Hi

I just installed a throttle jockey as I thought it would help me keep a decent head speed. But I am experiencing some problems. This is what I have done. I installed the sensor and magnet ok, it lights the red led of the jocky fine, I have about one and a half to two mm of clearance. I set the jockey on my spare channel 7, on my Futaba FF8, switch C 2 positions . I did the calibration and checked that the jockey was operating at 25% stick and it was fine. Green light lite up above 25% stick went out below.
I set the ATV to 58 which should give around 1650 for my ratio. I could not inhibit the jockey on the other side of the switch because my reciever does not drop the atv's below 30% and the jockey inhibits at 5% typical.

Now the fun part, I took the heli out in the garden and fired it up. I raised the stick to 25% and the jockey came in and I noticed a raise in head speed. I checked with the tacho and it read around 1630 I came up to half stick which is my hover point and the heli did not lift, so I went to 3/4 and still the heli would not lift. I checked the pitch with a pitch gauge and it was showing 0,6,10. The rotor speed was not stable atall, as I put in more pitch the rotor speed fell off, the head speed was all over the place. It would seem the jockey is not governing the head speed atall. Going up to full pitch the heli just tried to lift and the head speed was wizzing up and down all over the joint. Very worring to be honest. I thought sod this and removed the jockey and went to my original setup and the heli flies fine again. Anyone got any idea's whats going on here. I checked and double checked the wiring and sensor. Not much more I can do.

My only thought about this problem is the engine is running out of tune and the governor is inputting responses, but as the engine is to slow o respond so the governor gets upset and wacks alot more responses to try to over come this. Not sure if this is correct to think this way but it could make sense. The engine was climbing up and down all over the place with the throttle jockey and sending the gyro scatty. I will check the engine tuning tomorrow when I go to the field. Then try installing the throttle jockey again.

Hi Dynomo,

Which throttle jockey you using? Is it the direct one speed six channel unit? If so turn the pot down more so it will come on line at 1600 before you lift off. I am assuming you are using the version with the pot to adjust the speed.

The procedure for setting this up is as follows. Make sure you have full throttle movement from open to close with normal throttle curves and 100 percent end point settings. Make sure the idle trim is full low on the trim. Turn the pot full clockwise on the jockey. After turning the radio on turn the helicopter on and within the first four seconds turn the pot full counter clockwise. The green light will flash quickly which means it is in calibration mode. Move the throttle stick full up and then down. Turn the pot full clock wise and the green light will go out.

Now here is the trick you are missing. Turn the helicopter off and turn the pot half way open to start. This should produce about 1600 rotor rpm when the unit engages. The problem you are having is the unit turns on at 25 percent throttle, but does not engage untill about 75 percent of the preset pot speed. You have the speed set so high on the pot it won't engage untill you get to about 1800 and you are never reaching this. Also you most likely have the pot speed set so high if it does get fast enough before liftoff to engage you are going to get about 1950 rotor speed.

Check the mechanical setup again, run the calibration like I described above. Make sure the transmitter end points are as close to 100 percent as possible and the throttler fully opens and closes. Leave the idle trim on the transmitter set to low when you calibrate. After calibration turn the pot about in the middle to start the first hover tests. Again, the direct RPM throttle jockey turns on at about 25 percent throttle as shown by the green light. It does not engage however untill the engine speed reaches 75 percent of the speed the pot is set at. If you set it up this way it will work fine, then you can set the speed you like by turning the pot one way or the other. You must have the preset speed set low enough to start. The way you have it set right now you could probably get it to engage if you set your throttle curves to get about 1800 before you lift off. But because you have the pot set to goveren the speed so high you are probably better off it did not engage.

After calibration, set the pot in the middle of it's travel, and start there and work up a little on the pot with hover tests to adjust the speed you want. You will hear it engage when it does. This description of the setup here is used for the direct rpm throttle jockey unit. From your post I figured this is the one you have. I run these also and they are very good governors. If you are using the other 8 channel unit with two selectable speeds, go to model avionics web page. It will give you the table to set the T.J. up for you radio system. Any questions send Paul Beard an email at model avionis. He is very helpful. Even on this unit, you will hear it engage at 75 percent or more of the selected speed also.

OC Bob

This tells me you are using the regular TJ version and not the unit with the pot.
What may be happening is the throttle curve rpm is not reaching the target rpm.
You have two choices..lower the TJ setting at the aux channel 7 or up the throttle curve parameters in your radio. The thing needs the throttle rpm to reach the target rpm to engage. Often the AUX channel ATV relationship to actual regulated rpm is different to documentation, so first knock the AUX ATV down to verify this is the issue and you get rpm regulation.

Another problem sometimes comes up when the TJ is initially setup concerns incorrect AUX ATV. Anytime you toggle the TJ into the setup mode make sure the aux channel 7 ATV is set to 100%.

cheers,

stephen bell