Simon Thorpe

Just ordered one from RaidenTech with a spare battery and main rotors. I got sick of waiting for my Falcon 3D from HL...

This should provide an interim fix

robotronski

If this is your 1st heli, you did good. I'm at a comfort level with the FAlcon 40 that I would not have obtained on a hot rod machine like the Falcon 3D from Hobby Lobby. Also, any simulator time will give you a better shot of flying sucessful the 1st time up as well.

Have you considered a Trex 450SA as your next level (3D capable) ship??? My hobby shop has them now, they were backordered a while as well.

There is a lot to be said for using name brand electronics. And that heli comes as a "Bare Bones " ARF for $199. SO you have to supply all the electronics including drive motor and radio.

So you pick out some nice radio bits and pieces and have a great machine to fly. No mediocre servos or gyro to fuss with all the time.

Sure your gonna pay over $100 just for a gyro, but that gyro will move on to your next heli when you advance to it.

Also, unless you get pi$%ed and throw down your expensive programable transmitter in a crash, it should last forever too.

The cheap helis are great/affordable to learn on but thats about it... Thats My 2-cents worth

Simon Thorpe

Actually i've been flying a Blade CX for a month now and am very confident with it, nose in hover/flight, circles, figure of 8's etc. I can do all that in a hotel room

I just ran out of patience waiting for the Falcon 3D... it may be that after the Falcon 40 I feel I should move directly to the TRex, the problem is money! Overall I might spend more if I go CX -> Falcon 40 -> Falcon 3D and eventually to Trex. But the 40 and 3D combined comes to around 500 with spare parts, yet from what I can see a fully kitted out Trex with servos, spares, batteries and TX is going to push me to 1000. So due to money available right now, I can't afford to make the jump. I could wait and save, but if I was that sort of person I wouldn't have just ordered the Falcon 40

Oh and i've been on the sim a lot, using ClearView mainly and getting some time on a friends copy of G3...

bart77

I bought my falcon from Nitroheli.com and have ordered parts from wonderderhobby.com. Both have good prices on parts and acc. ,but most of these online hobby shops are in CA.

Does anyone know of any hobby shops closer to TN.? I was hoping to buy parts from someone closer without waiting so long on shipping.

I've been to exceedrc.com to check out the dealers, but none have a web-site...

Also, I crashed in some water the 1st week and ruined the receiver/speed control, so I ordered a new one from nitroheli and got a walkera dragonfly receiver/speed control. Looks Identical but I thought they improved the electronics on the Falcon 40 version. So far I can't tell any difference.

TitaniumZX

Does anyone know if the sim cable on the Falcon40 will work with FMS? I have the Eagle50 and it's not compatable. Thanks.

robotronski

You wanna send me your bad Rx/speed controller.

I may be able to fix it.

My fix is also an improvment over the stock capability, makes it more rugged to withstand motor abuse.

Always nice nice to have a spare just in case...

bart77

Everything works on the RX. except for the main motor output....... If you still want it e-mail your address.

xclam

Yes, it's the same green battery pack for the receiver, but I charge it for about 1 hour before I try and fly.

When I say that the rotors turn by themselves the actual rotor spins and usually hits me. I think I figured this problem out by reducing the throttle trim a few clicks downward.

My main concern is the ridiculous 15 foot range I have when the attenna is up....

I'll try and open up the receiver without breaking it to see if something is loose.

J-Cube

My Lama smacks me when I first plug the battery in sometimes. Just a throttle glitch; a common nuisance with the "cheaper" helis.

Can't help with the whole 15 foot range problem. [&:]

robotronski

Yeah, a 15 foot range is definitely no t right!!! Perhaps the antenna wire is broken off at the connection inside the reciever. No big deal, only 4 teeny tint phillips screws to remove cover. Receiver will be stuck to heli with some black double sided foam tape. Just give it a gentle tug to remove it. Open rx and inpsect connection of antenna wire to the board itself.

In fact if you have access to an Ohmmeter you can do a continuity test to see if the entire antenna wire is Broken---Unbroken. Just strip about 1/4 inch of plastic insulation off the end of wire wrapped around landing skids and connect test probe there. Then connect the other test probe to the end of wire at the circuit board. You should get something close to 0-4 Ohms with that test. If you get a number or letters on the display that say something like "OL" then the wire has infinite (a lot of) Ohms. Infinite Ohms = Broken wire , replace with similar wire of exact length.

Hint: If your meter is set up correct you should get 0 -2 ohms or so on the display if you have all the knobs/buttons in the correct setting with both test leads being temporarily held together, red lead touching black lead. Some meters even have a beeper that beeps to indicate good continuity.

Keep at it till we fix it OK!!!!

bart77

I don't know if anyone has noticed how many other helicopters are identical to the falcon 40:

1) Wakera Dragonfly#4 (Originator?)
2) Exceed RC - Flalcon 40
3) Venom - Night Ranger
4) Eskee - Honybee original (Honeybee 2 -close but not identical;better looking 3in1 rx)
5) Selective RC - Dark Night
6) (Global) EF Helicopters - Sabre
7) Twister - Indoor
8) Hobby Lobby - Aero Hawk Micro Heli - EP
9) SmarTech - AeroHawk
10) Trendtimes - Dragon

Maybe more, but I got tired of looking...
I wouldn't be suprised if they all used the same electronics, Just different Canopy.
You can look at replacement parts and they are all identical, some are even cheaper.??

TitaniumZX

Good info. Thanks.

makatron

yeah i have noticed that, but even though they use the same electronics (they dont even put a brand name in the 4 in 1) some brands have cheaper spare parts, falcon 40's batteries are cheaper than sabre's, and sabre is one of the most expensive ones out there for its standard package

i tried with the walkera 22e (my first try in the hobby), but i keept crashing w/ training kit, but with the falcon i was like a pro right out of the box, i did nose in the first hour after i got it

whats the best lipo battery voltage to enjoy longer fly time without burning the electronics or motors??
i guess 11.1v is way too much for the brushed motor tho

robotronski

Look around on the Walkera DF4 posts for info about LiPo usage.

One reason I've seen for not using a 3-cell is the voltage regultor IC in the 4:1 can't take more than 10 volts for an extended period of time.

If you smoke the regulator, you start to cook your receiver circuits and fry your servos too!!! Not good.

Seems most are using a 2-cell 7.4v LiPo which is a bit less initail voltage then the stock NiMh that comes with the heli.

Keep in mind that the stock 650mAh NiMh battery signs off pretty quick so its voltage may drop below 7.4v while still in flight.

The LiPo can supply more working current over a longer duration so it may be a better bet.

I ordered a 1600mAh 2-cell Lipo and will post my results here soon after it arrives and I test its duration/performance.

The LiPo weighs consireable less than the stock battery and that should also help with performance as well.

Makatron, Congrats on obtaining your nose in flying skills so fast.

Tried any nose in landings yet ??????

Fly toward yourself at a slow rate, flare out, then land her nose-in right at your feet. [X(]

Its a blast once you can do it.

makatron

tonight i was way too comfident and i tried a indoor garage fly coz i was feeling too lazy to walk to the park 2 blocks away, BIG ERROR, i ended cutting the power too fast and now i got a skid broken [] but nothing that the almighty Loctite cant solve hahaha

the nose in wasnt a challenge since i've been always well oriented and i use to keep telling me "face to me" or "back to me" and it works for me, so far i had one big crash (tonight) after 10 charges

where is the best place to hold your battery, i mean, right under the rotor??

was just me or just takes 5 mins to trim the tx to work just fine??[sm=punching.gif]

ahh i almost forgot, few posts ago somebody was metioning that loads of brands just look the same, so i took a picture of my Walkera tx of my 22E and the Exceed tx of my Falcon 40, and as soon a i find the cable ill show you guys that they just change the labels[X(]

at the moment im trying to buy an used real flight to use it at office (while boss isnt around) to earn some hours in the air, and try crazy things without my credit card being abused , should i try ebay??

at last but not least
i love the falcon blades, they are BULLETPROOF!!!!!!!!!![:-]

makatron

Slo-V Flyer

Well, after reading all 4 pages of this thread, I've ordered a Falcon 40 from xheli.com. I didn't really think it would be $85 + shipping! I've owned a Blade CP for 6 months and was able to hover tail in and do forward and sideways flights, but still a complete n00b at nose in till I sold it last month (didn't really enjoy sweating bullets every time, plus the stock batteries were pooping out and making me crash all the time due to bad voltage delivery). Though I have to say when I got it "setup," on a good day I could hover it with confidence and have to incidents.

As far as the Falcon 40 being a clone; I have a Dark Knight 2 fixed pitch heli I ordered from Hobbytron.com for $129. I must say from the beginning it was a little disappointing. It does come with a 2-cell Lipo 1600mah, and is able to fly with it. BUT it has other problems; vibrations that I cant really get rid of. The gyro is crap. Out of the box the gyro was too sensetive and would be twitching a little too much. I tried all sorts of things to remove that, but all that did is make it REALLY screw me over. A few random seconds into the flight and the gyro would go out and SPINNING goes the heli. Land/crash, and spin up again, and it works fine for another several seconds. So I'm back to a twitchy gyro/tail, but at least it's not spinning out randomly. The main rotor head's plastic components like the control links and ball joints are also not the best fitted. The pitch link ball joint on one side kept popping off easily on the blade grip side. The flybar paddles are definitelty not perfectly straight, AND you can accidently rotate their pitch individually and not know why your getting vibrations.

Though I must say, electronics and other quality issues aside, I think it'd make a great trainer because even with it's symetrical WOODEN blades, I've yet to break/split them, AND unlike the flimsy carbon fibre landing gear on my Blade CP, the flexible plastic ones on the Dark Knight can withstand a lot more punishment. With that said, the main motor gets really hot (has a larger pinion than my Blade did, probably to make up for the 2 cell's lower voltage compared to 9.6v nimh used in my Blade CP). I still can't predictably hover the Dark Knight, though I may be getting closer to it by slowly adjusting the linkages' trim.

I'm really hoping the Falcon does have better electronics than the Dark Knight. OR at least that the Dark Knight I got is a rarity/quality issue and that the Falcon 40 is more on par/behaved. Even if it's only $85, it is much better than spending $129 and getting a halfway decent learning experience out of it.

jacksflying

WELL IM GLAD THERE IS ALOT OF US WITH FALCON 40'S.
I GOT MINE A FEW WEEKS AGO.. HAD ONLY FLOWN A PICCOO-Z BEFORE,BUT WAS ABLE TO GET IT TO HOVER A BIT,BUT CONSTANTLY HAVING TO LAND I NEEDED MORE EXPERIENCE... FINALLY HAD A BIT OD A HARD LANDING AND BROKE THE LANDING SKIDS A A ROTOR BLADE...NO BIG DEAL PLACED AN ORDER WITH RAINTECH AND GOT THEM TODAY... WHILE BEING GROUNDED I WENT AND BOUGHT A BLADE CX... NOW I KNOW WHAT I DID WRONG. DOING WELL WITH THE BLADE IN ONLY A FEW DAYS,HAVE DONE MANY MODS AND FLYING EVERYDAY... ALSO ORDERED A SUPER SKIDS KIT FOR THE FALCON,SHOULD BE DONE SOON,WILL LET YOU GUYS KNOW HOW IM DOING.................. KEEP FLYING!!!!!!!

bart77

Hey, I found a few upgrades for a Honeybee that may work for our Falcon's. It looks real close so check them out and see what you think?

[link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/honeybee3.htm]Honeybee Landing Gear Upgrade[/link]

[link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com/honeybee3.htm][/link]

or [link=http://www.super-skids.com]Super Skids[/link]

[link=http://www.super-skids.com][/link]

[link=http://www.helihobby.com/html/skylark_upgrades.html]Helihobby CNC swashplate[/link]

[link=http://www.helihobby.com/html/skylark_upgrades.html][/link]

[link=http://www.helihobby.com/html/skylark_upgrades.html]
They also have the twin tail motor mount [/link]
[link=http://www.helihobby.com/html/skylark_upgrades.html]
and the ducted fan [/link]
[link=http://www.helihobby.com/html/skylark_upgrades.html]
Are these rotor blades [/link]
Are they as good as the like90 blades everyone talks about??

Simon Thorpe

Just got mine and have a few questions, mine seems to be a little unstable.

1. I checked the main rotors and it says they need to be tight, but free enough to let them move into position. I loosened them a little, they seemed rather right. Is this ok? They are loose enough for them to move about with only a little pressure and swing freely.

2. I checked the level of the paddles and swash plate, they all seem level and correct. However, when I connect the battery and have the TX switched on the rear servo is constantly "twitching". Making very small noises as though it is fighting to be in two positions. I've had it off the ground a few times and it seems to control well enough, is this normal?

Overall it seems to have quite a shake to it as I increase the speed of the rotors. At the point where it starts to hover it seems to skip about a little. Also there seems to be the odd random movement in the tail, it shifts a little then stops.

Mind you this is the only first flights i've had and it might require a little "settling in" and I might have some more fine adjustment to make.

robotronski

Simon, I've experimented with how tight to make the main rotors. Right now I have the blades rather loose. The logic being that centrifugal force will allow the blades to find their true balance point on their own. I have no vibration while flying, but man you should see how much vibraton there is as I spool up rotor speed from a 0 rpm starting point. Once its spinning, all vibration is gone. My blades are loose enough to fall towards gravity if I hold heli on its side. Keep in mind you'll need to monitor those screws holding the blades on when you run things this loose. I tried a tighter setting and always had to fight to get the blades just right, then I'd bump them while transporting the heli and have to start all over again. I am basically doing what the tail blades do in most larger glow powered helis, let the G's of rotation find the optimum sweet spot.

As far as the servo glitch goes, thats a new one on me.

Has it done this all the time??? Any good crashes perhaps? I always try to eliminate the obvious, but I can overlook some dumb things myself too often to admit.

Hope this helps.

bart77

From my experience, after a crash or when the blades hit the ground, I have to adjust the blades a couple of times to make sure all the vibration is gone. It doesn't take much out of alignment to cause the slightest vibration, which i'm sure throws off the gyro, causing uncontrollable tail spin. When I align the blades, I line the straight edge or front of the blade with the straight edge or side of the main rotor mount. Then give no more than 1/3 throttle to check vibration. My blades are mounted pretty snug, where i have to hold the center of the main rotor to move one of the blades. I haven't had any luck leaving them lose enough to move on their own. But once i find the sweet spot i have no vibration from 2rpm to wide open...

I also had some replacement blades I put on after breaking one on the couch, and it would not balance at all. You could actually see one was thicker than the other.

If everything worked perfectly, it would be a pretty boring hobby. Setting up your heli is half the fun. And remeber patients is the key to a funfilled hobby like this.

Simon Thorpe

Great info on the blades, thanks.

The servos did this from out of the box, it has never had a crash. I spent ages checking connections and then finally put power to the blades to see what affect it would have, none that I can see but it sounds like something isn't quite right.

What is most peoples experience on here when they switch the unit on? Is it silent? Or are there any noises coming from the servos? My Blade CX sometimes makes a few changes when I power it on but the servos are at rest unless I touch the controls.

Simon Thorpe

Actually I really agree with that statement. The heli becomes more of your own creation once it's setup nicely. I can't wait one day to build one from scratch!

Simon Thorpe

Here is a short video of the problem I am having, it doesn't seem right yet I have been able to hover tonight after 3 flights. I will contact RaidenTech and see what they think. If I switch of the TX whilst the heli is still powered, it stops. So I wonder if the problem is to do with the TX, the 4in1 or the servo?

http://www.daftdonkey.com/external/v...itchyServo.wmv

Simon Thorpe

I just swapped over the leads to both servos and the same servo was twitching, looks like I have a dodgy servo...