Aviator 25

Ok so I have my new ARF Raptor 50 Titan, OS 50 engine, and Futaba 401 gyro with servo in-hand now. I'm going to leave everything in box for now until next week. My birthday is next week (the Raptor is kind of a gift I bought myself) and I'm going to take the week off for holidays, this will give me more time to setup and fly the new heli.
I have available two different sets of servos all new in-box to use for the Raptor. One set is the Hitec HS-425BB and the other set is the HS-325HB. What set should I use? I will be using a 5 cell 6V 1700mah RX battery. Both servo types are ball bearing, I think the 425 has a little more torque and the 325 is a little faster and has karbonite gears.

krisma

how will you be flying your heli?

are those your only two choices?

Aviator 25

For now these servos are my choices, I already own them. I'm somewhat new to heli flying, I have flowen a fixed pich Lite Machines heli with a bad engine (that did not last long) in the past and I am now flying an Eflite Blade CP Pro. I can take off, hover, fly figure 8, and land. So far with no crashes (knock on wood), but NO aerobatics. As long as these servos will get me flying for now, I am all ready somewhat over budget. I will upgrade later.
Will these servos do for now? The tail servo is the S9254 that comes with the Futaba GY401 gyro.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

If you're running a 5 cell battery you want to make sure you're using a step down between the gyro and the tail servo, you'll smoke that servo at 6 volts.

Aviator 25

So should I just be using a 4.8 V battery or is it better to stay with the 6V and use the "step down"? What voltage reducer would work best for my situation?

Aviator 25

I got an Align 5.1V two way step down voltage regulator today. My local hobby shop said this should do the job. So I'll use the 6V battery and install the regulator between the 401 gyro and tail servo.

Aviator 25

Ok, I'm a little confused here. I have the new heli all together and I'm just installing and tieing up all the servo, battery, and gyro wires. Where do I install the voltage regulator? I see on Tower Hobbies site that the 401 gyro is 4.8V only (I'm using 6V), but the gyro has two connections to the receiver. What do I do here? Please help I don't want to fry something!

krisma

not trying to be funny, but did you read the [link=http://manuals.hobbico.com/fut/futm0807-manual.pdf]gy401 manual[/link]? The three wire connecter will be your power lead, the other should only be a single wire and used for gyro sensing.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Step down between the servo and the gyro or the gyro and the reciever. With the 401 it doesn't matter. The gyro will run fine on the 6v

Aviator 25

Oh I see, I looked at Tower's site before I pluged the gyro in because I wanted to be sure. Tower must have got it wrong.
I did read the instructions but I just wanted to make sure that I was doing it right. I like to think twice and double check before I do something.

Thanks guys.

krisma

aaahhhhhh..... I get it.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Well on the 611 for example, the gain lead is 3 wire so if you step down the rudder channel the gyro (and servo) will still see full Rx voltage through the power bus, so you have to step down between the amp and servo.

On the 401 the gain lead doesn't carry power, only signal so it really doesn't matter.

Aviator 25

I installed the regulator between the receiver and gyro, there was more room up front for the regulator so I decided to go that way.
Thanks for the help guys.

Aviator 25

My local hobby store thought they could get Radix blades, but turns out they can't, so I had to order through someone else. They should be here next week. I could not take it any longer so I decided on Thursday to balance the wood blades (and they were way out of balance!) and mount them on the heli to just try some engine break-in hovers. First off I have to say no matter how many times I start a new OS engine for the first time I'm always surprised at what a great engine they are. Engine started on the first turn and ran like it was tuned-in at a nice idle, though the needle was set rich (as instructed to do so in the engine manual). Spooled-up and lift off, Wow this thing is sooo much easier to hover then a Blade CP Pro! Though I have to say I set the pitch at 0,5,9. I didn't want to push my luck. I ran three tanks thourgh it at a very rich setting and then started to lean it out a bit on the fourth tank. No radio trim was needed for the heli, engine ran GREAT, Though I did have a little vibration. It shows a little at hover, but mostly just before lift off and just as the heli lands. It seems to shake the whole heli (this is seen even more at the landing skids) like the hips of a hula girl. It's not overly bad, but it can't be good. I checked the blade grips (like suggested on Raptor Technique website) and they seem good (though I'm no expert). Maybe its these wood blades?