CarGuy7a

I'm looking into getting an HH gyro because I'm getting tired of flying the tail constantly. I DO NOT want to drop $129 on one. I've been looking at a few and want to know what you all think.

I also have a question about this one http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXUSE1&P=ML Why can it not be used with the CPV3? It says right in the manual that you can but at the bottom of that link it says you can't.

I was also planning on getting the C12 ESC along with the gyro.

Here's a few other gyros I was looking at. Let me know if they'll work or not.
http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store..._Headlock_Gyro
http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store...ail_Lock_Gyro_
http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store..._Headlock_Gyro
http://hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store..._Headlock_Gyro

Thanks for the help in advance.

ilikethatsite

I honestly don't know why it won't work in a cpv3 but based on my experience and many others who have tried adding a gyro to the cpv3 is a losing battle. If the built in gyro is adjusted properly it holds pretty good. I spent countless hours trying to tuning properly and it just never worked and actually held better with the built in rather than an external. That is just my experience though.

CarGuy7a

I spent all day yesterday fooling around with the 3 in 1 and never got the results I was looking for. I ended up ordering the Telebee gyro and the Electrifly ESC so I'll just have to see what happens. I didn't want to get the futaba one the manual suggested simply because I could buy another heli for practically the same price.

ilikethatsite

well, post on here your results

Shadow99

The Telebee HH gyro should work just fine on the AXE CP, I'm using one on a modified Belt CP & it works great (on a BDT). You should be able to install the TB gyro just as you would the Futaba GY240 & C-12. But you will end up with a combo that is only so-so, yeah you'll have the HH ability, but the electric tail is the weak link.
For the money you just spent on the HH gyro & C-12, you could have upgraded to a Belt-Driven Tail assembly, had the tail authority of the BIG BOYS, rock-solid holding & exceptional piro rates!
I had an AXE CPv1 that I did the HH & C-12 combo on 1st, and although it helped hold the tail somewhat, I found myself replacing tail motors constantly, & the piro rates were inconsistant. Put the Freestyle Hobbies BDT kit on it and the tail performance was spot-on, and that was with the stock brushed main motor! When I converted the main to BL, it turned into the MX300, it almost has the performance of my Trex 500, but on a diet!

Shadow

CarGuy7a

Well see that's the thing. Upgrading all this stuff IE: tail configuration, gyros and stuff like that would have the end result in the same price range as a 450 class that already has these mods. I just want to keep this reasonable and not dump all my $$$ into this heli and make it a decent flyer for my needs and when I'm ready I can drop the big money on bigger and better things. Which it is a decent flyer right out of the box but here I am still struggling with forward flight after 2 months of flying and more sim flying time than anything just because I have to constantly fly the tail. I'm confindent I can do this I just feel that having to fly the tail is keeping me from it.

ilikethatsite

Carguy,

We have all been there so don't feel like you are not making any progress. The sim time will pay off. There are a number of clones out there that are decent without the trex price tag. I have 3 450's one being a trex and my favorite one to fly is the blueray that I got from xheli with everything for $250. No it's not the best quality, but for a noob it is plenty good.

Once you get the gyro in the cpv3 the bug will hit you and you will start dumping money into it so may as well consider getting a 450 if you are going to stick with the hobby. It is also easier to fly than the cpv3.

motodude11

My Feedback: (1)

Where do you get that a new tail is less money than a new esc and a HH gyro???? Telebee is $30 then depending on what esc you get anywhere from $20-40 so that adds up to $40-70. If you do a Belt drive tail its $100 for the kit then you need a gyro another $30 and a tail servo another $20, and a Brushless motor and esc for another $20-100 then you need to a radio with end points plus the count less hours fiddling and you end up spending well over $200 to do a belt tail on an AXE. I like my AXE but after considering doing belt tail I just ended up doing buying a Esky Honeybee K2 $129.99 bought a brushless setup on ebay with the esky 5900kv motor and a mystery brushless esc $20, ran a seperate UBEC on it for another $20 and for $170 I got a belt drive and brushless heli that out flys the AXE. I did mod my AXE a little bit and now i'm running a Telebee and a Eflight blade cp pro 2 esc (repalces the 3 and 1 plus you can run a HH gyro since it has the leads for it) to control the tail and main motor and it works great plus it was only $36 for the combo esc and i dont have the agrivation of two escs but I do have the enjoyment of the HH gyro. I dont know JM2C

P.S. An HK450 from Hobbycity is also a very good Trex clone, although there are parts that need to be replaced once you get it as they will fail in flight. These parts are the feathering spindle (replace with trex450se hardened on), and the tail motor gear that mesh's with the main gear (replaced all my gears with the blue set from a 3dx450).

CarGuy7a

You know, it's funny you mention that exact heli. I've been eyeballing that one for a future upgrade. Plus the fact of it being a kit makes it double enticing to me. I'd much rather build a kit compared to an RTR. I wish I could have had the option to buy my surface rc's in kit form.

motodude11

My Feedback: (1)

Like I said its not a bad heli its got small issues with part quality on the parts i mentioned above but thats it. I got alot of the stuff for it from hobbycity. I ordered the heli, 3 HXT 900's for cylical, a MKS 480 digital in the tail, a HK450 metal tail upgrade, 2 2200mah flightmax 20c lipo's, and a turnigy sentry 40a esc. I then ordered a GL-WS2632 3500 brushless motor from cnchelicopter.com, I also picked up they're g401b gyro and these 3dx450 "new style" gear set [link]http://www.cnchelicopter.com/servlet/the-867/trex-3dx450-Complete-Main/Detail[/link]. All in all it was a cheaper helicopter that flies great even though my skills and nerves arent at the 3d level with it yet. I get nervous with this heli it really is a lot more intimidating than the axe or my HBK2 when starting to do aerobatics with it.

motodude11

My Feedback: (1)

Also im running a airtronics RDS8000 2.4 radio on it

CarGuy7a

I can imagine a 450 being intimidating. They are a pretty big heli. I still get a few holy crap moments on the V3. At least now I know to make the "correct" adjustments to keep it from smacking the ground. What's even better is I dumped it a few times the other day and didn't break anything now that I know pretty good what's going on and what I need to do thanks to the sim.

I will post back with results on the gyro and esc when I get it installed and adjusted, I'll also slap up some pics too. All I can do now is sit and wait for it to get here LOL.

ilikethatsite

Those holy @#$$ moments never go away! There is always something that keeps you on your toes. One last suggestion if the 450 scares you. I purchased the new co-pilot II and it is a heli saver!!!!! I bought it so it would hopefully help me get the rocks to try 3D. The thing has paid for itself at least 3 times over now. It won't stop the bonehead moves, but it will come close.

Put the co-pilot on the 450 and you will be in the air in no time. It is great for the new pilot as well as the experienced. I got the guts to let a friend of mine who has never flown give my 450 a quick try and after a few skips on the ground he had it hovering nearly perfect. Before his luck and my nerves were completly shot I got it back.

I guess the moral of my rambling is if you are going to make a true go at this hobby make the jump to the 450 you will be glad you did. It is easier to fly than the cpv3 and honestly it isn't that much bigger than the cpv3

just my .02

Kenny4842

A good gyro is one of the best things you can buy for your heli. I have the Futaba 401 and even though it is expensive it is one of the best out there. I am all for saving money and even buying a "knock-off" if it performs well. I have been wondering about that Assan Gyro as it looks like a GY-401 copy. Also, like Shadow said, the electric tail is the weak link. I had the original AXE CP and installed a gyro on it. I never could get it to hold right. The gyro helped, but the tail motor just couldn't react fast enough.
I also agree that going to a 450 class would be a lot better for you. While the AXE was a good first heli, unless you want to sink a ton of money into making it "like" a 450 class its just not going to cut it for very long. EXI-450 is another good TREX clone, and I should know since I also have a TREX-450. I am very pleased with this "cheap" heli, if you shop around you can get into a 450 size for a decent price. A 450 will also be more stable than the AXE in a little wind and I think it will help you with your forward flight problem.
Like you said, get a kit and build it from the ground up this will help you to not be afraid to fly the Heli, because you know how it works and you know how to repair it when you crash. One of the hardest things I had to get over was the "fear" of crashing. If you just accept that it will happen eventually and that its not the end of the world (because you know how to fix it) then your flying will go a lot smoother

motodude11

My Feedback: (1)

Its not that i am scared of my 450 its a lot more stable and easier to fly than the axe its just that the head speed is soooo much higher i don't feel as comfortable flying it close like i do with the axe or the HBK2. I know the 450 will do a lot more but I just don't feel as comfortable flying aerobatics with it right now. I'm getting a lot better with 3d with the HBK2 so soon i'll take what i learned from that to the 450 but only after i'm completely sure i know that i can do 3d stuff with the HBK2. BTW its not like i havent flow before i've been flying airplanes for over 14 years but the helis are completely different beast.

CarGuy7a

Well looks like I won't be using the Telebee gyro I bought. It turns out it's for a servo tailed heli. I would return it but the place I ordered from charges 15% for returns (looks like I won't be ordering from them again). I guess I'm gonna have to blow $129 on a damn gyro and get the futaba at least I know 100% it'll work.

I soooo feel like throwing all this heli **** in the garbage right now.

motodude11

My Feedback: (1)

dont throw it out !!! Use it it will work!!! Put it in anolog mode set the gain to about 65-75% ATV should be set to 100% and plug it in just like they say in the directions for the axe with the futaba. None of the gyros are made for tail motors but they do work with them. These settings above are what i used on my axe with the telebee and it held great!

CarGuy7a

Oh no throwing it out is not an option, I was just fooling with it last night till 10pm and was seriously pissed off at it. I tried hooking it up but it just didn't work. Plus I can't hook it up according to instructions it only has male J style connectors. Plus I've already ordered the GY240.

I'm gonna go out and fool with it a little more and If I can't get this freaking thing to work I may just keep it around incase I get that HK450 later down the road then I'll already have a gyro for it.

CarGuy7a

Ok scratch that. The telebee does work. I had the 3 in 1 completely unlpugged which made nothing work. I misread the step about moving the 3 in 1 plugs down one slot on the RX. Also I soldered in extension wires to extend the new micro ESC wires to the servo slot on the gyro and then plugged the gyro into the appropriate slot on the RX. Got all the loose wires buttoned down and ready to plug a battery up. I really gotta quit working on that kind of stuff when it gets that late at night. My friend brought his 4 wheeler over which he wanted me to help him clean up some crappy wiring job the previous owner had done. So pretty much I spent the whole day yesterday doing wiring work.[:@]

Turned it on and straightend out all the reversing options and got everything sorted out. I'm running about 50% gain anything more and I get some serious tail wag. I still also need to trim a little right rudder into it from the Tx, is that normal or should I go higher on the gain? Also what does the ATV option do? I think it's something to do with servo travel am I correct? I have it set at 100% per motodudes suggestions. I did try moving it down to 50% and didn't really notice anything so I put it back on 100%. Other than that I noticed the heli being a crap load easier to fly. Before I couldn't even hover it in my garage, now with the gyro it'll sit in perfect hover 1ft off the floor. I'm definately sure it'll help my forward flight out a ton.

I'll be sending the GY240 back to tower and if I get a HK450 class heli later on I'll probably get another telebee seeing as how it's only $44.

motodude11

My Feedback: (1)

ATV is the trim for the tail motor or the limit on how much power it puts out. Again when/if you start to build your HK take a look at the gyro and motor along with the gears from cnchelicopter.com the motor was $23 with a 13t pinion, the gyro G401B was $36, and the hdx450 "new style" gear set was $15. The align hardened feathering shaft was like $4 (for 3) from helidirect. From hobbycity.com the turnigy sentry 40a esc was $33, metal tail $8, HXT900 servos all three (cyclic) were $10, MKS digital metal gear servo (tail) was $23 and the turnigy 2200mah 20c packs were $16 each. So to build my HK it was (minus radio & shipping charges) $203 all together with the battery and including the HK kit itself. Not bad for a Trex clone and it flys amazing!! FWI the gear set and feathering shaft are a must period no matter what else you put in it.

CarGuy7a

Oh man I messed with the gain and trim on the Tx today. The telebee is freakin wicked awesome. I'm definately a believer in a HH gyro on these things. I know one thing, it will never come off of my CPV3. I cranked the gain up a little more and got the trim set perfect, that thing will hold like there is no tomorrow.

I'm 100% happy with it. I can now do side in hovers with ease and no effort on the rudder. If I get some time I'm going to resume my forward flight learning tomorrow and hopefully get a few pics up here.