One test flight in.....
The response definitely felt different with the new HiTec servos despite setup not being fine tuned yet.
I just spent the last two hours going back over the setup and getting everything adjusted to match the slightly longer servo arms where I have the balls out a bit farther from center. Naturally I had to cut the collective and cyclic limits back to keep from pegging the AR guide at full travel.
Weather permitting, I'll get a good run on it tomorrow.
Even though I'm only running about 2800rpm headspeed.....
These wood blades scare me a bit. I'll be keeping to more "scale" type flying till I get these woodies off my bird..... or at least until I check the specs. These woodies were the "improved" stock blades for the Blade 450 3D and it had a HS of around 2600 to 2700 if I read correctly, so at 2800... I should be safe..... Within reason.

 

Hey mate what length are you now running your servo arms and what was the advantage in going longer?

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Not counting total length of the arms since I avoid going out to the last hole on the arms for added strength..... I went from (approx) 13mm (center to center) on the black arms to 17mm on the new white arms. This changes the geometry between the servo and swash so that the servo moves a bit less and moves the swash a bit faster.... similar to changing gear ratios. This does make the servos work a little harder and draw a bit more current.

 

I've been very busy on other commitments this year, and my budget 450 project is just sitting gathering dust waiting to be built I got everything dsmx sat, gyro, servos. Oh I'm still waiting on some bolts from an ebay seller. If I can finish this project by the end of the year I'd be really happy. But to make matters worse I've been itching to get a bigger bird. I missed out on a goblin here on the classifieds, been waiting for a used X5, but now I'm thinking of getting an Agile 5.5 or may be even an Agile 7. Leaning more to the Agile 5.5 as my field is very small and I can get a good deal for a new one. I'm still trying to figure things out....

http://imgur.com/NTN49mC

 

Lmao! My 3s lipo might be going bad, so I tested the 450 on a 2s 2200mAh pack left-over from the big coaxial..... With the 3S pack still strapped on. That was comical to say the least, probably around 2000rpm HS. It will work for a back-up if I find for certain the 3S pack is worn out. It will probably do better with the extra weight of the 3S pack removed!

 

Amazingly enough, the 2S/2200mAh LiPo pack runs about 9 minutes. The 3S 3000mAh pack is down to 4 or 5 minutes from the original 9 1/2 minutes it was running.
I just left the LHS with a 3S 30C/3200mAh pack.

 

That is incredible flight time. I could only dream of that sort of duration...

Scout this forum and others for bargains @maingeer. Second hand heli equipment sells incredibly cheap - BUT sometimes you can have issues however. @Beaver that is incredible flight time...Should be able to get lots of hours of stick time under the belt using that config.

 

That 2S pack is half the size of a standard 3S 2200mAh pack. I thought about getting another one and running them parallel as a "split pack" to see if I can get better than 15 to 18 minutes!
Meanwhile, I have a new 3S/ 30C/ 3200mAh pack to break in tomorrow.

 

EBay is a good source for cheap parts as well, just be careful to check the seller's ratings...... don't ask me how I learned that little pearl of wisdom.

 

Yeah I scored a couple of used mini vbars $75 each on ebay awhile back. I'm scouting every where for a good deal on a bigger heli, a bit of competition out there.

Thanks for the tips guys

 

The key to finding things is being specific in your wording when running searches on eBay.

 

I installed Velcro pads and straps on my battery mount and packs so I can be ready to run multiple packs.
I think I like the idea of having both 2S and 3S packs. It's like having 2 modes available simply by selecting packs... 2S for lazy scale type flights, and 3S for faster and more responsive flying, no changing pinions or adjusting the setup.
Aside from pack changes, I have virtually 4 flight modes by using two separate banks programmed for high/low agility, and using the high/low cyclic stick rate switch. Not bad for a simple DX4e.

 

By flying in low head speed mode you learn great collective management skills. So it will help with your flying overall. Your extracting every ounce of value out of you little egg beater there @Beaver. Well done...

 

For tonight's flight, I ran times on both the 2S 2200mAh pack and the new 3S 3200mAh pack. Both packs pulled solid 10 minute flights measured from spool-up to power-down, so it's realistically more like 9:45 actual time in the air. I still want to buy a second matching pack to go with the 2S pack to build a 2S 4400mAh "split" pack, and mount the second 1/2 of the pack on the lower tray.
I think I could get close to 20 minutes, based on the first 2S test flight, with the 2S pack weighing 120g, and with the old 3S/3000 pack still on the Heli as dead-weight, and still pulled nearly 8 minutes in the air carrying 233g of dead weight! Both 2S packs together (4400mAh) will only weigh 240g. The new 3S pack is 260g and makes the 450 slightly nose heavy, but doesn't seem to have any noticeable effect on elevator trimmings.

 

.....BTW, I definitely don't like these wood blades. Since I installed them, they make a weird whistling noise during hard climb-outs. One little slight scrape in some loose gravel during a low banking maneuver on the deck, and now the paint is peeling. I may just remove the rest of the paint.
I ordered two sets of the CopterX 325mm FG blades that originally came with the 450 kit. They are cheap, they fly well, and they are amazingly durable.

 

I dream of 10 minute flights just watch you don't damage that new pack to early. With my 450 I run 4 2200mAh batteries for only 5min each recharging on average about 1600mAh each time. I killed a couple earlier packs by using full capacity every cycle, they only lasted 25 flights. My current batts have done over 100.

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I have my ESC set to cycle down fairly early, just when the power just starts to fall off. The most I've seen it drain a pack is 10.9v at 15%. I rarely let it go that far.

 

Yes 10.9v does sound low @Beaver. I don't mean to sound like I know it all but I do know that over discharging ruins cells. I time all flights and if the battery is under 11.4 I shorten next flight. Not sure if that's overkill but they're certainly lasting longer than previous batteries and still with good power. I use turnigy 30c btw

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I'll take that under advisement for sure.
I thought maybe it was crash damage that killed the last pack since one of 3 cells is a little bent at one end.... but the meter shows only 0.05v deviation between all 3 cells. You may be right.

 

I baby my battery packs nowadays coz the boss doesn't like me spending dollars on fresh ones

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