500 Derek's Trex 500 hover test

[Derek]

Yep...I forgot to mention that. I did remove the original servo and tested it with my servo tester and wrote down the readings. I then tested the new servo and I got the same, or very very similar, results from the servo tester. Well, I did put the new servo on the 500...just in case.

 

[Westy]

what is your throttle curve when hovering? try increasing it by 5% and see what happens. what distance have you got your tail servo ball from the fulcrum point in the centre of the servo?

 

[Derek]

My throttle curve in normal mode is 0,35,75,75,75, so I'm hovering at 75%. Idle up 1 is set for 85% and Idle up 2 is set for 95%.

The ball link on my tail servo arm is 10mm away from the servo center...as recommended by the manual and several members on the forum.

 

[Tony]

I'm at a loss on what this could be. The only thing I can think of is you have to have some slop somewhere. Be it in the tail links or whatever, there has to be something wrong. I'm just not sure what it is.

 

[Derek]

Yeah, I hear ya! I sure do appreciate all the help that I've gotten from you, Tony, as well as Lee, Gaba, Sam, Westy, and a few others here on the forum.

However, I did call another hobby shop for help. Unfortunately, they are about 80 miles away, but I talked with the heli pro there and he said that I could bring my heli to him and we'll see if we can figure it out. I just don't think that my 500 can be "issue-free" without someone actually being able to get their hands on it and fly it, too.

 

[Westy]

seems interesting that you flew it with your DX6i with no issues..... at all .
Try rebinding it and see what happens

The only other suggesting ... is to reset the Tx and build the heli profile from scratch .... commit to an acro/plane and set it ... and then change it to heli to make it stick and go from there. I have not other suggestions... I am stuffed for ideas. If you swear there is no excessive play or tight ball joints.... then I cannot think of what else it would be.

Try doing the above and see if the problem "Magically" goes away ..... this will tell you there is a problem in the transmitter and not the heli.

 

[Tony]

Have you taken the links off the tail blade grips? Are the bearings smooth? I think you have, but again, grabbing at straws.

Westy, the DX8 defaults to Acro when you reset a model or whatever. Your 7s should do the same thing. But I do agree, if you have not tried it, try going through teh setup again in the Tx. Can't hurt.

 

[Westy]

yeah ... Derek said to me everything (come to think of it now are all pulling our hair out trying to get our heads round this challenge) that it flew fine as was not crashed and he changed to the DX8 ... and this ugly problem reared its ugly head!

 

[Tony]

With that in mind, I can think of a few more things. Try swapping out the Rx to a new one. Just to see what happens. You will have to rebind.

 

[Derek]

I don't have another AR6210 with satellite. I can use one of the AR600 Rx's that I have, I guess.

Now...after binding...all my settings and such should be the same, right? All of that is programmed in the Tx and the Rx is just to receive the setting signals, right?

 

[Tony]

That is correct. But check it just in case something changes.

I thought you had an extra AR8000?

 

[Derek]

I have the AR8000 that came with the DX8, but we talked about using it on my Albatross.

 

[Tony]

Yup, but we are just testing to rule things out. If the 8000 is free and not locked down somewhere, it would be my first choice of what to use to test with.

 

[Westy]

Here are my suggestions.... and how I would troubleshoot it ... starting with the least tampering to start with.

I would have thought that if you leave everything the same and bind with the DX6-i and it is fine ... then that proves there is a bug in the tx firmware... whether it is in the DSM-2 coding/translation or something else ... is yet to be determined

I would logically then... try to change the DX8 over on the model setup to DSMX ... restart it and then turn it back to DSM-2 and re test the hovering to see if the fault is still present.

If yes??//// Try doing a complete refresh of model configure from a blank canvas (not code on top of code on top of code....

Then retest ... then, if the problem still persists. I would then Re-flash the firmware to "Kick out the old firmware Code"

Document every step completed and the outcome ....


Then, I would try a DSMX receiver and trouble shoot the above process again ... locking the TX into the DSMX potocol
it should be put forward to the manufacturer and see what the outcome will be.

If you have video footage of the DX6i working perfectly .... and showing yourself rebinding and the DX8 playing up .... how can they dispute there is a problem with their equipment.

NOTE: I WOULD CONTACT THEM PRIOR TO RE-FLASHING and await their instruction....or ... if you have someone that has a DX8 ..... put your sim in it and transfer your model to it and try that! May work!

 

[Derek]

Yup, but we are just testing to rule things out. If the 8000 is free and not locked down somewhere, it would be my first choice of what to use to test with.

My AR8000 is currently binded for my Albatross, but it is not actually attached to anything right now. It would be no problem to just bind the 500 to the AR8000 and see what happens. If the problem is resolved by binding the AR8000, then the AR8000 will stay on the 500 and I'll look for another AR8000 or get the new 8 channel Rx and satellite from HK for the Albatross. If the problem is not resolved, I'll work on Westy's suggested that he just recently gave.

I still plan on seeing the guy at the hobby shop that I called the other day. I am meeting with him on Friday with hopes and prayers in my pocket. I spoke with him for about an hour on the phone and I have to say that talking with this guy was a lot like talking with Tony, Westy, Gaba, and Lee combined. He was asking all kinds of questions....some of which I have tested (by suggestion of the forum and/or Youtube) and some of which I really didn't understand what he was talking about. That being said...I'm gonna make the drive to see this guy with all 3 of my 6S lipos charged up and ready.

Unfortunately, I have to head to bed now. Gotta work the next two nights. I don't know if I say this enough guys, but thank you very much for your continued help and suggestions. No, the problem is not solved but I have learned so much in the process about heli maintenance and mechanics. So....Thank you!!!

Oh....and just a bit of a personal video plug, lol....do check out my Albatross motor and prop test video that I uploaded today.

 

[Derek]

Ok..we have an update. I drove 68 miles, one way, to see a heli pro about my 500. He did recommend a heli guy that lives in my home town that is very good. I have his number and email. I spoke with the guy that lives here this morning and it looks like I'll have a flying buddy when my 500 is sorted....awesome!

As far as my 500...Tony and Westy...we did check that the DX8 and the AR6210 were working correctly. No problems there. That was an interesting process. The heli pro bound his Trex 500 to my DX8 and flew with no issues. He was very convinced that the Tx and Rx and working. He started looking at the mechanics. He did say that my tail rod wasn't quite lined up, but was close. Made that change. He checked my tail slider, gyro settings, gyro setup....no troubles there. He started telling me that be believes that something is out of balance or out of round. He started with the tail blades. Took mine off and put a brand new set of KBDD blades on the tail and hovered my 500. Still got the side to side issues. Ok, put my tail blades back on. Because nothing else seemed to work, he believes that the hub for the main gear/autorotation gear is out of round or the tail drive gear is out of round. He ordered new ones for me...got me the parts at his price and he'll send them to me when they come in.

These parts here:

Tail Drive Gear Assembly H50043
500PRO Main Gear Case Set H50003A

So....my 500 is back on the shelf until next week. Ugh!!!

 

[breeze400]

Man Derek what luck! Just like mine. Weather here sucks! Cold rainy. Was going to take my boat out for a water test today? Totally don't feel like it hmmmmm.

 

[Tony]

The likely chances of those being the issue are slim, but I guess they are there. Hope this changes your luck with this bird. Glad to hear it's not the DX8.

 

[Lee]

The wag from what we talked about Derek, does looked to be Vibration related. From what, well thats the million dollar question. Hope he gets it sorted for you.

 

[Derek]

The likely chances of those being the issue are slim, but I guess they are there. Hope this changes your luck with this bird. Glad to hear it's not the DX8.

Yeah, I'm not sure if these parts will solve the issue, but it does seem to be a vibration or pulsing issue since WE ALL have gone over the mechanical parts. However, I am also glad that my Tx and Rx are fine.

- - - Updated - - -

The wag from what we talked about Derek, does looked to be Vibration related. From what, well thats the million dollar question. Hope he gets it sorted for you.

Yep..for sure..I hope we can get it sorted, too. It's incredibly frustrating to have a $650 paperweight. Ugh!