RunRyder - Hurricane 550 first impressions

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e-Gaui Hurricane 200 & 550 - EP100 > Hurricane 550 first impressions

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

I just got my Hurricane last Saturday and so far I am very impressed with it.
Looking in the box it becomes very obvious that there is just not much to do putting this heli together. The quality of all the parts looks great and it all fits together quite well.
The head and tail assemblies are very tight with no slop at all.
Now that I have the thing built I hope to test fly it on Sunday.
So far I only have a few minor issues.
I really like the canopy style and design but it could be made to be a little more rugged,
although I would have to admit it does do what it was designed to.
The tail servo is in the frame and while this seems to be fine, the more modern approach is to mount the tail servo on the boom.
The instructions could be more detailed, but they are adequate to get you though the build and any subsequent repairs.
So far for the price of a Trex-450 SA I am quite impressed.
Hopefully I will still be impressed after I have had it for a while.

X30

02-17-2007 Over year old.

chase
Senior Heliman
Location: Oklahoma city

I have been talking alot with Rusty aka helibrite on my purchase of the hurricane. I went all out on it and even been over the manual a few times which can be found here http://www.rchelipit.com/docs/Hurrican_Manual.pdf

I am shocked that you say the manual could be more detailed. This is actaully one of the best manuals I have seen granted it has been translated.

But anyhow post some pics of that thing. And please let us know how she flys!!!

I will be recieving mine which will be one of a kind and will provide a full build review with ever step to help others that may need help with the manual on www.rchelipit.com

02-17-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

okcheli,
What they cover in the manual is very well done, but they omit some things that are commonly found in the instructions these days. Just a few things that come to mind are belt tension, a position to center the tail, throttle curves, a list of what’s in the box, and recommended servo torque. Specifications on the motor and speed control would be nice.
Not that you can’t figuer these things out, be it is always nice to see what the manufacture recommends.
The instructions on the speed control are somewhat vague; it describes various modes of the controller but does not explain these modes. Helicopter with and without governor is easy enough, but what is the difference between Helicopter without governor, airplane and glider? I can make some assumptions biased on other speed controls but they are that: assumptions. The speed controller has some interesting characteristics not covered in the instructions. When you spool it up the first time after plugging in a fresh battery it has a nice super soft start feature. If you chop the throttle and re-spool the heli the start is not so soft. One cool thing with this machine is that I can plug in just one battery and spool up the heli with no blades without fear of over speeding the head to verify controller settings.
While setting up my pitch settings I had lost my controller settings, so you can lose your settings without plugging in a motor battery. This was not a problem as I checked the controller settings again after setting my pitch.
Having bored you with all that I must emphasize that so far I am very pleased with this helicopter.

X30

02-17-2007 Over year old.

chase
Senior Heliman
Location: Oklahoma city

Well hey the point is that your like the hurrican. I truely believe this is the model that will put the raptors in the past.

02-17-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

Putting this helicopter together was a pleasure. Parts fit is fantastic.
I have never seen head and tail assemblies with virtually no slop like this before.
The radio installation is well thought out and is a snap. On many of the other helis I have built, component placement appears to be an after thought.
Both the motor and speed control appears to be very high quality.
The canopy design provides for good airflow for the batteries, controller and motor.
When spooling this thing up with no blades it is smooooth.
I am really looking forward to getting this thing in the air.

X30

02-17-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

I put 5 flights on the Hurricane today.

Flight 1 was just hovering getting the blade tracking set, adjusting the gyro and trims.
It did not take much to get this thing set up, the flight lasted about 5 minuets on a new set of 2200 mah batteries. Head speed was low at approximately 1600 rpm.

Flight 2 was flow with TP 2100 pro lites. I went into idle up and flew some fast circuits and figure 8s. At 100, 70 and 100 in my throttle curves the head speed still seemed low. This heli has a marvels feel to it and it does not take much time to get used to it. At a disappointing 3 and ½ minutes the head speed started to fall off and I landed. On the ground the batteries and speed control were cool and the motor was very warm but not at all hot. If I had drained the batteries down so fast how come they where so cool?

On flight 3 I stared to explore the potential of this machine. I did a number of loops, rolls, 720 stall turns, and high speed low passes. Wow this thing is flying great! At a little over 3 minutes the head speed started to fall off so a flipped it out of idle up and headed back to the landing pad. At about 60 feet up I had almost no power at all at found myself doing an auto to the ground. On the ground again the batteries and speed control were cool and the motor was warm.

Flight 4. I did move the throttle curves up to 0, 70, 100 and 100, 80 100. Now it was time to find out what’s up with the speed control as I only put 1.09 mah back into the pack of 2200s from flight 3. I hooked up an Eagle Tree data recorder and hovered in normal for one minute followed by a hover in idle up for one minute. I landed and we removed the recorder. I then hovered in Idle up for 5 more minutes for a total of a 7 minute flight!

Flight 5. I reinstalled the 2100 pro lites; they had taken only .84 mah of charge after flight 2. I flew around in Idle up for 3 ½ minutes and then landed. I immediately took off again and hovered in idle up for 4 more minutes during with time I tried some full throttle climb outs trying to get the speed control to spool down the motor but it never did happen. Total flight time 7 ½ minutes.

This is one fantastic flying machine! Very stable in hover, wonderfully powerful in both pitch and cyclic authority and it has a wild pirouette rate. The power system seems to be well matched to this heli. I will reprogram the speed control again to see if I can get it sorted out.
I need to resolve this issue or replace the speed control before I take it inverted.

X30

02-19-2007 Over year old.

Hunter850
Heliman
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Canada

X30, been reading your reports on the hurricane. Glad to hear you like it so far. I have had mine for about 2 weeks but have not spooled it up yet. I broke a couple of ball link connectors trying to get it setup so I am waiting for replacements. I did all of the mod upgrades that came with the kit. What are you using for a manual for setting up the ESC? The only thing I could find was on infinitys website and it is very limited in the text department.

Let us know how you make out with the adjustments and future flight times.

02-20-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

The Eagle Tree data device showed that in normal hover I was pulling only 13 amps.
In idle up and in a hover I am pulling only 15 amps.
My problem with the speed control may be that when I plug in 2 freshly charged batteries (25.2 volts) that the controller sees 7 cells and not 6 (22.2 volts) so the battery protection software is shutting power off to the motor prematurely.
When I fly my Trex I use a timer with an alarm so I am not relying on the speed controller to alert me of low batteries. On this controller my only two options is to ether use the battery protection software or to basically discard it.
I’ll discard the battery protection software and this should solve my problem with this motor controller. I may be able to test this out as early as Wednesday. If not, I’ll try it out this weekend.

X30

02-20-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

Hunter850

Sorry to hear you hadn’t had a chance to fly you Hurricane yet.
When I first got the kit and looked at the head I went out and purchased a Raptor 30 linkage rod set. part # PV0044 and a ball link set. Part # PV0041 with the intention of replacing what was already on the head. But after spending just a little time with some needle nose pliers squeezing the existing linkages they loosened up nicely and I flew with the factory linkages. The Raptor 30 parts certainly would work well for you, if you’re being held up on parts. I did use the Raptor ball links for the connections from the servos to the control arms just because I had them.
I did find the website for the Soaring Arrow Electronics Voyager speed control but this site had no instructions on it. I did send them an Email asking for more information but I have not received a response so far. For my next flight I have the speed control set up for 2nd setting for cut off (+5V) and the third setting for flight mode. (Helicopter without governor)

I hope this helps

X-30

02-20-2007 Over year old.

Tom Viper
Senior Heliman
Location: Gothenburg, SWEDEN

Glad you like it, I don´t know if you have seen these videos I made on it, nothing fancy, I was asked to fly normal (not 3D as it always is in these videos nowdays) to show how it really flies. I am very happy with mine too, and we are lots of people here now flying them.
The only problem I found this far, was the V1 brass pinions. With them replaced as on standard V2, its a great heli.

Very cheap to buy, fly and own. I am using 525mm carbons on mine, and they works fine.

Here it is mine in some relaxing flight:

http://www.ezfly.se/Files/hurricane_soft_web.wmv

02-20-2007 Over year old.

Hunter850
Heliman
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Canada

X30,
My parts are to be here today, so I should have it together soon. Because I ordered from infinity I also ordered some spare parts as well to make the package worth the shipping.

Are you using a separate battery or a BEC for your rec?

"For my next flight I have the speed control set up for 2nd setting for cut off (+5V) and the third setting for flight mode. (Helicopter without governor)"

The more I read about this battery management, I wonder if it has something with the way it reads cell number in the battery packs.
The manual in the last paragraph ref "More about Battery Management System" Technically the power cut off timing was based on the cell number and output current of the battery.

Does the esc read a 6s1p at 22.2v if using 2X3S1P in series? If one changes batt styles does it read cell count automatically for cutoff?

You mentioned that the controller see 7 cells when you plug in fresh batteries. How do you know that?

Also in setup mode para 1, Running the throttle curve to calculate the range by the microprocessor. So I guess the throttle setting is done automatically?

Para 2 goes in battery management, but it starts by " following by the Brake Mode". OK where is this step? Is it done automatically in step one? Don't think so..........

I do not expect answers to the above. I am just throwing them out hopeing someone might explain it better.

I also emailed Soaring Arrow yesterday asking then for more info ref the ESC. Maybe someone will get some more info.

Tom,
What did you use when setting up the speed controller for directions? Nice Video by the way.

We are still at -17C temps so, my setup flight will be in our local gym I guess.

02-20-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

Hunter850

My Hurricane is the V2 with the new pinions. The speed control that came with mine requires as separate battery or BEC unit. So I am running a separate battery in my heli.

>Does the esc read a 6s1p at 22.2v if using 2X3S1P in series? If one changes batt styles
> does it read cell count automatically for cutoff?

A 2X3s1P is a 6s1p battery electronically. When using 2, 3, or 4 cells having auto cell count technology makes good sense as there is large difference in battery voltage by percentage. As the cell count gets higher the change in voltage in percent gets much lower.

>You mentioned that the controller see 7 cells when you plug in fresh batteries. How do >you know that?

Actually I do not know this, it is just a theory. What I do know is that my battery voltage on freshly charged packs is well in excess of 22.2 volts, it is greater than 25.2 volts.
Many Lipo battery chargers that incorporate auto cell count technology warn about putting a freshly charged battery back on the charger for this reason.
Having the speed controller seeing a higher than actual cell count would explain why it would engage the auto cut of processes when I am throwing the Hurricane around in the sky with plenty of battery remaining. The increased current draw could easily pull the voltage down into the cutoff range with a higher than normal cell count.
Hopefully I’ll test all this out on Wednesday and see if my problem is resolved.

>Para 2 goes in battery management, but it starts by " following by the Brake Mode". OK >where is this step? Is it done automatically in step one? Don't think so..........

I took this to mean that after you set up the battery mode you will enter the Brake/ flight mode set up.

Tom Viper
Which carbon blades are you running? I have a set of Mikado 515s coming but I am stunned by how well it handles on just the stock wood blades.

X30

02-20-2007 Over year old.

Hunter850
Heliman
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Canada

So with that being said.... reference the batteries cell count does that mean that the esc uses the battery voltage to initially calculate the cells being used?

It also mentions power cut off timing based on the cell count and battery current. I wonder if this means the initial cell and current is used to set up a timed verses/power consumption to activate this battery management system? ( or am I totally off on a tangent)

Of course it also goes on to mention standard battery single cell discharge @2.9v for the step 1 voltage.

I know this doesn't make sense, but then again either does the instructions for me anyways.

The setup instructions are terrible there is a lot missing from what I can figure out. Looks like it is a condensed version.

In para 2 battery management system. Mentions that it offers 4 options for using with batteries, but does not go into detail any further.

Anyone else reading this feel free to enlighten me.

Thanks

02-20-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

Hunter850

Like you I need more information than the current instructions provide.
If I am successful in eliminating the battery protection circuitry I will be very pleased with the entire package. For someone learning to fly or just hovering this would not be a problem.
Having this thing start to spool down coming out of a loop at 80 feet (1st step) and then complete loose power 15 seconds later at 50 feet (2nd step) with over half of the available MAH remaining the battery is unacceptable. I am just glad I wasn’t hovering inverted when it did this.

X-30

02-20-2007 Over year old.

Hunter850
Heliman
Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Canada

X30, you are right there about not trusting the esc until it gets sorted out.

Maybe Tom Viper will tune in and enlighten us as to the setup procedure. He has been doing some really good flights with it from the beginning.

Other than that I am also very impressed with the package so far, although I have yet to get it airborne.

Kevin

02-20-2007 Over year old.

Tail_BoomStrike
Veteran
Location: Virginia Beach

Tom Viper

What motor and battery are you using? Is that the stock motor? I saw your video, quite impressive on the punch outs. And the flight time from spool up, doing mild 3D, to landing, 20sec shy of 10min. I'm really gonna get one. What are all those upgrade in that EZFly website. Is that included in the "V2" ("final version", they call it in another website)?

02-21-2007 Over year old.

muda
Heliman
Location: siauliai, Lithuania

same prob

I have exactly the same problem with ESC like x30. Esc goes to cutof imediately after first try to pull more amps. If I just try to hover then long flight times are obvious , but if only I just try small jumps on pich/throttle it shuts ups and I beter go land.
Cant find solution yet. LVC disabling would help, but I dont thing it is possible with that ESC.

02-21-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

It was a gorgeous day here today; calm winds clear skies and almost 80 degrees. So naturally I had to go fly as I was anxious to try out the new settings on the speed controller. Set up with the battery protection off, I took to the sky and flew this thing pretty hard for 5 minutes. Not hard core 3D, but plenty of loops, rolls, 720 stall turns and inverted flight, I wasn’t level for very long. When I landed I was thrilled. I had solved the problem with the controller, and this thing is a blast to fly! The batteries were only warm, the speed controller was cool and while the motor was hot to the touch it did not seem excessively so. The charger only put 1470 mah back into my 2200 mah batteries.
I installed a fresh set of batteries and took off again. This time in hover the motor acted like it was in governor mode. (The default setting) I climbed out did a roll and was headed across the field when I noticed that the motor was slowing down. At 20 feet I lost all power to the motor and did an auto to the ground.
Back on the ground I reprogrammed the speed control and put in a set of freshly charged batteries and for some reason the reprogramming did not take. I just did some full throttle climb outs and got the control to spool down the motor. Even if I had been successful in reprogramming the controller again, if I have no way of insuring that it stays programmed how can trust this thing not to trash my heli?
If I find out any resolution to the current firmware on the controller I’ll post it here. When it does hold my programming it does do a very nice job. However now it’s time to replace that speed control and really enjoy this thing. Currently the Hurricane handles great and with a good set of carbon blades it should be fantastic.

X30

02-22-2007 Over year old.

muda
Heliman
Location: siauliai, Lithuania

How did you set up your battery protection of ? Do you mean swiching it to Nimh ?

02-22-2007 Over year old.

X30pilot
Senior Heliman
Location: Plano, TX -USA

muda

Here’s what I did. I removed the blades and plugged a 7.2 volt 110 mah battery into the speed control. I then set up the speed control for the 2nd setting for cut off (+5V) and the third setting for flight mode. (Helicopter without governor). The Hurricane instructions talk about a speed control that has a built in BEC. Mine does not have this feature. I hooked up a volt meter and than ran the heli on that small battery until the voltage got down to 3.7volts, so the second setting for cut off is actually no cut off at all. Running the helicopter this way is also a good way of confirming that it is not in governor mode as well.
This worked just great for one flight, then the speed control went back to the default settings on its own. I could repeat the above process every time I fly but that makes for a long preflight.

X-30

02-22-2007 Over year old.

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e-Gaui Hurricane 200 & 550 - EP100 > Hurricane 550 first impressions

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