Originally Posted by GetToDaChopper

when it comes to 720 firmware updates you can't pay any attention to rumored release dates or you'll be dissapointed every time.......

That is true for almost every electronic or computer based device I own.

Art told me via e-mail that the firmware update is ready for release. There is some more work to do on the PC software, and according to his notes on HFreak, there have been some problems with the delivery of the new 540 product. I would imagine the 540 would take prirority.

S/L rolls or flips the heli at the rates you have programmed. If you set the roll rate at 240, S/L at 100 percent levels the heli at 240. This means if you are not a stick banger, and you have the rates reduced to help with control, the S/L functions somewhat slowly.

After some discussion with Art, he suggested we try 200 percent. I tested it last weekend and it works great. The heli just pops back upright. This is helpful to me because when I need to bail out, I need an immediate response from the heli so that I can apply collective and get some altitude.

HFreak has lots of discussions about the quadcopter mode. i don't have a quad, and have not tried it. HFreak also showed that the new 540 will support quads, and that is interesting.

Those are the first pictures I've seen of the long discussed GPS unit. I don't have one, but I sure would like to try one.

Unless there are more problems with the 540 deliveries, I would expect the firmware upgrade to be posted in the next few weeks.

Rick

Jimmy - let me know what days. I 'm teaching nights, so I'm not available all week. It would be great to catch up. Been much too long.

Originally Posted by Kenneth

SK GPS here http://www.rcmania.hk/2012/04/21519/11

Is it true that the GPS upgrade package will cost $500+ or is that just another wild rumor?

Originally Posted by RC Man

Is it true that the GPS upgrade package will cost $500+ or is that just another wild rumor?

I hope it is wild. The Eagletree GPS is not expensive . ..

Rick

wow the SK-540 sounds like it'll be a hit !

lightning fast piros, the SK540 is capable of 3 full rotations in one second!

The SK 540 also loses the need for the SK-SB1 SBus adapter

Futaba SBus without SBus adapter ! SBus receivers can be directly connected to any open port on the SK 540′s servo bus.

Originally Posted by GetToDaChopper

wow the SK-540 sounds like it'll be a hit !

lightning fast piros, the SK540 is capable of 3 full rotations in one second!

The SK 540 also loses the need for the SK-SB1 SBus adapter

Futaba SBus without SBus adapter ! SBus receivers can be directly connected to any open port on the SK 540′s servo bus.

Sounds great.
You know, you can set the 720 to piro as fast as the tail will move the heli - the function is called Blur Piros . . .

ya i know, thanks rick....

i used to have Blur Piros on when i was using the 720 on my heli and it was kind of scary how fast it would spin ! much faster than my HC3-SX can spin even with it turns all the way to it fastest spin rate !

the reason i've been hanging on to my 720 is i plan to put it in a GPS equipped quad, i think the 720 is perfectly suited for a quad !
it should be cool when it all comes together !

http://www.skookumrobotics.com/produ...arless-system/

Thanks. I hadn't made it to the Skookum page yet today. They are not yet at Helidirect

Rick

Originally Posted by Rickn816

Thanks. I hadn't made it to the Skookum page yet today. They are not yet at Helidirect

Rick

And may not be for a while longer. I do know the beta testers are having some "small issues" as Skookum put it. However I just had a pm this morning and vid from one tester. He sounded pretty frustrated right now.

I know that they will get this nailed though. I myself just burned new boards for a mems gyromixer system for cp coaxial use. Each step of the way required that I build a wiring harness soldered in sequences to the board in reference to which chips I was involving in the base layer of programming. Each layer has to be programmed before the next is layered on top of it. The more chips involved the more complex the process becomes. I myself had a top german programming engineer I was working with in doing this. I spent at least a dozen all nighters and weeks doing this. This 540 is immensely more complicated than my system was or is.
And sometimes in beta field testing a system something will come up that effects even base programming. So the process is highly complicated and can be black hole time consuming. Then throw a couple more projects on top of this!

I don't envy the Skookum guys at this moment. But I do know they will turn out a brilliant fbl controller when they are finished.

The last post I was from Skookum indicated that the SK720 firmware update would be out in about a week and maybe before the weekend. He also indicated that the SK540 problem was resolved that they would skip in about two weeks.

I have a heli needing a gyro so I plan on getting a SK540 as soon as available.


.

The actual release date is supposedly this monday.

Look what i got !

I got board the other day so i dug out the skookum SK-720 that i had replaced with a HC3-SX because i had have problems with self-leveling drifting with this paticular unit, well long story short, i had removed it from the case and was looking the bourd over when i suddenly realised that the large analog devices mems gyro chip on the board (which is a ball grid array (BGA) type) was not level with the board, in fact it was not even close to being parallel with the board !!! it wasn't just tipping one way but it was more so one corner was very high !!! just to make sure it wasn't just me i took it to work and had several people look at it and they immediately pointed to the corner that was very obviously high,

(large silver topped chip in pic below)

so now what to do ?

i desided to fix it myself after watching a few videos about changing ball grid array chips, soooo break out the heat gun and away i went, heated it up and it droped down to where it was parallel with the board and squared it with the alignment marks and let it cool down.

at the end of the day i took it home with me, plug it back on the control board, put it back in the case, and then pluged it into my computer, long dramatic pause IT STILL WORKED !

ran it through a battery of tests and it passed with flying colors, now all i need now is the new firmware update that lets you "zero the sensors" and it will be ready for the quad that i have been planning on building ever since i removed it from my Mini Protos a while back !

I got a few pics the other day, I was asking if the gyros in the sk540 were the same gyro sensors as the 720s( I know the sk720 also has accels)

I was hoping that they were the new ad's MEMS Gyroscopes and iSensor MEMS Gyroscope subsystems that reliably sense and measure the angular rate of an object, under complex and severe operating conditions.

But I was told that they are the same mid range mems used in the sk720 but then in posted that and no one replied.

On skookums site "As a result, we took the accelerometers out of the SK 720, included two all-new 3-axis MEMS gyros",,, "Dual 3-axis MEMs gyros, giving stability and redundancy"

http://www.skookumrobotics.com/produ...arless-system/

But then this was posted"
We can get better performance/$ out of two medium-price sensors for low-level technical reasons. Lower noise, that sort of thing. As a side benefit, the units fly just fine after the failure of one sensor (we have not seen one fail yet, but we've forced failures)"

Did someone say failures? Not me. But I would be interested in a fbl unit that would have a backup sensor in the event the unit trys to dirt nap my 1200$ heli.

I was once the proud owner of 4 sk720's , I can handle a crash very well when it was my dumb thumbs that did it. But long story short all my sk720's are gone.

So even after all that , say what you will I would give skookum another shot.
If they would give me a real answer to what happened on 2 uncomanded dirt naps. I asked for the logs and they opened them, I still have them but never got a answer.

Stuff happens , electronics fail, so why not just admit it. It sad to see the other posts of logos and goblins having similar incidents. I hope nobody ever gets seroiusly hurt. I think coming clean would do a great positive thing for sk.

So if the sk540 really does have newer mid grade gyros, and they work well
I would buy a sk540 it has a gov and I'm in need of a fbl with gov.
Or else I have to wait for the msh brain or spartan vortex, both have the newer
Balanced ring mems sensors, which is what I'm looking for.
My 2 cents, hope I don't get bashed for this

HEY fusionsx00 ! i still follow you over there at "willy freak" ! your one of the very FEW people over there that tells it like it is, much respect for that !

hope I don't get bashed for this

you'll never hear a unkind word from me just for telling the truth about what you have experienced, and that gos for ANY equipment you may want to Discuss......

i completely agree with everything you just said and have also said over on "willy freak" as your also one of the few people that i know of (i'm sure there's more) who have experienced the type of problems that i have and have had to endure the BS, personal attacks and name calling that i have from the overly fanatical skookum faithful for speaking out about them !

keep up the good work because if speaking out helps only one person it was all worth it !

P.S. if you can round up the cash try a HeliCommand HC3-SX, i highly recommend them ! i have had more flawless fights in a row with one of these in just two months than i did in all the time i owned a 720 ! no joke !