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AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/5/2007 5:20:04 PM   
Nitroedge


 

Posts: 112
Joined: 6/5/2006
From: Surrey, BC, CANADA
Status: offline
Hi all,

I recently purchased the AXE CP and seem to be having some real "lack of power" issues with the stock battery.

I charged it once while assembling the helicopter, light went from red to green on the included charger in roughly 1 hour.

I then let the battery sit overnight as I didn't fly that night because of the weather.

So 2 days later I decide to try and fly but there was so little power (ie. juice). So I charged the battery again, the light went from red to green after about 1 hour again.

I then install the battery and when I give it quite a bit of throttle, the heli barely gets "light" and ready to go airborne.
As a test I even flicked the idle switch and it gave the heli some power but still it can barely get off the ground.

Has anyone experienced this? Do I have a bad battery? Shouldn't these batteries be slow-charged overnight at all to get it to charge full peak?

I didn't change any of the default electronic settings either.

Any help would be great and thanks!!!

Brandon



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       Post #: 1

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/5/2007 6:28:25 PM   
COPO



Posts: 112
Joined: 7/7/2004
From: Southwick, MA, USA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nitroedge

Hi all,

I recently purchased the AXE CP and seem to be having some real "lack of power" issues with the stock battery.

I charged it once while assembling the helicopter, light went from red to green on the included charger in roughly 1 hour.

I then let the battery sit overnight as I didn't fly that night because of the weather.

So 2 days later I decide to try and fly but there was so little power (ie. juice). So I charged the battery again, the light went from red to green after about 1 hour again.

I then install the battery and when I give it quite a bit of throttle, the heli barely gets "light" and ready to go airborne.
As a test I even flicked the idle switch and it gave the heli some power but still it can barely get off the ground.

Has anyone experienced this? Do I have a bad battery? Shouldn't these batteries be slow-charged overnight at all to get it to charge full peak?

I didn't change any of the default electronic settings either.

Any help would be great and thanks!!!

Brandon




I Have had several NiMH packs that wouldn't take very much charge for my R/C vehicles. Sometimes I had to charge them 3 or 4 times to get it up to full charge even when new. It has to do with a false voltage peak being detected by the charger. When it hits this peak it shuts off. Very possible your pack does not have the charge it should. NiMH are funny batteries. Some packs I have had work great and others not so great. all identical packs from the same company. Best suggestion I could come up with..

(in reply to Nitroedge)
       Post #: 2

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/5/2007 8:23:15 PM   
Nitroedge


 

Posts: 112
Joined: 6/5/2006
From: Surrey, BC, CANADA
Status: offline
Thanks for the feedback.

Ok, I'll keep charging it over and over for a bit

Do you think I could actually charge it with my Duratrax Piranha charger?

Is there another after market battery you could recommend I buy?

Cheers!

Brandon

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       Post #: 3

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/5/2007 8:37:16 PM   
COPO



Posts: 112
Joined: 7/7/2004
From: Southwick, MA, USA
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nitroedge

Thanks for the feedback.

Ok, I'll keep charging it over and over for a bit

Do you think I could actually charge it with my Duratrax Piranha charger?

Is there another after market battery you could recommend I buy?

Cheers!

Brandon


Not sure if the Duramax charger is NiMH compatible .
Plus the AXE pack is a 9 cell. Not sure of that either with this charger.

This seems to be the hot setup.

Great Planes LiPo 11.1V 910mAh 3S 15C Discharge Deans
Great Planes PolyCharge Lithium Polymer DC Charger.

Tower Hobbies has this stuff. I would try charging the pack one more time.

(in reply to Nitroedge)
       Post #: 4

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/5/2007 8:57:00 PM   
flying-llama


 

Posts: 87
Joined: 2/23/2006
From: Boston, MA, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: UKIE


quote:

ORIGINAL: Nitroedge

Hi all,

I recently purchased the AXE CP and seem to be having some real "lack of power" issues with the stock battery.

I charged it once while assembling the helicopter, light went from red to green on the included charger in roughly 1 hour.

I then let the battery sit overnight as I didn't fly that night because of the weather.

So 2 days later I decide to try and fly but there was so little power (ie. juice). So I charged the battery again, the light went from red to green after about 1 hour again.

I then install the battery and when I give it quite a bit of throttle, the heli barely gets "light" and ready to go airborne.
As a test I even flicked the idle switch and it gave the heli some power but still it can barely get off the ground.

Has anyone experienced this? Do I have a bad battery? Shouldn't these batteries be slow-charged overnight at all to get it to charge full peak?

I didn't change any of the default electronic settings either.

Any help would be great and thanks!!!

Brandon




I Have had several NiMH packs that wouldn't take very much charge for my R/C vehicles. Sometimes I had to charge them 3 or 4 times to get it up to full charge even when new. It has to do with a false voltage peak being detected by the charger. When it hits this peak it shuts off. Very possible your pack does not have the charge it should. NiMH are funny batteries. Some packs I have had work great and others not so great. all identical packs from the same company. Best suggestion I could come up with..



I have heard the following:

1. NiMH batteries take several charge/discharge cycles (3 to 15?) before they are at their best.

2. The first charge, one should try a long trickle type charge to get all the cells evenly charged.

3. I have had some apparent problems with false peaks.
I have been told to try to charge again to make sure it is not a false peak.
Another check on whether the battery is fully charged is its temperature at the end of a charge:
It should be warm (80 degrees F to 110 degrees F?, not sure. The venom aircorp site lists some temperatures for their Night Ranger 2 and 3D).

(in reply to COPO)
       Post #: 5

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/5/2007 10:41:26 PM   
Nitroedge


 

Posts: 112
Joined: 6/5/2006
From: Surrey, BC, CANADA
Status: offline
Thanks,

I saw another fellow's post where he mentioned he could not get off the ground either and his lhs said he put his blades on the wrong way. I don't think that is my problem as I recall double-checking this but I'm at work and can't see the blade orientation now.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture if I have them on the right way?

I will definitely also really charge the battery tonight, then let it cool down for 10-15mins before using it.

Brandon

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       Post #: 6

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/5/2007 11:21:55 PM   
maxhel


 

Posts: 8
Joined: 12/24/2006
From: hopewell, OH, USA
Status: offline
blade orientation looks correct to me

(in reply to Nitroedge)
       Post #: 7

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/6/2007 2:09:53 AM   
JJP9398



Posts: 48
Joined: 12/26/2006
From: Whiteman AFB, MO, USA
Status: offline
Blades are on correctly. You might want to even out the flybar paddle on the far side it looks like it's not parallel with the other one. Then again it could just the angle of the photo

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       Post #: 8

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/9/2007 12:28:09 PM   
calcop



Posts: 82
Joined: 1/3/2007
From: San Jose, CA, USA
Status: offline
Flybar paddles are upside down (from looking at the picture). They are angled wrong, fighting against your main blades for lift.

(in reply to Nitroedge)
       Post #: 9

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/9/2007 9:10:16 PM   
Nitroedge


 

Posts: 112
Joined: 6/5/2006
From: Surrey, BC, CANADA
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Thanks so much all for your help....

Last night I practiced a bit, made a chalk circle and took it easy. The heli did get off the ground but only a little. Even with the battery fully charged it seemed if I went full throttle, it would only slowly gain altitude.

So what I'm thinking then (from all your comments) is:

- My blades are on correct
- My flybar paddles are upside down (weird since I didn't assemble those, they were on the heli out of the box)
- OR are they on correct, but one of them is angled wrong, should they be parallel to the ground?


Also, (i expect these problems are also related to the flybar paddle orientation):

- When I flew last night, with all trim controls centered, I noticed the heli was wanting to turn "counter-clockwise" which in my understanding from reading posts here, is incorrect as the helicopter should naturally want to rotate "clockwise" on throttle up and in place due to the natural rotation of the blades going "clockwise" - Is my thinking correct?

- The entire helicopter was very unstable to try and hover and kept going left and even some slight cyclic rolling tilting

I've attached a picture close-up I found on heli-max's site, does the picture show the proper angle and orientation then for the flybar paddles?

Thanks!!!!

Brandon



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Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize


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       Post #: 10

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/9/2007 9:28:11 PM   
Armhunter



Posts: 31
Joined: 1/17/2003
From: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Status: offline
They should be level and they should be the exact same distance from the center of the head button.
I had to adjust mine right out of the box.
I had to make a lot of adjustments out of the box... Crazy how they state they are all test flown. I find that hard to believe.

But its a very nice heli... I can't wait to get all the cnc parts for it.. If I get good at flying.. I am going to buy a step up heli.. like the t-rex..

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       Post #: 11

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/10/2007 1:20:21 AM   
Nitroedge


 

Posts: 112
Joined: 6/5/2006
From: Surrey, BC, CANADA
Status: offline
That worked good, I adjusted the top paddles and then made sure everything was parallel...
Then measured the distance between the paddles to the center screw and they matched...

I was able to get about a 2-3 sec hover and that was gold for me, my enthusiasm is through the roof and can't wait to practice more..

I think the stock battery dies quick and I should have maybe properly fully charged it the first time as I think my the stock charger detects false peaks and says it's done charging but it isn't...

Real windy here in Vancouver, Canada tonight so going to keep practicing in the garage

Hope I can fine tune it more to really get the baby (and my control) stable!

What I found quite amazing is how much turbulence the blades create at less than say 12" off the ground.... when I had it up a bit in altitude the control seemed to be more "forgiving"...

Thanks again!!!

Brandon


_____________________________

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       Post #: 12

RE: AXE CP Battery Problem? - 1/11/2007 9:11:37 AM   
Jellyson



Posts: 920
Joined: 11/5/2006
From: Toronto, ON, CANADA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Nitroedge

Thanks so much all for your help....

Last night I practiced a bit, made a chalk circle and took it easy. The heli did get off the ground but only a little. Even with the battery fully charged it seemed if I went full throttle, it would only slowly gain altitude.

So what I'm thinking then (from all your comments) is:

- My blades are on correct
- My flybar paddles are upside down (weird since I didn't assemble those, they were on the heli out of the box)
- OR are they on correct, but one of them is angled wrong, should they be parallel to the ground?


Also, (i expect these problems are also related to the flybar paddle orientation):

- When I flew last night, with all trim controls centered, I noticed the heli was wanting to turn "counter-clockwise" which in my understanding from reading posts here, is incorrect as the helicopter should naturally want to rotate "clockwise" on throttle up and in place