Twister Storm 3D Gyro

[millermilla]

Hiya,

I'm very new to the hobby so am still learning. I have read a few articles on gyros and how to set them up. Mechanically my gyro is set up and when I fly in rate mode with all trims central it flies with no rudder input. When I switch it over to heading hold mode it seems to make no difference at all. If I hold he heli by hand (blades removed) and twist it with the rotor head spinning you can feel the tail trying to correct the yaw so it seems like the gyro is working but in the air it's useless.

I have no problem hovering in still air but when there is a bit of a crosswind in heading hold mode you have to constantly correct with rudder. I've also tried to adjust the gain from nothing to max and again it seems to do nothing, no wagging tail at the max setting.

The gyro is a HL400 and I know it's cheap but do you think it's just a crap gyro or is it faulty? If it's just crap then fair enough but if it's faulty I will take it back.


Thanks

[Boggy]

it sounds like you may have H/H and rate muddled up

power the tx and heli up (no throttle/hold engaged.) hold the tail and flick it sideways about 45 degrees. In H/H the tail hub will move to the extreme of its limit and stay there. In rate it will move and then recenter.

[millermilla]

Just double checked and I definitely have them the right way round.

[scoobystig]

best thing you can do is find a cheap futaba 401 and stick it on instead, it transforms the heli
the standard gyro is not much cop to be honest

[cjcj1949]

There's not much doubt that what Boggy says is correct. You don't need to have the motor running to check out a gyro. Gyros aren't gyros anyway. The ones we use that is. They work by measuring the speed that the tail is turning at in degrees or revolutions per second. They work in two modes, rate or hold. Rate is the basic mode and all the gyro does is to try and compensate for any unwanted turning of the tail. When it detects the tail turning it changes the angle of the tail blades to oppose the turn. If you think this doesn't do much you could try bypassing the gyro. In rate mode the heli flies like a plane with the tail following the direction of motion. If a gust happens the tail will turn a bit but not as much as if there wasn't a gyro.

In hold mode the gyro measaures the angle that the tail moves when a gust hits and provides an opposite force until the tail is back where it was. It integrates, or adds up the error term and keeps it at zero. Only in hold mode can the heli move sideways or backwards without the tail moving.

If the gyro on your Twister holds the tail steady in the cold it is doing very well. Mine didn't and I bought a secondhand Futaba 401 which is very good until you reach a high 3D standard.