Phoenix and DX6i Question

[gurnster75]

Hi,
I've calibrated my DX6i on phoenix and have been flying the blade 120SR, i was having a play with the settings on phoenix and brought up the contoller display on screen. Here's the question, the throttle stick on screen is just off centre when my throttle is off, as I increase the throttle to the centre they match up, then as I continue to increase throttle to full the onscreen stick goes to fully off. The 120SR does what my throttle asks so what have I done wrong? I've recalibrated it several times, the throttle only moves 2 channels while I calibrate and swash mixing is off I believe (although I have no idea what it means but phoenix mentions having it off)?
Thanks in advance.

[tomatwalden]

I think the "throttle" stick on-screen is meant to represent collective pitch rather than throttle. The Blade 120SR being fixed-pitch doesn't have collective pitch, so the display probably goes a little wonky.

But, please DON'T try to learn using the Blade 120SR on Phoenix. For starters, it's not easy but more importantly, it won't teach you how a collective pitch heli flies anyway as the 120SR has a self-righting nature.

Choose a BIG heli in the sim - something like a 550,600 or 700 class. That'll then put you on the right path for a real-life 450!

[gurnster75]

I thought it would have been best not to start with collective pitch and to work up to it, I'd assumed you should pick a beginner model similar to those recommended as good starter models. I did decide to have a play and selected the Mcpx, but even with the throttle on max it wouldn't take off, I know it's probably obvious but what am I doing wrong? Thanks for your help tom, really appreciate it.

[tomatwalden]

Sims are notoriously bad for flying the micro helicopters. You really are better off using the sim to learn against a larger model. If a collective pitch model isn't taking off, you probably haven't setup a pitch curve in your TX. Check you DX6i - it has two programmed curves for any given model. One is the throttle curve, the other is the pitch curve. The left stick applies these two curves on different channels to the model (or sim). In this way, the left stick actually controls two functions simultaneously.

Without both curves defined, the sim won't work with a collective pitch model.

[gurnster75]

Thanks, clear as mud, haha.

[tomatwalden]

Thanks, clear as mud, haha.

LOL. You might want to do a little research on helicopter flight! I seriously recommend watching this YouTube playlist. I loved it, and it taught me loads about how helicopters fly, and some of the important terms you need to understand.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...ECC2E56B68A2C3

Also, take a look through John Salt's website. It's a brilliant resource for beginners. The thing you really need to get up to speed on is collective pitch and cyclic pitch. Understand these fundamental terms and the whole thing will seem a lot easier!

RC Helicopters - A Super Fun & Rewarding Hobby

[gurnster75]

Cheers Tom, I've checked out those links and have the gist of collective and cyclic pitch, just need to work my way through the manual for my transmitter to figure out how to set it up. Thanks again.

[gurnster75]

Hi Tom, I've managed to edit my settings and get a cp heli off the ground but still unsure if I've selected the correct settings. I edited the default settings 1 at a time until I managed to get it off the ground.
I've got
Engine channel 1 with 50% pitch curve
Cp channel 6 with 50% pitch curve
Elevator/cyclic channel 3 with invert selected
Aileron/cyclic channel 2 with invert selected
Rudder/ tail rotor channel 4 with invert selected
Is this correct or the best settings for a beginner?
Thanks in advance

[tomatwalden]

I'm not really certain what you mean by "50% pitch curve" !?!?

Perhaps take a read through this ... Phoenix Setup with DX6i step-by-step guide - HeliFreak

Best of luck! T

[gurnster75]

I'm not really certain what you mean by "50% pitch curve" !?!?

Me neither haha, thanks for the link.