vertical tail fin stabiliser

[Peteski]

another very Alarming thing was.. i had throttle hold switch flipped for safely ( thankfully) as when i unflicked it to spool up.. the heli went nuts.. spooled up real quick with no throttle input at the stick from me, i quickly killed the throttle via the switch, then noticed my flight mode switch was in the wrong position..I dont recall it doing that before, but maybe it was just never flicked.. il need to sort that as its very dangerous.. just lucky i observed safety..
sorry if my terminology is not quite right , hopefully you get what im saying ?
cheers rob

Before connecting your battery always make sure you check all your switch settings, especially flight mode and TH. Then check them again before you spool up to take off. Never ever skip those checks or presume that the switches are where you left them, they easily get knocked in transit or when you pick up the Tx.

[rob12770]

Before connecting your battery always make sure you check all your switch settings, especially flight mode and TH. Then check them again before you spool up to take off. Never ever skip those checks or presume that the switches are where you left them, they easily get knocked in transit or when you pick up the Tx.

I always check TH switch but i never even knew having the flight mode switched would do that.. it gave me quite a fright i can tell you but i was way back from it a good 20ft.

so this is normal ?? can i change it for safety reasons or should i just leave it as is ?
cheers Rob

[rob12770]

Why is it like this anyway ? for stunt or inverted or something i assume.. sorry for the noob questions but i am ..

[tomatwalden]

I always check TH switch but i never even knew having the flight mode switched would do that.. it gave me quite a fright i can tell you but i was way back from it a good 20ft.

so this is normal ?? can i change it for safety reasons or should i just leave it as is ?
cheers Rob

It's normal. How else do you think RC helicopters fly inverted!? Once you get past the beginner stage - you should be flying in "idle up" so that the left stick controls ONLY the collective pitch. The throttle is pre-set and start-up is simply turning throttle hold off.

That is one of the reasons why my suggested throttle curve gives a flat 70% once you get past the point where positive pitch will make the heli fly ... you want a constant head speed!

[rob12770]

It's normal. How else do you think RC helicopters fly inverted!? Once you get past the beginner stage - you should be flying in "idle up" so that the left stick controls ONLY the collective pitch. The throttle is pre-set and start-up is simply turning throttle hold off.

That is one of the reasons why my suggested throttle curve gives a flat 70% once you get past the point where positive pitch will make the heli fly ... you want a constant head speed!

Yes Tom, i get it now.. that makes perfect sense to me..
thanks again for your help, it is much appreciated
cheers Rob

[Peteski]

Why is it like this anyway ? for stunt or inverted or something i assume.. sorry for the noob questions but i am ..

Honestly, just buy that e-book I linked to and read it through. It explains everything you need to know in layman's terms. There's a fair bit to digest, but better to do that first before you get into trouble! It explains throttle curves, pitch curves, flight modes, etc, etc, etc.

[tomatwalden]

Yes Tom, i get it now.. that makes perfect sense to me..
thanks again for your help, it is much appreciated
cheers Rob

NP. Let us know how you get on. Honestly, you should find the heli much easier to control with those settings ...

[rob12770]

Tom, one last question if you don't mind, regarding idle up mode, i assume you would spool up normally then flick into idle up mode ? the reason i assume that is it seemed a bit violent when i did it by accident
cheers rob

[Holst]

Most speed controllers should have a "soft start" option that will give you a smoother spool up.

Personally I switch to idle up then flick throttle hold off to spool up.

I don't ever fly in "normal" mode, you will realise why when you accidentally go inverted in normal and you crash because your motor
Spooled down.

Best to learn to use throttle hold and idle up from the beginning.

Practice using throttle hold in the sim

[tomatwalden]

Most speed controllers should have a "soft start" option that will give you a smoother spool up.

^^^ This. Most heli ESCs have soft-start such that any requested throttle value, when coming from 0% results in a steady ramp-up to avoid gears being stripped.

....

Best to learn to use throttle hold and idle up from the beginning.

..

Certainly all beginners should be using throttle hold, but I disagree with the statement about using idle-up from the beginning. The reason being that many (most?) beginners start with 4-channel fixed-pitch helis. There is a tendency therefore to "drop the throttle" (ie. the collective stick) in a panic. When you're a beginner, panics happen often, and dropping the throttle happens often. With a beginners' normal pitch and throttle curve - this normally just results in a slightly heavy landing.

Learn from the beginning with idle-up will result in a badly damaged heli very quickly in my view. Best to get a level of confidence first, then transition to idle-up when the TH reaction is instinctive in a problem.

[rob12770]

Learn from the beginning with idle-up will result in a badly damaged heli very quickly in my view. Best to get a level of confidence first, then transition to idle-up when the TH reaction is instinctive in a problem.

I agree.. I would not feel confident at this stage to go idle up, im pretty sure id wreck my heli pretty bad..

Although i have seen others advising to start learning in idle up mode too.. i think maybe its a step too far for most beginners,,but i can only speak for myself..

[rob12770]

so getting back to my question.. i have a standard align ESC.. how would i enable a soft startup ? not that i will be trying idle up at the moment you understand, im just trying to get a handle on things..

[tomatwalden]

so getting back to my question.. i have a standard align ESC.. how would i enable a soft startup ? not that i will be trying idle up at the moment you understand, im just trying to get a handle on things..

Which exact ESC or heli? Pretty sure it'll have soft-start enabled anyway - but more details required.

[rob12770]

so getting back to my question.. i have a standard align ESC.. how would i enable a soft startup ? not that i will be trying idle up at the moment you understand, im just trying to get a handle on things..

It is a Blue one ... lol.. its zip tied in so i can tell which model, but has a blue heat sink.. its standard align gear with the 450 Plus i believe..
It didnt seem like a very "soft" start when i accidentally started in idle up mode is all i can say..in fact i thought maybe id damaged my heli in some way..hence asking about that wobble..

[tomatwalden]

It's the RCE-BL35P. The manual can be found in the link below. Basically it DOES have soft-start for heli-mode, which means yours does have soft-start enabled. An abrupt (non soft-start) will only ever do one thing ... strip teeth from gears (generally the main gear - but occasionally the tail torque tube gears). Missing teeth is normally audible as the heli will sound rough.

Trex 450 Manuals - Page 5 - HeliFreak