Tail happy… gyro problems?

A few days ago I crashed my HBFP (what is new ) because the tail went crazy.

My first thought was a broken tail motor, it would be my first tail motor to die.
So I replaced the tail motor, but the tail kept spinning.

Than I noticed the tail is spinning clockwise. I played around with gyro’s proportional and gain settings. But the tail keeps spinning clockwise, regardless of the proportional and gain settings. In short my tail rotor is spinning to fast.

So my question as a gyro noob:
Did my gyro die?

Thanks,
Mozzy

Okay, think I am on to something...

Found this on Eflightwiki:
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Proportional mix and gyro gain
1.Turn gain to below half way. (Note: Full clockwise is max gain.)
2.Plug in 4-in-1 and wait for solid green light. (Make sure helicopter does not move during this stage)
3.Fly heli and note the direction of yaw.
4.Land and unplug the 4-in-1. (Must unplug 4in1 for changes to take effect.)
5.Adjust the proportional pot.
If the nose was yawing right then decrease pot (counterclockwise).
If the nose was yawing left then increase pot (clockwise).
6.Repeat steps 2 to 5 till the yaw is gone.
7.Fly the heli and increase gain till you experience some tail wag. (No need to unplug 4in1 when adjusting gain.)
8.If you do experience tail wag then decrease gain a bit till the wag is gone.
9.Changes in the gain may reintroduce some yaw. If so, repeat steps 2 to 5 again with the new gain setting.
Note: Make sure not to move the helicopter while the 4-in-1 is initializing. Always wait for the solid green light before moving it, otherwise the gyro may not calibrate correctly.
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So, you need to unplug en re-plug the 4in1 for the proportional settings to take affect.
I didn't quit get this from the manual.

It works, setting proportional to minimal makes the tail motor slow down and spin the tail spin counter clockwise

Now all I need to do is fine tuning. But that will have to wait to the morning, it's dark outside (just past midnight) and the living room is to small for this.

One thing for sure about this hobby. You learn something new every day don't you? Glad you figured out your problem.

Donnie D

Does the 4 in 1 only need to be left motionless while initializing, or does it need to be upright too?

I would think it would need to be upright, but I don't know for sure. Why wouldn't it be upright?

Donnie D

Tanks Donnie D for the encouraging words.

I followed the instruction I found on Eflightwiki. But unfortunately I had little luck today with the gyro. It is driving me nuts
I got the proportional setting correct, the tail is stable. At least, as long as I don’t touch the rudder control stick.

But I can’t seem to get the gain setting right.
Increasing the gain does not make the tail wobble from left to right. The tail response is very sensitive, every tail correction I make causes the tail to spin out of control.

This gyro problem first occurred mid flight (see initial post). I did not mess with the gain/proportional settings until after this problem occurred.

Has anyone else had a 4in1 gyro problem mid flight?

Back to my initial question: did the gyro die?

When you give right rudder, does the nose yaw right ( clockwise looking down on heli)?

Make sure the tail motor plug is not plugged into the 4 in 1 upside down.

Donnie D

By now I am quit convinced that the gyro is dead.

I am sure all of you have let the HBFP spin its rotors when holding it in your hands. Have you ever noticed that with a sudden movement of the wrist (left or right) the gyro kicks in?. You can feel how it tries to hold the tail.

Well, my HBFP is not doing this anymore.

Oh , I got to break the most expensive part and I didn’t even do it while crashing

One new 4in1 coming up

Sorry to hear that, bud.

Donnie D

Maybe some good will come of this after all

I found some instructions on how to link a HH gyro to the HBFP 4in1. Since the gyro of my old 4in1 is not functioning anymore, this seems the way to go. Otherwise it would only be gathering dust.

So, today I ordered myself a Esky EK2-0704B gyro. They are cheap at Ebay, less than 17 US dollars (or 13 euro's on this side of the big lake), and that's including shipping.

Can't wait to see how my HBFP with HH gyro flies in windy conditions.

I will keep you posted.

Yes... Honey bee with HH gyro will be a blast When you finish it, we want to see vid with hb in air

Mozzy, how is it going with the HH gyro?
I think you need to upgrade to DD Tail too

Sorry to keep you waiting

I posted my partial update in this post.

In short, the HBFP handles great in windy conditions for as long as the HH gyro does its job. But from time to time the tail rotor just stops and the bird just spins to the ground.

I've ordered a new gyro, to see if that fixes the problem.
And I will check the "malfunctioning" gyro in my T-rex 450 clone that I am building at the moment.

So you're running it with the gain adjustment on your DX6i?

I wonder how it'd perform without the gain wire attached, in head holding mode only, for the stock Tx. Not sure I feel like hacking up the 4-in-1 for a 'test'.

Is it just me or what ?

I noticed, if I use different battery, the tail react differently. The battery I use is NiMH and LIPO 7.4v 800mAH. I think the power coming out from the battery has some affect on motor RPM.

When using the NiMH battery, the nose tend to spin to the left. With LIPO, it tend to spin to the right.

The tail also for my reacted differently with different battery

Back from holiday break and stuff.
Sorry to keep you guys waiting.

I tried another HH gyro (DETRUM Head Locked Gyro GY48V) on my HBFP. This one was able to keep the tail, but not steady. The gyro causes the tail rotor RPM to fluctuate, in a burst like manner. No matter what I did with gain (on DX6i), delay (on gyro) and digital/analog settings.

After trying two gyro I abandoned the HH gyro project. Like Mark suggested, the HBFP is not worth the money.

For the record, the E-sky EK2-0704B I first tried does seem to work fine on my new HK450