Head lock not working??

[cropduster]

Hi there,

I have two spirit units in my helicopters, both 450s. I have both of them in stabilization and head-lock mode, which is shown corretcly in the diagnostic tab. However, both units react differently:

- on one heli, when on the ground and turning rotors, when I engage rudder, the heli turns a bit, but stops shortly, as the rudder is moving back t mid point.
- on the other heli the heli continues to turn around when I engage rudder, and can onmly be stopped by engaging rudder the other direction. It keeps spnning.

Both units are configured to run in stabi + head lock mode. What's going wrong?

TIA,

Michael

[ZeXx86]

Hi,

are you sure your Stabilisation is not Stabilisaton (Scale)?

[cropduster]

Hi,

are you sure your Stabilisation is not Stabilisaton (Scale)?

Yes, I checked it. It is Stabilisation (Normal) in both cases.

[ZeXx86]

Can you verify behavior of the rudder on the ground?

When you move with the tail boom by hand, tail slider should compensate it and stay at that point until you will return tail boom back.
If Head Lock is disabled, then tail will move always to the center immediately after a movement.

[cropduster]

Can you verify behavior of the rudder on the ground?

When you move with the tail boom by hand, tail slider should compensate it and stay at that point until you will return tail boom back.
If Head Lock is disabled, then tail will move always to the center immediately after a movement.

I did this and it worked like you said. The tail slider stays until the tail boom moves back. However, when I spool up both helis and give rudder to one side,
- one heli just turns a bit and then stops spinning,
- the other one keeps spinning.

Why the different behaviour?

[ZeXx86]

Great. Are you sure that in your radio there can't be any different configuration for flight mode?
In some radios it is possible to set for example trims for each flight mode (including hold) separately. So with motor off you may not see it.

Next thing could be, that there is something in the mechanics that locks the tail and servo has hard time to overcome the force. In that case it is only matter of time until it will stop working completely.
You can check the behavior without blades on the ground - compare slider behavior. This should tell us more.

[cropduster]

Great. Are you sure that in your radio there can't be any different configuration for flight mode?
In some radios it is possible to set for example trims for each flight mode (including hold) separately. So with motor off you may not see it.

Next thing could be, that there is something in the mechanics that locks the tail and servo has hard time to overcome the force. In that case it is only matter of time until it will stop working completely.
You can check the behavior without blades on the ground - compare slider behavior. This should tell us more.

I will make another check at the weekend. I will have the motor spool up withot blades, so I can se ehow the tail wil behave. Thanks so far for your input.

[cropduster]

Hi there,

I realized the gyro reaction is reversed, that's why the tail could not hold. How do I reverse the diretcion the gyro is compensating? I assumed it would work autoatically depending on the way the spirit is positioned and the rudder configuration.

my rudder input translates into correct tail slider movement, just gyro compnesation diretcion is reversed.

Michael

[ZeXx86]

Hi,

you have to reverse it in the Servo/CH4 reverse as described in the setup wizard.
But then it will reverse also your stick input.

This could mean that your basic channel setup was also not correct. Please make sure that in the Diagnostic tab all channel directions are correct, including Rudder.
For example when you move stick to the right, the bar must go to the right and vice versa. If anything is opposite, then it is problem and must be corrected.

Unfortunately unit can't determine correct direction as internal direction of the servos is depending on manufacturer. So one servo is going in left and other can go to the right with very same signal. So with each gyro you have to set all directions correctly.

[cropduster]

Thanks, it worked now. This is strange because I had it in the air already, but with a different tail rotor. Maybe while I was swapping and readjusting, I mixed something up. It now properly works.

Thank you again for your support,

Michael