Blade CP+ (discontinued) my training experience

Pilot-294

Senior Member
Been working on learning to fly both heli's and planes, and i thought i would share my experiences in my flight training with my cp+. overall i have been pretty happy with it, but the more i work at it and try to learn, the more i find myself feeling as if the tail rotor is underpowered. i have my gain maxed and still I'm not receiving enough power half the time, especially on high powered lifts. not that I'm doing any 3d with it but if i lift quickly it goes round in more of a circle than straight up.
i have been working with this bird for a while now, off an on as i can. was just working at it today actually, and i seem to be getting it pretty well dialed in. replaced blades and ski's and still working out the vibrations but I'm hoping to get it tuned in well soon.
overall i have been pleased with her but I'm not sure it was a good choice as a beginner with ccpm and all... i am getting the hang of it tho and I'm gonna keep on going with it. i feel like i should get a couple spare batteries and work on tuning it more avidly, should help my progress more than winging it.

next thing for me is to get a handle on flying a circle pattern with her. i have hovering and basic forewords, sideways, and backwards movement down o.k. but the moment it turns so its not pointing away from me i lose it, so thats my next point to work.
 

SunShine

not crazy, just stupid
I once had a Honeybee CP2 with the same problems, that was my first heli and it didnt have a good life... it was used with the saying: if it breaks, fix it...with duck tape, my blades ended up coverd in duck tape and the entire heli shaking like hell. but i learnd to hover on it, so in a way it did what it was supposed to do. and when i finally bought an align 450 clone, i almost shit bricks. it was faster, more stable and when i got a bit over confident and crashed it while it was inverted into concrete, i only had to change the flybar :)
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
Yea I just replace the blades since the vibrations cause me problems. But I thought about direct driving the tail for more power, or swapping the control system and doing collective pitch if I can. Maybe I can just program my current control system and add a better gyro? Idk yet but I'll figure something out before I break and buy an msr or an mcx to learn on
 

glydr

How many letters do we ge
What you describe is common for motor driven tails (as opposed to belt/ tube driven). However rather than give up on it altogether try;

1. Adjusting the gyro gain (try a touch more)
2. Replacing the tail motor (don't know where to get one!)
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
i have my gain maxed. but it doesn't seem to work at 150%... I'm wondering if my gyro is bad as it seems to wander all over anyways... i was thinking about putting a heading-lock gyro on it anyways but I'm not sure yet. i still wanna mess with it. maybe next ill put on a direct drive rotor motor. thought about just trying to put the current rotor on my current ail motor if its possible. turn the proportioning way down and pray... but I'm not sue it would work. it would probably spin way too fast or not at all if the motor can't throw it. just seems like a lot since I'm inexperienced
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
i think it might be cheaper (and alot easier) to just buy a new heli.. a bettery gryro might help something, but if you lack the power than it will definitively not be enough...
oh look: an align 450 sport clone:
http://www.ehirobo.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=334_174&products_id=5579
oh look: the alloy version is cheaper:
http://www.ehirobo.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=334_174&products_id=5578 ;)

i think ill try the gyro and or the new tail motor before i give... too stubborn for my own good hahaha
 
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glydr

How many letters do we ge
Another idea; try a higher C lipo.

These tail motor helis are always balancing current between main and tail motors. Everything might be fine in hover or forward flight but as soon as you punch out or bog the main rotor it sucks current which would otherwise go to the tail rotor. Tail loses power and the tail kicks out. A higher C lipo can deliver more power in these high demand situations.

My MCPX is a better heli on TGY Nanotechs over the stock lipo for this reason.
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
thats a really good idea. that would definitely save me instead of paying for a new motor and a gyro. been wanting an extra battery anyways
 

glydr

How many letters do we ge
Cool. What are you running at the moment?

I had a Blade SR (similar) and was running 20 or 25c 3s 1000 packs. Tail held ok in fine weather, but as soon as you put in a crosswind and tried to flip it would flick out.

Though tail motors get tired and wear out. My dragonfly tail died in a spinning mess!
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
that must suck when that happens, i hope it doesn't just let out on me like that, but if it does oh well... as far as my batt im running a 15c 3s 800 pack. seems a little small to me after doing my research, ill have to upgrade. maybe thats why my gyro seems weird? perhaps not getting enough power throughout the system
 

glydr

How many letters do we ge
Yeah - that's the first thing to 'fix'. Batteries get tired also (especially in helis) so that is likely the cause of your problem. Higher capacity also helps getting more current into the system so if a 20C or 25C 3S 1000 fits in the same spot for the same weight give that a go.

My GWS Dragonflyl is still in one piece. I was doing circuit ops in the backyard and noticed that the tail seemed 'weak'. I was getting ready to bring it back onto hte deck but the tail let go. Gladly I was in hover so it simply spun whilst I descended down onto the soft grass in the yard. 2nd biggest inconvenience was going downstairs to retrieve it. Biggest inconvenience was finding the spare!
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
ill be sure to watch for that so i can put it down early. I'm just hoping it starts working better for me, i added weight to the flybar for some added stability, and I'm barely capable of circling the poor girl, let alone a stable hover. i just hope i can get it stable enough once i figure out the tail and gyro. i actually called in to blade to see if they thought my gyro was bad, they said it might not be a bad idea to replace my 3-in-1 or my tail motor.
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
not sure on the battery, I'm gonna be selling this heli tho. ill be getting something friendlier once I'm out of tech school for the USAF. i think it was an 1100 mah 3 cell? not sure...
 

Ak Flyer

Fly the wings off
Mentor
I had a friend with a HeliMax similar to the CP pro and he had nothing but trouble with it. They have since discontinued all the CP line and replaced it with the SR. I think that it just wasn't friendly enough for beginners. I would also suggest the higher C battery to start with.

Also, I would try short forward runs and then stopping the forward run while still facing away from you. If you get into a circle and decide to try to hover again when it's turned, it gets all crazy in a hurry if you lose orientation.

The nano tech batteries are only a couple bucks more than the regular ones and they have super high c ratings.
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
sounds good. ill let you guys know once i get into it again, and ill def post some info once i decide on the next heli

thanks for the help on here tho!
 

glydr

How many letters do we ge
A pleasure - all the best with tech.

Lots of cool helis coming out all the time - or the good 'ol HK450 which isn't a bad heli when you consider how cheap it is.


PS - cool profile picture!
 

Pilot-294

Senior Member
looks like a good heli to look into next, ill give that one some research first when I'm ready for my next heli.