FBL Gyro Helicommand 3sx

[xokia]

Received my helicommand 3sx module today. Same process it will be going onto my 300x which does have some vibration issues. Once setup ill see how well the auto level feature works and then ill start tossing it around and see if it can save me from my horrible 3D skills. If it works ill be switching all my helicopters over.

 

[Westy]

NIIIIIIICCCCCEEEEEEE ...... JEOLOUS!!!!!

 

[breeze400]

Wast of a great fc on your 300!!!!!!!!!

 

[xokia]

Wast of a great fc on your 300!!!!!!!!!

Not really the intent is to improve the flying skills and in order to do that I need to spend more time in the air then in the dirt.
The 300x is actually very capable for being a crappy helicopter and I have the wicked motor and 33A esc on it. So power isn't a problem. Also the intent is to provide a review of this FBL controller. We already know the ikon wont work on it because its to sensitive to vibes. The helicommand is supposed to be more immune to vibes. If things go well on the 300x then I will buy more for my other helicopters. I'd rather make my setup mistakes on the 300x which is cheap. Or learn what the helicommand can and cant save from on the 300x for the same reason.

 

[breeze400]

I know man just teasing you lol!!! Ha ha he he!

 

[xokia]

I know man just teasing you lol!!! Ha ha he he!

No worries....my 300x is my beater heli and I agree sticking a $500 FBL controller on a $300 which once you remove the AR7200bx it's a $70 heli seems strange. But I've kinda outgrown my 130x and need more power and capabilities. I can toss around a heli but I want to move onto some more advanced moves. Hoping the 3sx gets me there.

 

[Lee]

When the Brain/Ikon came out, they said it was very good with vibrations and everyone changed to that from the beastX. The only crash i have ever had on my 600 was due to vibration on the AR7200BX.
I'm really looking forward to your review of the Helicommand (now called the Bavarian Demon)
Good luck with it.

 

[xokia]

When the Brain/Ikon came out, they said it was very good with vibrations and everyone changed to that from the beastX. The only crash i have ever had on my 600 was due to vibration on the AR7200BX.
I'm really looking forward to your review of the Helicommand (now called the Bavarian Demon)
Good luck with it.

In normal mode the iKon handles vibes wonderfully and isn't affected at all. Well I had some tail jitter but I might not have had everything perfectly dialed in on that. I was focusing all my time on SL. And its only when you switched SL on that the iKon suddenly became extremely sensitive to vibes.

I've got the HC connected and gone through the initial setup and all I can say is DAMN!!! Its the most confusing FBL controller to set up so far. Definitely would not recommend one to anyone that fears the setup of any other FBL controller. I had to go out and buy a external BEC because I guess if you just use a sat RX the HC needs a minimum of 5.5V or it will brown out on you my ESC bec was only good for 5.0v. So I set the external BEC up for 6.0V, helicommand has it quarks too so its not perfect. I still need to figure out how to activate rescue mode. Did I say it was confusing

 

[Tony]

When the Brain/Ikon came out, they said it was very good with vibrations and everyone changed to that from the beastX. The only crash i have ever had on my 600 was due to vibration on the AR7200BX.
I'm really looking forward to your review of the Helicommand (now called the Bavarian Demon)
Good luck with it.

Not true. You crashed because of a stripped servo horn too

 

[Lee]

That wasn't a crash. It was a heavy landing I only broke the landing skids.

 

[xokia]

So I have been spending today working on this thing and I still dont have it flying like I like, the setup is very difficult. But that said I have done some initial testing of the SL and bailout features and they seem to work very good. SL is stable and bailout does what you would expect rocket the helicopter towards the sky. I've only got it set to 8 degree of positive pitch on bail out. The bail out I have only tried upright nothing fancy yet. It seems to be immune from the vibration issue the iKon had. About to head to the park and toss is around a little bit and see what this bail out feature is capable of.

 

[Westy]

Nice ..... Vids on the set up? or the flights? .... would be great!

 

[xokia]

Still not done with the setup I need to spend more time learning about this gyro. For example for the tail it gives you some different tail gyros to choose from. GY520,GY611,GY401,GY401(2m). I have no clue what any of those mean or what the difference is. It flies pretty decent but the iKon felt more locked in after the initial setup. The SL and bailout just flat out work!!! There is no fear in hitting self level or bail out. I was at the park today trying it out and it performed flawlessly every time in every situation I threw at it. If I can get this thing setup to where it flies the way I like I know I will really like this gyro.

I also made a rookie mistakes in my setup. You need a linear throttle curve when setting this thing up. So when I went to fix my throttle curves I put 0,70,70,70,70 for idle up 1 doh! I flipped it upside down and went to gain altitude and as expected the motor shut off I was able to flip the heli back over and just ended up breaking my tail box. Which cost me $5

 

[Westy]

Nice ..... good to hear it is working out!

 

[xokia]

Ok I think I figured out the problem with my tail and why it jitters. So these helicommand if you use a sattelite RX you have to run a minimum of 5.5V to them otherwise they will brown out in flight. Its recommended to use 6.0V so I bought an external BEC and set it to 6.0V

It looks like the cyclics are ok with it although there is slight hint of jitter with them also.
7.6-Gram DS76 Digital Sub-Micro Servo (EFLRDS76): E-flite - Advancing Electric Flight

But the tale is only rated for 5.0V
7.6-Gram Sub-Micro Digital Tail Servo (EFLRDS76T): E-flite - Advancing Electric Flight

The only difference in the parts number EFLRDS76 cyclics EFLRDS76T tail is the T at the end.
I assumed they were basically the same servo different gearing. So if the specifications are correct I'll be replacing my tail servo.
Anyone have some suggestions preferably cheap?

 

[Tony]

If you have a low voltage tail servo, then you need to run a step-down on the rudder. If you don't, you could burn it up.

 

[xokia]

If you have a low voltage tail servo, then you need to run a step-down on the rudder. If you don't, you could burn it up.

Yea it's a piece of poop tail servo anyway. I may go to RadioShack tomorrow get 2 diodes and stick them in series with the positive wire. That's if I just don't buy a different tail servo. I might stick some diodes on the cyclic servos also. Even though they say they are rated for 6.0v they seem jittery also.

*edit dropped it down to 5.6V and its a lot better. I'm learning this HC may cause me to learn some bad habbits lol. It just works to well if you dial SL up to about 30% you can pretty much bang on the cyclic stick and as long as you get the collective right you are safe. Flips, rolls you name it not even having any clue of orientation just let go of the cyclic and its stable almost instantly.

These will be going all my helis now. I'm debating waiting a while to see if they bring out any kind of newer version.

 

[Tony]

I have always thought of HC as cheating when it comes to flying. However... for those that are REALLY worried, like myself, about crashing, this is a GREAT option for them.

And if it calls for 5.5 and you are putting 5.6 to it, it should be okay. I have seen some futaba servos run on 5.6 with no issues, just shorter life span.

WE NEED VIDEO!!!!!!!

 

[xokia]

I have always thought of HC as cheating when it comes to flying.

Yea I just got to keep myself from using the SL and only use the bailout. You will learn absolutely nothing with the SL enabled it really works to well. Doesn't matter if your right side up or upside down just start banging on the cyclic then let go instant hover as long as you got the pitch right. If in doubt hit bail out and it will figure it out.

These other FBL controllers have a long way to go to get anywhere near this level of functionality at least from what I have seen so far.

My problem currently is I can do flips and rolls in any direction. Fly forwards backwards but trying to do funnels or just a heavily banked turn I screw up sometimes. My tic toks look like poop and I wouldn't even call them tic toks. So I'm just not progressing and I'm hoping these will get me to where I want to be. I just need to figure out a good activation scheme. I don't like the one I have currently. I use the rudder 3 position switch 0= disable 1=SL 2 =rescue

What I think I would really like is to use TH switch for rescue and the rudder switch 0-normal mode 1-SL 2-TH but that's mixing more than one channel and I dont think that's possible. Since my fingers and brain are already trained to hit throttle hold when I am about to crash.

Having SL is nice after a rescue to get orientation back. Rescue can quickly send your heli to the moon if you don't pay attention.

 

[xokia]

Ok I kinda wanted to wait and see if Helicommand came out with some new products before ordering more but helidirect is finally offering the 10% off for fathers day so I couldn't resist and picked up 1 more Demon. I still think I will hold out for the last FBL controller since I have 3 helis and now 2 HCs.

I'm gonna stick the new FBL controller on the 700 and move my last beastx to my trex 450 pro. Hopefully my 3GX sells soon. To much heli stuff uggg.... its starting to feel like a part time job keeping them all going.