New to RC helicopters. is it broken?

[Mastee]

Hi there (sorry about the bad English)

This christmas my girlfriend got a mini RC helicopter from her grandmother (one of those cardboard helies). We had lots of fun with it, and crashed it around the house until it got too smashed up for the super glue. So we went down to the RC shop to see if they had any spare parts, we left the shop with a Twister Bell MedEvac

The helicopter is so much more fun to fly than the cheap cardboard one, but I still have a feeling of "cheapness" with this one.

First: The salesman told me that the charger would take 30-45min to recharge, but in real life its twice that. 90min. Is the salesman a liar, or is it something wrong with the charger/battery?

second: When I'm hovering the helicopter, it has a tendency to turn around its own axis (to the right). I have trimmed the yaw to the max on the controller, and I have also trimmed the "proportional" screw on the "4 in one" onboard thing. It helps a bit, but its still rotating.
It wasnt like this from the beginning, is this somethin I can fiks with a screw driver, or is this a guarantee thing?

third: When I was finished flying just now, I shut down the transmitter before I disconnected the battery, the helicopter totally clicked and started flying on its own, crashing into furniture. This flight ended up in two broken blades isnt it supposed to be a "security" thing on board to avoid this?

Should I take the helicopter back to the shop, and demand a new one, or should I try to fix it myselfe? It's a great helicopter all in all, easy to fly and not too expencive. But i do fear that this new hobbie will result in a slimmer wallet and som large helicopters in my garage in the near future I think I am hooked.

Martin

[Pink Shades]

The instructions I got with my dragonfly 004 said to always turn the radio on before the heli and then turn the heli off before the radio. I guess it's to make sure it doesn't flip - like yours did.

Mine started to spin a bit and it turned out to be the tail blade not turning. The shaft it was on had moved and it wasn't connected to the cog any more. I had to push it back in and it was fine after that.

[Pink Shades]

Oh. And mine takes around 90 minutes to charge as well so the salesman may have been lying. Mine is not the same as yours though so I might be totally wrong.

[Scarecrow]

90 minutes is about right for a flat battery to fully charged. Buying a second battery can remove some of the frustration of waiting, but you still need to allow time for the motors to cool down.

Yawing (twisting) is normal and varies as the battery discharges. You can resolve it to an extent with one of the screws on the 4 in 1 black box so that when you start flying you can correct it on the trim. However as the battery discharges it will start to turn again so that you end up flying it with some 'rudder' input on the stick.

There should be a security feature that shuts the helicopter down if the signal from the transmitter is lost. Having said that mine has done what yours did if you turn the Tx off before the Heli. I guess it's good practise to get in the habit of turning the Tx on first and off last to avoid this problem.

[Mastee]

Thanks for the reply

have I got this right?: the yaw is when the two motors are run in diferent speeds to rotate the helicopter around its own axis? And the on board screw is to calibrate the diferences in the motor speeds?
The probelm is that this does not help, does this mean that one of the motors are just too slow, or that it might be a defect on the control unit?

About the battery: I have read on this forum somewhere that recharging might be quicker if you connect the charger to a 12V source. Is this true? Does it matter what the source is? (is a car battery ok?)
I'm allready looking for a spare battery on the net


Ill follow your advice about the radio Pink Shades thanks.

just 35mins to next flight can't wait

[Mastee]

"Mine started to spin a bit and it turned out to be the tail blade not turning. The shaft it was on had moved and it wasn't connected to the cog any more. I had to push it back in and it was fine after that."

Thanks for the reply
but there is no tail motor on my helicopter, the turn is controlled by changing the speeds on the two rotors. The tail rotor is only there to look cool I guess :b

[Scarecrow]

Haven't tried using a 12v battery to connect the charger to, so am unable to comment if it is any quicker using this method. You should be able to find a happy median in respect of yaw adjustment by using the screw on the 4 in 1 black box, but in my experience with the Medevac, you usually spend most of your time holding some rudder stick in to keep it flying straight.

[Kisana]

Ive got a bell47..great... yes charge time is about right..use 12volt will only save 5 to 10 mins max.not worth the extra powersupply etc..can get a faster charger for about £25.. charge in 40 mins
The rudder trim on tranny is best set to middle when turn on.. and yes you will be adjusting or holding rudder as batt discharges..
Always turn on tranny first and last off!

[Mastee]

Ive got a bell47..great... yes charge time is about right..use 12volt will only save 5 to 10 mins max.not worth the extra powersupply etc..can get a faster charger for about £25.. charge in 40 mins
The rudder trim on tranny is best set to middle when turn on.. and yes you will be adjusting or holding rudder as batt discharges..
Always turn on tranny first and last off!

Thanks
Have you ever tried your Bell 47 outdoors? If yes, is it hard? should I be a "profesional" indoors flyer before I go outside? Will the slightest breath of wind affect the flying?

Martin

[Scarecrow]

I've tried outdoors, and you need it to be really calm. The Medevac doesn't have much forward speed, and if there is the slightest breeze, you will be struggling to stop it drifting backwards and disappearing downwind. Apart from that it's no different to flying indoors.

[Mastee]

The Medevac doesn't have much forward speed, and if there is the slightest breeze, you will be struggling to stop it drifting backwards and disappearing downwind. Apart from that it's no different to flying indoors.

Great, hope for calm weather tomorrow

Centering the yaw trim before connecting the batteries worked and as you said, after flying a while I have to adjust it alot.
The Medevac is said to be a very stable helicopter, and one of the best for beginners like me. What is diferent with "proffesional" helikopters? Do they require more trimming and stabilisation?

And does any of you know of any cool "gadgets" for this model, or where I can get cheap spares?

[Scarecrow]

You can get a few anodised parts for it to 'bling' it up, but that's about it as far as I know. It's the only helicopter I've flown, so can't comment on how it compares to anything else.

[Kisana]

Personally I would not bling it up, just more expensive to fix when crashed..

[Kisana]

It can disintergrate when smashed from outside against side of house..he he.
I also have a venom/twister Fixed pitch still much harder to fly.. the bell47 is sooooo stable.

[fatmantom]

and you need it to be really calm

you also need to be very calm and controlled when flying it. it might just be me but i tend to get a bit cocky and fly it a bit to high and thats when i always loose it to the wind.

so try and keep it close to you however tempting it is to look over the neibours fence with it