BeastX settings for 300/450 size helis

[Peteski]

I recently set up my first BeastX (Microbeast Plus V4 Pro) for my 300 class heli (OXY 3) and in the user manual it advised turning down the main head gain (Pot 1) slightly below mid for smaller helis as they are more prone to cyclic wobbles at higher gains. So I did just that and it flew okay out of the box, but the cyclic always felt slightly soft and prone to drift, especially in wind. Fast piro consistency was also quite poor and it would tend to drop the tail and get out of shape quickly without correction. So being inexperienced I thought this was just normal for a small heli and I knew the CofG was a bit too rearward so I presumed this was causing the piro inconsistency.

Fast forward a couple of months and by then I'd tweaked up the main head gain to the default mid position and it was a slight improvement, but nothing spectacular. Then I decided to try to improve the erratic piro consistency by carefully balancing the CofG, thinking this would be the solution. Well it turned out to be a very slight improvement, but hardly noticeable. I was quite disappointed at this point. Then I decided to increase the main head gain a bit more and so I tweaked it up just one mark from mid. All I can say is WOW!! Suddenly the whole thing was locked in solid and it could piro on the spot at full rudder without moving an inch. I was stunned at the effect of such a small change. So I went another step up and it was still all good, with no downside at all. I've now had about 15 flights with this revised head gain setting and my flying has improved dramatically! It just feels so much more locked in, deals with winds much better than before and piro moves are night and day easier to control. I was obviously flying with the head gain too low for a long time!

Has anyone else noticed how sensitive the pot 1 settings are? Also anyone else running high head gain with a small heli? I presume if I go too high it will eventually start to oscillate on hard cyclic stops, but there's absolutely no sign of that at around 75% head gain. I'm thinking the user manual was being extremely conservative and I would have been better to just ignore it in this case!

[trexamanic]

i am about to re-maiden my 450 dfc after removing the electrics for my chase 360 (minus the motor ofcourse)
I have it all set up last night and tided all my cabling. I have never really touched the pots before but it is something i really need to learn about so i am going to be following your thread.
i also have an ar7200bx on the chase so that is yet to be done and i should have time today to look at my thread on the 230 s and try to figure out settings ready to maiden it.

[kenny d]

Hi Pete thanks for posting this useful info , Kd

[Peteski]

No worries guys, hope the info is of some use. If you haven't tried already it's definitely worth pushing the head cyclic gain (pot 1) as high as it can stand if you like a locked in cyclic feel. It's a sensitive setting though, so only go 1 or 2 marks up at a time!

It was this guide linked below that inspired me to experiment with the settings. Point no. 11 which discusses the effect of increasing or decreasing pot 1 hit the nail on the head for me. With my lower initial setting (just a tad below mid) the cyclic had a pretty loose feel, especially in windy conditions. I just didn't have the experience to realise it could be improved so much more.

http://www.rchelination.com/beastx-v3-tuning-guide/

[waveydavey]

Be careful in going too far with pot 1, it will do as Pete has said and lock the heli. It will also resist stick movement making the heli unresponsive and slow, use pot 2 to help with stick feel and response of the heli. Heres a description of the swashplate gains and setup

Basic flight setup - BEASTX Wiki

[Peteski]

Be careful in going too far with pot 1, it will do as Pete has said and lock the heli. It will also resist stick movement making the heli unresponsive and slow, use pot 2 to help with stick feel and response of the heli. Heres a description of the swashplate gains and setup

Basic flight setup - BEASTX Wiki

Thanks wavey, I'll take a look at this link. Certainly haven't gone high enough on pot 1 yet to experience any negative effects, which surprised me a little with a 300 size model. It feels locked in, but also very responsive to cyclic inputs. It really feels much like a sim heli now in a good way! I have experimented with pot 2 but didn't find much (if any) difference going from slightly below to slightly above mid. Maybe I was too conservative with my changes or maybe the heli is so naturally agile that it doesn't need a head start on cyclic input? So I've left pot 2 on default mid position for now, which seems good. Cyclic just feels direct and precise with these settings and no overshoots or oscillation.

[waveydavey]

Pot 2 is commonly called the feed forward pot and whether it's a direct amount of stick movement nobody has ever really explained it but essentially it's the amount of stick input put through to the servos without it being input or messed with by the control loops, or direct gain as they call it

[Peteski]

Yes, I think it's fairly clear in the user manual what pot 2 does i.e. bypasses the cyclic control loop with a direct stick to servo input. It effectively takes some load off the control loop but if you go too far with pot 2 then the control loop will make a counter-correction when it eventually catches up. My limited experience with the 300 is that the control loop is plenty fast enough without too much direct bypass. Pot 2 at mid seems more than enough to give a quick cyclic response and that's with the cyclic response parameter G set at low (normal) and plenty of expo in the Tx. As it says in your link and the guide I linked to earlier, various combinations of pot 1 and pot 2 can give a different feel. Parameter G seems like yet another type of head "gain" setting you can play with!