Our modern RC helicopters are controlled using mixtures of 3G, 6G, FBL, GPS position hold and GPS return to home, and piro comp technologies. Perhaps I can clarify this vast array of rapidly emerging technologies.

I remember when an engine in a car was a simple mechanical thing that you could completely disassemble in your garage and reassemble with nothing more than a few wrenches and other mechanical tools. With modern technologies, even car engines don't work quite that way any more. Engines now are very sophisticated machines with lots of sensors and computer controls these days. Our RC helicopters have advanced with technology too. Let's have a brief look, starting with 6G technology.

Before proceeding, if you don't know what a gyroscope is, then Google it. It's as simple as a wheel on a bicycle. It's not new technology, it's simple physics 101. If you don't know what an accelerometer is, then Google that too. It's a motion sensor, or more accurately, it's an acceleration sensor if you pay attention to the physics of it.

So what is a 6G flight control system? To answer that, let's start with 3G first. The 3G flight controller consists of 3 gyroscopes for the 3-axis world we live in which is x, y, z. One of these helps stabilize the tail to counter the ever-changing torque of the main rotor. If you apply pitch to the main blades, the torque changes, and the power from the tail needs to change to match it. The gyro on the tail will help with this control to make...Continue Reading

Lets see ... what sort of sadistic things has Florida Heli been doing to his v911-pro's today?

Back to torturing my v911-pro's. Being the habitual tinkerer and lover of scale appearance that I am, I just had to try the Esky nano Hughes 300C canopy on the v911-pro. Woo hoo! It works! Pictures are attached. I got raped on the shipping for this one because I wanted it within a few days of ordering. I got impatient so I paid $3 to ship a $4.50 part.

I'm getting ready to place an order at Banggood, and I think I'll order a few of these.

http://www.banggood.com/Mini-Super-C...y-p-76877.html

The front of the canopy is actually a separate piece of smoked, transparent plastic glued inside. It looks cool. The canopy required very little trimming, and the holes ended up in the best places possible on the canopy I think. In one of the pics you can see the little bit of trimmed plastic that I took off the bottom to clear the skids and battery holder. I had to trim a tiny bit around the horns of the swash plate to make sure they stayed clear of the canopy, but hardly any at all. Putting the rubber grommets into the holes was a real pain in the arse. A piece of fishing line helps a lot to get those rubber grommets into the holes. The canopy sits in place OK without the grommets, but it is much better with them, and they probably will help disperse the stress in a crash. The canopy is a little fragile. I didn't get it on there exactly straight, but pretty darn close -...Continue Reading

I wrote this in my personal log after about two weeks of flying my first v911. Since it was so early in my flying, the info may not be 100% accurate, but this is the way a complete newcomer from coaxial to the v911 experienced it at the time. A lot of this info came from RC Groups, and I thank everyone who helped me get my first v911 in the air without constantly flipping over and finally got flying.

• Make sure the throttle stick is all the way down before turning on the transmitter.
• Be careful inserting the battery into the helicopter. Make sure the plug and socket are aligned and the battery is right side up. Do not force it in.
• Immediately after inserting the battery, set the helicopter on a flat and level surface. This step is required to allow the internal gyroscope to stabilize.
• If the transmitter is on, the red light on the helicopter should stop flashing. This process is called “binding” the transmitter to the receiver in the helicopter. If binding is not complete, the controls will not work. DO NOT try the throttle control until you test the right stick. Moving the right stick should cause the internal servo motors to move the linkages and main rotor blades. You can see and hear the servos making these adjustments as you move the right stick.
• Always start with the helicopter tail pointing toward you and the nose pointing away from you. This is called “tail in” position.
• Always start with the helicopter on a hard surface, never grass...Continue Reading

An accumulation of posts regarding helicopter physics, especially different head designs..

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An accumulation of posts regarding setup of a new v911-pro.

I set up a brand new BNF v911-pro from Banggood ($21) last night, and it took about three hours. It's done now though. It only has to be set up once. This one was pretty out of whack out of the box so it took me a lot longer than usual.

Step 1: Build a complete rotor head, with modifications.

This step is critical because the rotor is what flies. The rest of the heli just controls it. I find it useful to think of the helicopter as a rotor flying with some weight and controls attached. Building a rotor head includes balancing the blades, which re way out of whack. Then I tossed out the heavy weight balance bar. I dangled a new light weight balance bar from a thread. Wow, this balance bar was one of the worst I have encountered! I superglued the weights in place to keep them from flying out in a crash, and then I had to grind a significant chunk of plastic off of one tip to get it in balance. It also had bad burrs on the pivot point that had to be gently sanded smooth.

I have 20 sets of new linkages and mixing arms (enough for 10 complete heads for about $7 on Ali Express) so I tossed out any linkages that didn't snap on feeling right. If it's too loose or too tight, I toss it out. Some snapped on all the way over the ball and others bound up so tight it was going to cause a problem. You can try flipping a new linkage different ways to see if it works better another way because many do. If...Continue Reading

An accumulation of posts related to general Q&A about the v911 and v911-pro.

The "fisheye" is the swiveling busing in the center of the swash plate that hugs the shaft and takes out the slop. In the attached pic, from left to right, stock swash plate with no fisheye, plastic swash from Banggood with fisheye, metal swash with fisheye and metal anti-rotation bracket (ARB).

No. Add the $2.60 set from Banggood, or a metal one if you like the color and don't mind a little additional weight. You will be surprised at how much more precise the heli is after the fisheye takes the slop out of the stock swash plate. Does it fly OK out of the box? Yes, but if you want to tinker just a bit but not much, and take it to the next level of precision, I think this is the place to start.

-Florida Heli-

Yes. It's a matter of heli physics. Dissymetry of...Continue Reading

An accumulation of posts related to vibration in the v911 and v911-pro.

I was surprised too when I put my first set on the balancer and one sank to the bottom like a rock. I have not found a balanced set yet.

Short answer: sandpaper, not tape.

Now for the long answer for others who may be reading, especially if you are not balancing your blades on other helis like the v912 and v913. For those of you already familiar with blade balancing and heli vibration elimination, skip everything below and move on.

If I have clipped the blades on the trailing edge (see earlier posts) then I sand the trailing edge of the heavy blade where I clipped it, since that's likely to be where the largest error is. Symmetry is important so I use a sanding block and compare the two blades physically during the process. Uneven lift from one blade due to asymmetry obviously will cause shaking with every rotation as one blade forces itself up more than the other.

If the blades are not clipped, you have to guess because you don't know where the error is. If you sand the tip a little, you can balance it that way but the center of gravity for the blade may be off after you do that. With blades this small I'm not sure...Continue Reading

An accumulation of posts related to clipping the blades on the v911-pro.

Am I the only person here who has modified the v911 blades?

I made several sets in different configurations, and the set I am flying now (pictured) on my v911-pro does seem to do better outside, with less roll to counteract in forward flight and overall more powerful and more responsive. The tail still seems fine if not better.

I used to do this sort of thing with cheap stock props on airplanes to get them to perform better. A lot of times the inner-most portion of the blades is doing nothing but creating drag and turbulence due to the fuselage being in the way and also due to the slower speed toward the inside.

Anyway, I'm sure folks will think I am nuts, but I like these.

Oh, BTW, do not attempt this without a good prop balancer to balance before you fly, and do not fly with "borken" blades as the warning sticker states. Yes, I said balance v911 blades.

-Florida Heli-

I posted my tests with various blades a few pages back.

I can hear a difference as well, which I assume is, in fact, higher head speed. What amazed me was that the tail still holds steady when I throttle up hard. When I got to the point of trimming the blades all the way to straight with no taper at all, it flew great, but when I throttled up hard, the tail went left 45 degrees before it steadied itself. I might try clipping these a touch more, but I am waiting for more blades because I only have 1 set left right now.

These blades combined with a different balance bars have completely changed the flying experience. It's not as easy to stay still in a hover, but if I tell it to move, it doesn't just sluggishly start to move, it jumps. There is no hands off hovering. Let go of the sticks and it slowly starts to move around more and more until you stop it.

-Florida Heli-

An accumulation of posts about the v911-pro.

There actually are three versions.

1) v911 with "old style" plug on the battery
2) v911 with "new style" plug on the battery
3) v911-pro

I prefer the v911-pro, but I feel v911 and v911-pro both need some modifications listed in my blog to fly their best. Any of them should fly out of the box, but I believe the v911-pro is tail heavy (add small nose weight). Both need a fisheye swash plate ($2.60 at Banggood), and a lighter balance bar in my opinion, to be at their best. Again, see my blog for details.

-Florida Heli-

Yes. Different main frame (much stronger), different skids, different canopy, different flight characteristics. With some tweaks I love the way it flies outside. I like the new frame. The frame on my v911 flexes a lot with full servo travel, my v911-pro does not.

http://www.banggood.com/WLtoys-V911-...F-p-87454.html

-Florida Heli-


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An accumulation of posts related to the v911 and v911-pro balance bars.

Some may not know that there are two v911 balance bars. My 911-pro came with a balance bar that had twice as much weight in it as my v911. The v911 flies great with the completely unweighted balance bar. The v911-pro, I have decided, does best with the lighter weighted balance bar that came on my v911, so I'm going to leave it in that configuration. The v911 does fly great with a weightless flybar, but the v911-pro is really twitchy and tends to enter into very mild TBE when hovering. The v911-pro is borderline unstable with an unweighted flybar.

IMHO the newer v911-pro balance bar with the heavier weights is useless for anyone but those looking for hands-off hover. Unfortunately while looking around online tonight, the heavy weighted balance bars seem to be taking over in the spare parts lists. I seriously hope they have not quit making the lighter weight ones in favor of the heavier ones.

Additional note: When moving to lighter balance bars, I have noticed that it is absolutely critical to have a balance bar and blades that are almost 100% friction free. When I put the blades on I used (gasp) a thin film of 0W-20 synthetic motor oil inside the holes of the blades and a thin film of the same oil on the balance bar pivot. Will it pick up dirt? Maybe. May not be the idel choice of lubricants, but it's what I have on hand at the moment, and it sure did the trick.

-Florida Heli-


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