General To Idle Up or not to idle up. That is the question.

[Dirk]

I normally start of directly on Idle Up 1. Throttle stick at mid position and zero pitch, then flip the throttle hold switch off. She spools up nice and slowly. Once rotor rpm is up to speed, I lift off. Is this wrong??

I also sometimes fly without using idle up (flight mode on my DX8). It flies well. I just found that when I throttle down coming out of a circuit, my RPM drops too much. I should up my throttle curve a bit.

I was wondering because in a lot of videos I see the guys take off, hover a bit and then engage the Turbo i.e idle up. (1 or 2?)

Which way is the right way?

Thanks guys

 

[Derek]

I'm not sure that there is a "right way" or a "wrong way." Simply put....it's your helicopter and you can do what you want.

You'll see videos of people spooling up their heli, soft spool up, and they'll give enough throttle to get the blades moving. The Throttle Curve will be enough to get the helicopter to hover. Some people will even fly a little bit in Normal Mode. There's nothing "wrong" with that. Then people will pop it in to IU1 or IU2 and really make the helicopter scream.

What is your Throttle Curve and Pitch Curve?

For example:

My Pitch Curve, on my DX8 is linear in Normal Mode, IU1, and IU2...0,25,50,75,100
My Throttle Curve is 0,40,75,75,75 in Normal Mode, 85,85,85,85,85 in IU1, and 95,95,95,95,95 in IU2

I use the Normal Mode to get the blades spinning and to get the helicopter into a hover. I'll test the tail with some quick rudder inputs and then go to IU1 for forward flight. There are so many ways that you can go about setting up your Throttle and Pitch Curve. You just have to play around with it and set it up the way that you want it. I've even seen some videos of people that have linear Pitch Curves and linear Throttle Curves so they can do 3D in Normal Mode, IU1 and IU2.

I hope I didn't confuse you. Maybe I helped.

 

[Dirk]

Thanks Derek,

My throttle curve in normal mode is 0,55,80,90,100.
In IU 1 it is 90,85,80,85,90

Pitch curve in normal is 45,47,55,80,100
In IU 1, it is linear - 0,25,50,75,100

I don't use IU2.

And no, you did not confuse me. LOL

 

[Derek]

Awesome! Basically, I just comes down to "personal preference".

Good luck buddy!!!

 

[Tony]

Not sure if it was a double post issue, but I'm going to delete the second thread. Might have been the server, not sure.

If you watch my videos, Lees videos, Gaba's videos, and if he would even post videos, Matts, we all take off about the same way. Different birds, but they all have a slow spool up. When we throttle the birds up, we dont' wait for the head speed to max out for that position before lifting off the ground. Lee is running flat curves in ALL flight modes and the only way he can kill his is to hit hold.

I'm not sure I would run those pitch curves on the normal mode though, or is there a reason behind that? Below is what I suggest.

Normal throttle: 0 40 55 55 55 (make the last two numbers the lowest head speed without wobble)

IU1 Throttle: (flat or V like you have it.

Pitch curve normal. 46 48 50 75 100

Pitch IU1: Linear

That is what I run and it works great. But, you need to find what works for you. And it sounds like you have. Just keep doing what you are doing.

 

[Dirk]

Thanks Tony. I saw the double post there too. I don't know how I managed that, but I am quite capable of screwing things up.

I am going to try your settings on normal mode and see how it goes. I will only be able to fly over the weekend again, if the weather plays ball of course.

 

[Tony]

It was probably a server glitch. Been getting some of those here lately.

Just for reference, Here are my settings that I use on my FBL 450

Throttle
N: 0 40 55 55 55
1: 75 75 75 75 75
2: 95 95 95 95 95

Pitch
N, 1, 2, & H: 0 25 50 75 100

I always kill my heli with T-Hold at about mid stick, then lower it just slightly to hold it to the ground. If I want to slow the blades down faster, I will give full negative pitch.

I should have my new head for my 450 Thursday to get rid of the slop and I will be playing around with some more settings then.

 

[Island Breeze]

That's the way I take off also. I only use normal mode for take off's testing and some hovering. I always fly around using IU1..thats just me and TH for landing.

 

[Dirk]

Thanks Tony.

I kill my heli exactly the same way.

Another quick question. I hear you say quite often that the 3GX likes tipping the heli over on the ground. I have not noticed any nasties like that on mine. Could it possibly be because I always fly from a grass field? Never tried it on a hard surface at all.

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I also have my finger hovering near the throttle hold switch Anthony. Always try to be ready if anything should go haywire!

 

[Tony]

I think it may have more to do with vibration than anything. My 450 is tipping like crazy until I lift it off into the air, then it's rock solid stable. But, I just found that my swash plate has a bad bearing (from the factory, go figure) and my main shaft is bent (again, from the factory, friggin china). I have a new head on the way and i will be doing some testing to see if it still does it with everything perfectly balanced. It shouldn't, but could.

Grass will also help to absorb the vibrations better than concrete. And it doesn't help that I'm running full plastic pro skids on all of my helis so there is no rubber to dampen the vibration going to the ground.

 

[Dirk]

Lol, I read your post about the woes you been having with your chinese crap. I am not surprised that you feel like trashing your 450.

It will be fine with your new parts on it.

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I see that there is some type of rubber/silicone sleeves available for slipping over the skids to absorb vibrations on the ground. Have you tried them yet?

 

[Tony]

Yeah, they are called landing skid nuts. I have those on another pair of skids for my SE V2, but i like the solid plastic. They slide around and let me know more about the heli than the ones that stick to the ground. If the 600 wasn't so heavy, I would not have them on it either. But, figure I would save the plastic and use them.