250 Tail Wag And Other Questions - Trex 250 - Ikon 2

So I can't figure out how to calibrate the ESC. I start it up with the throttle at max, the ESC tones out the number of LIPO cells, the RED led blinks continuously, and nothing else happens.
 

Tony

Staff member
I have had this calibration issue with castle as well. Can't for the life of me remember what I did to solve it.
 
I have had this calibration issue with castle as well. Can't for the life of me remember what I did to solve it.
Okay so the throttle channel on the Ikon seems....messed up somehow? What I've done is plug a servo into it. Min to Max throttle moves the servo about 1/2 or 1/4 of its total travel. Also at Max throttle, the servo is sitting at mid travel. This seems wrong maybe? I'm not sure how to fix this though.
 

Tony

Staff member
return your throttle endpoints to 100%, or better yet, start with a new model in your Tx.
 
Hey Tony,
There a step in the Ikon setup I'm still a bit confused by. It's the "Cyclic Throw" angle, which you're supposed to set to about 10 degrees. It's not clear to me what I'm supposed to be measuring here, can you, or someone, clarify? Thanks.
 

Tony

Staff member
point the blades front to back inline with the tail boom, and the nose facing you. Put a pitch gauge on the front blade so you can read it, then adjust the cyclic throw to 10º. It should be the same both ways with the same setting on the other way. If it's not, recheck your setup to make sure everything is equal.
 
point the blades front to back inline with the tail boom, and the nose facing you. Put a pitch gauge on the front blade so you can read it, then adjust the cyclic throw to 10º. It should be the same both ways with the same setting on the other way. If it's not, recheck your setup to make sure everything is equal.

Ok, but what I don't understand is what is cyclic throw? Is it how far the elevator tilts the swashplate at full stick? I hate to be...thick...but can you draw a picture? Or I'll interpret as best I can and verify what I did with you.
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
The cyclic pitch increases/decreases the angle of attack on the rotor blades, either increasing or decreasing the lift they produce. The speed of the rotor also affects the lift as well. If the pitch goes negative, you'd use that when flying inverted to maintain lift.
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Oh... perhaps this additional will also help...

Tilt the rotors forward/back... equivalent to an elevator but also move the heli faster forward/backward
Tilt the rotors left/right... equivalent to ailerons but also moves the heli faster/slower left/right
Tail rotor speed... similar to a rudder and tells the heli which way to point the nose.

Then as mentioned... cyclic pitch controls lift by it's angle of attack and speed of rotation.
 

Tony

Staff member
I hate to be...thick...but can you draw a picture?
No worries, things like this we take for granted once we learn them.

Cyclic pitch is, as Randy stated, your elevator and aileron (on a plane) of a helicopter. side to side is aileron, front/back is elevator. You are basically just doing the max deflection of each of those two throws.
 
I think I finally figured it out. Of course, I can't get the angle to match in both directions, which seems to be a common problem.

Tony - You mentioned previously that you only ever got your 250 to ~75%. What were you trying to improve? I'm getting vibration in the tail fin, but that's about all that I have to complain about from it. Aside from maybe the random crashing.
 

Tony

Staff member
The 250's are just too small for the hardware they use. Very hard to work on, very hard to get setup perfectly and for me, just wasn't fun. Honestly, because it was not fun, I just sold it and never had it flying very well at all.
 
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