I did not get to do much aggressive flying with the 11t installed. I was haveing electronics problems, and the heli would tent to lose all control and fall out of the sky. So, i was pretty much doing test hovering and some light ff. My tx timer is set to 4mins with 2650 20c packs, and throttle at 45%. Leaving around 3.85 per cell. There is a vid on my youtube channel (bahamaheli). Its the only vid i have with the 500. I would link it, but i'm posting from my mobile.

Seems like a short flight. That's the only good thing about nitro. My rap 30 could stay up for 20 minutes. If it wasn't for their shoddy performance I'd be tempted to get another as it was super reliable and flew every time. Just had no inverted punch out. Last time I flew it ended up dumping it in the ground trying to flip it over cause it just wasn't going up while inverted. Real slow flips and rolls too. Had to have really good collective management cause it would bog like no other.

Originally Posted by stingeragents

Seems like a short flight.

"Sport flying" I could get about 6:30 and still stick to the 80% rule. Hopefully I can get up to 5:30 with the new gearing and still be playing it very safe with my lipo's. I've been trying to treat my batteries really well. So far I have a few with close to 50 cycles and they are still performing great and have low resistance. I could extend my flight times but at the risk of using up too much of the battery.

Originally Posted by naryan

I'm still running the 13t but with a flat 65% throttle curve. My flight times are still good, semi aggressive flying and I get 5min and my batteries are at about 3.75-3.80 when I'm done. I actually just ordered an 11t so I could try and get my motor in the more optimal rpm range hoping to get some more flight time.

What kind of flight times are you getting with the 11t and what kind of flying are you doing? What does your throttle curve look like?

Same here, I'm running the 13T and Typhoon 500H as well and about 60-70% throttle in idle up 1.

Its enough for light 3D for a good 5-7 minutes. If you want to fly more aggressively, it's probably a good idea to make sure your ESC is well up to the task and possibly use a 12T or 11T for a better match with the motor.

This will inevitably cost you a good couple of minutes flight time though. When taking it easy in normal flight, I'll get about 12 minutes on a 3000mah 6s lipo.

Originally Posted by PHMX

When taking it easy in normal flight, I'll get about 12 minutes on a 3000mah 6s lipo.

12 minutes??!? You are still talking about your 500 with the Typhoon motor? What kind of fancy battery are you using?

Originally Posted by naryan

12 minutes??!? You are still talking about your 500 with the Typhoon motor? What kind of fancy battery are you using?

Nothing fancy actually, just the cheap 3000mah 30C 6s Turnigy lipo. It'll be quite empty when flying the full 12 minutes though.

Before you're getting too excited, it's obviously not 12 minutes of idle up.

Originally Posted by PHMX

It'll be quite empty when flying the full 12 minutes though.

I fly pretty often so I want my batteries to last. Draining them all the way is the quick way to kill them or at least kill their performance.

Originally Posted by naryan

I fly pretty often so I want my batteries to last. Draining them all the way is the quick way to kill them or at least kill their performance.

I fly every day or at least try to fly just about every day.

I was talking about taking it easy and with ideal conditions...

There's still about 3.60v per cell left after 12 minutes of flight, which is still somewhat within range of what's healthy. Lipos go bad whenever they drop under 3.33v per cell or lower.

I do not actually recommend flying 12 minutes, more something like 6 to 7 minutes. But it's possible, and without destroying a lipo. 3000mah 30c 6s is a big lipo.

Don't get me wrong, the 80% rule is a good one, but some people seem to be afraid to fly for a long time. I usually make sure that low voltage cut off is set correctly and then fly the lipo one time until it will be cut off. Then just cut a few minutes of the flying time recorded and you've got your maximum flying time. In my case about 7-9 minutes is still in range of the 80% rule. Needless to say, 9 minutes of flight time is a lot.

After 3 mins of flight, i've done everything i know how to do with a heli, at leats twice, and i start to lose my focus and concentration. So, all my heli timers are set to 4mins. If the pack can give me more and stay above 3.8, i'll do a little extra flying with it. I cant do 12mins of flight. I used to do 7mins with my 400 heli when i was learning to fly, but flying around is not that much fun anymore. Learning 3D is stressfull.

Originally Posted by kdean

Learning 3D is stressfull.

It sure can be! What I normally do is spend a few batteries focusing on one or two things. Just focus on inverted backwards for example. Then take a break from "practice" and just have fun with the stuff I'm comfortable with. Then again for a couple more batteries try to do some disciplined practice focusing on something specific.

I used to just do whatever, since I started more focused practiced I'm getting better much faster. I've made more progress in the past two months then I have since flying for the first time a year ago.

Yeah, thats what i do, but i normally have 3 different helis, with at least 3 or 4 packs for each. Yesterday, i went out and did alot of circles. Trying to get the symetrical and holding consistant altitude. I found that i was comfortable with left forward circles, but not so good with right. Its the same with backward circles.

My first flight of the day is always just a fly around, getting my thumbs and brain warmed up. Then its practice time. Inbetween a set of practice manuvers, i'll do a circut or two too stop my thumbs from shaking, then its back to the trick of the day.

I to have only been flying for about a year, but dont fly everyday. I have a record of all my flights on each size heli i have. I just hit 500 flights yesterday. With the average flight of 4 mins, i have about 33h33m of flying time. (i should have keeped a record of my bench time).

Well, I'm gonna keep the 500, but this friday I'm also gonna order a TT titan X50. Not super excited about it being nitro, but its a 600 size bird and I can get it at a pretty good price. Will be cheaper than going with the titan X50E

Stingeragents

Here's a challenge for you. Some time ago, I converted a Raptor 30 to electric power. Flew a treat. No 3d hot ship, but then again, neither am I.
Can't see why a Titan X50 should not go the same way.

Kdean

With you on the shorter flights. I am a relative noob and I find 6 mins is about my limit before brain fade sets in. As I gain more experience, I hope this will start to seem short, and I can look for longer flight times.
Interested to hear of PHMX getting 12 mins.

PHMX

My 500GT runs 4000 Mah 5 cell NanoTechs. I normally limit my flights to 6 mins. Must try your idea of flying till the lvc cuts in, to get an idea of what it could do.
One thing puzzles me. In an earlier post, you said you use a 13T pinion for light 3D.
For more aggressive flying, you suggest 11t or 12t. May have this wrong, but I always thought reducing tooth count on the pinion reduces the headspeed.
Would you not want higher h/s for aggressive 3D?
Prepared to be shot down over this.

Cheers

Borderlord

He also mentioned running a low throttle curve (65%..maybe). He is basically "lugging" the motor around to keep the headspeed this side of dangerous. With an 11t or 12t pinion, he can increase the throttle curve (like 85-100% perhaps), keep the headspeed in a good range, and the motor will be "happier". Running them in their more efficient range is important for good performance and longevity. The other plus is, with it geared properly, there will be more power to the blades to keep them spinning the same speed through heavy collective changes.
UUUggg...i think. That's my understanding.

Rishelman

Originally Posted by kdean

Yeah, thats what i do, but i normally have 3 different helis, with at least 3 or 4 packs for each.

Obviously everyone will have their own methods for learning and every one of them is good, so don't get me wrong here, but when I practice new 3D moves I generally take my time in the simulator and then fly only a few times with pretty serious breaks (usually about half an hour) in between each fresh lipo. Depending on how much time I've got, it comes down to a lipo or 5 spread across a single day, flying two or three mistakes high focusing mainly on the new move.

Then when the new moves become more of a routine I can start to fly more lipos. This is purely to prevent getting any of those annoying 'too tired, and a little too slow' kind of mistakes that can potentially result in one of those pointless crashes that shouldn't really be.

Flying 12x for 4 minutes or longer will really become stressful, especially when you need to adapt to each of your 3 helicopters to practice the new 3d tricks.

I tend to practice my 3D with a 450 size. It's cheap to crash and when you can do the tricks on a 450, you'll usually be able to do them on all other sizes.