What do the terms "Idle up" mean?

[Mart61]

Hi guys

I often see the terms "idle up" and "idle up 1" used in threads and am unsure quite what they mean and how one achieves these settings.

Can anyone offer an explanation please?

Many thanks.

[Mike W]

idle up or stunt mode just means that you fly with a different set of throttle/pitch curves ... as you would not want to start a heli up bottom stick with say -11 on the pitch and going full thorttle .. so heres a rough idea ( this is not law or gospel as each person is different ) .. Normal mode throttle curves ... 0,25,48,60,100 pitch 35,40,50,75,100
idle up throttle 100,60,48,60,100 pitch 0,25,50,75,100

So when your in idle up if you want to go inverted you have the same throttle curves right way up as supside down .. This is just a rough explanation

[Mart61]

Ah, I get you. So a newbie such as me probably wouldn't want to get towards the idle up settings for a while then eh?

[Mike W]

When you get to foward flight you will know when you need to fly idle up and not normal mode .

[inpar]

Hi Martin,

I have recently started using idle up and found it a great help having a constant headspeed, it's one less thing you have to concentrate on.

Throttle curve ( just an example ) norm = 0, 25,50,85,85 and idle up would be 85,85,85,85,85 .... That way there would be a seamless change from norm to idle up.

I'm sure others (Boggy ) will explain it better, he certainly helped me.
Previously I had always thought that idle up = instant crash ... but not so, for me it makes everything so much smoother.

Cheers

Dave

[Sqwidge]

I agree, although i only hover at the indoor i do it in idle up due to the stability of constant headspeed.

As for idle up 1 & 2, this refers to having normal mode to spool up then idle up 1 (fixed throttle speed usually unless you have a V curve set) for sports flying like lazy 8's and FF, then idle up 2 is more extreme for 3d

[Mike W]

please note!! ... elec and nitro have different settings so whats good for one is not for the other .. Most people with elecs have a flat line throttle curve .. and with nitros its a V curve ... you also need to be aware that is good for one is not good for another .. they ok as base settings but then just mess around with them till you are happy with the way it flies

[Mart61]

Many thanks guys. I will mess around in Phoenix and try to achieve these settings.

[Brian Gifford]

Martin, you may remember from our little fly-in I was asking you what throttle curve you had. From what I've seen on here, the electrics run a straight line throttle, something like 80 80 80 80 80, depending on what you are doing. It's only the nitro helis where you need a V shaped curve for idleup.


If I got any of that wrong, any of the experienced guys feel free to correct me.

[Farmer Giles]

Martin, I have my throttle curve in normal mode set to 0 50 90 90 100 and my pitch curve from -4 deg bottom stick, +6 deg mid stick and +10 deg top stick so when I am hovering around at just above mid stick I have a constant 90% throttle so no big changes in head speed are happening.

I am yet to try idle up..

2p

[mattydred]

Martin, I have my throttle curve in normal mode set to 0 50 90 90 100 and my pitch curve from -4 deg bottom stick, +6 deg mid stick and +10 deg top stick so when I am hovering around at just above mid stick I have a constant 90% throttle so no big changes in head speed are happening.

I am yet to try idle up..

2p

i wouldnt try the idle up with those pitch settings because the heli will lift at mid stick because your not at 0 pitch

if you are confident in flying around now i would set the pitch up for -11/0/+11. i would say the setting you have now is for a complete beginner and they would use the -4/+6/+10 to help stop them from dropping the throttle/pitch stick too quickly and slamming the heli into the ground.

i always spool my heli up and put my throttle/pitch stick up to the middle where i know the pitch will be 0 degrees and the heli wont go anywhere. then i'll flick it into idle up with the heli still on the ground and the throttle rpm will pick up but the heli wont go anywhere because your still at 0 pitch.

i never flick into idle up unless the heli is on the ground and at mid stick (0 pitch)

when i come to land i will bring it in and land it then lower the throttle to mid stick (0 pitch) and then flick back out of idle up and back into normal mode and then lower the throttle completely to stop the blades

i know in my head anything above mid stick will give the heli lift and below mid stick will drive the heli down and at mid stick no matter what the rpm the heli wont go nowhere

thats just how i feel comfortable with it

cheers

matty

[Twisted]

Martin, I have my throttle curve in normal mode set to 0 50 90 90 100 and my pitch curve from -4 deg bottom stick, +6 deg mid stick and +10 deg top stick so when I am hovering around at just above mid stick I have a constant 90% throttle so no big changes in head speed are happening.

I am yet to try idle up..

2p

Only problem with this is when your ready to go to 3D or even just sports flying mid stick will not be a hover, i changed mine so that when i am ready to swap to 3D ect the stick positions will be close to the the same, apart from the neg part for inverted flight.

edit... matty beat me to it, and explained it a lot better than me lol

[Farmer Giles]

Yeah, still total beginner here..

Once I am more confident then I will change the pitch settings to full range and start using idle up but for now I'll stick with the beginner level.

cheers

[moyesboy]

As previously posted nitros and electrics are quite differnet in the throttle values.
The throttle values are much higher on electrics rather than nitro.
Typically at the hover point an electric will be on 80-90% throttle (say 80% at zero pitch)
Typically at the hover point a nitro will be on 60% throttle (less than 50% at zero pitch).
Tat’s just in case someone with a nitro reads this and runs 90% throttle at zero pich which may end up with blades flying off!

Rather than a 90-90-90 flat line on the elctric I hae always set full power at fullpitch. My 500 uses 100, 80, 100 in idleup1, and 100, 90, 100 in idleup2 (which gets most of the flying). My 450 hradly ever gets out of its 100% flat line idleup2.

Generally it is best to set up the heli mechanics so that with a pitch curve straight line from zero bottom stick to 100% top stick you have -10 to +10 degrees with zero degrees at mid stick.

Then you can arrange the stick position for hovering with the pitch curve. So to start with it might go 40% 60% 80% (-2 degrees to +8degrees).
When I started I already had ambitions to fly upside down so I decided to hover at ¾ stick so my normal curve was 40%,50%,100% (and still is).
The bottom half of the stick movement just revs the rotor up and all the flying is in the top half of the stick travel.
In idle up the curve is 0%, 50%, 100% so I can chage flight mode in the air while I’m right way up and the heli doesn’t mind and the stick position doesn’t change much. The down side of that is it is possible to forget you are in normal and go upside down 

Once yo start flying utside in a bit of wind it is helpful to have 4 degrees or so if negative pitch available with the power still on so you can stop the heli ballooning up when the wid gets under it. Do this as soon as you get over the slamming the heli down in panic stage.

FarmerG, as you are flying on about 90% throttle then probably your head speed is good (regarding thre other thread!).

[Marcbc]

One advantage of idle up is that with a constant throttle and a full variable pitch you can control the heli better in a vertical direction. Good on a windy day when the wind wants to lift the heli up and you want to bring it down!

Whoops, just noted that Moyes has said the same thing.