 |
Connect the rudder servo to top connector.
Make sure the plugs go in the right way. Click on the
picture to the left to see what color wire should be on
what side. Run one of the extension cables that came with
the gyro from the middle connector to the rudder channel
on the receiver. Next run the other extension cable from
the bottom connector to a spare channel on the receiver.
This should be the gear channel on the receiver. Note:
If you have a JR or Airtronics Z plugs on the receiver
then you will have to trim two of the edges on the
extension cable so they will fit into the receiver.
NOTE: The connector on the gyro sensor box is used for
factory programming only. Do not connect anything to it. |
 |
Mount the Gyro on the back plate behind the
main shaft. Do NOT pay attention to the instructions for
gyro orientation. As long as you have the orange sticker
on top then you have it mounted in the right orientation.
I mounted mine with the arrows pointing left/right and
the cord coming out of the sensor box toward the back of
the helicopter (click on photo at the left). The gyro
comes with two pieces of foam tape that work really good.
I put one strip on the bottom left edge and the other on
the bottom right edge. If you need to replace the tape,
you can use the CSM tape part # CMLG150 |
| |
Before we continue it helps to understand the
characteristics of this gyro. You will notice that your
rudder stick only moves the servo for the first 75% to
the right and the first 25% to the left. The servo does
not move when the stick is past these positions. Also the
gain pot on the gyro sensor box does not work when you
use the remote gain. It does not matter what position the
pot is set to. The radio controlled gain takes priority.
Another thing to remember is that all heading hold gyros
have to initailize. This one takes about 9 seconds. Don't
move the helicopter during the first 9 seconds after you
turn it on. The gyro will let you know it's finished by
moving the servo just a little bit one way then back. It
will also turn on a red LED on the back of the gyro
sensor box. |
| Common misconception of all heading hold
gyros |
Another thing that a lot of people don't
understand is that the rudder travel adjust (ATV's /
EPA's) does not adjust how far the servo moves. You
cannot use this to prevent linkage binding. This
adjustment only effects how fast the tail moves (your
pirouette rate). |
| radio setup |
Disconnect the rudder link from the servo.
Turn on the radio and receiver. Wait 9 seconds for the
gyro to initialize. It will move the rudder servo a
little to let you know it's ready. Also you will notice a
red LED light up in the back of the gyro sensor box. |
| zero center position |
In the radio, set the servo centering to zero
(CNT=rd6000, SubTrim=JR radios). Make sure the trims are
centered. |
| set limits to 100% |
Set the rudder end limits (EPA=rd6000, ATV=JR
radios) to 100% both directions |
| dual rates to 100% |
Set the Dual rates to 100% |
| set aux ch. |
Set the channel you are using for remote gain.
The concept is to use the end points to not only choose
between HH or Normal, but also to adjust the gain in each
mode. For example if your end point range is from -100 to
+100 then a value of 60 would put the gyro in normal mode
with 60% gain. If you set the other side to -60 then it
would make the gyro operate in heading hold at 60% gain.
If your end point range is from 0% to 100% then a value
of 80 would be 60% gain in normal mode and 20 would be 60%
gain in HH.
If you use the Airtronics RD6000 then go to 'G' on the
menu and down to 'GYR'. Use the flight mode button to
select 'N' and set it to +60, then select '1' and set to
-60, then '2' and set to +60. |
| set to normal mode |
Move the rudder stick to the right, then back
to center, if the servo does the same then you are in
normal mode. If the servo moves to one direction but does
not move back to center then you are in heading hold mode.
If your switches are in the right place for normal mode,
but the gyro is in heading hold then you can go to the
channel reversing menu and change the direction of the
channel you use for gyro gain. |
| servo direction |
Check the servo direction. Move the rudder
stick to the right and watch the servo arm. It should
move the servo clockwise which thereby should pull the
rudder control link forward. This will make the nose of
the helicopter rotate to the right. If not, then go to
the channel reverse menu on your radio and change the
direction. |
| gyro direction |
Rotate the helicopter so the nose goes to the
left and watch the rudder servo. The servo needs to
rotate clockwise. If not, then flip the reverse switch
located on the back of the gyro sensor box. |
 |
With the rudder link disconnected from the
servo. The first thing to do is make the link slide as
free as possible. Adjust the guides to acheive the least
resistance. I added a slight bent to the front section of
the rod as you can see if you click on the photo to the
left. I did this so as to stop the resistance the rod had
on the first frame guide due to being pulled down to the
servo. I also used a JR Ball link resizing tool to remove
unecessary resistance from the ball links. Once you get
the link as free from resistance as you can, turn on the
radio and receiver. Wait 9 seconds for the gyro to
initialize. It will move the rudder servo a little to let
you know it's ready. Set the rudder servo arm so that it
points a few degrees clockwise of straight up (pointed
toward the front of the heli) with the rudder stick and
rudder trim centered. The best position for tail
centering is to adjust the rudder link so that you have 4.5mm
between the pitch slider and the tail rotor casing with
the collective stick centered up/down and left/right.
Check that the front link is centered with the servo arm.
If it's not, turn the link clockwise to move it toward
the back or counter clockwise to move it forward. Once
the center of the ball link matches with the center of
the arm and you have the 4.5mm at the tail slider, then
you can move to the next step. |
| |
Hold the tail rotor stick full right and pull
the control rod all the way forward. Note: The servo will
only move during the first 75% of stick movement. This
does not mean something is wrong, this is the way it was
designed. Hold the link over the servo arm to see which
hole it will align with and install the ball in that hole.
Mine worked out to use the hole that is 9mm from the
center. You want to use the one that is furthest from
center that does not allow the servo to mechanically bind.
After you mount the ball, confirm that it does not try to
pull the link further than it can mechanically go either
right or left. Now you can snap the link on the ball. |
Notes about the Airtronics
RD6000 radio setup |
I have mine setup to go to HH when I flip the
flight mode switch.I prefer this because I like non-HH
for my ground maneuvers. To do that, I went to the 'G'
Gyro menu and scrolled down to GYR. Use the flight mode
button to choose 'N' and set it to a positive value like
60 to start with (my gain is great at 100%). Press the
flight button to select '1' then set it to a negative
number like -60%. The negative about will cause the gyro
to go to HH mode when you switch to flight mode 1. I run
non-HH in throttle hold, if you want to do the same then
use the flight mode button to choose '2' then set to the
same positive value you have for 'N'. Note: I have gyro
reverse mode set to 'NOR', if you have yours reversed
then + values will be HH mode and - values will be non-HH. |
Flight adjustments
without independent
normal/HH trims |
If you don't have the radio setup so that it
has independent trims for normal and heading hold modes,
then you have to trim out the HH first, then mechanically
adjust the rudder link to make the normal rate hold still.
The reason for this is that HH requires a the radio to
constantly send a 'center position' signal to it.
Anything off of center will tell the HH mode to move. So
if in normal rate mode you move the trim (sub-trim or
trim knob) to the right to stop any drift, then when you
switch to HH, the heli will rotate to the right. So set
the trim to make HH still, then adjust the rudder link on
the helicopter so that normal mode does not drift. Gain
settings:
For normal mode you want to increase the gain until you
see the nose of the helicopter wag (oscillate back and
forth), then back off the gain. That will be the highest
you can set the gain. Do the same for HH.
NOTE: If you can't get a gain in normal mode that is
close to 100% then you may have too much vibration or the
servo arm is too long.
|
Flight adjustments
with independent
normal/HH trims |
When switching from normal to flight mode 1
on my Airtronics RD6000, this is switching the gyro from
standard rate to heading hold. While on the bench you
need to set the HH center. If as soon as the gyro enters
HH mode, then the tail servo immediately starts drifting
until it reaches the limit on one side or the other, this
means the trim needs to be adjusted. If the servo moves
slowly, it will only need a few clicks. If you have your
rd6000 set just like mine, then the rudder trims are
saved separately for each flight mode. So flip from
normal to flight mode 1 and watch the rudder servo. If it
moves, then while in flight mode 1, use the trim to stop
it. Flip back to normal, then to HH, you want to get it
set so that when you switch, the tail servo does not move.
Note: This will get you close, if not perfect, for actual
flying, but you should be aware that my experience has
been that due to vibration or whatever in flight, that
the center position is different. So when you flip the
switch, the tail might drift. Just adjust the trim to
stop the drift. Afterwards, you will see that on the
bench, the tail will drift when going from normal to HH,
but that's okay, since it will be right while flying.
The first time you hover you can set the trim for the
normal rate mode. Just use the rudder trim since you
don't have to be concerned about it interacting with the
HH mode.Gain settings:
For normal mode you want to increase the gain until you
see the nose of the helicopter wag (oscillate back and
forth), then back off the gain. That will be the highest
you can set the gain. Do the same for HH.
NOTE: If you can't get a gain in normal mode that is
close to 100% then you may have too much vibration or the
servo arm is too long.
|
How to: configure a switch
on the RD6000 to toggle HH
and normal gyro rate. |
First go to the gyro menu 'G' and down to
'GYR'. Use the flight mode button to select 'N' and set
it to +60, then select '1' and set to +60, then '2' and
set to +60. Next go to 'etc' on the menu and down to 'MAS
1' and set to 'gy'. Go down to 'SLV 1' and set to 'gy'.
Go down to 'g->g 1' to -150. This will let you use the
cmix 1 switch on the top/front/left of the radio to
toggle between heading hold and normal.
Adjustment Example: Lets say we notice the gain in normal
mode is too high. Go to 'G' and down to 'GYR'. Use the
flight mode button to select 'N' and decrease the value.
Next, because of this type of configuration, we have to
make all other flight modes the same. So use the flight
mode button to select '1' and set to the same value you
had in 'N' mode. Do the same for mode '2'.
Adjustment Example: Lets say the gain is too high in
heading hold. Go to 'etc' and down to 'g->g 1' and
'increase' the value. If you have the value at '-150'
then try a higher value like '-130'.
Disadvantages to this configuration:
1. It uses up one of the mixes. I use both mixes for my
cyclic to throttle for 3D flight.
2. Everytime you adjust the normal rate gain in the gyro
menu 'gyr', this will also slightly effect the HH gain.
3. Everytime you adjust the normal rate gain, you have to
set that same value in the other two flight modes.
4. You have to use the 'etc' menu to get to the mix 1 to
set the heading hold gain. |