500 Derek's Trex 500 tail blowing out

[Derek]

So...I finally got a chance to get my 500 out and work on getting the gyro dialed in. Ran into an immediate problem.

I have the Align Trex 500 with a Spektrum DX8 and a Spektrum AR6210 reciever with satellite.
My yellow wire from the gyro is going to the GEAR channel on the Rx. My throttle curve is 0,45,75,75,75 in Normal Mode, flat 85 in IU1, flat 95 in IU2. Pitch Curve is 46,48,50,75,100 in Normal Mode, and linear in IU1 and 2. In the GYRO menu on my DX8, where it says "CH" for channel, that shows GEAR and the SWITCH shows "F-Mode."

All of that seems normal to me but in Normal Mode and IU1, the tail will not hold, or "blow-out" when I give input for a Pitch Pump. I haven't even tried IU2 yet. In Normal Mode and IU1, I'll hover very steadily (thanks again, kenjack!!!) and then go to 75+ on the collective stick and the tail will whip around almost 180 degrees. It's rather spooky!!!

Does anyone have any thoughts on how to rectify this issue?

 

[Tony]

What are your gyro rates set to?

 

[Derek]

I'm sorry for not mentioning that. I knew there was something that I had forgotten. Normal Mode, I started at 30% and began to increase the percentage....looking for the tail wag....just as you had suggested last week, Tony. By 10% increments, I began going up. Got to 80% and still no wag. In IU1, got up to 50% and still no wag. So, I shut it off and posted the above query.

 

[Tony]

Okay I have a few thoughts on this.

Make sure the yellow wire is on the signal side of the gear channel in the Rx. You said you have it set to the gear channel, so that should be okay. With your switch set to F-Mode, you must use the F-Mode switch to switch through the different gains, not the gyro switch. I would honestly set it to the gyro switch until you know exactly where you need to be in each F-Mode. 80% should provide wag, that is for sure. Put it on your gear switch, and set 3 different settings. +40, +50, +60. That should allow you to get into a hover in normal mode, give the tail some flicks in 40% and see if it wags. If not, flip the switch and go to 50 and try it again, and so on. Make sure your light is solid on the gyro. If it's not, then you are in rate mode.

Let me know how the testing goes.

 

[pvolcko]

Um, don't assign the switch to f-mode. That is your normal/iu1/iu2 selector switch usually and you do not want gyro set by it until you get things dialed in and find a need to have different gyro settings for each. I usually put gyro on elevator or rudder d/r switch (on the DX7S it is the switch on the front face of the tx, upper right corner). This allows me to center the tail before spinning up by flipping down and back up (I set my heading hold rate on full up position and rate mode on down setting, 2 position switch on the Dx7S, you'll have 3 positions, I think).

If at some point you find the need to assign gyro settings differently for your normal vs iu1 vs iu2 then you can switch back, but for starters I'd put in on an independent switch. I put my D/Rs on my gyro switch, in case you're wondering why I don't use the gyro switch for gyro.