[karla]

Hi, last weekend I finally upgraded my three 3D Helis

From the last OpenPilot ver 15.02.02 that did work on a CC3D Atom board into LibrePilot ver 16.09.
One Trex450 and two Trex250s. All three have very similar setup, an Atom with radio control by tiny Lemon DSMX Satellite receiver and a bluetooth board for telemetry, tuning and logging, all nicely fitted within in the frame of the Helis.

They do fly nicely with OP and i did not expect any improvement in flight characteristics by this upgrade. I do not intend to add any new functions like mags, gps, fpv etc. The main reason was to use the new lovely LibrePilot2Go app in my Samsung phone not having to bring my Laptop to the field.
Before I upgraded one 180 and a 240 Quad that uses the Revo board to LP to have a stable and long range radio link (OPLink). Upgrading the 3D helis just makes it so convenient to use LibrePilot2Go across all frames in the field.

In retrospect I am glad this choice was made to keep the support for the CC3D boards going forward, maybe a hard choice way back when.

I did screenshots of the PIDs and all other settings from OP but entered them myself in to new version. They seem to fly just as before with the old PIDs. However, I noticed the swash plates were not totally leveled anymore due to mild crashes and mishaps I assume so I redid the swash plate leveling again. Will fine tune all next weekend.

But all in all, its easy to upgrade and had no unexpected issues.

[jtrout19]

Thats awesome! Any way you could help a newbie to heli's set a revolution board up for a 700 DFC FBL Electric?

[karla]

Hi jtrout19,
Yes, i have followed your post over at https://forum.librepilot.org/index.php?topic=2856.0

I think several here including myself can help you do that.
However, at least I hesitate 
A 700 size heli is a very powerful machine.
In fact I don't think they come bigger than that.
True, bigger size helis are actually a lot easier to fly than smaller once you get airborne, but if something happens (and it always does) then you have a killer to deal with. Just one example, suppose you forgot to put some nut fix on one of the feathering shaft nuts? Vibrations will work on the nut until the rotor blade will fly off. Can you imagine one rotor blade on a 700 machine spinning with all its mass just flying away? What will happen with the rest of the Heli?
This is just one of the details you need to pay attention to.

Can you please consider that in parallell to get this 700 heli project airborne do two things:
. get a 100 size heli and fly it first - its the same! but will not kill you or others when crash.
. get a real book about helis like Principles of Helicopter Flight by W.J. Wagtendonk (I have no connection to him)
Helis have many surprises how they operate and its no coincidence that it took several 100 years to fully understand the forces at work - check this history clip
The more you understand the better and more interesting it is.

I do not want to discourage you. This is just reflecting my own thinking and hesitation if I was to do it.

For a 700 size heli I would take a good brand and run all the standard components using all their default settings.
That would be a good starting point.
I did that myself with 450 size and then I got frustrated with all limitations and moved to OP/Libre and DIY things.
But starting with a 700 and DIY does not seem advisable to me.

Hope it helps!

[daveapplemotors]

Karla 1+

@ jtrout19=-
Helis can kill you!

My first was a Trex 450. My son was 10 and he didn't like being told to sweep the garage. He threw the broom down against my newly assembled 450 with plastic blade grips denting one blade very slightly. I did not notice this until later investigation.
Anyway the first hover was about 2 or 3 feet from the ground and I was 20 feet away when a blade grip broke. One blade hit my upper leg only 2 inches from my soft parts. WHEW! I had a bruise for two weeks and I don't bruise much at all. The other blade and grip went twice as far the same direction.
Metal grips and renewed respect ensued.
Then I started with Blade mcpxs and ncpxs (suitably modded to fly in Denver) to learn control. After 3 years of lots of sim time and fearless flipping the little guys I feltl that I was ready for my 250s. Even so I had an incident with one of them. Testing LP tune-up, with over a year of OP under my belt, I got smacked. And I bled. I am glad it wasn't any larger than a 250. I could have been hurt badly.

The same week that a guy named Roman nearly decapitated himself in front of his dad with a 700 in New Jersey I smacked myself in the head with a Blade Nano ncpx at full speed. I covered the cut with a small band-aid. Roman's dad covered him with 6 feet of dirt.

I, too have been following your thread and will be glad to help. BE SAFE!

Please take what Karla said to heart!