I dialed in some mix tonight- in desperation I dialed in 100% right aileron for a left rudder turn, and it made it much more manageable, though it did not eliminate it entirely. Good 'nuff for me! Before I had entered 10%, 20% or 30% but not more than that.

I would have to look at my heli to tell you which one and which way, but you can adjust the aileron problem with the pushrod. You shouldn't need that much adjustment in the tx.

Good day all! I'm new to this site and to the R/C helicopter hobby in general. As a kid I always wanted an R/C heli but back in the day they were just much to expensive and much too difficult to fly so i stuck with R/C cars.

A friend of mine recently picked up a Syma S107 and talked about how fun this thing was to fly, so me and another friend decided to order on online. Before this heli even arrived I was hooked and researching R/C heli's in general. I know right away this entry level coaxil wasn't going to do it for me. And to make matters worse, it took several weeks to arrive.

... after much research, I decided not to wait any more and went to my local hobby shop to pick up a quality hobby grade single rotor bird. I really wanted a single rotor as they are faster and bank more like real Helicopters... I had settled on the MCPx with a DX6i controller but thankfully the hobby shop talked me out of it as the 120 SR was much more than I expected. I would have never been able to fly the collective pitch heli to start.

This 120 SR is fantastic! It's fast, fun, durable, and easily repairable as I found out almost immediatly. I got the thing out in the yard and flew it into the roof. I had to cut the throttle and watch is slide all the way down and crash into the blue stone walkway. Broke the landing gear!

I know everyone has said that flying R/C helicopters takes time to learn but for some reason I though I'd be good at this fixed pitch bird right away.... So I went back to the Hobby Shop and picked up 2 sets of new gear, new main rotors, new fly bar, tail rotor bearings etc... I also picked up the Pheonix flight sim and bought Mr. Salt's fantastic ebook online. After some great reading (Mr. Salt's book & almost every reply on this message board) lots of sim time, and a fair number of outdoor flights, I'm finally getting comfortable flying this bird FFF. What a blast!!!

I do have some questions that I hope some of you could answer;

1) I accidentally left one of my eflight batteries plugged in and the voltage was down to 1.x or something. I figured I must have destroyed this battery but it charged up fine to the standard voltage and I ran it easily for 6 min before I brought the heli back in. Do you all expect this battery will soon be dead? Or is it okay to run it this low once with no perm damage?

2) On a recent crash I broke a ball link on the fly bar. I replaced it and when I went to fly next I found the 120 drifts backward a bit. I had to add a good amount of forward elevator trim to hold a hover inside. Does this affect FFF? I have found recently that I stuggle into the wind. I don't know if this is a result of excessive trim limiting the throw of the swash plate forward??? (I should have tried flying backward into the wind to test but didn't think of it at the time) Should I adjust the screw connector thing attached to the swash place to level the swash with no trim? Or do you all think it's a waste of time and using the TX trim is good enough? **(I'm using the outside or longer ball links and 100% on all controls except for Gyro set for 0 per Mr. Salt's recomendation.)

3) On the Pheonix sim, one of my kids di a loop with the 120 by going full throttle, full back on elevator and then rolling the helicopter to the left when the nose is pointing straight up in the air. I can pretty much do this every time but I don't have the nerve to try it for real. Does anyone know if this will work on the real 120sr? (I assume I'll want to have gyro set for 100% as well).

Thanks all! And thanks for the info you've all posted here so far.

The "battery thing" is my only gripe about the hobby.They are really a p.i.the a. Irarely fly to lvc,let them cool between chrgs. and flights but they still'go south' TOO early.I don't have a problem with replacing burnt motors and such,that's part of maintaining these cool machines,but the batts definately don't add to the fun.That gets quite frustrating for me.It would be really nice if batt tech would keep pace with the heli tech.Makes me want to shelve the hobby sometimes(although I wont do that) They're so inconsistant even with correct care.

Originally Posted by Outlier

Good day all! I'm new to this site and to the R/C helicopter hobby in general.

1) I accidentally left one of my eflight batteries plugged in and the voltage was down to 1.x or something. I figured I must have destroyed this battery but it charged up fine to the standard voltage and I ran it easily for 6 min before I brought the heli back in. Do you all expect this battery will soon be dead? Or is it okay to run it this low once with no perm damage?

Even though the "rules" appear straightforward enough, I'm finding that battery management is something of a black art. For example, I was about to give up on my four E-flite batts that had only a dozen or so cycles on them (kept losing power after anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute), but I just flew them for about 4 minutes each asd they were fine.

For starters, I'm not sure how you could have run your battery down to "1.x or something". What was it plugged into? I doubt whether the heli could have continued to fly if the voltage dropped much below 3.00V. At any rate, if you were able to recharge and fly for 6 minutes then the batt should be okay.

Does your charger tell you how many mAh are being put back into the battery during charging? If you have to put back more than 400mAh (80%) then you are probably doing at least some irreparable harm to the battery, particularly if you do this repeatedly; a few cycles like that will toast it for sure.

6-minute flights are too long, especially for a new battery. Set the timer on your tx for no more than 3 minutes for at least 3-4 flights; the post-flight voltage should be around 3.85 and you should be putting back around 200mAh. Then you can gradually increase flight time until your post-flight voltage is about 3.80 and you are putting back around 350mAh.

DX6i Product Recall: Spektrum DX6i transmitters with date codes 807E, 808E, 809E, 810E, 811E, 812E, and 901E

Originally Posted by 1Pilgrim

Even though the "rules" appear straightforward enough, I'm finding that battery management is something of a black art. For example, I was about to give up on my four E-flite batts that had only a dozen or so cycles on them (kept losing power after anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute), but I just flew them for about 4 minutes each asd they were fine.

For starters, I'm not sure how you could have run your battery down to "1.x or something". What was it plugged into? I doubt whether the heli could have continued to fly if the voltage dropped much below 3.00V. At any rate, if you were able to recharge and fly for 6 minutes then the batt should be okay.

Does your charger tell you how many mAh are being put back into the battery during charging? If you have to put back more than 400mAh (80%) then you are probably doing at least some irreparable harm to the battery, particularly if you do this repeatedly; a few cycles like that will toast it for sure.

6-minute flights are too long, especially for a new battery. Set the timer on your tx for no more than 3 minutes for at least 3-4 flights; the post-flight voltage should be around 3.85 and you should be putting back around 200mAh. Then you can gradually increase flight time until your post-flight voltage is about 3.80 and you are putting back around 350mAh.

Thanks for the reply Pilgrim. As far the the battery voltage goes, I can't say I understand it well but I read though many posts here and also Mr. Salt's eguide so I wrote down the full charge voltage (4.x)and the min discharge voltage (3.8x?? - I forget the exact numbers so the "x" means I'm totally guessing) So far I've been keeping the batteries in this range. But my flight time discipline is a bit lacking. On a few occasions, I've made the mistake of not starting my timer. During these times I generally think - "that's been about 5-6 min" and I bring her in. Although on half of these occasions I've found the power is starting to drop as I bring her in which I suspect is not good. Is that LVC?

When I do start the timer, I have been running for 6 min easy. I find when I land the 120 at 6 min, she's still got power left. However, I must admint that my 6 minute flights ususally results in a half dozen crashes so probably a good 2 minutes of this time is spent picking up the helicopter checking it over and setting it back up on its skids. So maybe I am really only getting 4 min.

What I meant by "left it plugged in", I mean I didn't unplug the battery from the helicopter after one flight and put it away overnight. The Heli wasn't flying of course but I believe the helicopter just kept draining the battery duing this time.

As far as my charger goes, I don't have a good charger that shows MAh. I just have the charger that comes with the BNF 120SR. I check the voltage with a mulimeter.

Originally Posted by Outlier

Thanks for the reply Pilgrim. As far the the battery voltage goes, I can't say I understand it well but I read though many posts here and also Mr. Salt's eguide so I wrote down the full charge voltage (4.x)and the min discharge voltage (3.8x?? - I forget the exact numbers so the "x" means I'm totally guessing) So far I've been keeping the batteries in this range. But my flight time discipline is a bit lacking. On a few occasions, I've made the mistake of not starting my timer. During these times I generally think - "that's been about 5-6 min" and I bring her in. Although on half of these occasions I've found the power is starting to drop as I bring her in which I suspect is not good. Is that LVC?

When I do start the timer, I have been running for 6 min easy. I find when I land the 120 at 6 min, she's still got power left. However, I must admint that my 6 minute flights ususally results in a half dozen crashes so probably a good 2 minutes of this time is spent picking up the helicopter checking it over and setting it back up on its skids. So maybe I am really only getting 4 min.

What I meant by "left it plugged in", I mean I didn't unplug the battery from the helicopter after one flight and put it away overnight. The Heli wasn't flying of course but I believe the helicopter just kept draining the battery duing this time.

As far as my charger goes, I don't have a good charger that shows MAh. I just have the charger that comes with the BNF 120SR. I check the voltage with a mulimeter.

I'm getting better at it, but sometimes I still forget to start the countdown timer; that's why my timer is set for 3.50 minutes. I discovered that when it times out it starts counting up and beeps every minute. When I do remember to start the timer before taking off I can listen for the "beeps" AFTER it times out and fly a little longer if I want.

If I happen to take off without starting the timer, as soon as I remember I just go ahead and start it and land as soon as it times out. Either way I leave a nice "cushion". btw, did you know you can "pause" the timer, stopping and starting it again mid-flight? It's a handy way to allow for unforecasted landings if you know what I mean and I'm sure that you do lol.

IMHO a good charger is not only a nice-to-have for battery maintenance, it is a must-have for safety reasons. Saxguy can personally attest to how scary these things can be - did you see his "close encounter of the worst kind" a couple of weeks ago? And have you watched any of the lipo explosion/fire vids? Please make sure you are following good lipo safety practices; if you aren't sure what that means please check out the Batteries and Chargers thread on the "Aircraft - Electric - General" forum.

getting better with this machine....I toned it down with TX and I can handle it better now..

After lots of flying my 120sr, it doesn't have the power it used to. I have tried several batteries, but no change. It flys fine, and I get good flight time, but it takes at least 3/4 throttle to keep it in a hover (used to be about 1/2). I can't fly with my keychain camera anymore either. Could this be a main motor wearing out? My 120sr is completely stock, as delivered from E-flight, with over 100 flights I'm sure.
Marc

Originally Posted by vslslr

After lots of flying my 120sr, it doesn't have the power it used to. I have tried several batteries, but no change. It flys fine, and I get good flight time, but it takes at least 3/4 throttle to keep it in a hover (used to be about 1/2). I can't fly with my keychain camera anymore either. Could this be a main motor wearing out? My 120sr is completely stock, as delivered from E-flight, with over 100 flights I'm sure.
Marc

I would replace the board to battery wires and connector first.. If a newer battery flies the same as a older battery does.. If all your batteries are older ones than maybe they are wearing out.. Have you been keeping everything oiled?

I'm using two new batteries now, that I bought to try and solve this problem. What about the battery lead would be suspect, if the connector was is good shape, and the wires looked good?
Marc

Originally Posted by vslslr

I'm using two new batteries now, that I bought to try and solve this problem. What about the battery lead would be suspect, if the connector was is good shape, and the wires looked good?
Marc

The wires inside the insulation right at the connector tend to start breaking after awhile from all the flexing they get.. Causing a lost of amps being able to flow through the wire,, making the motor run slower..

Originally Posted by Outlier

1) I accidentally left one of my eflight batteries plugged in and the voltage was down to 1.x or something. I figured I must have destroyed this battery but it charged up fine to the standard voltage and I ran it easily for 6 min before I brought the heli back in. Do you all expect this battery will soon be dead? Or is it okay to run it this low once with no perm damage?

If the battery is working, it works. However, you can test it to see if it's over 3.75 volts which is at the approximate LVC. Below that you are probably doing damage to the battery and running into potential smoke and fire.

2) On a recent crash I broke a ball link on the fly bar. I replaced it and when I went to fly next I found the 120 drifts backward a bit. I had to add a good amount of forward elevator trim to hold a hover inside. Does this affect FFF? I have found recently that I stuggle into the wind. I don't know if this is a result of excessive trim limiting the throw of the swash plate forward??? (I should have tried flying backward into the wind to test but didn't think of it at the time) Should I adjust the screw connector thing attached to the swash place to level the swash with no trim? Or do you all think it's a waste of time and using the TX trim is good enough? **(I'm using the outside or longer ball links and 100% on all controls except for Gyro set for 0 per Mr. Salt's recomendation.)

My guess is that you messed up something you don't realize. It could be any of what you mention above, or it could be the tracking of your main blades or a shift in battery placement. Keep experimenting and you'll figure it out.

3) On the Pheonix sim, one of my kids di a loop with the 120 by going full throttle, full back on elevator and then rolling the helicopter to the left when the nose is pointing straight up in the air. I can pretty much do this every time but I don't have the nerve to try it for real. Does anyone know if this will work on the real 120sr? (I assume I'll want to have gyro set for 100% as well).

I've done it for real on the the 120 and the mSR. Fly into the breeze. I don't think I've rolled to do it. It was pretty easy--and I didn't crash!

Originally Posted by vslslr

After lots of flying my 120sr, it doesn't have the power it used to. I have tried several batteries, but no change. It flys fine, and I get good flight time, but it takes at least 3/4 throttle to keep it in a hover (used to be about 1/2). I can't fly with my keychain camera anymore either. Could this be a main motor wearing out? My 120sr is completely stock, as delivered from E-flight, with over 100 flights I'm sure.
Marc

Is your main blade tracking synched? Motors are cheap and easy to replace if you think it's wearing, but the 480 motor seems to be one of the things you don't wear out easily.