GP780 Adventures

[Vermillionx]

I just wanted to tell my story to all of the people out there that are struggling with the Align GP780 gyro. It all started about two months ago when I decided to get back into flying my 450. I had gotten frustrated and took a break from the helicopters. When I finally got the 450 set back up and I took it out for a test flight the tail was wagging all over the place. It would not hold for anything. Lowering the gain on my DX7 down was not doing a thing. I finally got it to the point where it was still wagging but it was a very slow oscillation about a quarter inch in length. This is where it got fun.

I decided to change the servo. I have read a lot on there that doing so would cure my issues. I ended up getting a Hitec HS-5084MG. This is an awesome looking servo. One of the reasons that I went this route was because it only has one mounting hole like my stock DS420. I did have to flip the servo upside down to get the link to line up correctly. I reset the gyro up to the new servo and this is where I ran into problems. When I took it out to try to hover it the tail spun up and then instantly hit the grass on the side of my sidewalk. This stripped out the tail drive gear and bent the tail shaft.

Once I ordered all of the parts to get the heli back up in the air again I took it out to hover. As soon as it got off of the ground, the tail was erratically jumping all over the place. This eventually caused me to lose orientation and put it into the ground. Fast forward to today. After putting the training gear back on I set the tail up in rate mode. Once I did that I then was able to switch to HH and the tail was holding with the heli light on the training balls. I then took the heli out to hover test it. I spun it up and noticed a bad vibration. So, I packed it up and flew my MCPx the rest of the day. When I got home I pulled all of the blades off and spun the motor up. After finding the vibration I took it out and tried to hover it again. The tail wag was back. It was not really fast it was just a smooth wag, if that makes sense. So I brought it back inside to reset the gyro. This is when I got out the manual just to double check I had the right settings. This is when I noticed that I had the the green LED lit on the heli size option. I switched it to "small heli" and took it out for one last time. I had the gain set to 65 and lifted off of the ground. There was a little bit of a wag, but one of the things that I noticed was the manual stated to increase the gain if there is a slow wag. So I increased the gain to 70 and low and behold the tail held rock steady. I landed and even went up to 75 with out any sign of wag.

The moral of the story is that the GP780 is not a bad gyro. I am seeing a lot of people that are having problems with it. I just want to say with a bit of patience it can be set up right. It took a lot of trial and error. I will be taking it out some time this week to see if the tail will hold with a piro and a pitch pump. If you are new there are great videos on here that will help with setting up the gyro. Take your time, a steady tail can be achieved.

[cpmboy]

Its a very easy-to-setup gyro. Mine still kicking.

[nmdesertracer]

My trex 450 hated the 780 but the HK 500 works great with it. I had a slight wag in the tail. On my 3rd hovering flight the tail kicked out 30 degrees making me freak out and crash the bird. After that I got a spartan quark and the tail has been rock solid!!

[syncnzflying]

Yea im having issues as well with the gyro and that slow wag, its not like a standard wag its a pathetic wag and not changing on anything I do to fix it....yes ive been trying to sort that delay setting out and have a question about yours,

You have to move the rudder left or right to change the colour but on mine its staying green on the delay led but changing on the STATUS led, so yea get it to turn red for my 450 buts doesnt seem right...like its not activating for small heli.

what did your leds show?

[kartooo]

i have a HUGE training gear with a bearing in the middle, works sorta like a lazy susan. i attach all my helis to it to adjust gyro when 1st run up. saved me al ot of $$ in repair cost. i also had a 780 that drove me nuts,kept adjusting,changed servos etc.,etc. finally found i had the yellow wire plugged in upside down !! without my training gear i would of busted a lot of parts.....

[Vermillionx]

Originally Posted by syncnzflying

Yea im having issues as well with the gyro and that slow wag, its not like a standard wag its a pathetic wag and not changing on anything I do to fix it....yes ive been trying to sort that delay setting out and have a question about yours,

You have to move the rudder left or right to change the colour but on mine its staying green on the delay led but changing on the STATUS led, so yea get it to turn red for my 450 buts doesnt seem right...like its not activating for small heli.

what did your leds show?

When you change the led you need to move the stick twice for the change to take effect. Just keep playing with it. It took me a few tries to get it right.

[syncnzflying]

had enough of it...had issues in the past with them so havent givin up quick on it so went and got my first spartan quark and yes it all changes, gain down a 20 on my 250 and plenty of collective and tail stays right on!!

now to swap it to the 450