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RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/11/2006 3:20:11 AM   
credence


 

Posts: 2518
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Brampton, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		First real flight today! This thing is GREAT! I can't believe how well it tracks through the air. It's also VERY responsive. Cyclic response is almost instantaneous. The whole helicopter just feels "locked in". Turns and stops on a dime.
Got my idle up programmed today aswell. I think I averaged about 8 or 9 minutes of flight on the 4400 packs. Mostly circuits and stall turns with a few throttle punches thrown in.

After a few circuits I ended up with my throttle curve roughly the same as yours Charlie. I believe i'm 80 at mid and 100 on both ends, 90 on 2 and 4. Gave me enough punch to climb rapidly.

I'm also pleased to report that my Electric Power 4400 mAh packs are working flawlessly. No overheating whatsoever, even after a full flight with alot of throttle punching. I don't have a guage, but i'm guessing the pack was in the 50C area on touch down. Warm to the touch, not hot at all.

This is very surprising for me since i've read that the Align batteries are hitting 70 Celsius after a flight, and they're rated at 16C constant! These packs here are only 12C but they're coping with the amp draw extremely well. I expect to get a long cycle life out of them. I should probably mention though that I was flying in slightly cooler weather (today was a bit cool). Not cold by any stretch of the imagination, but cool. That certainly helped with the battery temps i'm sure. I love Fall!

I did encounter two things during my flight today. At one point during my flight I was doing consecutive sideways turns (if theres a name for this manuever, i'm sorry, but I don't know it!), anyways, at this point I basically had full collective and hard cyclic being put in. The rotordisk was slowing down CONSIDERABLY. I could really here the motor choking. So much so that I thought I would lose lift. This makes it pretty obvious to me that the T-rex 600 could REALLY benefit from higher voltage. 6S is fine for just simple circuits and mild 3D, but if you're gonna start jamming the cyclic and collective together you're gonna need alot more juice. 8 cells would probably put the helicopter into it's "sweet spot".

My second thing that ocurred is that at the end of my batteries charge, the motor slowed down and began pulsing. This had me concerned at first, but now i'm not sure. Was this the speed controllers low voltage cutoff kicking in to tell me it's time to land? Or was this a case of the ESC overheating so throttling down to avoid damage? Anyone know? .

I got my camera and everything setup and ready to go today. I will be videotaping my next flight. We actually taped this flight, but it was rather uneventful and my...camera man.. was unable to keep up with the helicopter. We'll be bringing a tripod with us next time so focus and tracking are easier. I hope to do it either tommorow or tuesday, as it's my next free day.

I love this helicopter! I would strongly suggest anyone looking into getting one to do so and DON'T LOOK BACK!

_____________________________

Daniel
True Northern Hobbies, Inc.

(in reply to mavdriver)
       Post #: 51

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/11/2006 4:03:41 AM   
mavdriver


 

Posts: 148
Joined: 12/23/2001
From: rialto, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Congratulations , that`s what i was wainting to hear i guess i`ll be jumping in feet first , and not looking back , as far as motor slowed down and began pulsing , that`s your speed controller telling you is hitting low voltage , therefore is time to land , can`t wait to see the video , keep up the good work . Ed

(in reply to credence)
       Post #: 52

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/11/2006 10:29:20 AM   
cptsnoopy


 

Posts: 540
Joined: 2/26/2005
From: Phoenix, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		If you get a chance, try a higher performance 6s pack. I am willing to bet that the batteries ability to provide continuous high current was your limitation. You may have had a large voltage drop as a result. Using the 6s-3p setup, I have yet to hear any bogging. granted, we are not loading the heli blades up like the 3D guys but we do use alot of power now and then...

I have some rpm sensors for my DPR-100, I need to install the magnets on the spur gear and give it a try...

(in reply to mavdriver)
       Post #: 53

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/11/2006 4:01:39 PM   
credence


 

Posts: 2518
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Brampton, ON, CANADA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: cptsnoopy

If you get a chance, try a higher performance 6s pack. I am willing to bet that the batteries ability to provide continuous high current was your limitation. You may have had a large voltage drop as a result. Using the 6s-3p setup, I have yet to hear any bogging. granted, we are not loading the heli blades up like the 3D guys but we do use alot of power now and then...

I have some rpm sensors for my DPR-100, I need to install the magnets on the spur gear and give it a try...



I'm going to give these packs a few more cycles first. They're still new and still not at peak power yet. If I still see voltage sagging after a few more cycles, i'll do like you said and strap two 2200 packs ontop of each cell. I plan to fly a bit more aggressively on my next charge now that I know how this thing handles in the air (first flights are always hesitant for me, never know what to expect ).

It'll really suck having to charge 4 batteries for a single flight though if I want to jam the sticks around! But it WOULD give me 6600 mAh. That should bag a nice 12 or so minutes of flight time!

< Message edited by credence -- 9/11/2006 4:03:06 PM >

_____________________________

Daniel
True Northern Hobbies, Inc.

(in reply to cptsnoopy)
       Post #: 54

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/13/2006 5:13:53 AM   
credence


 

Posts: 2518
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Brampton, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		Welp, no time for flying today. My father managed to break his leg at work , so i've been occupied with other things.

However, since I did promise a video, I went through the footage I DID shoot of the maiden flight, and spliced it into a short compilation for you guys. No fancy flying, it's just basically circuits and forward flight, but it's better than nothing .

http://www.greatnorthernhobbies.com/mystuff/rex600.avi

Right click and "Save As.."
The video is encoded in DivX. You'll need the codec if you don't have it (www.divx.com).

Enjoy!

< Message edited by credence -- 9/13/2006 5:14:08 AM >

_____________________________

Daniel
True Northern Hobbies, Inc.

(in reply to credence)
       Post #: 55

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/13/2006 10:48:50 AM   
cptsnoopy


 

Posts: 540
Joined: 2/26/2005
From: Phoenix, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		It's a thing of beauty!

(in reply to credence)
       Post #: 56

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/15/2006 10:38:44 PM   
credence


 

Posts: 2518
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Brampton, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		Managed to get another flight in today. All didn't go as I would have liked though. I managed to plow my X-400 into the dirt again! . Didn't respond as quickly as I would've liked..

Got the T-rex into the air too of course. Did some inverted flight today, and i'm thinking i'll definately need to hook some more packs up in parralel. Headspeed was dropping considerably while inverted. Even after the full flight the batteries were not hot, so I can only assume it's just that the packs C rating doesn't allow them to put out the nescesary voltage under high amp draw to keep from sagging.

Or maybe +/- 10 degrees of pitch is too much for the motor on 6 cells. I'll try decreasing pitch to 9 or 8 and see if that keeps the headspeed more consistent.

No videos, unfortunately. My father was my camera man, and now he's a camera man with a broken leg.. . I'll have to drag my brother out there with me next time when he's not in school and have him man the camera!

< Message edited by credence -- 9/15/2006 10:40:55 PM >

_____________________________

Daniel
True Northern Hobbies, Inc.

(in reply to cptsnoopy)
       Post #: 57

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/17/2006 8:05:31 AM   
cptsnoopy


 

Posts: 540
Joined: 2/26/2005
From: Phoenix, AZ, USA
Status: offline 		I watched my brother fly his trex again today. I listened carefully for the motor bogging and did hear it bog pretty good after a roll. I asked him about it and he said that it was because he used nearly full collective on the recovery to maintain altitude. I was rather surprised to hear it bog that much but since I don't have the rpm recording setup on the DPR I can't really say how much or what the electric power system was actually doing at that moment. I will see about getting the rpm setup on there and record one of his flights so we can observe the numbers. sorry to hear about the x-400... fun little heli's when they're working.

(in reply to credence)
       Post #: 58

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 9/17/2006 5:05:33 PM   
credence


 

Posts: 2518
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Brampton, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		I'm getting tired of the micro helis now anyways. The parts are just too damn small and fiddly to work with. I'm going to repair the thing and then sell it. I'll buy a nice .30 size bird and convert that to e-power instead. Thinking a Century Hawk Pro will make a nice e-convert .

The t-rex definately does bog under high pitch levels. I'm going to see how reducing pitch works first. I am also going to increase my throttle curve, probably 100 - 95 - 90 - 95 100. Or maybe just 100 straight across and see if that helps too.

I think the real answer, though, is more voltage.

_____________________________

Daniel
True Northern Hobbies, Inc.

(in reply to cptsnoopy)
       Post #: 59

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 10/7/2006 7:16:27 PM   
mamun


 

Posts: 12
Joined: 9/15/2006
From: Tegucigalpa, HONDURAS
Status: offline 		Hi Guys, in the past few days I've been really addicted to nitro cars, but recently everybody is buying Helis (Nitro) so I don't want to be left behind, I'm the only one searching for a electric heli, I wonder why? I've seen my friends fly their helis for hours, can we do that? Cause it worries me that I could only do it for 9-10 minutes; and if you convince me going for the electric I would definitely go for the T-Rex 600 CF, so I would like to know in what webpage you recommend me to buy, one that carries everything for the T-REX, thanx.

(in reply to credence)
       Post #: 60

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 10/8/2006 12:01:33 AM   
credence


 

Posts: 2518
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Brampton, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		The only way you will fly for hours is if you've got $1000 worth of batteries.

Average flight time on a single $200 battery pack is about 8 minutes. You can of course go to bigger batteries for more run time, but they're heavier and cost more.

Electric has the advantage in typically being more powerful (if setup correctly), and overall not as noisy, nor as messy, compared to nitro. But they are much more expensive, and you don't get as much flying time out of them unless you've got the money for a set of atleast 3 batteries . Nitro is much cheaper, but where you can fly it is limited, and you need to constantly clean the machine to prevent things from getting gummed up from the nitro slime. Beauty is, you simply refuel and fly, no waiting for packs to charge.

At anyrate, I wouldn't buy a helicopter "just cause everyone else" is doing it. Helicopters are not easy to fly. They do NOT hover by them selves. The learning curve is quite steep, especially if you're used to driving nitro cars. The hobby is expensive, crashing is expensive, and learning to fly is frustrating, but very rewarding.

If you have access to it, I suggest you try a simulator before putting down the big bucks on a helicopter. Or get both, and fly the sim while you build your machine.
If you just jump in head first without any help, you'll be in for a rough time. Take this from somebody who seems to have done everything the hard way..

_____________________________

Daniel
True Northern Hobbies, Inc.

(in reply to mamun)
       Post #: 61

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 10/8/2006 12:30:50 AM   
choppersrule


 

Posts: 3643
Joined: 5/3/2006
From: Greenwood, IN, USA
Status: offline 		Mamun,

I'm with Credence 100 percent. As he mentioned, "If you just jump in head first without any help, you'll be in for a rough time."

I was a jumper, and to some extent regret that I didn't take more time to research the pro's and con's of electric vs nitro.
Then too, you have to consider, what type of flying you want to do, where you can or want to fly, does my LHS support the the heli you want, or are you dependent on online ordering? The list goes on and on.

I went with the electric, only because I can pretty much fly it anywhere. I've only been in the heli world for 9 months now, and just love it to death. It's challenging and the rewards are great. And as Credence said, it's very expensive. I don't have nearly the heli, like the 600. But, have invested about 3 grand so far. If I would have know early, what I know now it would have saved me mega bucks.

Take your time researching and start with a simulator. Also, heres a link to Radd's School of Rotary Flight, http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html , follow it to the letter and you'll be much better off in the long run.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress,

Dave / Choppersrule

_____________________________

"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss"

(in reply to credence)
       Post #: 62

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 10/8/2006 1:37:22 AM   
Psikelly



Posts: 1024
Joined: 2/19/2006
From: Ottawa, ON, CANADA
Status: offline 		Credence are you running 4400 MAH batteries and only getting 8 minutes of flight?? I havent had my MX flying yet but it'll be running the Align430L 3550KV motor and a 25 A castle ESC. I havent got batteries yet but in the Maunual they say you should get about 7 minutes of flight off a 1320 MAH battery. Is it because of the setup youre running or the flying style?? I dont wanna waste money on betteries that wont be good enough so Im lookin for a couple hints.
I was considering using thunderpower 1320s like in my CPP.

_____________________________

NO I did not just crash!! Im making it flop around on the ground like that on purpose. Its a new stunt.

(in reply to choppersrule)
       Post #: 63

RE: Align T-rex 600 Build Thread - Pics inside! - 10/8/2006 4:12:49 AM   
credence


 

Posts: 2518
Joined: 5/19/2005
From: Brampton, ON, CANADA
Status: offline