[Woodchuck12]

I am trying to get into helicopters right now, but I have been out of the loop for a while. I would like to set up a FBL T-rex 250 that I have for a while with a CC3D board but I was wondering where I should start?

I am fairly comfortable (read as "less than competent") with setting up quads on the GCS, but I have no clue where to start with helicopters.

Thank you so much for any help!

[daveapplemotors]

Welcome,

I have a couple of 250s flying with CC3D boards and Libre Pilot. One is a Trex250 with satellite

Try my sample.uav file. It is conservative enough to not damage the servos.  Read a few threads to get a feel for it.

Don't use the Libre Pilot GUI for TX or vehicle setup. Also don't use "swash leveling" 

RX or satellite?
What TX?

Just ask. There are operators standing by. heh heh

[Woodchuck12]

I will definitely look into that when I get some time. I have to rebuild some things first 😁 

I am using an old dx7 probably with a receiver once I find one (organizational skills lacking).

Do you have any advice for mounting the cc3d? I'm thinking I may have to remove the section right above the back landing gear leg to make it fit on the bottom of the frame. The board is in a case and I may attach it with some double sided foam tape.

Thank you!

[daveapplemotors]

DX7 will work fine. With 6 flight modes you can compare how it flies with 3 different settings banks. And check out "Rattitude","Acro+","V-bar", etc.

I did a real 'ghetto job' mounting my first CC3D board. First I got rid of the case. Then I made it fit inside the lower frame by cutting away some of the output pins. I ran a common +(pos) and a common -(ground/neg) to each servo. It worked but I am happier with a smaller board that fits with no modification.

[Woodchuck12]

Awesome thanks! I'll look into those! I've got everything mounted, just a bit of soldering and figuring out how to connect things and I'll try and get it going. Thanks for all your help!

[Woodchuck12]

Okay, so I got the helicopter set up correctly I think, but I cannot get the transmitter calibration to even start to work. The wizard doesn't pick up stick movements and neither will manual. I feel like I am missing something obvious but I have no idea what.

I am attaching my .uav file in case that helps. Also for my setup in case that is useful: Trex 250, Microheli FBL head, Align ESC (stock), HS-5065mg on cyclic, DS920G on tail. The transmitter is one of the original Dx7's and the receiver is an Ar6100e.

Thank you so much!

[daveapplemotors]

Hey Woodchuck, what's your name? I am Dave Dutton.

BankUpdateFreq = Servo frequency: I use 50 universally. Your servos and esc might support higher rates but if anything gets hot lower the rate. I have ruined some equipment with rates too high.

As for your TX here are your values with lots of zeros and only 4 channels: .

<object id="0x72A1176C" name="ManualControlSettings">
            <field name="FailsafeChannel" values="-1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0"/>
            <field name="ChannelMin" values="0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0"/>
            <field name="ChannelNeutral" values="0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0"/>
            <field name="ChannelMax" values="0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0"/>
            <field name="ResponseTime" values="0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0"/>
            <field name="ChannelGroups" values="PWM,PWM,PWM,PWM,None,None,None,None,None,None"/>
            <field name="ChannelNumber" values="1,2,3,4,0,0,0,0,0,0"/>
            <field name="Deadband" values="2"/>
            <field name="DeadbandAssistedControl" values="8"/>
            <field name="FlightModeNumber" values="6"/>
            <field name="FailsafeFlightModeSwitchPosition" values="-1"/>
        </object>

A portion of "1001Blackie.uav" from October:

<object name="ManualControlSettings" id="0x28801F10">
            <field values="0.02" name="Deadband"/>
            <field values="0.08" name="DeadbandAssistedControl"/>
            <field values="-1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0" name="FailsafeChannel"/>
            <field values="1114,1115,1113,1111,916,1115,0,0,0" name="ChannelMin"/>
            <field values="1146,1516,1517,1528,1466,1116,0,0,0" name="ChannelNeutral"/>
            <field values="1916,1922,1918,1915,2016,1915,0,0,0" name="ChannelMax"/>
            <field values="0,0,0,0,0,0,0" name="ResponseTime"/>
            <field values="PWM,PWM,PWM,PWM,PWM,PWM,None,None,None" name="ChannelGroups"/>
            <field values="1,2,3,4,5,6,0,0,0" name="ChannelNumber"/>
            <field values="4" name="FlightModeNumber"/>
            <field values="-1" name="FailsafeFlightModeSwitchPosition"/>
        </object>

Cut and paste this part into your uav --but keep your six flight modes--mine had only 4 flight modes back in October. You will have some numbers with which the "Manual Calibration" can begin to work.
 
Attached the whole file from October,1 -- "1001Blackie.uav"

Hope it helps

[Woodchuck12]

Hi I'm Charlie

I fixed the uav file and the servos are all moving fine when I use the test program on the GCS. When I use my transmitter however, everything gets really weird really fast.

I suspect this is due to the mixing I have done on my Tx for the ccpm swash setup so my plan was to try setting my Tx to one servo mode without mixing or to try it on normal plane mode rather than heli mode.

[daveapplemotors]

Good plan. One servo. And make sure TX has defaults only when you finally get it to do manual calibration.

[Woodchuck12]

Awesome thank you for all of the help! I've got the helicopter behaving mostly correctly. The one thing that I can't seem to iron out is that when the throttle stick is bottomed out, the cyclic servos jitter quickly. This goes away as soon as the collective/throttle is raised.

Also, really stupid question I think, but for flight modes, the switch on my Tx only has 3 positions, yet I have six flight modes?

I can't thank you enough for all of the help!

[daveapplemotors]

Jitters:
Make neutral value very close (+2) to minimum values on throttle and pitch

Six flight postitions:You must play with your mixes in your TX to get 6 flight modes. My DX7 switch setup: Mix=Aux2, Gyro=gear; mix1 Aux2>gear , Rate -79%, -5%, Offset 14% and then play with limits to Aux2 and or Gear if you need. My Gyro switch is a 3-position switch. My CC3D has gear set to channel 5. You have a monitor or something on your TX to see channel 5 movement and percentages, que no?

No such thing as a stupid question! None of this was easy. I found help on the old OP forum (kricke?) to get the mixing.
I don't know how a DX6 is configured but you mix a 3-position switch with a 2 position switch with enough offset and percentages then you can get 6 flight modes. The next step is to do Manual Calibration (with defaults in TX). You flip the two switches to all combinations there to give the computer ideas. You verify six flight modes work in Configuration / Input / Fight Mode Switch Settings. I have made adjustments to the Flightmode (min, neu, and max) in Configuration / Input / RC Input. Watch the slider on the left change postisions. And then decide which of 3 Settings Banks and type of flight mode: Rate, Rattitude, Acro+, etc. that you want to try. Remember to practice flight mode switches for emergencies. I keep the most conservative settings easiest to reach while flying. Bail out?

[Woodchuck12]

So I believe that I've got everything set up close to correctly, the only thing is that unless the arming settings are set to always arm, the helicopter will never arm. Also, when the throttle gets to a certain speed, at most I can get it down to a rather quick idle, but I cannot make the motor stop short of unplugging the battery. Otherwise, everything else seems to be working about right.

Thank you!

[daveapplemotors]

Cool Charlie,

Sounds like you are nearly ready to test some more:)

If you are saying that you can not use one of the more useful "throttle of and _______ " arming methods AND your motor does not return to zero rpms at zero throttle then set the throttle actuator lower. Try small amounts at a time until it works.

[Woodchuck12]

So, everything seems to be in working order! Thank you so much for all of your help!

What ended up being the problem, was that in the GCS, on the input tab under throttle: The minimum needed to be set beneath the neutral or it would not arm. This was also the cause for it not returning to a stop when the throttle was lowered. It was returning to the minimum, but as the minimum was also the neutral, it would only drop to an idle. 

The jitters in the servo were caused by the collective's neutral being above its minimum rather than equal, just as you said.

Tomorrow, if everything goes to plan, I will attempt a first flight and start (hopefully) working on tuning the PID's.

[Woodchuck12]

So I decided to change the CC3D on my helicopter to an atom for ease of wiring and service, but now I cannot for the life of me get it set up. I tried to port the same .uav file to the atom as from the CC3D, however, the transmitter setup is defeating me every time.

The Tx is set to defaults (1 servo, haven't touched the curves, etc) except for I enabled throttle in its settings. I have tried starting with only defaults and every combination I can think of, but I cannot get the transmitter setup in the GCS to work. Whenever I try to do the manual setup, the collective bar defaults to only zeroes and doesn't read that the Tx has it. I am lost. I can get everything else to initialize and work, except for the throttle hold switch.

I am pretty sure it is not a hardware problem as I have tried switching out everything I can think of. I have also tried starting from others' .uav files, but nothing seems to work. Here is the .uav that I was using the last time the helicopter worked: