Newbie with a Blade mCX2

[owend]

The 450's battery has been charged via 12v car battery, and it had its first flight yesterday. About 5 minutes, achieved about half a metre altitude, about as stable as a politician at a press conference, but at least it stayed over the lawn - I didn't intend much more, it was just to prove that the machinery worked.

One slight problem encountered already: for some reason the Tx came unbound from the Rx, possibly because of my examination of the DX6i, but one helpful phone call to King's Lynn Model Shop and I now know how to bind the heli!

mCX2 flying getting more polished, but it's for inside only, now the 450's on the menu for outside!

[owend]

My mCX2 flying is gradually getting more polished; my latest, self-designed, manouvre is to see how close I can get to a predetermined target (as I'm only flying it indoors, highspeed large circuits are likely to be criticised by the management). Landings are slightly loose, I think ground effect can be a bit unpredictable sometimes because of furniture, drafts etc, but I can land with at least one skid on an A4 size pad, and place the heli fairly reliably in three dimensions.

Interesting observation: quite often, as the heli gets close to a smooth vertical surface like a wall, it suddenly moves towards the surface as though the rotor sets up some suction. This is only when it's REALLY close, about one bladewidth (1cm) from the wall, and it doesn't happen if I fly (slowly!) backwards, I can get the tail touching the wall OK. Anyone able to explain? There's a similar effect with large ships where water movement between the ship and the dock (or another ship, eg Olympic and Hawke) can creat suction through the Bernouilli effect of moving water, but I don't think that should apply to contra-rotating rotors.......unless you know different!

Owen

[Varelco]

Well done on your progress, sounds like you have that mcx2 sussed! It's not uncommon for small helis to get sucked into walls, It is called the coanda effect.

[nobbycopter]

Newbie with a Blade mCX2

It's also not uncommon for large helis to get sucked into the ground...it's called dumb thumbs and gravity lol

Well done with progress...if you want a challenge try backwards circuits

[owend]

Thanks for the encouragement! Sorry, Neil, I can do backwards circuits (slowly), although I'm expecting the 450 to be more challenging.

The 450 was out again today in a slightly blustery wind, I was able to control it over our lawn, which is too small for anything more than a low hover, and even then the bird feeder, bird bath, bushes etc caused several quick landings. If it's OK tomorrow I'll probably go to the village playing field and try to apply what the mCX2 has taught me!

Owen

[owend]

Thanks Varelco, I dimly remembered the coanda effect from my youth but I had to go to Wikipedia to refresh my mind. It's good to know it was physics and not my thumbs!

Owen

[owend]

I'm finding the batteries seem to be losing power: I'm only getting about three minutes, lower power than at first, before they get so weak I can't take off, and the whole thing is more sluggish answering the Tx.

I have a 150mAh that came with the heli, and an extra 160, both 25C and of course 3.7v/1S. They've had about 60-80 flits each over the last two months (I didn't keep a close record), only charged on the EFlite charger that came with the heli, not run after the heli showed signs of low battery.

Is that a typical lifespan? As a new boy, I don't know what to look for!

Also, what life should I expect from the 3S batteries for my Blade 450 - anyone know?

Thanks,

Owen

[Liam B.]

The eflite battery charger that it comes with is utter rubbish. Either get a Eflight celectra or get a decent wall charger. Also the life span depends on the brand of batterys, if balanced charged and NEVER EVER GO BELOW 20%.
Liam

[owend]

Hi, Liam, do you mean never go below 80% (ie 20% discharged?) - I thought that was the target. I'm OK with the EFlite charger, it's not too good on battery but using a mains adaptor it's fine for me. I balance charge the 3S every time.

You may be interested in cheap batteries for the mCX2: E-flite 150mAh 1S 3.7v 25C Li-Po Battery - I got some today!

Owen

[tomatwalden]

Hi, Liam, do you mean never go below 80% (ie 20% discharged?) - I thought that was the target. I'm OK with the EFlite charger, it's not too good on battery but using a mains adaptor it's fine for me. I balance charge the 3S every time.

You may be interested in cheap batteries for the mCX2: E-flite 150mAh 1S 3.7v 25C Li-Po Battery - I got some today!

Owen

Never go below 20% left in the battery - ie. 80% discharged ..

HTH. T

[owend]

Thanks, Liam and Tom, I'd misunderstood things. Again.

Owen

[owend]

Update: it wasn't a battery problem after all! I got some new batteries, which made no difference. I took the shell off to check for anything rubbing, since it was starting to look like a friction issue; by chance i touched the motors and nearly dropped the heli, one was so hot. Looking online, several forums (mostly US) discuss motor heating problems, following which the motors sometimes move in their cages (which are plastic and with heat they soften and let the motors move) and either catch the wrong gear or miss a gearwheel altogether. It seems running batteries back-to-back causes the motors to overheat; the general recommendation sems to be to allow a ten minute cooling period between batteries.

The right-hand motor (upper blades); when out of its cage and free from the gear, it ran, but with a "notchy" sound about every fifth of a second, and still got hot with no load. I got a new one and replaced it today; the MCX2 is like new, on the old batteries!

So: if you have lift/control/battery life problems, check how hot the motors are in your forensic examination. I only had one hot motor, but I'll keep a close eye on the other in case it's about to fail too.

I hope this helps other mCX2 flyers. The good news is that I now have plenty of new batteries, and a bit deeper understanding of how the heli works!

Owen

[owend]

Update: I am getting 6-7 minutes of active flying from the original 150mAh battery now, and no jerks, clicks or control issues!

Owen