Thanks thats exactly what I was looking for

I am a newbie to posting to this site...thanks in advance for any help.

I have about 20 flites on my blade cp. This is my first heli and am already flying it around pretty good. I have a few questions though. My tail motor does not seem to be smooth. When I apply tail rotor the motor with give bursts of power instead of constant power. Also the heli will drop a few feet instantly when hovering for no reason. I also upgraded to lipo batteries and after a few flights I dont seem to be getting the performance from it. It is requiring more power to hover and doesnt seem to fly as long as first couple flights. Is there something I need to do to the lipo battery to keep it up to par?

thanks for any help.

You have to be careful to not let your lipo drop below 9V. It will be damaged. A lipo alarm would be a good idea. I made one from a couple transistors, resistors, and an LED. Also, hopefully you have upgraded to the 9tooth motor. If you don't like the bursting of the tail motor, turn down the gain a little on your gyro. I also have the drop for no reason problem. I don't know what is happening yet. Horizon said to send the 4 in 1 in for testing. I don't want to part with it for that long. The problem went away for a while, but now it is back. Hopefully it will go away again. Since I am only hovering still, it isn't too critical.

thanks sfinckster, Until I get a lipo alarm what can I do for now? Only fly it for a short time after a full charge?...instead of running it nearly dead? I will turn down the gain to see how it does. I have the 9 tooth motor but have yet to put it on. Havent felt like taking it apart.

One more question...my brother also bought a blade cp and has been flying it. the other day he went to adjust the mix on the 4 in 1 and now it will not do anything. It power ups but will not power the motors or servos. He has not yet tried returning the adjustments back to see if it will help, any ideas?

You definately need to install the other motor when you switch to lipo. You can cook your 4 in 1 or your motor with that 11V lipo. Don't fly again until you change the motor. And install the heat sinks. Use some heat sink compound if you have some.

I don't kinow what happened to your brother's CP. Does the light on the 4 in 1 go green? Make sure your throttle trim and throttle are down before you plug in the battery. It won't initialize otherwize.

As far as your flight time, you might want to check your battery voltage once in a while at first. Time it and see how long you can go until it is discharged. Then set a timer. I found out that when my battery is 9V while flying(or under a load) that it's resting voltage is 10V(under no load). So I always tried to fly it until it was 10V at rest. I get about 25 to 30 minutes.

My brothers 4-in-1 is going green like it supposed to. Everything is normal with the TX. He is also running lipo batteries with the stock motor.

I've found that with my blade and 1320 mah lipo, I don't need to worry about overdischarging, When it will no longer hover more than 3-4 feet high or so, the voltage always reads about 10.8. Obviously, its very easy for me to tell when the battery is getting low. Do you guys try to run your batteries down to that final inch of hover? If so, thats an easy way to ruin your lipos

I've found that with my blade and 1320 mah lipo, I don't need to worry about overdischarging, When it will no longer hover more than 3-4 feet high or so, the voltage always reads about 10.8. Obviously, its very easy for me to tell when the battery is getting low. Do you guys try to run your batteries down to that final inch of hover? If so, thats an easy way to ruin your lipos

Mine seems to hover just fine when the voltage gets low. The only way I can tell it's low is that the tail needs more rudder input. I am only hovering at about 6 feet or less. That's why I put the alarm on it so I don't need to worry.

You need to just go for it....the real fun starts when you fly it by hauling some butt.

I don't get to fly outside much. It has been 0 to -5 here last week and windy. There is no way I'm flying outside!!!! I fly inside my shop for now. I will try to get more daring this spring hopefully when I can fly outside.

go to a school gym and fly. And arn't the GWS 11.1 1250mah batteries only like 25 bucks? So if you overdischarge them its not like you ruined a 250.00 dollar pack... You could probally time your flights then fly with a timer and when it gets around the time of the battery dying land and see how much voltage is left. I think Im going to by a Blade CP to learn to fly inverted before I buy the BTCP rotor head for my corona. Parts are probally cheaper for crashes and less damage would be done to the 350gram micro over a heli that weighs several pounds..

Just thought I would attempt posting my first video... This shows how great the Hiller upgrade is as I just did this tonight and I was brand new to heli's at Christmas.. [link=http://media.putfile.com/BCP-Indoor-Fun]Indoor confidence[/link]
In the video I land on my tiny kitchen island in my tiny kitchen...

Interesting, When my Blade is hovering about 3 or 4 feet and I give it full throttle and it barely climbs if at all, thats when I disconnect my lipo and its measuring about 10.8-10.6. Also when I use the symmetrical blades, my vertical performance is poor, very slow to climb. With flat bottoms I have plenty of power. I'm using E-power 1320 mah batteries I found for 20$ each. Could that be the reason? Otherwise they work great, I getting about 25 min flight times. Or do I need have to go to 800-900 mah to get decent performance with the symmetrical blades?

The drawback to the E-Power battery is the 7C rating. It will not give you climb-out power. It's a good hovering slow forward flight battery, THAT'S IT.

Also, the battery needs to be over 10.5Volts to operate good. I charge up to 12.2 and hover around until about 10.5 then the heli is struggling to hover.

My next battery will be a Thunder Tiger 10 or 12C battery. I'll spend the extra money for it

would a electrifly 11.1 1250mah 15c be too high of a discharge rate?

If you overcharge a lipo it can explode in flames. The same thing it does if you draw it too low. The best way to find out if you're going too low is watch your blade disperse in a million parts in mid air. Your charger should have an auto shut-off, most lipo chargers do. If you're not using a charger specifically designed for lipos you'll be fine as long as you charge your batteries in a bomb shelter and you have a good insurance policy.

1LO- my e-power 1100's are 10C. I paid 19 bucks for them and they seem to be as good as my TP 1320's

There's no such thing as too high, only too low. Discharge rate means what the battery can safely discharge when in use.

I don't know how it acts at full throttle... I don't think I have ever gone full throttle. I am using a TP 1320 13c/20c. All I know is, it still has plenty of power to hover when the battery is dead. That's why I am using the lipo alarm, I don't want to take any chances. Maybe the TP batteries are a little lighter or something. I have been flying until the battery is at about 10.2 volts. Maybe I should raise the voltage on the alarm a little higher.

You can safely draw all the way down to 9v. It will start to show a difference in flight at around 10.3-10.4. I usually charge when I notice the difference. An old habit from nicad and it seems to work well. Drawing all the way to 9v IMO might stress the cells. Everything I've read says recharge when you notice the change, so that's what i stick with.

Interesting. When my TP pack gets to 10.4 volts my heli won't fly anymore. AEK upgrade with 9 tooth and sym blades. I've let it run all the way down to where it won't produce enough lift to hover and checked my pack on my volt meter and the lowest I have ever seen my packs is 10.2 volts. Well above the danger zone for a pack.

I don't know what the difference is... I am using CF blades, super landing gear kit, 9t motor, stock tail, and training gear. TP 1320 battery, stock rotor head with flybar weights. Maybe it is in the way that the pitch is adjusted or something.

Seriously?? Where did you get them from?? I bought the one listed on Heli Direct's page and it's rated at 7C.......