Shop OBEX P1 Docs P2 Docs Learn Events
Planning on buying an R/C Helicopter.. Recommendations??? — Parallax Forums

Planning on buying an R/C Helicopter.. Recommendations???

laser-vectorlaser-vector Posts: 118
edited 2010-08-16 05:54 in Robotics
Im planning on buying an RC Heli to throw a propeller in and for maybe gyroscopic stability or hover control..

anyone know of a model helicopter that would be easy to integrate? ill need a big engine with a nice sized frame and large rotary wing because im planning on lifting some weight (extra batterys, wireless radios, cameras, ect...)

anyone know of something they'd recommend??

Comments

  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-08-14 17:50
    First, learn how to fly. Larger helicopters are easier to fly but more costly to fix when you crash.

    I use an Align TRex 600 with a custom front tilting camera mount to lift my Nikon D70s/10.5m lens. It will easily lift 2 lbs. If I were to replace it I would get the new T-Rex 700e flybarless.

    I learned how to fly on an X-Cell gasser, it could lift about 10 lbs.

    Rich H
  • Peter KG6LSEPeter KG6LSE Posts: 1,383
    edited 2010-08-14 19:00
    D70 ? I would never fly my 1Dmk2 :) .

    sadly point and shoots dont have shutter releaase ports like SLRs do .

    If I was to put a cam on a helo It would be a SX20 . its got a button for video and it can take stills while shooting 720 P video . One could tap in to the wires for the stills shutter and the REC button . and volla . and with the Optical IS it would be ideal ..it has video out too so useing it to see what your filming would be a snap .. I have a S5-IS as my SLR back up . the SX20 is the new version .

    Peter KG6LSE
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2010-08-14 19:38
    I also have a TRex 600 (electric). I started learning about microcontrollers to aid in aerial photography. I soon realized the microcontrollers (I only use Propellers now) would help out in my chemistry work and I've put the aerial photography on hold for a while.

    The most important tool in learning to fly a helicopter is to get a good simulator (I use RealFlight). It will save much more money than it costs.
    I have a Propeller Proto board wired up with just about every sensor you could imagine. I've had each sensor working by itself but I haven't had them all working together yet (I was still pretty new to the Propeller the last time I worked on it). I originally planned on logging all the sensor data and my control inputs to see if I could come up with an algorythm to have the propeller hover the heli on its own. I still plan on working on this in the future. It's a lot of fun.

    By the way the batteries for the TRex 600 cost almost $400. There are lots of hidden costs in a R/C helicopter.

    If you get a TRex 600, get the shaft drive for the tail rotor. There's a cool video of the TRex flying on the Spektrum radio page of Horrizon Hobbies' website.

    Duane

    PS sorry I don't have spell check on my netbook.
  • KB3JJGKB3JJG Posts: 95
    edited 2010-08-15 06:12
    As has already been said, learn how to fly with a starter heli and/or a sim before you purchase a more complex heli. I will throw in a second vote for Real Flight as a training aid, even after flying planes and helis for a decade I still practice on the sim, it's an invaluable training tool.

    As far as a training aircraft, take a look at the E-Flite Blade CP Pro II, for about $230 you get a full 3d capable heli ready to fly out of the box. Once you have outgrown it or wish to upgrade, you can yank the radio gear and reuse it in something else. It's decent 2.4 ghz gear, it's not as fancy as some nicer sets (mixing, slaving, etc etc), but it will get you by for a few years as a novice pilot. You may also want to drop a few $ on a set of training gear, essentially long arms with ping pong balls that make a nice wide stance for a novice heli pilot to avoid rotor hits.

    Lastly, find a local RC club and join it, you will find a great community of pilots and instructors that will help you get started in this great hobby.
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-08-15 11:33
    Duane Degn wrote: »
    The most important tool in learning to fly a helicopter is to get a good simulator (I use RealFlight). It will save much more money than it costs.

    By the way the batteries for the TRex 600 cost almost $400. There are lots of hidden costs in a R/C helicopter.

    I logged about 80 hours on the CSM flight sim before flying my gasser. It is well worth the money to use a simulator!

    I paid $80 for my last 6S 5,000 mah battery pack.

    Rich H
  • ScopeScope Posts: 417
    edited 2010-08-15 16:09
    Generally speaking, here are my opinions

    Generally speaking
    1 --> "bigger = more stable" so get a "500" size or "600" would be even better if you can afford it
    2 --> keep it simple by going with an electric heli
    3 --> don't waste your time w/coaxial or fixed pitch helis - get a good quality collective pitch model that will allow you to repair and upgrade if desired - I'd recommend the Align T-Rex 600 or one of the Align clones
    4 --> become extremely proficient with Phoenix Flight Simulator --> click this link --> http://www.phoenix-sim.com/welcome.htm
    5 --> get to know what's going on in the heli communities --> click on this link --> http://www.helifreak.com/forumdisplay.php?f=67
    6 --> Do not get discouraged!!! It takes a lot of time with the simulator - get comfy with that, setup your heli properly, you'll enjoy it and you'll be successful
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2010-08-15 16:58
    I paid $80 for my last 6S 5,000 mah battery pack.:eek:

    Do I need to boycott my local hobby story? What are the details behind you $80 pack. I have two 6S 5,000 mAh packs and they cost $375 each. I purchased them over two years ago. Have LiPos dropped in price? Did you get yours back-market?

    I hope this isn't too far off topic. LiPos are great batteries for robots so I figure information on where to buy them cheap is appropriate to this forum.

    I just checked, and yes LiPo prices have dropped from a couple of years ago. But a 5Ah pack still costs $220 at HorizonHobby. (I just found one for $189.99 but it's out of stock.) I'd really like to know your source.

    Okay, I searched some more and found one for $70 but it's limited to a discharge rate of 15C. My batteries are rated at 20C but 15C should probably be okay as long as I'm not flying like Alan Szabo Jr.. Do you know if DinoDirect is a trust worthy site?

    It's great to see LiPos this cheap. I can think of lots of uses for these.

    The reason I chose an electric helicopter was so I wouldn't disturb people in residential neighborhoods with my aerial photography. Electric helis are noisy but not nearly as noisy as nitromethane power helis.

    I've used R/C airplanes a lot with aerial photography but sometimes there just isn't a place to land where customers wanted photographs. I thought a helicopter would be great for such places. I still haven't tried flying a camera with my T-Rex 600. My day job has kept me too busy.

    laser-vector, that video I mentioned is available on this page. Look under "Videos" on the right side of the page. It is titled "Alan Szabo Jr. DX7 Demo." I use a Spektrum DX7 with my T-Rex 600. I like the radio. It is really nice to not worry about frequency conflicts with other fliers.

    Duane
  • W9GFOW9GFO Posts: 4,010
    edited 2010-08-15 17:09
    Duane Degn wrote: »
    Do I need to boycott my local hobby story? What are the details behind you $80 pack. I have two 6S 5,000 mAh packs and they cost $375 each. I purchased them over two years ago. Have LiPos dropped in price? Did you get yours back-market?

    I got it from Hobbyking.com.

    I didn't get the pack in the link, there are too many to search through, not even sure if they stock the same one that I have anymore.

    Rich H
  • ScopeScope Posts: 417
    edited 2010-08-15 18:17
    I've had excellent results from hobbypartz stuff . . . the only problem is they are often out of stock so you have to keep an eye on the items you want so you can get them when they arrive

    Here's a link showing some of their packs rated at 30C --> http://www.hobbypartz.com/30c.html
  • laser-vectorlaser-vector Posts: 118
    edited 2010-08-15 23:20
    in the past ive owned a few gas helis, its been a while but im sure i could still fly. but thats not what im after here exactly..

    ive seen a lot on the internet about aircraft that can self correct with the right sensors like a gyro to help you maintain control and stability of the aircraft (or maybe even autonomously...)

    one of my hopeful "long term" ideas is to try to integrate a propeller into an r/c heli and use it to calculate speed, compass, and altitude from a gps, read real time gyro data and some kind of ping sensor for low altitude hover and landing.

    as for an autonomous "brain" (this is an even longer term) idea, i have played around in the Eclipse programming environment a little. using the Android SDK i can write little apps for my cell phone (ive never done anything complex), but my android Eris has most of the sensors built right into it.

    im wondering if i might be able to sample the accelerometer, compass, and gps data right from the phone to the propeller (via bluetooth or usb..)?? the Propeller would still have its own gyros and critical sensors (as I know they would have to have a very fast and reliable feedback loop!!), something like: the phone knows where it is and could be suggesting to the Propeller where it should be going...

    using the internal internet link on the phone i could send simple commands to the phone's App while streaming the Phone's camera back the same way.

    if all went well (and i still have money up for it) i would really like to try to take something like Microsoft flight sim X, ive seen ways that you can record the real time virtual instrument data right from inside FSX. so if you loaded the Google earth plugin for FSX you could match real word elevation and terrain.

    if i were to find a large nearby test field (thats both in the simulator and in real life) just think of what it would be like to be able to fly a short path in fsx, log everything and save the virtual aircraft's tilt, pitch, yah, lat, long, compass, alt, speed, control surfaces and all other necessary data. and somehow upload that data into the Eris, now with a good enough phone (because im sure id be pushing the limits of my eris at this point) all of this data could be used to suggests to the propeller where it should be going!

    if the phone locks up or stops communicating the propeller default to: stop moving then go high altitude then when onboard gps altitude > safe altitude, turn aircraft to return heading (being pointed at the point where it took off from) then fly back home (hopefully back in range of the manual radio control).

    now these are all dreams as i am novice to Propeller and Eclipse. but ive been given an opportunity to learn this stuff at Nasa. im helping build a Black Brant sounding rocket for an xray telescope mission, i might get to help with the design of some of the rocket's ground support equipment. also there is another project where they need data logging on a weather balloon. so im hoping to learn this propeller quick! :D

    and i really like the TRex rc heli you all were suggesting but that X-Cell that W9GFO was talking about and it being able to lift 10 lbs sounds like its wicked strong!! Thanks
  • max72max72 Posts: 1,155
    edited 2010-08-16 05:54
Sign In or Register to comment.