evdreamer

Mark,

I was troubleshooting my meter after work today and I finally figured out why it wasn't accurate. Once I measured the current it was a pretty simple program to measure the mAh, so I was having a hard time understanding why it wasn't accurate. I found out it was a problem with one of my subtraction algorithms for a big number. Now I am going to run it for an hour and see if it is a 100% accurate like it should be. I use a similar algorithm for division, so that is probably not as accurate as I thought it was.

That is cool you are going to start the evening shift soon.

Nick

JPEE

Hey Nick, good luck on the second test. I hope the algorithms will be more accurate for you



Mark,
I read what you posted last night on "metal" and decided I needed to sleep on it before I responded.

This is a huge topic that I could discuss for pages and pages site the Pros and Cons. Some helicopters come with plastic heads like my 600 did from Aligh then later came the CNC heads which it has now. You have to ask yourself, can plastic fly the same or significantly close to metal for the same for less money? I think they are close, but that you can tell the difference. Next comes what is your level of flying. For me....I doubt that it would make a hang whether it is plastic or metal. I must agree with you to a degree that metal is metal and if you crash you gonna take a beating either way. The flip side of that is cost and time of getting and installing the replacement parts. As an example my 450 pro. When I had a minor crash the ball and stem snapped off in the blade grip. You can't get the broken threaded stem out of the blade grip so it was just trashed. Using the 500 to compare, I have smacked that puppy into the ground very hard and the ball post is so strong that it bent the blade grip. I was able to straighten that grip at least two times and still fly. So that is one comparison. I had to replace the blade grips on the 450 so I used Aligns while twice the price because I thought the cost was worthy rather than replacing the cheap one with new cheap ones again. Then the threads on the swashplate anitrotation post let go and stripped out, I suppose there I could have purchased another one but crap from Hong Kong how long would that take, so I bought Align. And lastly I found that the machining was off on the HK tail blade grip holder and it required me to back off the screw under the tail blade to allow it to rotate without binding. To summerize, all in all I feel I could have bought the Align plastic and put that on the CNC head it would have flown 100% but if it crashed that $10.00 would be toast and then with the second set at another $10.00 I am thinking that $35.00 for all 4 washout and the other mixer arms is not a bad deal.
At this point in my dilberations overnight I am considering (lightly) buying a EXI 500 and see how it holds up with "like flying and crashing". I have the ESC, and the Align servos I took out for my 500 when I upgraded Hitecs and a less expspensive gyro and a new AR6100e rx. The only thing I would need to buy is a motor. As I recall the EXI 500 costs $137.00 in CF & CNC or all plastic w/aluminum frame for $77.00. There would be need to buy a set of blades for either heli, but overall it would be a very inexpensive 500. It intrigues me as to how good it would fly to an Align?
I also would buy EXI from Xheli because while they cost a bit more than HK they ahre here locally believe it or not and "if" I wanted I could drive over there for parts. HK while cheaper as I said, replacement parts would present a problem time and shipping costs.
Thats just my 2 cents worth...........

Congrats and getting the evening shift forsure!
Smiles

evdreamer

JPEE,

I have been running the mAh meter for two hours with known numbers and it is 100% accurate. Now all I need to do is work on some averaging.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Mark,

A run in with the law, eh??

Yeah, sounds like a real dump, who would really care? But I guess in this lawsuit happy country of ours, people don't want to chance any injury to anyone or any property...

Congrats on the evening shift!

JPEE,

Intersting little commentary on the metal vs. plastic...

I honestly don't mind plastic that much, because usually, in a crash, it actually breaks, instead of bending, which if it's a slight bend, might be hard to pin down, and cause some weird flight issues...

I love the way my SDX flies, all plastic head...I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference if I changed over to aluminum...

Although I will say it was nice when I had my crash on the 450 Pro, nothing metal bent, except the tailboom, and the repair was very easy...minimal parts involved...no STUPID see saw holder broken like the B400's...lol...

Nick,

Congrats on your 100% accuracy!

Looks like all your hard math and calculations paid off...


Never did get to fly last night, looks like tonight, and especially tomorrow should be good.

Glenn

JPEE

Hey Guys,

Well all packs are charged and we meet at 6:00 a.m. at the field before the heat. I am taking out the 450, 500, and the Apprentice. I just got done securing the tail boom and tail box to the boom for safety sake. I did a hover today and got the blades tracking right since I replaced the mixing arms and she is ready for tomorrow. I did notice some tailo bobbing still but what I raise the head speed to idle-up "hopefully" that will go away.

JPEE

evdreamer

Hope you guys have good weather to fly tomorrow.

I need to get out and fly some time again, but I probably won't be able to do it until next week.

JPEE

Hi Nick,
Sorry your grounded until next week.[]

Hi Guys,
Well another lesson learned! I have bad news, real BAD news and some good news. First I will tell you straight out NO CRASHS!

We got to the fly zone this morning where they are going to build homes "some day" which you have seen in the videos. I take up the 500 after replacing my mixing arms. Being careful I used two 2150 packs for my test flight. She flew great but was lacking in power. When I kicked her up to idle-up there was not much difference. When I was up in the air I spiked the heli
to see what she would do. Holy crap, she could not get out of her own shadow. I came down and then put on a fully charged 3000 mah pack and the same thing. Ah ha I said.... something is wrong with the heli. I sat there and then it came to me. I put the heli up on the carry case and set the pitch gage on the blades. Neg 6! at mid stick. The light came on and I could see and hear Finless talking about when you install the servos (in my new frame) because they slide up and down and sometimes from side to side in the frame you should check and re-set the pitch. When I replaced the frame thinking in my sub conscientious *** for tat frame for frame I never thought that would have any effect on the situation but it did. I adjusted the pitch and then went back and there they were......... back flips , rolls and loop de loops, she was fling like brand new. So this answers why last week when I pulled back to do a flip she petered out and came down. So that was my "bad news" a error on my part. The "good news" is, she flies like new and is sound now.
The REAL BAD NEWS: We were asked to leave the property where we fly this morning. The Superintendent for the construction drove by and saw us flying. The short of it is, they "are" going to build the model homes in April and will soon now start trucking in fill dirt, so we are out. I asked the Super, we only have a few packs left can finish the session and go home.......he said, SORRY! you must vacate right now!
We had that place for two years and I knew this day would come but I have to say..............today I felt like I got kicked in the stomach. For me this is not a loss but a tragedy. I know you guys think I must be nuts but when you have a 20 acre field all to yourself one mile from the house and it goes away, guys there is huge loss because other than the City Field which sucks big time and my Club Field down in a river bed and the sun rises in your eyes so there is "no morning flying", nor is there any place other place to fly in the CITY so again this is a huge loss for me.
Ok enough of the Pity Party.

JPEE.............down and out

evdreamer

JPEE,

That is good you didn't have any crashes. That is good your 500 is flying good again. Sorry about your field. I guess you will have to fly in the evening like the rest of us.

I got an email today with the date of the big demo that I was talking about a few weeks ago. That kind of gave me the motivation to get the Velocity air worthy again. I will tear it down tomorrow and see what I need to get. There won't be full size aerobatic planes this time like there was last year, but it sounds like there will be some parachuters again.

I am thinking about getting a 3.5in TFT LCD for my meter and some other projects. It is from the same company that I bought a 1.5in OLED display and it looks just as easy to interface with. I was going to try and display an analog gauge on it like I have seen with some other electronics.

Nick

JPEE

Nick, a bigger LCD sounds like the ticket! And like you said you can use it on other project too.

I think you have the right idea and are track bringing back the Velosity and going through it, it's time. You shelved it and took your break but now it's time to get ready for that big show.

JPEE

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

JPEE,

Wow, that is a huge loss for you, my friend...for sure. I guess as they say, "all good things must come to an end", but that just sucks!

Maybe you can slip a few more flight sessions in before the fill dirt arrives....[sm=lol.gif] What's the worst that can happen, he kicks you out again?

But, that is not a long term solution, I know. There aren't any other clubs within a 30 mile or so radius? I hate to say it, but you may have to drive a bit, like my 25 mile one way trip to the heli club...[X(]

Glad you got the 500 squared away....and found the issue from the previous incident.

Nick,

That TFT LCD sounds cool...how expensive is a small display like that?

I had no idea you were doing anything with OLED displays. I had one of those on my Microsoft ZUNE, and the contrast and colors are amazing! I'll bet they are pricey, even at that small size?

I know Sony made an 11 inch OLED TV set, and it was selling last year for $2200...[X(]

And now some small displays are AMOLED, I think on some Samsung cell phones...not sure exactly what the technical differences are.

I was reading about the latest iPhone, (iPhone 4, with the "retina display") and why they went with an IPS (In Plane Switching) LCD display, over the OLED....they were saying that OLED still has some durability and reliability issues yet...and needs more time to become more mainstream. I think Sony also dropped their OLED project for awhile...

Should be interesting.

I got 2 flights in tonight. I hope to fly some this weekend.

My plane club is having it's annual helicopter fun fly the weekend after next. THAT should be fun....watching all those plane guys fidgeting around while the sky is full of HELICOPTERS, instead of the other way around!!!

I missed it last year, apparenly the plane guys were having fits, about the helis flying too close to the flight line, too far to the right of the flight stands, etc, etc, etc....there were alot of complaints from the heli pilots that attended. They should just all go home for the day, and let the heli guys just have fun...lol...

Glenn

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys, time to get caught up with everyone!

First off, JPEE - losing a field like yours is a hard hit. [] I don't think your going to luck out and find a time when no one will be there. Those construction guys start work before the sun comes up and stay until the light is gone. Remember, my house in Charleston was in an active building subdivision and they were worse then early birds - Saturday's too. As long as the guys you fly with stay together when you find a new area to fly then it won't be all too bad. I have found that many business parks have open lots, something to look for. Any other "unfinished/bankrupt" subdivisions?

I would "lightly" not consider the EXI CNC heli kit for a spare parts heli. Remember it is a belt driven tail, so for the $137 you'll only be able to use the frame and head. I wouldn't even use the tail grips just b/c of the experience I had with thier lack of rotation if the screw was too tight. And then there is the bearing replacements.

I 'would' use the mixing arms and other head parts that usually don't fair too well in a crash - soft metal, yes - but next to plastic I can call an upgrade. Plus in a crash they are despensible and inexpensive to replace. And lastly () for our skill level of flying they are more then adequate. (If I ever get to tossing my heli around like Nick, then I'll consider higher quality parts ) So there you have it, my 2 cents.

Glad that you had a successful flight with the 500. JPEE, JPEE, after all the rebuilds you've done on your friends heli's I would expect you to go over your heli with a detailed eye to not miss the negative pitch at mid stick. But good that you did catch it. Lesson learned for all of us.

Nick,

Rediscovered life for the Velocity, just by a simple email! Any ideas on what you are going to do with the F/B system? If your going to have the heli all taken apart is it that complicated to switch to a flybar again?

Sounds like you are having a bunch of fun with your meter and your new LCD's.

Hope you get a chance to fly a bit this weekend. At your funfly do they have any 30% or larger aircraft? As much as I like heli's I still enjoy planes and watching a 35% Extra do an aerobatic run is just amazing. A stationary torque roll with billows of smoke underneath isn't too bad either.

Glenn,

Yep, run in with the law...and run out of town - so to speak.

You know, that just bothers me with your plane club - if your going to have a fun fly then it should be fun flying aircraft only. I don't know how long your fun fly goes (all day/ half day) but they need to set up some rules about airspace. Maybe they should have some intermissions when non-funflyers can fly. I just can't fathom planes and heli's sharing the same sky, esp. during an event - that's just asking for a midair.

Sounds like the weather has been holding up for you. We have had rain all this past week - maybe some outer bands from one of the large Cat 4 hurricanes in the mid Atlantic. Seems like its that time of the year again when they come off the coast of Africa one after another. At least its been cooler.

Can you believe my radiator fan and air conditioner fan both died on me this past week?? [X(] Both in the same week - did Saturn put self destruct codes on them to die at the same time? Well, I shouldn't complain - it is a 2000 Saturn SL and has 148K on it. Good little car for the longest time. I was able to pull the radiator fan last night in between the down pours and checked it with a direct wire to the battery - totally dead motor. Going to head to Autozone in the morning to get a replacement.

Now comes my question for you guys: how do I go about checking the AC to make sure its the blower fan and not some circuit or relay? The Hanes manual is a bit vague. Should I just go ahead and remove the dash and get to the fan first to check it? Yeah, this week has been lots of fun. I think I'm going to need some heli flying therapy when this is all over.

Mark

evdreamer

Glenn,

It is $75 for the 3.2in LCD and it was $75 for the 1.5in OLED.

I used the OLED display on my first prototype battery balancer a year or two ago. I don't know if I ever said it was an OLED display, but I put some pics of it up before.

That is cool you got to fly yesterday. Hopefully the heli fun fly is more enjoyable this year.

Mark,

I will probably take the flybarless system apart and see what is inside. I have pretty much done that with all my electronics.

It won't be that hard to switch back to flybar head. I saved all my flybar settings for the Velocity. So I just need to replace the broken parts and put the stock head back on. I left everything on the flybared head, so I won't have to setup the links again.

The demo is at a place kind of in the country. There isn't enough room for RC planes to fly. The last time a friend brought a Nitro profile, but he had a hard time landing with the uneven ground. Then he didn't like flying over all the parked cars. Last time there was a real restored Mustang fighter plane flying over us and I think an Extra doing aerobatics. If I remember right the women in the Extra was a real famous aerobatic pilot, but I think she died in a crash. Last year there was probably 200-300 people there.

Nick

JPEE

Hey Guys,

An update on clones.


I forgot to mention in my lengthly letter above that yesterday before we got kicked out of our fly zone my noob was hovering his EXI 450 tail in and all of a sudden the tail dropped down and it went inverted right there in front of us and then went down to the ground! Not a scratch on it but we found the reason she took her own control and went inverted. Glenn, does this ring a bell? The antiroation post came out of the swashplate and let it be free float!

Clone failure #2 was on his EXI 500. Last week the entire tail box (plastic) broke OFF and in half. Meaning, the case did not split but rather broke to the side. At that moment I was test flying it and it suprised me to say the least. His #3rd failure was yesterday with a cheap clone (non exi) blue cnc tail box. Everytime he tried to get it up the tail was bobbing up and down a lot! We found after really looking hard it that the new cnc boxes tail shaft had a white nylon belt gear on it. When holding the heli and spinning the main blades by hand we could see the belt pully going up and down, better said, the hole for the shaft was not centered ie: the belt was bouncing! I still say for starter helis they are ok and...........for the advanced they are ok too if you want to buy it cheap and then do some upgrades. But my overall opinion is to buy brand name when you can and save the headach time.

JPEE

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Nick,

I maybe forgot that you said the display you were using was an OLED, or maybe you didn't mention it. I figured they were pretty expensive, even for a small 1.5 inch one like that.

Hope the new TFT LCD works out well for you if you go that route.

Good luck on the Velocity rebuild/restore. Hope you can get it back to flying well again, and cool that you saved the flybar settings too...

Should be interesting to see the inside of the FBL unit...

JPEE,

All those stories are enough to keep me away from the clones...haven't done one yet, probably won't anytime soon...

Maybe sit down on google maps, and do a search for some new areas to fly out there? Could be an unknown (to you, at least) field or something out there. I never knew about the place right up the street from me until Justin pointed it out...I have never flown there, it's kinda creepy, and seems like a place you aren't supposed to be...but it is there...and I never even realized it. But I could have easily spotted it on the google map...

Mark,

Maybe I confused you a bit...I don't think there will be planes and helis flying at the same time (although if you want to fly a heli there on a regular day, that is the way it is...), as this is a "rotary wing" day...

But, the plane guys that run the club will all be there, and they are the ones that do all the rule making, and they don't even fly helis....they basically don't like them, and would as soon not have them at all...or at least that is the feeling myself and others get from the club.

I understand that safety is job one, and that is why they tend to over-react to some things that heli guys find perfectly normal behavior....lol...like hovering a .50 out about 10 feet in front of you..

I doubt any planes will be actually flying during the fun fly, but they'll be there chomping at the bit for us to get done, so things get "back to normal" for them again, for the other 364 days of the year...

In all fairness, there has been a small amout of effort to establish a separate heli area, far away from the plane field, but I have not heard much more on that, I think it is half-hearted, and on the back burner...

Oh boy, car troubles!

Good find on the cooling fan, sounds like you got that part figured out...let me know how that turns out with the new motor...

I am assuming you are saying that the HVAC blower motor does not function at all, in any speed? Or did the AC just stop cooling?

Important to know, because if the engine runs hot, the engine computer will disable the AC compressor, but not usually the blower fan...

Let me know, I don't have access to GM service manuals here, but I should still be able to help some...there will definitely be a blower relay somewhere for the blower motor, good place to start....

Glenn

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi Glenn,

Just wanted to share some pictures of the old and new radiator cooling fan motor. At least that is one problem down.

The AC (HVAC - heater ?vent? air conditioner) blower doesn't work with any speed setting. The engine doesn't run hot as long as the car is in motion, but at long lights the temp needle does slowly climb (hoping the new cooling fan motor will solve that ).

Thanks for the help Glenn!

Mark

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Forgot the pictures.

Old motor and new motor installed.

rotarydoc

Hey Mark,

Looks like you did a nice job there!

One problem down, one to go I guess...

I am not familiar with the Saturn, but I did a search, and came up with a blower motor location;

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_is_t...in_2000_Saturn

I would look there, and see if the motor is in that location....if it is, it should have a 2 wire connector on it somewhere.

If you have a 12 volt test light, that would be good to use, or you could use a voltmeter, but a test light is a better idea.

Turn the blower switch on, and you should have 12v between the 2 wires in that connector, with it unplugged. There may be less voltage or a dimmer light on the lower settings....but high should definitely give you a reading of 12v or a bright light.

See what you have from there, and let me know....

Glenn

evdreamer

Guys,

I just ordered the LCD. I forgot to say that it also has a touch screen built in. I have a lot of ideas on what I can do with it already.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

Cool on the new display, and a bonus of having a touchscreen too!

Do you know if the touch screen is resistive, or capacitive?

How is the Velocity going?

I flew 4 packs tonight in my normal field, and it was empty!

All went well, I didn't go to MHA, my flying buddy with the 700n is out of town this weekend, so I will probably just stick around here tomorrow as well.

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

The touch screen is capacitive.

I took everything from the boom to the tail off and the head also. I checked everything over and cleaned it up. It looks like I mainly need bearings and main and tail blades. Everything else I have. I might get some mainshafts just in case. Tomorrow I will order the parts and install the old electronics.

That is cool your field was empty.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Glenn,

Going to tackle the AC blower issue today. Thanks for the link - forgot Saturn had it's own forum and found lots of info there and some diagnostic directions to boot. Had to dig out my old voltmeter - used to use it to test my electric plane amp draw. Hey, maybe I'll have cool air blowing by Monday.

Nice to hear you had the field to yourself, plenty of practice time.

I have been needing to get some more lipo's, my pathetic stock consists of 2: a 25C Turnigy and a very old 15C Thunderpower. There is such a big difference in power between the two that I rarely use the TP anymore. Think its time to place an order with HobbyCity for a few extra 25C Turnigy's.

Nick,

Looks like your repairs on the Velocity won't be all that bad - blades and bearings.

Sounds like the demo is a large event - bet you'll have a blast.

JPEE,

I think you nailed it with your statement of clones being alright for beginners but if you are flying at a higher skill (ie. putting more demand on the heli componenets) then your going to have to upgrade.

I found that even though the EXI 500 is a good price with an included CNC head, there were many upgrades that needed to be done to get that particular heli to a decent and trusted flying status. My first one was to throw out the belt all together and get the TT. Also ditch the tail assembly for an Align one. Most of the bearings would have to be replaced with either Align or Helidirects ABEC-3's, and the main and feathering shaft replaced too. So in the end, with servo's, the heli was nearing the same price as a new 500 ESP. Not a tough decision.

Mark

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Finished with the car and am happy to say I have AC again. Seems it was just a loose connection at the motor connector. Whew.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and got some flying in.

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

That is cool you have AC again.

I got most of the tail put back together on the Velocity. I didn't get around to put the old electronics on it today like I planned.

Nick

evdreamer

Guys,

I just got done installing the receiver and the gyro. I also took the main V-bar controller apart that all the servos connect into. There is hardly anything in there! They really jack up the price on that. It probably cost less than $20 for all the parts.

evdreamer

Guys,

Here is my finished Amp hour meter.