathered from that bit of info (probably incorrectly) that the systems were in-compatible.

I am glad to hear from Nightflyr that it does work and from you that you have confidence in his opinion. I'm a bit of a skeptic and am always better satisfied with more than one opinion.

I'll take your advice and consult the general guidelines and other set-up posts.

[sutty]

Okay, so here is the rub, you are right, if you use satellites only, albeit two of them, there is no way to put the CPII between the RX and the FBL controller, because your satellites output a composite signal that the CPII cannot interpret. In your case you send these composite signals to the V-Bar, and the V-Bar knows what to do with them. There is no way that the CPII can understand these composite signals, and in fact there is no where to even plug them in.

I should have said that you must be using a full Rx, so that you can apply all channels to the CPII discretely. If you use satellites only into the V-Bar, then there is no way to replicate this into the CPII.

If I misunderstood what you were suggesting then I may be wrong here, but if I got it right, then there is no way to feed the Rx signals to the V-Bar.

Cheers

Sutty

[jperkosk]

Yep, you'd need to de-integrate the Rx part from FBL unit (v-bar in this case) to be able to insert the CP2 in between the two. In short, you'd need a separate Rx for your setup. You can re-use satellites connecting one (or both) of them to the Rx (depending on the Rx model), but that's about it.

[dbruna]

Well dang it! I was hoping to use a CPII & HD with my heli. Thanks a bunch for the input and for keeping me from spending money on a system that would not work with my Helicopter system. I appreciate the input.