Eco 8 Setup Continued

[agran1021]

Well, I removed the mechanical mixer, bought a Futaba 7C, and have installed the servo's for "electronic mixing" per the Ikarus instructions. This is my first kit; the first five heli's were all RTF's. I've read the Futaba manual and I'm pretty confused. Looking for help.

One source of confusion is the Ikarus instructions that direct me to use a Y-adaptor cable with electronic mixing (pitch servo and speed controller are linked together to plug into the receiver). It appears to me that with the sophistication of the Futaba a Y-adaptor is unnecessary, but I don't know. DO I NEED IT?

Second source of confusion is the 90 degree swash plate. I've ordered a 120 swash but haven't received it yet. I'd like to go ahead with the 90 degree until it (or something nearby) breaks. I'm impatient to get the heli flying and don't want to disassemble the head unless it's absolutely necessary. The confusion is with the Futaba swashplate type setting procedure. It looks to me like the Eco 8 is either a Heli H-2 type or a heli HE3 type. The difference is that the H2 has a pitch servo and a separate aileron servo. The HE3 has the two side (aileron) servo's controlling both aileron movement and pitch control. WHICH TYPE IS THE ECO 8?

My final questions concern the receiver channel connections. As I understand the Futaba manual, here's the setup for the Eco 8 (the quotation marks are from the Futaba manual).

Channel 1: "aileron (cyclic roll)". Okay, WHICH OF THE TWO ECO 8 "AILERON SERVOS" (as the Ikarus manual describes them) are plugged into channel 1?
Channel 2: "Elevator (cyclic pitch)". This appears to me to be the rear most servo on the Eco 8 connected to the rear of the swashplate. IS THAT CORRECT?
Channel 3: "Throttle". This appears to me to be the cable from the ESC (which, by the way, includes a BEC).
Channel 4: "Rudder". This appears to me to be the cable from the gyro to which the rudder servo is connected. IS THAT CORRECT?
Channel 5: Nothing connected. IS THAT CORRECT?
Channel 6: "Pitch (collective pitch)". It seems to me, I need to have a connection here, BUT WHAT (I don't have anything left to connect to the receiver!)?
Channel 7: Nothing connected.

[Greybird]

The 90 degree is HE3. The 120 will be HR3.
chan1=ail
chan2=ele
chan3=throttle
chan4=rudder
chan5=gyro gain if you have it.
chan6=pit Pitch is the front servo on the right. ail is the left one.

[Greybird]

No Y cable needed. Switch to your Futaba instructions.

[Gadget01]

You did not choose an easy-to-build kit for your first non-RTF heli. A Swift (for example) is far easier.

There is no "fast" way to get this heli flying. Take your time and do it right or you will just have to rebuild it again sooner.

Forget the 90 degree swash setup. Wait until your 120 degree swash arrives to get it flying. I'm not familiar with the 7C, but if it has 120 degree swash mixing, then you are good to go. You will need 3 servos to control the swash. One is the elevator, which will control the middle/rear swash link. The aileron and pitch servos will control the front/left-right swash links. I named the servos this way to correspond to the receiver channels they will plug into.

Also forget the Ikarus instructions when it comes to setting this up, as this kind of mixing was not readily available when it was written. Definitely do NOT link the esc and "pitch" servo together, since it will not function this way. With 120 degree swash mixing in the transmitter, all three swash servos will work in unison to provide collective pitch movement.

Another tip for you, and please take this one seriously- read the EHBG. (http://www.swashplate.co.uk/ehbg/ehbg-17.pdf) .

[Greybird]

The 90 degree does OK. When you switch to 120, write down all your settings, as they will be lost going to 120 set-up.

[Gadget01]

The 90 degree does OK. When you switch to 120, write down all your settings, as they will be lost going to 120 set-up. This is one of the reasons I recommend against the 90 degree setup, especially since he said the 120 was on order. To each his own, but why fumble through setting up one way and then do it all over again? Then again, this is an Eco 8. He must be into self-punishment :)

[TMorita]

The swashplate setup section of the EHBG may help you.

http://www.swashplate.co.uk/ehbg-v17/ch13s02.html

I would recommend reading the entire heli setup section, though.

Toshi

[agran1021]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I'm wading through the setup now. I may be back again for help!

-- Art