New Owner Lots of Questions

I mounted mine on the lower flat spot on the front of the Heli, you can then run your wires down the back of the skids for near to perfect positioning.

Regarding the ESC getting it's throttle signal, if you're using a separate RX then the ESC will be going straight into the throttle channel on the RX and won't be conversing with the 3GX.

As far as arming the ESC / powering up it's generally a matter of turning on the TX and setting throttle hold, then the RX power and then connect the flight packs. Or if you're using a BEC then I suppose you'll be powering up the RX at the same time the flight packs are connected.

Did you notice what radio was used for the demo flight. Futaba uses a different throttle convention. Most use a 1ms pulse as minimum, but Futaba use the other end a 2ms pulse. Different escs use different methods of setting minimum and maximum throttle and you will have to read the instructions for your esc. Usually an esc will go into programming mode if switched on with max throttle and will only initialise with a sequence of beeps when given minimum throttle. Most escs are setup with slow acceleration and so knowing about the initial beeps your fingers would normally be safe until the beeps. As mentioned you would also switch on in throttle hold. This can be a problem though as on many txs the trim value for throttle hold and the trim value for minimum throttle when throttle hold is of can be different. If they are different then there can be a problem if the switch on trim value is lower than the other value. This will cause the blades to rotate. Not fast enough to cause a problem, except in the trousers department.

With a 450 I like to get my arm in the way of the blade and I am ready to break the battery connector if the blades start to move. I'd rather stop them moving and blow the esc than have them moving with no control.

To begin with I'd remove the main blades and be prepared to disconnect the battery if necessary.

Brushless motors will only work if driven in a certain way and most fault conditions will not make the motor run, but just blow the esc fets or do nothing. The old type of motor would run at full speed if the output fet went short, which could happen.

New Owner Lots of Questions

If your using Futaba you need to reverse your throttle channel from the outset.

If your using a bec you can wire it up to just 6s so you can arm the Rx and flybarless without the esc booting up. It works really well on my fusion and you know it dead until you plug the second pack in.

Ok looks like I have a long way to go before a maiden in that case

I dont have the USB for the CC so need to set it up via the throttle, which is why I was worrying about the position reverse.

I had forgotten that the throttle isnt into the 3gx and into the ESC

Good shout on the futaba radio too - feels like I always choose stuff thats different at the moment!

It's not different if it's been set up for Futaba. That may not be possible, but worth checking. Don't worry about the motor. There are many ways of taming it. Taking the main blades off is good enough, especially if you are flybarless. It's very unlikely to start up at full throttle. The esc won't do that. It will not start until you have sent it the minimum throttle value. You might just get confused as to why it's not working, when it is, but in program mode. Try it out, but be ready to disconnect the battery if it does start up. It should also go to zero if you turn off the radio. That is important. You can also use a lower voltage battery to try it out on low throttle. Use a string of AA batteries to give you the minimum volts that your esc will work at. Old batteries are good as they won't give many amps and you don't need much just to try it at low throttle. An amp or two is all you need. You do need a multimeter. Only about £10 from Maplins.

Thanks Guys - been busy with family/work but got some time to look into lipos.

It came with two turnigy 3300 mah batteries fully charged. Since I am still new to lipos I am going to discharge them to storage voltage which I believe should be around 3.86/3.85 per cell.

Once my PLV6 then arrives I can do some proper charging.

My next task is then to re-wire the 3gx since its "normal" and I use a sbus RX - so case of finding the home for the rx then checking wiring diagrammes.

Beyond that is power up and ESC programming I guess - thats the scary bit

I am not going to buy more packs until I am sure I have sussed the lipo and esc side of things, last thing I want is to ruin any batteries or cause issues.

ESC should be quite easy once you get used to it and I would assume the basic stuff has already been set like motor poles and timing etc. so it's just setting the headpseeds you want mainly.

On the LiPos, if you're thinking ahead to share them with a 500 then you may need to stay at around 3000mah size as 3300s may be a bit big for the 500.

Good point on the lipos - I havent got anymore yet so thats something for me to bear in mind!

Did a bit of work tonight and managed to power up the 3gx by taking out the power from the BEC and putting a Life pack in...got a new lead for the Sbus as well.

I am struggling a bit however mounting my RX - has anyone mounted a Sbus onto the Fusion if so where did they pop the Rx?

I put it on the side frame but then realised I cant spread the ariels properly!

New Owner Lots of Questions

Here's how mines done



You can just see the Rx at the bottom on the front.
If your using 3gx then there's extra room on the front for your bec or flight pack.

The aerials run down the back of the front skids like this.


Close up of Rx


Hope it helps

Joe

Fantastic thanks - problem is my BEC is right there with the ESC on the bit above there (with some pretty long wires into the motor). But will have a look tomorrow at how easy it might be to move that about a bit

Still struggling to mount the RX but got the 8fg servo directions sorted and 3gx flashed up to 3.1

I cant mount the rx because there is a BEC and the ESC on the frame front - any other suggestions?

Also about to get batteries - a 500 is a ways off so I was going for the turnigy 3300 mah blues - assume this is quite a good balance between pack size and flight times?

Any pics so far of the setup, may help to visualize where the Rx can go

Here's how I did mine. There's a fair amount of wasted space in the nose of the canopy so I mounted that lower plastic bit in front to where it stuck out instead of lying downward with the frames.

I was using a separate regulator with a 2 cell LiPo so the regulator is hidden inside the frames, the LiPo went under the plastic tray and the RX is inside the open space in the frames on the plastic shelf.