Originally Posted by kdean

I also had to remove the tail motor fuse i got from rtf heli. It dose not work. It was never used before so it cant be blown. I need to contact them...

Did you use a multimeter to test continuity? Could be a bad solder joint. Which reminds me, I have one too, but have not installed it, so I will test it before I do.

SpadCat

Originally Posted by SpadCat2000

Out of curiosity, what do you plan on passing to?

I paid a few dollars more after shipping to buy another barebone 450 kit on ebay. It's in the mail. I don't know the quality yet, and there are a lot of uncertainties on what would fit. I hope to get the main rotor portion interworkable. Both use 5mm main shaft... Anyway it is another experiment and may turn out to be not a good choice.

If you are just looking for a frame. There are a number of standalone 450 frames that you can get from HK. The frame alone cost a lot less to ship.

The belt or TT 450 tail boom is larger than the V400D02 (which is closer to 250 I believe), we would need some kind of adapter to make it fit. If we want a standard pitch controlled tail, we would need a signal converter for the tail to work with 2614V. Both the main and tail motor outputs on the 2614V are for hooking up with brushed motors. For ESC/servo, we need signal converters.

The V400D02 electronics are not that transferrable directly to 450 unless we want to keep using brushed motors. Signal converters for both the main and tail may cost as much as a new 2612V and we always lose a bit across conversions.

The V400D02 leads us to upgrade to 450 conceptionally but it may not be that practical after all.

I have made my own converters to go brushless and pitched tail but the tail portion probably needs more tuning to get it right. I guess we need something shorter than 20ms cycle time to hold the tail as there is no tail gyro delay pot on the 2614V.

I'll try the transfer when the time comes. It is still winter up north.

Originally Posted by SpadCat2000

Did you use a multimeter to test continuity? Could be a bad solder joint. Which reminds me, I have one too, but have not installed it, so I will test it before I do.

SpadCat

I believe the stock tail motor has a couple of chokes in place already, there may be something similar inside the so called "ESC". I am not against adding a 50 cent fuse as long as it does not cause other issues. What kind of fuse are we trying to put there?

Originally Posted by Wasp09

I believe the stock tail motor has a couple of chokes in place already, there may be something similar inside the so called "ESC". I am not against adding a 50 cent fuse as long as it does not cause other issues. What kind of fuse are we trying to put there?

I thought I bought one when I ordered a bunch of parts from RTF, but could not find it. kdean has one and his is the one that appears not to be good. That was when I asked him if he did a continuity check.

You know, I was going to bid on one too. Right now I am watching a EXI 450, but he wants more than I am willing to pay along with shipping being way to high, so I will just look. I do not plan on at this time to convert the tail to brushless, will just adapt the V400 rotor mechanically. Yesterday I received the RTF brushless kit and flew V400#2 extensively this morning. Once I saw how they did it, it looked simple enough to build a brushless system myself. I am way out of date when it comes to the digital world, but I still have basic electronic skills that are useful for me. I will rely (and learn) from people such as yourself to do the heavy lifting.

The only reason I am thinking of going to a 450 frames is to find a little more durability until I learn how to fly better. It is nice at this time to have a heli that one can actually fly at a very low point on the learning curve. 6 or 7 years ago, I bought a Sabre 4ch fp and it was one of the most frustrating flying (or lack of) experiences I have ever had, so when I saw the FBL design and 3 gyro system of the V400 in January, I thought that would be a good way to go, and so far it has since I now have close to 30 flights with only a couple of real crashes.

SpadCat

Since you are already have 450 kit on the way (so we don't go bidding against each other) what search parameter did you use to find your kit?

SpadCat

Originally Posted by kdean

Still waiting for #2 and #3 to get here. I'm not pushing the limits with #1 to far until I have back-up.

As far as servos are concerned, I'm still waiting to hear from wowhobbies or walkera-china about the wk-09-8 servos. (advertised as full metal gears, but comes with 2 plastic gears inside)

Can some one tell me which gear/gears are most likely to strip in a servo?

I have a set of Turnigy metal gear servos comeing with one of my shipments, but it sounds like the are 'analog' and not 'digital'. Will they work in the V400?

The only bad thing I hear about the EXI's is the noise.....

After flying my 3ch 9053 volitation and incountering so many problems with it, I'm hopeing and praying the V400's dont frustrate me as much.

I think I'll invest in the best sim money can buy and just fly with that.....

kdean

Sorry to jump in everyone, but I am flying a V400D02 full 3D with RTF-HELI's brushless motor upgrade (excellent) and the big kicker, I splurged for 3 Hitec Digital Metal Gear Servos. They were $20 each, but here's the awesome part. They require virtually ZERO modification. I just took a small pin vise and a 0.060 bit and put a small hole on each side using the servo trays as guides. I literally changed out all 3 in about 45minutes. Here are my observations:

1. The HITEC HS5055MG's are digital. They are fast and they are precise. I put them on high rate and holy crap.

2. Using the stock servo arms from the V400 are a breeze, however, the servos sit just a little different. I had to adjust all the servo linkages to get the blade angle back to design range. Well worth the effort though because it flies very aggressively now.

3. DON'T be tempted to by the HITEC HS55's. They are plastic gear and analog and are only marginally better in this heli than the stock Walkera's. They ARE half the price of the digital metal version, but absolutely not worth it.

4. And for Pete's sake, DON'T buy any spare Walkera stock servos. Total waste of money.

5. I didn't notice the HS5055MG's to be noisy. I am new to real world flying (learned on sim for several years), but I didn't notice the servos being overly annoying or anything.

6) Just for reference, on high rates, this little heli will flip on a dime! VERY exciting!

Hope this is helpful info. It may all be old news at this point or another solution may have presented itself. Thanks and all the best, Russ

Thanx for the info rusty, Im sure all v400 owners are looking for the perfect servo replacement, and the hitechs sound like a sure thing. Maybe you can post some pics of the instaled servos and the details on how to get them to fit.

I know all owners of the V400s' goal is to take this "beginers" cp heli and make it a "monster" heli.

Happy modding and aggresive flying

kdean

Originally Posted by SpadCat2000

Did you use a multimeter to test continuity? Could be a bad solder joint. Which reminds me, I have one too, but have not installed it, so I will test it before I do.

SpadCat

The fuse is blown. I think i might have blown it while i was re-soldering the tail motor back on.

But, the tail rotor did work with the fuse in place right after i did the points. I unpluged the battery to adjust something, and when I tried to test it again the tail motor just stopped. At first I thought it was a bad solder connection so I resoldered it and still no spin. So, i removed the fuse and bingo.

I'm not sure why im using the fuses but they seem like a good idea, if they really protect the reciever when something happens to the tail motor. But, there should be something in the esc that does this.... Right.....

Wasp09 what do you think?

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1401711

kdean

My tail fin had a crack 3/4 of the way around the area where it connects to the boom. Noobi mistakes on take-offs started this crack and it has been slowly spreading around the tail connection. It got to the point where I could not trust the heli doing any aggersive rudder movement in the air.

I used a cable tie/bag tie to keep it from tearing off on another bad take-off or landing causing uncontrolable spinning.

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1401723

I found a new use for my guitar holders. I can see some guys with a wall full of these......

Originally Posted by SpadCat2000

I thought I bought one when I ordered a bunch of parts from RTF, but could not find it. kdean has one and his is the one that appears not to be good. That was when I asked him if he did a continuity check.

You know, I was going to bid on one too. Right now I am watching a EXI 450, but he wants more than I am willing to pay along with shipping being way to high, so I will just look. I do not plan on at this time to convert the tail to brushless, will just adapt the V400 rotor mechanically. Yesterday I received the RTF brushless kit and flew V400#2 extensively this morning. Once I saw how they did it, it looked simple enough to build a brushless system myself. I am way out of date when it comes to the digital world, but I still have basic electronic skills that are useful for me. I will rely (and learn) from people such as yourself to do the heavy lifting.

The only reason I am thinking of going to a 450 frames is to find a little more durability until I learn how to fly better. It is nice at this time to have a heli that one can actually fly at a very low point on the learning curve. 6 or 7 years ago, I bought a Sabre 4ch fp and it was one of the most frustrating flying (or lack of) experiences I have ever had, so when I saw the FBL design and 3 gyro system of the V400 in January, I thought that would be a good way to go, and so far it has since I now have close to 30 flights with only a couple of real crashes.

SpadCat

Since you are already have 450 kit on the way (so we don't go bidding against each other) what search parameter did you use to find your kit?

SpadCat

I like FBL too since I have some success with my 4#6 converted to FBL. On my CP's I always find the main shaft too short so that the flybar would be stuck when we use the extreme top or bottom. And the paddles get loose easily. Perhaps I have the cheap ones. For FBL we have less issues to worry about.

To get it to hover, it is more or less a matter of setting up. FBL is easiler.

The ebay 450 kit I bought was around $36 after shipping compared to around $28 for the $10 kit if we can get it. Someone could find a $29 one last year.

It is more or less plastic. I am going to replace the head to make it FBL. I am still not sure about what to do with the tail yet, belt or brushed DD. There is a $10 FBL head from HK too.

We can also get some better frames from HK for less than $28 each shipped as the frames cost less to ship, assuming we can transfer most thing over.

For mine, just search for "450 V3" and look around $36 total.

BTW for the signal converter, the 2614V does not output its motor pulses regularly. I have to measure the last one whenever it happens to form the PPM, can't stick to a fix interval. I am using the standard 20ms cycle. You can make it shorter, if your ESC and servo can handle a shorter cycle. Walkera uses as short as 3.3ms cycle at the tail. Hence standard analogue servo won't work.

Anyone try using this brushed to Brushless converter on both main and tail motor with RX2614v without using its stock ESC.
The converter from this site.
http://www.kraehe-electronics.net/

Originally Posted by kdean

Thanx for the info rusty, Im sure all v400 owners are looking for the perfect servo replacement, and the hitechs sound like a sure thing. Maybe you can post some pics of the instaled servos and the details on how to get them to fit.

I know all owners of the V400s' goal is to take this "beginers" cp heli and make it a "monster" heli.

Happy modding and aggresive flying

kdean

kdean, thanks for the warm welcome!

I looked at the tgy installation pics, and I must say wow! That was some very serious modding comparatively. I didn't have to get out anything but a pin vise and a 0.060"drill bit. I will post some pics and maybe show the dim comparison between the stock walkera and the 5055mg's. Identical except the mount tabs are just slightly different.

The only downside is the 5055mg's are over double the price. I guess it comes down to your personal labor rate, right? I for one am just lazy enough to pay the difference, don't know if that's good or bad... lol


You can see the dims for the body are basically identical.

I will try to find the Walkera stock dims...

kdean, did not know you played guitar, also. Great idea using the wall mounts to hold the helis. I am having a hard time playing when I always seem to be out in the shop tinkering with the V400s. And several fixed wing projects are on hold also. These things are addictive!

Yesterday when I was flying the V400, a couple of guys brought a brand new 9053 and quickly found out it is not capable of any forward flight in even a very light air movement (too slow to call it a wind). They were amazed that the V400 did not even notice it and seemed to be as stable as the 9053. I informed them of the mods, but told them I would not put any more money in and get the V400.

In regards to the fuse, it must have some importance if RTF advises their use. Not only could it save the electronics, but the wiring and motor could be saved also if it becomes stalled for any reason. As I said, I thought I bought one but can't find it.

rustyh17, always welcome to contribute any way you can. I also like the hs-5055's and plan on using them in V400 #1. My only concern (not really sure it is valid due to lack of heli exp.) is that I would rather the plastic gears break in a crash than something more valuable it is attached to. I have found the HXT-900 and Tpro 9g work real well (for my experience level) and they are much tougher than the stock servos. Plus at $2.77 shipped (I get them in less than 5 working days), the price can't be beat.

Wasp09, thanks for the info. It appears the HK kit has been on back order many months, so will continue looking on ebay (no rush anyway).

SpadCat