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Alright all,
A friend of mine has taken a punt on the new FBL unit from Spirit-Systems in the Czech Republic.
Since he works away he's given me the oppo to test his new toy and suggested that I might review it, so here it is!
This review is not supposed to be a substitute for reading the manual! It's simply intended to review my own impression of things.
I may miss important steps and/or info, please RTFM!
I'm in no way affiliated with Spirit and as stated above I don't even own the unit I'm reviewing. I have absolutely no bias whatsoever.
I'm aiming this review mainly at the experienced FBL'r who has used and is familiar with the usual FBL suspects.
I'm not going to go over all of the features, only the ones I've used or researched.
I'm pushed for time so this will be brief and punctuated with spelling, grammar and.....err....punctuation mistakes!
The unit itself seems very nicely made with a matte finished gunmetal looking case, though I can't in any way vouch for its internal construction.
It comes with a USB programming cable and the usual pads and patch leads, the leads by the way look like the good quality German ones included in the Vbar (and probably other good FBL units)
It can be mounted either horizontally or vertically but must be exactly perpendicular and in line with mast/fore aft. This is especially important for the rescue function to work correctly. Although there is only a single sat port, two can in fact be used by employing a Tarot/Beastx type drop down voltage cable.
I'm using Spektrum but opted to review the Spirit using the RX that my friend will ultimately use in its final home (Goblin 570)
We've chosen the test mule to be a Logo 500 since it's not so much of a "prize" to risk as the new Goblin if anything catastrophic were to happen!
It's still an excellent heli though and great for the test.
The Logo is decked out modestly as far as the servos go, Align DS610s on the cyclics and a 650 on the tail though it is using a Kontronik/Scorpion power combo, certainly powerful enough to give the Spirit some work to do.
Please note: as with other FBL units, do not have any of the servos connected at this point, connect them after setting the pulse width and frequency in the wizard/interface. Also have a fresh, reset model memory in your TX with straight 0-100 throttle and pitch curve settings.
After installing the unit, software and USB driver we're ready to do the setup. As of writing the unit MUST be powered on and initialised (one pitch pump, red light solid) before the software is opened, otherwise the unit will not connect! I believe the developer is working on this so that the order does not matter but that has not been implemented as yet.
Once the unit connects you are presented with a panel like this:
I've done the screen grabs from "demo" mode but tried (with limited time) to input sensible values.
This screen allows connection to the unit and was already connected when it appeared during my "live" setup.
At this point you can choose the COM port your USB adaptor is using (if it's not already pre-chosen for you) and see what version of the firmware is installed. The developer seems very proactive with firmware updates so worth checking before you setup.
Click the wizard button and you get an intro panel like this:
Nothing to do here except read the notes.
Clicking next gives the RX type selection panel:
Choose your RX type and hit next(I chose PWM-Classic since I was using a full size Spekky RX with a sat attached to it)
...and you are presented with a vbar style wiring diagram for the RX type you selected.
Pay close attention to the polarity and the signal only pins for ELE/PIT/AIL, if you plug power in there you could let the magic smoke out!!
Wire up as stated but without the servos remember!
Click next:
This gives the "connection test" screen. Click connect then next:
This gives a diagnostic panel similar to the Vbar, one difference though is that its not necessary to set reverse at this point, just do centres and endpoints and your done...next....
The General settings panel is designed to set general gain settings for the size and shape of the heli you are using as well as unit orientation and CCPM geometry, If your heli is not listed, just choose something broadly similar in size, settings can be refined later.
Next.....
Set the pulse width and maximum servo frequency for the cyclics and tail respectively, you can set up to 333mhz for the cyclics but I'm not sure that would be entirely necessary. I set the mules to 200mhz to reduce overheating and current draw, tail was set to 333mhz though. After clicking next you can connect your servos......
I think this panel should have been called something like "servo and correction/sense reversing" since it deals with both. At this point use the cyclic servo reverse drop down menu to choose an option that has all three cyclic servos moving in the same direction, then use the reverse function in the TX to get AIL EVE PIT COMMANDS all going the right way for your heli.
After that check that the gyro SENSE for each axis is correct and use the tick boxes to reverse as necessary. Next...
The subtrim section is used to set the servo centre positions, again similar to other FBL units. The tickbox must be ticked to make the adjustments rather than simply entering the menu item, the sliders work well for this. this is the point at which the rest of the head and tail linkages should be 90'd. Next....
This panel allows setting of the maximum pitch range, it's a single value and does not allow for individual positive and negative maximums to be set, relying instead on the head geo being correct. You can of course always patch over it using the pitch settings in the radio if necessary.
Tick the box for "cyclic ring" to set that function, wiggle the sticks to all possible extremities and reduce increase to max but without binding.
The rudder endpoints are pretty obvious, just move the rudder stick one direction and use the slider to adjust to max movement without binding/stall, repeat for the other direction. The only slight thing here is that the panel does not show which slider does which direction but a little experimentation means that it's a non issue really.
Next......
This panel is used to set the cyclic control loop resolution I guess in much the same way as other FBL's do? Tick the box with a pitch gauge attached to a blade running parallel to the boom and use the up/down arrows to set to 6 degrees. Probably would have been more consistent to use a slider here but there may be reasons to use incremental units, ease of adjustment perhaps. Works well though.
Next....
Pirouette compensation is again much like other units, tick the box the swash will deflect in a given direction, rotate the bird in the yaw axis and check the direction of deflection does not change or rotate. if it does, tick the reverse box.
If you are going to use the rescue feature of this unit it is CRITICAL that you get this right!! You could end up with confetti for a heli, please be careful....
Next.....
The next two panels simply serve to save your settings to the unit permanently, pretty self explanatory...
At this point the basic setup is complete, you should re-check all of your control directions and sense directions before you fly.
The only other things I did after this was to set up the rescue function and increase the ELE AIL YAW rates using the panels below.
Changing the cyclic and rudder values at the bottom of the panel above allow faster rotational rates for the corresponding controls. Very straight forward.
The rescue function requires very little but CAREFUL setting up. When enabled it uses the non heading hold side of the tail gyro channel to affect the rescue. What is not clear is that the negative value chosen should be the same or similar to the positive one for HH gyro rate.
In effect setting ANY value below 0 (or 50% in gyro type menu) activates rescue mode but the actual value ALSO sets the tail gyro rate for rescue mode.
Initially I set this value to -100 (0 in gyro type menu) and when I hit the rescue switch the heli shot off skyward with it's tail doing 90 degree wags!!! Simple once you know though.....
The function drop down provides 4 options:
Disabled...obvious
Normal...all rescues are to right way up
Acro... rescues to either RWU or inverted, whichever is quicker
Stabilised.... acts like the autoleveling of a quad, stays or returns to level if sticks are at centre.
I set it up as Acro.
The two lower controls affect how much control the pilot has during a rescue, I left those at default.
The most important thing on the panel though is the "rescue collective pitch" slider. For Acro mode this must give full positive when the heli is RWU and full negative if it's inverted. The implications of getting this wrong are obvious! Please check and double check.
Flight test.
The flight test was an evening one! With dark clouds gathering behind me I was a bit pushed!
The setup flight was uneventful barring the rescue tail gain issue mentioned above. One thing I noticed though was that previously I honestly didn't think I had any real need for a rescue system. I was only testing it because the Spirit has it. I can get out of just about anything these days as long as I can see where the bird has emerged from a manoeuvre. This, however is where a rescue system might really come in handy!
I fly a lot in the evening and the only crashes or near misses I've had are where the heli is very low and I can't tell which way round it is. A bit of height gives the luxury of watching stick reactions to work out orientation but if the bird is a black baseball bat 10 feet off the ground and falling fast you have only a chance you'll be able to recover. I could see the rescue being a good thing for people who fly into the evening and when the sun is low.
Anyhoo, I can say that on the stock settings the Spirit flys very well indeed. It has a cyclic "feel" somewhere near the vbar/brain and is generally very pleasant to fly. I didn't notice any "bobbling" as some call it and once dialled in the tail felt very nice, much like the vbar tail stop wise.
There is a "flight style" slider under the general tab, the function of which will be obvious to most but I've not had a chance to explore its effects yet. Hopefully when I get my own Spirit (which I'll definitely do soon, it's currently sold out!) I'll have a chance to experiment and refine.......
Oh, the rescue mode, I nearly forgot! It works, exactly as intended and without drama. I tried it numerous times and each time the wee Logo shot skywards instantly. I could see it being a godsend for learners, especially at it's price point. £146 delivered seems very good value for money for a unit with it's features and performance.
If the developer remains committed to it, I can see it becoming a major player in the FBL market.
(For reference I've owned and setup, Beast, Brain, GT5, Vbar, 3GX, ZYXs though noteably not Skookum or Spartan)
Any questions, I'd be happy to answer if I can.
Any suggestions/comments for the review I'd also welcome especially since it's the first time I've ever reviewed anything like this (and hurriedly!)
Cheers
D
A friend of mine has taken a punt on the new FBL unit from Spirit-Systems in the Czech Republic.
Since he works away he's given me the oppo to test his new toy and suggested that I might review it, so here it is!
This review is not supposed to be a substitute for reading the manual! It's simply intended to review my own impression of things.
I may miss important steps and/or info, please RTFM!
I'm in no way affiliated with Spirit and as stated above I don't even own the unit I'm reviewing. I have absolutely no bias whatsoever.
I'm aiming this review mainly at the experienced FBL'r who has used and is familiar with the usual FBL suspects.
I'm not going to go over all of the features, only the ones I've used or researched.
I'm pushed for time so this will be brief and punctuated with spelling, grammar and.....err....punctuation mistakes!
The unit itself seems very nicely made with a matte finished gunmetal looking case, though I can't in any way vouch for its internal construction.
It comes with a USB programming cable and the usual pads and patch leads, the leads by the way look like the good quality German ones included in the Vbar (and probably other good FBL units)
It can be mounted either horizontally or vertically but must be exactly perpendicular and in line with mast/fore aft. This is especially important for the rescue function to work correctly. Although there is only a single sat port, two can in fact be used by employing a Tarot/Beastx type drop down voltage cable.
I'm using Spektrum but opted to review the Spirit using the RX that my friend will ultimately use in its final home (Goblin 570)
We've chosen the test mule to be a Logo 500 since it's not so much of a "prize" to risk as the new Goblin if anything catastrophic were to happen!
It's still an excellent heli though and great for the test.The Logo is decked out modestly as far as the servos go, Align DS610s on the cyclics and a 650 on the tail though it is using a Kontronik/Scorpion power combo, certainly powerful enough to give the Spirit some work to do.
Please note: as with other FBL units, do not have any of the servos connected at this point, connect them after setting the pulse width and frequency in the wizard/interface. Also have a fresh, reset model memory in your TX with straight 0-100 throttle and pitch curve settings.
After installing the unit, software and USB driver we're ready to do the setup. As of writing the unit MUST be powered on and initialised (one pitch pump, red light solid) before the software is opened, otherwise the unit will not connect! I believe the developer is working on this so that the order does not matter but that has not been implemented as yet.
Once the unit connects you are presented with a panel like this:
I've done the screen grabs from "demo" mode but tried (with limited time) to input sensible values.
This screen allows connection to the unit and was already connected when it appeared during my "live" setup.
At this point you can choose the COM port your USB adaptor is using (if it's not already pre-chosen for you) and see what version of the firmware is installed. The developer seems very proactive with firmware updates so worth checking before you setup.
Click the wizard button and you get an intro panel like this:
Nothing to do here except read the notes.
Clicking next gives the RX type selection panel:
Choose your RX type and hit next(I chose PWM-Classic since I was using a full size Spekky RX with a sat attached to it)
...and you are presented with a vbar style wiring diagram for the RX type you selected.
Pay close attention to the polarity and the signal only pins for ELE/PIT/AIL, if you plug power in there you could let the magic smoke out!!
Wire up as stated but without the servos remember!
Click next:
This gives the "connection test" screen. Click connect then next:
This gives a diagnostic panel similar to the Vbar, one difference though is that its not necessary to set reverse at this point, just do centres and endpoints and your done...next....
The General settings panel is designed to set general gain settings for the size and shape of the heli you are using as well as unit orientation and CCPM geometry, If your heli is not listed, just choose something broadly similar in size, settings can be refined later.
Next.....
Set the pulse width and maximum servo frequency for the cyclics and tail respectively, you can set up to 333mhz for the cyclics but I'm not sure that would be entirely necessary. I set the mules to 200mhz to reduce overheating and current draw, tail was set to 333mhz though. After clicking next you can connect your servos......
I think this panel should have been called something like "servo and correction/sense reversing" since it deals with both. At this point use the cyclic servo reverse drop down menu to choose an option that has all three cyclic servos moving in the same direction, then use the reverse function in the TX to get AIL EVE PIT COMMANDS all going the right way for your heli.
After that check that the gyro SENSE for each axis is correct and use the tick boxes to reverse as necessary. Next...
The subtrim section is used to set the servo centre positions, again similar to other FBL units. The tickbox must be ticked to make the adjustments rather than simply entering the menu item, the sliders work well for this. this is the point at which the rest of the head and tail linkages should be 90'd. Next....
This panel allows setting of the maximum pitch range, it's a single value and does not allow for individual positive and negative maximums to be set, relying instead on the head geo being correct. You can of course always patch over it using the pitch settings in the radio if necessary.
Tick the box for "cyclic ring" to set that function, wiggle the sticks to all possible extremities and reduce increase to max but without binding.
The rudder endpoints are pretty obvious, just move the rudder stick one direction and use the slider to adjust to max movement without binding/stall, repeat for the other direction. The only slight thing here is that the panel does not show which slider does which direction but a little experimentation means that it's a non issue really.
Next......
This panel is used to set the cyclic control loop resolution I guess in much the same way as other FBL's do? Tick the box with a pitch gauge attached to a blade running parallel to the boom and use the up/down arrows to set to 6 degrees. Probably would have been more consistent to use a slider here but there may be reasons to use incremental units, ease of adjustment perhaps. Works well though.
Next....
Pirouette compensation is again much like other units, tick the box the swash will deflect in a given direction, rotate the bird in the yaw axis and check the direction of deflection does not change or rotate. if it does, tick the reverse box.
If you are going to use the rescue feature of this unit it is CRITICAL that you get this right!! You could end up with confetti for a heli, please be careful....
Next.....
The next two panels simply serve to save your settings to the unit permanently, pretty self explanatory...
At this point the basic setup is complete, you should re-check all of your control directions and sense directions before you fly.
The only other things I did after this was to set up the rescue function and increase the ELE AIL YAW rates using the panels below.
Changing the cyclic and rudder values at the bottom of the panel above allow faster rotational rates for the corresponding controls. Very straight forward.
The rescue function requires very little but CAREFUL setting up. When enabled it uses the non heading hold side of the tail gyro channel to affect the rescue. What is not clear is that the negative value chosen should be the same or similar to the positive one for HH gyro rate.
In effect setting ANY value below 0 (or 50% in gyro type menu) activates rescue mode but the actual value ALSO sets the tail gyro rate for rescue mode.
Initially I set this value to -100 (0 in gyro type menu) and when I hit the rescue switch the heli shot off skyward with it's tail doing 90 degree wags!!! Simple once you know though.....
The function drop down provides 4 options:
Disabled...obvious
Normal...all rescues are to right way up
Acro... rescues to either RWU or inverted, whichever is quicker
Stabilised.... acts like the autoleveling of a quad, stays or returns to level if sticks are at centre.
I set it up as Acro.
The two lower controls affect how much control the pilot has during a rescue, I left those at default.
The most important thing on the panel though is the "rescue collective pitch" slider. For Acro mode this must give full positive when the heli is RWU and full negative if it's inverted. The implications of getting this wrong are obvious! Please check and double check.
Flight test.
The flight test was an evening one! With dark clouds gathering behind me I was a bit pushed!
The setup flight was uneventful barring the rescue tail gain issue mentioned above. One thing I noticed though was that previously I honestly didn't think I had any real need for a rescue system. I was only testing it because the Spirit has it. I can get out of just about anything these days as long as I can see where the bird has emerged from a manoeuvre. This, however is where a rescue system might really come in handy!
I fly a lot in the evening and the only crashes or near misses I've had are where the heli is very low and I can't tell which way round it is. A bit of height gives the luxury of watching stick reactions to work out orientation but if the bird is a black baseball bat 10 feet off the ground and falling fast you have only a chance you'll be able to recover. I could see the rescue being a good thing for people who fly into the evening and when the sun is low.
Anyhoo, I can say that on the stock settings the Spirit flys very well indeed. It has a cyclic "feel" somewhere near the vbar/brain and is generally very pleasant to fly. I didn't notice any "bobbling" as some call it and once dialled in the tail felt very nice, much like the vbar tail stop wise.
There is a "flight style" slider under the general tab, the function of which will be obvious to most but I've not had a chance to explore its effects yet. Hopefully when I get my own Spirit (which I'll definitely do soon, it's currently sold out!) I'll have a chance to experiment and refine.......
Oh, the rescue mode, I nearly forgot! It works, exactly as intended and without drama. I tried it numerous times and each time the wee Logo shot skywards instantly. I could see it being a godsend for learners, especially at it's price point. £146 delivered seems very good value for money for a unit with it's features and performance.
If the developer remains committed to it, I can see it becoming a major player in the FBL market.
(For reference I've owned and setup, Beast, Brain, GT5, Vbar, 3GX, ZYXs though noteably not Skookum or Spartan)
Any questions, I'd be happy to answer if I can.
Any suggestions/comments for the review I'd also welcome especially since it's the first time I've ever reviewed anything like this (and hurriedly!)
Cheers
D
+ 7 x Eddies finest EGS's
if you get my meaning.
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