450 Setting up the Align 450 Pro

[Tomhintz]

We got the new castle ESC and the KDE Direct 450XF-3500 High Performance Brushless 450 Class Motor (3500kV) both running smoothly. We did run into a conflict between the Castle ESC and the Spektrum/BeastX receiver that fakes out the low throttle setting. One of the guys at our field had a procedure to set throttle end points that keeps the castle happy and everything works great. I will cut/paste it below. It is long but it works great.

Setup Endpoints for Caste ESC and AR7200BX without needing separate power supply

Here is a procedure that will work to setup your ICE ESC with your AR7200BX, without using a separate power supply. This procedure was done with a DX7 radio, so make adjustments where needed for your radio. This procedure does not care if your equipment is brand new or well used, previously calibrated or not. It will work. This assumes you are running the ICE in governor mode. You may or may not use Auto Rotate feature, that’s up to you. You may or may not like the Fail Safe feature, but it matters not. It is there, so you must deal with it. Follow this procedure step by step, and it will work every time. Here we go:


- Before you start, remove your rotor blades and tail blades!
- Set Throttle Curve for ST-1 to (70,INH,70,INH,70)
- Set Throttle Curve for ST-2 to (100,INH,100,INH,100)
- Set Flight Mode to Norm
- Set Throttle Curve for Norm to linear (0,INH,50,INH,100)
- Adjust Travel Adjust for Throttle to H=0, L=0
- Battery unplugged
- Radio off
- Put Bind plug in Bind slot on AR7200BX
- Plug battery in
- Hold down Bind button on back of DX7
- Continue to hold down Bind button while turning on Radio
- Continue to hold down Bind button until flashing light on AR7200BX (or on satellite) turns solid (this light is down by the servo plugs)
- When light is solid, Bind is done
- Remove Bind plug
- Unplug battery
- Radio off
- Radio on
- Plug battery in
- Move throttle stick to High (full throttle, all the way up)
- Raise Travel Adjust H until the motor beeps
- Raise Travel Adjust H two more clicks
- Move throttle stick to Low (zero throttle, all the way down)
- Raise Travel Adjust L until the motor beeps
- Raise Travel Adjust L two more clicks
- ICE ESC is now calibrated for throttle
- Set Throttle Curve for Norm to (0,INH,0,INH,0)
- Flight Mode is still in Norm
- Unplug Battery
- Radio off
- Put Bind plug in Bind slot on AR7200BX
- Plug battery in
- Hold down Bind button on back of DX7
- Continue to hold down Bind button while turning on Radio
- Continue to hold down Bind button until flashing light on AR7200BX (or on satellite) turns solid (this light is down by the servo plugs)
- When light is solid, Bind is done
- Remove Bind plug
- Unplug battery
- Radio off
- Radio on
- If you are NOT using Auto Rotate feature, set Throttle Curve for Norm to (30,INH,30,INH,30)
- If you are NOT using Auto Rotate feature, set your Throttle Hold to 0
- If you are NOT using Auto Rotate, you are done

- Everything after this step is only needed if you are using Auto Rotate feature

- Throttle Curve for Norm should still be set to (0,INH,0,INH,0)
- Flight Mode still in Norm
- Throttle Hold is OFF
- Set Throttle Hold to 0
- Plug in Battery
- Wait for ICE to initialize
- Throttle Hold ON
- Raise Throttle Hold setting until the heli starts to spool up
- Lower Throttle Hold setting until the heli stops
- Unplug Battery
- Radio off
- Put Bind plug in Bind slot on AR7200BX
- Plug battery in
- Flight Mode still in Norm
- Throttle Hold OFF
- Hold down Bind button on back of DX7
- Continue to hold down Bind button while turning on Radio, after turning on radio, immediately switch on Throttle Hold
- Continue to hold down Bind button until flashing light on AR7200BX (or on satellite) turns solid (this light is down by the servo plugs)
- This bind with Throttle Hold ensures that if you have a signal loss the AR7200BX will output your Throttle Hold setting and not your Low Throttle setting. That way when the signal comes back, the ICE will quickly spool up to speed again.
- When light is solid, Bind is done
- Remove Bind plug
- You’re are done

 

[Tomhintz]

Now that I got my 450 humming along so nicely I got a new DX8 for it this morning....So, now I can jack it up and put the new radio under it and go through everything in the setup stuff again But this time I get to have govenor modes and stuff.

 

[Tony]

Just remember, you now have 3 position switches, and your gyro now goes from-100 to +100. You will get it, it's a great Tx.

 

[Tomhintz]

I had a tail rotor blade apparently cocked in when I hit the idle up button yesterday, broke that blade and things shook badly as you would expect. I replaced the abldes but heard a bad sound so pulled it down to look. Once again the forward umbrella gear is rounded out where the torque shaft plugs in. It looks like there just was not enough of it engaged. I was conrfident that I had the tail boom fully in the socket in the body part but am going to mark the tail boom tomorrow when the new parts come in so I can be certain that it is all the way in and seated. I can see no other way to increase the engagement of the torque shaft and gear. Unless somebody has another idea.
By the way, have been hooking my new DX8 to the helicopter and so far it is going well. It is bound, I have been through the BeastX setup and that all checks out, idel up works so throttle end points appear to be good. Later on I am going to work on setting up govenor mode in the DX8 and he Castle ESC.

 

[Tony]

You can take a main shaft shim and put it behind the TT gear going into the boom. That will tighten up the mesh. Just make sure you still have play in it. If it's too tight, it will melt.

 

[Tomhintz]

You can take a main shaft shim and put it behind the TT gear going into the boom. That will tighten up the mesh. Just make sure you still have play in it. If it's too tight, it will melt.

That gear mesh seems fine. I am talking about the other end of the umbrella gears where the male splines of the tail rotor driv e shaft engage the female splines inside the umbrella gear shaft. That is where it has rounded out. It looks like (now anyway) that the drive shaft is not going into the female splines far enough.
I am going to fit the tail boom into the gear housing in the back of the body before assembling it so Ican scribe a line to be sure that I am getting the tail boom tube fully into its socket. That is the only place I can see where I could be coming up short. I found a bad bearing on the umbrella gear and didn';t have any of them so they are coming in the morning. I am spending todqay getting the new DX8 working with everything and the Castle paying attention.
We are going to South Carolina this weekend to the Electric Nall meet there. supposed to be one of the biggest int he country with lots of manufacturers (and their pilots) there, airplanes and helos. Shoujld be fun seeing some of these factory pilots whizzing things around.

 

[Tony]

If you are rounding out the inside of the gear, you should check your TT shaft. It may be rounded it's self. However, if the stripped part is not fully inside the gear, then you may not be getting it fully seated into the gear when you put the tail boom on. I have never heard of one stripping out the inside, I'm interested in hearing what was the cause.

 

[Tomhintz]

If you are rounding out the inside of the gear, you should check your TT shaft. It may be rounded it's self. However, if the stripped part is not fully inside the gear, then you may not be getting it fully seated into the gear when you put the tail boom on. I have never heard of one stripping out the inside, I'm interested in hearing what was the cause.

the shaft itself is fine. Like I said, I am going to fit the boom into the socket before I put it together so I can see when it is fully seated, then scribe a line at the edge of the body so I can see when it is fully in. the other end has the pin indexing it so that can;t be the problem. It has to be at the body somehow. I did check the shafts to be sure they really are for a trex 450 pro and they are.
My problem untilt he parts come is setting up the radio and getting the head speed right. Anybody have any suggested rpms to be looking for in head speed, for the two idle up settings?

 

[Tony]

Cool deal, be sure to post some pictures of how you are making sure the shaft is fully in and seated. It will help a lot of members here. Making a new thread in teh beginner help section would be even better.

And I run slight V curves in teh center. Lets fact it, you are never past 1/4 or 3/4 stick in IU, so there is no reason to run a full V curve like you have to on a nitro. My curves for my 450 are below. And I shoot for a max HS of about 3450-3500 rpm.

Normal: 0 40 65 65 65
Idle Up 1: 85 85 75 85 85
Idle Up 2: 100 100 90 100 100

Others may have more options for you, but the most important thing is set it to what you feel is right when in teh air. If you feel that the HS is a little too high, back them down 10%. I would not back the normal mode down though.

 

[Tomhintz]

Masde a discovery today while trying to get my castyle and fancy motor running. I was testing it on the bench, no blades and just running it up and checking the bare rotor head for speed. That way it had all it cojuld do to clear 2000 RPM. I wanted closer to 3000 but just could not get it to do it. So, I figured 2000 was enough to fly until my buddies get back. Presto. Wi th blades on it (a load) it turned right up to 2990 RPM! This was also the maiden for my new DX8 that I am using on the Trex. I am getting that figured out but the collective is very touchy compatred to my DX6i's. I'll have to look into if this thing has dual rates or expo on that stick but first I have to get packed as we are leaving shortly for South Carolina and the big E-Week Electric Meet at Joe Nall. HUGE meet, lots of factory tyupes and big name pilots of factory planes (and helos I think, some anyway) We will be back on Sunday.

 

[Tony]

There is no expo for the collective. However, if you are running the 3GX (can't remember), you can add some collective dampening in the flight mode menu. For some reason, I think you are using the 7200bx and if so, there is a menu in there to dampen the collective response. I highly suggest all settings be changed in the gyro and not the Tx. It works for me anyway.

 

[Tomhintz]

Yep, got the AR7200BX. I'll leave it as is for now. There are several guys I flyu wioth that have lots of experience with this combination of helo, radio and RX. It flies fine as is. I jsut need to get smoother on the sticks so by the time they get back and I catch up with them I might like this setup as it is. I know they do most of the stuff in the RX that can be done there so will follow along with the crowd!
Leaving for South Carolina in a few minutes.

 

[Tomhintz]

I am absolutely dumbfounded by the scale of the Triple Tree Aerodome (tripletreeaerodome.com) and the condition of the property. The place is HUGE to a scale it is hard to explain. Picture hundereds of acres (literally, not an exaggeration) of grass that looks and feels like a putting green. They have at least two 34-foot-wide mowers that we could see. The runways are so big they have a control tower to handle the full-scale trafic that comes in for the annual Joe Nall show!
Saw a German made helicopter designed for nothing but speed. I was going by so fast and making big sweeping turns at speeds that made it look almsot cartoon like. Easily 150 MPH and probably more. We got to see a 240 MPH electric plane this helo was not much Slower. They said that for every 1/16" of width they could take off of the canopy the helo would increase top speed by about 15 MPH! Also sawe a 7-foot-long Apoache scale ship fly. VERY realistic looking. Also got to see a 3D plane go in hard and have a huge LiPo fire that they had difficulty putting out with fire extinguishers and sand!
Going out to putt-putt my 450 this morning. Lots of inspiration from yesterday.

 

[billryalls]

Ive been throught this build 2 or three times now and I cant seem to find anything to help me with my tail problem. My rudder binds almost immediately either way. How do I get it centered and giving me smooth full throw on the tx? Which article did I miss? thanks!

 

[Tony]

If this is with the 3GX, you will adjust this in the Rudder setup menu. Click on the link below to see the video.

Rc-Help - 3GX Setup Guide Part 3 Rudder, Delay & Anti-Torque Compensation

 

[billryalls]

Thanks, I will pour over it again tomorrow till I memorize it!

 

[Tony]

even when I do it, I have to do it a couple times until I get it right. Go until you are about 1mm from the end and stop and wait for the status light to flash red. Remember though, you only have 10 seconds before it goes out of setup mode.

 

[Tomhintz]

Spent Sunday morning with my helo buds at our flying field.d On the collective sensitivity I described earlier they more or less told me to get used to it. there is a "softening" setting in the BeastX but it softens everything. Plus I am running 14.5 total positive and 14.5 negative which is about as much as anyone there. I might take it down to 11 or 12 degrees and try that. I am getting more used to the collective now though especially after tweaking all of the other settings like expo to smooth things out elsewhere on the 450. IOt really does feel pretty good now, runs smoothly and I haven't crashed it in days. Perhaps I shoujld leave enough alone and jsut spend the time practicing.
If I fly the 450 in the rain will that do antying other than wash the bug guts off of the blades? I actually am that addicted to flying it, I really trhought about hovering it out of the garage door to see what happened in the rain. maybe little rainbows spiralling out of both sides of the rotor disk?

 

[Tony]

Flying in the rain is a BAD idea. Not only are none of the servos sealed, but the gyro is not sealed either. I don't even fly mine when there is a slight bit of fog out there.

 

[billryalls]

If this is with the 3GX, you will adjust this in the Rudder setup menu. Click on the link below to see the video.

Rc-Help - 3GX Setup Guide Part 3 Rudder, Delay & Anti-Torque Compensation

so is their a way to RESET the 3gx and start over ? after following your video now suddenly my tail servo is jamming my rudder so hard its bending crap outta my connecting rod. I cant continue following the video until i get it to quit doing that. Tail setup actually hovered as is before my blades blew off and started me on this whole rebuild adventure.