Buz

LOL.... You know, I started off just creeping around about a foot off the ground. The better I got, the more outrageous I flew! I kept pushing the BOL to find it's limits... I think that's why they all run off and try to hide when I walk into my shop. I still haven't found the problem with the "bucking BOL".... I flew it a minute ago and, before I try to repair it.... I'm going to have to get a video of what it's doing. It flies exactly like I'm ramming the stick forward then back. Thanks to all for the suggestions. I'll re-check everything again.

Buzz

P.S. I found a video of Brian flying his 450... dang, no wonder your servos shorted out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bFLS...eature=related

rikybob

Hiya all!

Had a great morning! Worked on "The Thunder Chicken" and will recieve parts soon. Flew the SR until the wind picked up.

I discussed the virtues of going to a Spektrum rx with Simon ref: the BOL since I am, in fact gonna keep it. We agreed that I will need the rx, HK gyro and a tail mixer and I should enjoy flying it more as it will be more stable. This will also allow me to bind with my DX6i so I won't be hauling around a dozen tx!

I hope all is well in YOUR worlds!!

Brian

sgbfly

Hi Brian,

I think there will be a lot of people interested in how the $14 Hobbyking gyro performs in a boardless BOL. The problem many will have with this gyro is that its remote gain only (so no good for a 4 channel transmitter). With this rx & your dx6i you should be laughing.

This mixer is the final piece in the jigsaw.

Simon

aircrash

Hi again Simon,

These photos have a nice lighting!
Both to the background and the leds.

What do you mean?
That you have to connect the remote gain plug or else the gyro does not work at all?
Have you tried to connect it to the ground?

Hi Buzz,

Keep this good sense of houmor.

I think you`ll find out what`s the problem if you spend some time on it.


Hi Brian,

Join the club! Buying parts hobby!

Spiros

sgbfly

Hi Spiros,

Thanks!

As for the gyro, there is no gain pot on it so you can only adjust the gain (or swap between rate & HH mode) using channel 5 on the transmitter. A quick look at the instructions does not say what it defaults to if the sensitivity plug is left unconnected.

A quick read of the product page discussion suggests that it defaults to rate mode if the gain sensitivity cable is left unconnected. You would hope the sensitivity default would be middle of the road........

Simon

peytonm18

Guys,is the only thing i need for the extended inner shaft the inner shaft or is there something else that goes to this?Also,does anyone know what the range is on the BOL?

Buz

Brian,

Is your DX6i an airplane radio or did you get the helicopter radio? It would be nice if you could bind the DX6i to an AR7000 receiver. You'd get another channel to use for auxillary lights, etc.. but I'm pretty sure the AR7000 is incompatible with the DX6i . My DX7 receiver also uses two sets of "ears" instead of one, so the TX signal is received by 4 antennas. It also comes with the larger servos for a 450 or larger helicopter. Anyway, you're really looking good on flying the 450 and the SR. I'm putting my Blade SR back together today. The bend in the boom is not really bad enough to replace it. I have a new one.. but, I'll probably bend it too..
Just finished replacing the feathering shaft, next the new drive gear and then screw the tail motor back into the boom... and I should be ready to go. Then my "Beast" will return soon.... and I think I'll be a bit less aggressive with it this time.

Buzz

Buz

Hi Peyton,

Basically, yes... that's all you need. But, your inner shaft must have a flat spot filed or dremeled at the top and bottom. If you're just buying an extended shaft... I would strongly suggest that you put the stock plastic head aside, and get the metal head upgrade. I put the extended shaft in mine without even taking the body off. Just be sure all of your little bearings are put back on your shaft. You can get the entire thing as a kit.

As for range... I don't know if you're flying 2.4ghz or AM/FM radio. FM is generally "line of sight".. 2.4ghz is about 1300 ft..... according to which brand of equipment you're using. DON'T believe this! The range is actually more like 900 ft with a DX6.... and 1300 ft with a DX7. Off brand name equipment is a guess. With the BOL, I have never been able to fly out of range... and I do fly very high sometimes with a camera on board.

Buzz

rikybob

Hiya Buzz!

It is an Airplane/Heli radio. I work on a budget and could not pass it up new at www.Thebarnfloor.com (register and it is 124bux USD). I may grow up one day and get the 7 as [link=http://www.horizonhobby.co.uk/aeroonline/knews/karticles/k37_nuremberg_radio_insight/k37_radio_insight.html]the 8 is due to be released stateside soon[/link]! 7's will be on Fleabay aplenty! As it stands the cheapest I can get a new one is Barnfloor and that's waaaaaaaaay outside my budget![:@]

Thanx ref: the 450 and SR I am pleased that I was able to learn how to fly the SR finally as sooooo much misery was attached to it! I actually like it alot now that I tamed it!

I am pleased that the 450 was so docile in comparison once I attached the gyro to the rudder rather than the right alerion. It rose straight up! No training wheels no nothing![X(]

In bold above is phunny!! I think you need some of my cautiousness and I need some of your abandon! It would be good to swap attributes![sm=49_49.gif]

Keep yer next Tuesday open as I am going to be in the area of the 415 in Osteen, you are only a hop, skip and a jump![sm=regular_smile.gif]

Brian

PS BTW I will NEVER be able to do funnels, whoop t doos or any other form of aerobatics!!! My line of skill is directly proportional to my wallet!

rikybob

Hi Spiros,

Yah, that's about the size of it!

I support Esky, Eflite (real over priced) and a Clone (not so bad!)

Hope all is well in your world!

Brian

aircrash

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the valuable info.
How about the EK2-0704B ?


Hi Chris,

Better take an xtreme extended shaft, and if you like the xtreme bearing cup also.
You don`t need anything else than that.

As for the range, my lost BOL was in range although I could barely see it... Finally it got out of range when it was so far that I would not fly so far away under normal circumstances.
But it had a 31mm antenna wire (total length including the soldering point) than a 30mm one, as the stock Rx has.
I don`t know if that made a difference.

Spiros

pgroom_68

Hey again Spiros,

By my approximate quick calclulations it would have reduced the overall range by 12% - not much to worry about really! The orientation of your bird is hard to see at that distance anyway, so I wouldn't fly that far away either!!

Peter[sm=shades_smile.gif]

sgbfly

Hi Everyone,

I'm having a blast! & I have uploaded 6 or 7 videos to share with you all (phew!)

Its a tale of 2 helicopters

[img]{akamaiimageforum}/upfiles/483175/Ki19370.jpg[/img]

The BOL is still happy, smug in the knowledge that its pilot makes it go further, higher and faster & that the new kid on the block is not yet out of its training pants. The HK-450GT is quietly confident in its own abilities assured by the fact its only a matter of time before the BOL will wonder which way it went. For the moment, they are friends & [gasp] affectionately touch rotors at night. Long may it stay that way, but woe betide me if I am ever caught lubing a motor bearing without paying some attention to the other.....

Onto the vids of which there are many. I will provide links to them all, but I will embed the ones I would most like to share

Vid 1: My HK-450GT maiden flight - this is for real with no sim time & no cp experience! You can share my moment!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0jtO5org9c[/youtube]

vid 2: 5 minutes later and still on the first lipo!
clicky here

vid 3: 6 minutes later & first lipo again!
clicky here

vid 4: Not to be outdone the BOL goes flying! Sorry Peter for the gormless comment
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MajSOtWLok[/youtube]

vid 5: Second lipo ever for the HK-450GT running a higher head speed
clicky here

vid 6: More hovering practice on my second ever lipo in the HK-450GT
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5knoQ0jySY[/youtube]

vid 7: A special treat for Spiros
clicky here

Hope you all enjoyed the show.

Best wishes to all!

Simon

rikybob

Hi all!

Had a nice morning! Flew the BOL for the 1st time in a few days and note that my December purchased batteries are "bloating" and I shall have to retire same.

I will have a collection of JST and Balance plugs!

Flew my SR and really enjoy it! I am teaching myself throttle curves and gyro gain and how they effect each other. I "sling" that thing around with the identical wreckless abandon that one of our fourm members here enjoys!

What a blast to semi conquer a CP and do so in a 5-10kt breeze!

I got a "bonus day" off yesterday as my work partner called me and advised that I was scheduled off! I worked as far as I could on my "Thunder Chicken" and am anxiously awaiting parts for same coming in this week!

Further I have been enjoying our friend Simon's progress with the HK 450GT! It is an amazing machine and literally is nearly as stable as our coaxial! Fun stuff!

I hope all is well in your worlds!

Brian

sgbfly

Hi Brian,

Yes its amazing . The stability of the 450 is impressive and I can see what you mean when you compare it to the BOL. Sure the BOL will hang in the air almost indefinitely and self stabilise whereas the 450 will not. But, its the poise and precision of the 450 and the fact that it is much less affected by wind etc that impresses stability perhaps lol. For basic hovering the 450 is not all that different to the mSR in "expert mode". I suspect though that learning to fly it in anger will be a different kettle of fish!

Anyway I'm waffling - I should just say that I agree

Simon

Sky Soldier

Hey Ya'll,


Re: cheap batteries.cgi.ebay.com/EK1-0188-11-1V-800mAh-20C-Esky-Helicopter-big-lama-US-/120556763514 Three of my four cheapo batteries came out of the second charging cycle with individual cell voltages ranging from 4.18 to 4.23 However, the fourth one had a whopping overall voltage of 14.5 with cells @ 4.18, 4.23 and 6.54. I accidentally discovered that plugging the batt into a pr 301 balancer, with switching adapter un-plugged, will discharge the batt. Two cells discharged to 3.50, but the third cell remained at 6.54. This one is headed for a salt water bath and I’ll keep a close watch on the other three.

Re: pr 301 balancer. cgi.ebay.com/7-4v-11-1v-LiPo-Balancer-Battery-Charger-rep-EK2-0851-S-/130382336963 I’m getting charging times of 1 hr 10 min with this balancer and esky stock switching adapter, compared to 1hr 30 min with esky stock balancer and adapter. At the end of the cycle the pr 301 is a lot warmer than the stock balancer. The ‘Chinglish’ in the instructions is hard to understand, but it says it has over-voltage protection. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the above mentioned batt. And I don’t understand what they mean about the ‘repair’ cycle. This balancer doesn't seem to be any better at getting the cells to equal voltage than the stock balancer. I don’t think I’ll keep using this balancer.

Re: ebay. Has anyone used these sellers? cgi.ebay.com/Esky-Big-Lama-001367-EK2-0426-2-4G-Receiver-Transmitter-/170457144128 or cgi.ebay.com/Esky-RC-Helicopter-Big-Lama-3-in1-controller-EK2-0709-/270468954533


Rain here today. Hope you’re having better flight weather.

Calm winds,
Jerry

sgbfly

Hi Jerry,

omg this is shocking:

6.54V must be a world record! I am very glad it did not have a firey end!

I would not use it either. Strange thing is this is exactly how my Esky charger(s) eventually failed. ie, they started overcharging one cell and the over voltage protection did not do its job.

The repair function is to slowly try and bring back an overdischarged lipo (less than 3V in a cell) to a usable / chargeable state - that is over 3V per cell (I think).

As for the eBay vendors - no sorry I have no experience of either of them

Best wishes

Simon

ps sorry to hear of the rain spoiling your fun

rikybob

All,

I highly recommend [link=http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7028]this charger[/link] as its 3 fold "fail safes" are less likely to allow this type of over charging to occur. I just bought a cheap JST connector and already had a JXT connector laying around and charge my lil batteries with this. I use my laptop power supply to run the charger with!

Read the specs on the HK website.

Cheers!

Brian

sgbfly

Thanks Brian, I've added it to my wish list

Does this charger keep count of the mAh supplied during charging? I have often wondered if my batteries are capable of the advertised capacity!

Simon

ps. I have just had a look at my laptops switching adapter - great idea

rikybob

Hi Simon,

Yes it does.......check out the manual as it is only 21 pages of "Chinglish" and only 1/2 speak to our needs as we only, for the most part, use Lipo!

Brian

aircrash

Hi Jerry,

You should have asked the spare parts maniac!
Yes, I have bought from him. It arrived very soon.
Recently Ibought a 3in1 from global.mart but I have not tested it yet.
But I would have bought it from Miracle Mart, if it was in stock back then I made the order. As I suspect that ebay items are not that "genuine". Still the previous 3in1 I had bought it worked, except of the low voltage protection.

To the "not that genuine" thing. A swashplate Ihad bought from MM and now another from RC711, have the ball linkages all be the same lenght. They should have two short, two long. But they have four long ones.

To the PR301 charger.
I had bought one, saw that in the same time it charges about 2.5x batteries than only one the esky manages to charge. The PR301 needs about 55 to 70 minutes and the four esky I have about 180 minutes (each)...
With different batteries (tested on both chargers).
So I got another three PR301 chargers, but have not tested them yet.

The cheap batteries:
I have two batteries from two RTF. Basic performance.
Four from global.mart. Have tested two of them. All good, a little better than the stock.
Four from abeyerr. Have tested two of them. Better performance. But the last two I got differ one from the other.

Speaking generally I `m too satisfied from those that cheap batteries.

So I guess you were unlucky with one of those chargers.

But what I do or what I should do:
1. Firstly power the charger, then connect the li-po. Never the opposite.
2. In case there is a main power failure then disconnect the li-po from the charger. Allow enough time to pass then re-connect the li-po.
3. Never interrupt the charging process. If it must be done then allow much time before you plug it again. I had disconnected a li-po from the esky charger and connect it to the PR301. Then the charger for the first time it showed 4.27V to one cell (I can monitor the voltage during charging). This means the battery did not liked this interruption and more enough the charging current difference.
4. Maybe you have connected too much chargers to one power supply. I don`t remember if it is you or Geoff who powers 6 chargers from one 5A charger. Maybe there is an input voltage difference that makes them confused or something. I power 4 chargers from a 5A power supply.

I hope you have better luck with the cheap parts. I DOlike cheap. Ican buy more! But the important thing is I can do better the job.
Example, a "better" but more expensive battery could give me one minute more. But I can buy three cheap ones than a single expensive one, or two about expensive ones and get many minutes more! Not just one.

I can have eight chargers in total so I can charge eight batteries at once than only one.
If you consider the PR301 charges at the same time as an expensive one, but costs 1/4 then you get the picture of how much Ilike the "cheap" parts.

So, I wish you have a better luck on them!
And get a good weather soon, so we have another video!

Spiros

aircrash

Hi Simon,

I see much progress there!
I`ll go to build the solar hot water system now, so I may have some time late at the night to see your videos. But I took a look at them!

Spiros

Ooben

Hi everyone, I hope you all have been having successfull flights, I tried my first outdoor flight the other day. All I will say is the Big Lama is a very tough copter.....

I've been working on my "Parts Lama" and have made a little progress...



I have a question about doing the boardless conversion I'm hoping you experts can answer.....If I get a programmable TX, do I still need the mixer, or can I do that with the mixing in the TX? I've re-read Simons excellent guide a couple of times, but I still can't figure this out for myself... Has anyone used the FlySKy 6 channel TX? I'm like Spiros, I love a good value item for a cheaper price, but I haven't read to many reviews on this yet....
Thank you,
Mike

:Edit: Oops, just watched Simon's 450 video, and saw he is using this radio.....so, what do you think Simon? I can get it for $44USD shipped, is it worth it?
Thanks again,
Mike

sgbfly

Hi Mike,

Your "parts lama" looks good!

Sorry to say this is beyond my expertise. The Dionysus Design coaxial mixer makes things easier but I agree the $30 cost shipped for it does seem a little steep. The cheaper option is to buy a v-tail mixer (hobbywing / turnigy / gws) etc and moderate the rudder sensitivity using the transmitter options. The third option, which you are asking of, ie, transmitter mixing - I have no idea! imo, the $30 price for the DD mixer does not look too bad compared to the time you may have to spend figuring out the other options. My starting point for looking into the other options would be the numerous brushless lama v3 / v4 and cx2 conversion threads on various forums such as RCGroups.

As for the Flysky ct6a (which is the same as the Hobbyking HK-T6A) - it is excellent for the price. I have not used it for the BOL, but I am using it for my HK-450GT.

Simon

ps. I've just seen your edit! lol Its a good tx / rx combo. My advice would be to make sure the vendor is shipping it with the usb cable and that the tx is mode 2. Most vendors default to mode 1 but even so it is possible to change them over should you accidentally order the wrong one.
pps. I've just bought it a transmitter lipo because my NiMH AA cells are getting a bit cr@p. I will let you know how I get on with it or indeed if it fits

Ooben

Hi Simon, thanks for the quick response! What I'm trying to do is justify the cost of the CT6A (I know, not much cost, but the wifey is monitering how much this latest hobby is costing...) I saw the post of yours about the inexpensive gyro (can't remember the name) that has the remote gain, and I'm looking at a v-tail mixer, hoping I can save enough there to make getting the CT6 more attractive to the wifey. That's why I was asking about using the TX mixing to replace the v-tail mixer. I have to get at least a RX for the Parts Lama, it didn't come with one. Have you payed around with using a computer to change the programming yet? I really like the idea of storing an almost unlimited number of model profiles on a computer, that by far makes up for not being able to program the TX onboard...
Mike