Vbar setup help

[helimadness]

Hi All.
I installed a Vbar just before going on holiday. Went through everything fairly carefully and fairly sure I have it all right. Fly's the best it ever has.
So playing on the bench I noticed with full forward ele and full collective it bottoms out the tail servo on the anti rotation bar. Checking the pitch and it was off the scale +14 deg in all directions. I checked the setup and had 12 on the collective and 8 on the cyclic.
Then I remembered something about using DR to control the range. So dropped the Ele back to 50% and the Ail back to 45% to get 10 deg Cyclic. Still have 14+ collective when out of setup mode. How do I reduce that?

I thought it was flying great so didn't want to mess with it but wanted to get rid of the binding which I have.

Is reducing the DR so much going to really slow it down? Should I speed up the agility to counteract it or should it take care of it? I don't think I ever used anywhere near full stick movements. And noticed in flips and rolls they were a lot smother by using less stick movement which is maybe because there was just too much travel.

Should be able to get out in the morning to test again.

Cheers








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Trex 500 EFL Pro
Vbar 5.3 Pro
JR XG 7

[BigBadDom]

Something odd going on here! I would go through the set up again mate. Firstly reset transmitter DRs to 100% - you shouldn't touch DR settings during set up of the VBar - these are for taming your heli post set up only.

Having put DR back to 100%, try the set up again and recheck and adjust pitch using the PC software for collective and cyclic. When completed, disconnect power to VBar and unplug pc connector. Now switch on as you would for a flight and fingers crossed you will be sorted!

Cheers
Dom

[helimadness]

All DR's were at 100% when I did the setup. I turned DR down after setup to get back to 10 deg when in flying mode.
If you go back into setup after you have changed DR should you put everything back to 100% before going back in?
I set the swash to 12 deg in setup but when out of setup I have a lot more. Its not clear to me how to reduce the collective travel with the software.

Cheers

[Swashbuckler]

Reduce your pitch curve? Say -90 0 +90. It sounds like the geometry is just a little bit out.

When you calibrated the tx to the vbar in the second or third screen did you remember to hit the "set centre" button before you moved on?

[BigBadDom]

Yes, you need to have DR back at 100% when adjusting pitch in VBar software, as far as I'm aware.

In the software and on entering set up mode, there is a tab called Collective. In this tab there is a scale for adjusting the pitch. Your starting point at mid stick should be 0° pitch with blades positioned across the top of the heli. You then give full positive collective on your transmitter and using a pitch gauge measure pitch again. Use the sliding scale in the software to adjust the pitch to around 12°.

When you've done that, swing the blades round 90° so that they are running parallel with the boom and enter the Cyclic tab on the PC software. Your starting point is again 0°. Click on the "measure" tab on the PC software and the heli head should kick into positive pitch. Again using a pitch gauge measure for 8° of pitch and adjust using the scale on the software.

Hope that helps! Remember the position of the blades is critical for the correct measurement of the collective and cyclic. I would also strongly recommend a digital pitch gauge for accuracy if you don't have one.

Cheers
Dom

[BigBadDom]

Reduce your pitch curve? Say -90 0 +90. It sounds like the geometry is just a little bit out.

When you calibrated the tx to the vbar in the second or third screen did you remember to hit the "set centre" button before you moved on?

I agree, pitch curve and not DR should be used to manage collective pitch, but she should be set to -12-14° to +12-14° as a starting point in the software during set up. That's my understanding anyway.

[Swashbuckler]

Yes agreed, if you have 12 degrees during the setup, when you run the system 12 degrees is all you should get. Somethings going awry during setup which is why I ask about the set centre button. It's easy to just hit continue and move on like you do in every other screen.

[BigBadDom]

Yes agreed, if you have 12 degrees during the setup, when you run the system 12 degrees is all you should get. Somethings going awry during setup which is why I ask about the set centre button. It's easy to just hit continue and move on like you do in every other screen.

Yes, I reckon you're right: he either didn't hit the centre button, or maybe he measured the collective and cyclic with the blades pointing in the wrong direction at the time. Hopefully, between us he will be sorted. And on that note helimadeness, let us know how you're getting on!

[helimadness]

ok fairly sure I have it all setup right as per the advice above. The problem I had was not realising after setup you had to adjust pitch and cyclic to what you wanted with DR and pitch curve. So all was at 100% giving it 14+ deg in all directions.
It flew great but scared me when I saw how much pitch it had. Also had a binding problem which is now fixed. Ill drop the pitch curve back to about 12 to be safe and give that a go.
Does changing the pitch range with the DR effective the roll rates at slow speed or only when you are using max travel?
Seems to be the agility slider over rides ma travel of the cyclic?

Cheers

[BigBadDom]

OK, good news on the set up. Now that's done you want to grab your pitch gauge again and in Normal Flight mode on the transmitter go into your pitch curve and set the pitch curve to around 12° positive and -4° negative, ensuring you dont mess around with mid stick at 0°. That will settle her down and be right for general flight. Try this and if she is still too lively, this is the time to start playing with DR and Expo. Use DR to reduce throws and Expo to reduce sensitivity around mid stick. I would try may 85% on DR and say 15% on Expo (many use higher Expo but I don't like the dead feeling this gives around mid stick). Have you adjusted your throttle curve as well? For Normal flight something like 0-45-65-85-100 would be a good starting point.

Idle Up pitch curve (when you're ready for this) should be set to give -12 to +12° of pitch and throttle curve should be something like 100-90-80-90-100. Then the fun begins!

Dom

[Swashbuckler]

One note on expo. You can have expo on the tx or in the vbar, you shouldn't have it in both. If you want to use the expo in the tx set it to 0 expo on the vbar, if you have expo on both it can become sluggish.

[helimadness]

Thanks all think I am sorted. I did hit the center button when I did the original setup. I watched a heap of youtube vids of Mr Mel and he really highlighted this.
I have been playing around with expo a fair amount. Currently at 15
Fairly happy with my pitch and throttle curves. Have been learning inverted for a few months.
have hold 40,50,90
Normal 40,50,90
Idle one 10,50,90 (now for 13 deg)
Throttle 0,75,75,75,75
Idle 80,80,80,80,80

Seems to work ok.

Thanks for the help ill report back tomorrow on how it goes. Was flying awesome before so dont want to change too much.

Cheers

[helimadness]

how do you set expo in the Vbar? guessing I haven't seeing I don't know.
All the sliders I setup to default trex 500 position and sport flying. I later upped the agility to 90% to make it a little faster

cheers

[Swashbuckler]

On the main vbar screen(not in setup) hit the school hat button to get to advanced setup. Think the expo is set at 20 as std in the vbar

[helimadness]

Ah ok. Mine is 15% expo on the software. Started with 30% on the Tx as well but have been dropping it down and is now on 10% still a bit slow feeling. Maybe I should put the Vbar on zero and just run of the TX?

Cheers