nano cpx - beginner help

[6string]

so, I am a newb with rc helicopters and have a nano cpx. I know cp helis aren't recommended for beginners but I have realistic expectations and willing to learn. Plus, I have some experience in real flight 7 simulator. In the simulator I can hover like a champ, but flying around is.... tough. I am a newb for sure.

So, I am having a lot of trouble with my nano. I wasnt expecting r miracles. But whenever I try and hover the heli pulls in the same direction And flys away from me. Is this normal? It makes it very hard for me to make minor corrections and get it under Control. I have a dx6i and programed it as recommended by the manual. All trims are normal.

I get that I may need more practice, but just want to make sure there isn't some setting or perhaps faulty heli getting in the way.

Any advice?

 

[notreallyme]

CP heli's are an animal unlike any other.when you say the heli pulls in the same direction and flys away from you can you explain more?

CP heli's fly different in and out of ground effect so how high are you trying to hover?

the tail rotor will always be trying push the heli sideways so to stay in 1 place the heli will be "tilted" to counteract the push.

small heli's are just unstable the bigger they are the more doctile they seem to be, little ones are just all over the place.

sim's make heli's easier to fly, adjust the sim if you can to make the heli's almost uncontrollable and get where you can fly them then flying the real one's seems a bit easier.

super small input's and expo.

 

[6string]

Thanks for the response notreallyme.

So, the only reason why I need to check if there is something wrong with the heli is because:

1.) total newb to even RC. All my experience is in the simulator.

2.) At one point the heli was not even getting off the ground and acting all erratic without any input by me to the right stick - throttle only. It would flip over on it's back, or side, but never go up. I held it in my hand, throttled up, and noticed the rotors moving back and to the left. I checked all the adjustments and re-read the manual. I realized I had bound it to my DX6i wrong (bound it as a non-computer radio, and not computer radio). After re-bounding it, that fixed it.

But I continue to have a lot of trouble. I set the heli up with the tail facing me (this isn't easiest for me in the simulator). The Heli has a tendency to yaw to the right where I get a 3/4 view of the front of the heli, and then it pulls away to the left as it gets into the air. I did check my trims, which were out of whack at one point due to user error, but are fine now, issue persists.

I try to get it up and and away from the ground as it is obvious being lower makes it tougher to control.

Am I missing something? Could it be a faulty unit? Is there a set up I am missing? I set up my radio as instructed in the manual, all switches are set to the "0" position, the F-mode is NOT activated, I understand how the throttle hold is.

I feel like if I could get it to just pop up in the air with even a little better control from the onset I could get some hover time in. But, it's just SO erratic from the onset.

Is this just the nature of the beast and I need to keep at it? I think being outside or in a bigger area would help. Too cold up here in Minny for outside, and I'm in the biggest room in my house (which isn't very big).

Just asking for tips to make sure I am not missing anything and set up for success as well as can be (with something I was VERY aware was challenging). I do have A LOT of experience with toy grade coaxial heli's, I've mastered those. I chose to make the jump right to CP (which probably wasn't the best idea), but I am patient, have the simulator, and realistic expectations.

Thanks in advance.

 

[notreallyme]

what do your throttle and pitch curves look like? i will try to look at the manual to see what it says. i know i changed mine to make it easier for me.

when you initialize is your swash plate completely flat or does it tilt back and right?

with the tail facing you should be the easiest the swash should move the same as the right stick, it starts getting confusing when the tail starts moving and things start getting backwards depending on the orientation you are in.

i'm going to go look at the manual, see if i can figure out something that could help you out.

 

[6string]

Notreallyme,

Thanks. I have something kinda embarrassing to admit... I think I found what may be the culprit.... I just got the heli out this morning and wanted to give it another shot. After a particularly hairy crash last night I re-positioned tail fin.... upside down It appears to have a little better control now I also removed some dog hair that was wound up with the tail rotor. Chalk that up to rookie mistakes and the learning curve. I assume either of those two issues would make it harder to control the nano?

As to answer your question, my swash plate is completely flat when I initialize now. The issue was before binding it correctly was it would start flat, but when I throttled up using the left stick the rotor would behave as if I was ALSO pulling the right stick down and to the right. Meaning, it the blades would spin AND pull back and to the right.

Is this a common issue associated with incorrect binding? erratic controls? I only noticed was because I had to keep re-binding my Nano every time I started up. Being a rookie I wasn't sure if this was the process, I always assumed you had to do it once and the transmitter would remember (which it does now since I did it right). The bizarre part was it hadn't acted erratically when I had incorrectly bound it on previous occasions (it took about four incorrect bindings before I did it right).

The swash plate pulling back and to the right with only throttle input led me to believe the unit was faulty (but obviously aware user error was MORE likely

Sorry if this is confusing, it's tough for me to explain since I'm a rook.

 

[6string]

what do your throttle and pitch curves look like? i will try to look at the manual to see what it says. i know i changed mine to make it easier for me.

They look exactly as instructed in the manual. I don't run in stunt mode... ever..... I use throttle hold when things get hairy to have as smooth of landing, er um, crash as I can

 

[notreallyme]

first thing i saw that i might change is the throttle curve in norm mode, to me the reason to have CP heli is the rpm's stay the same and the pitch of the blades makes you go up and down. the 60%-100% in the upper half of the the left stick movement seems like a lot of rpm change to me i like very little rpm change. i would probably make the 50% throttle point and above be 75%-80% across the curve.

second is the throttle hold being at 10%, not sure i understand throttle hold being anything but 0% because when you do start flying with "stunt" mode when you are crashing it is hard enough to flip into throttle hold much less flipping back to norm and shutting off the throttle.

as for the erratic movement with incorrect binding that is a definite issue. you said now with correct binding there is no more back and to the left?

the tail fin upside down probably wouldn't change the way it fly's much but the dog hair in the tail rotor it will definitely cause an issue at least in the long run( it will burn out the tail motor). always make sure when you crash that the first thing you do is shut off the throttle to reduce the possibility of picking up more dog hair.

other than that i just spool up to mid stick then do a quick "jump" into the air, then the hardest thing is keeping the tail towards you to keep orientation.

and lots and lots of sim time to reduce the repairs. like i said before try to adjust the sim to make the heli's "harder" to fly makes it easier with the real thing.

 

[6string]

Thanks for the help. After correctly binding I am no longer getting the erratic movement from the rotor.

I will try adjusting the throttle curves, makes sense to me know that you have explained it. I am having a little better luck with "jumping" it into the air. I underestimated how much the ground affects the hover characteristic. I have had a few 30 second hovers I was pretty proud of, I do much better if I can keep the heli orientated either facing me, or facing away. I believe you folks refer to this as "tail in" and "tail out"?

I think I just need some practice, but can move forward knowing nothing is wrong with the unit.

Quick question, the manual suggests for D/R % Expo for the "0" setting of 100%/30% of aileron and elevator and 100%/INH for Rudder. For setting "1" it suggests 85%/30% for aileron and elevator and 85%/inh for Rudder.

I only have basic understanding of Dual Rate and Expo (watched the video from the beginner series). Can you explain this better? Like, how do the above settings affect the performance in the real world? And which should i be using as a newb? The "0" setting, or the "1" setting? It took me forever to figure out how to switch the two in the 1st place - DUH, but flipping the switch.... This truly is a hobby that drives home the point "you don't know what you don't know".

Thanks for all the help.

 

[notreallyme]

"0" setting is high rates will move 100% of the movement with 30% expo makes center of the stick less sensitive to help you not over correct.

"1" setting is low rates and will only move 85% of the allowed movement, this also helps to make the stick less sensitive because there is less total movement overall.

as to which 1 you should use, if you are having issues with over correcting low rates or the switch at the "1" setting should help at least a little bit. just remember small(very small) stick movements do quite a bit with tiny heli's in a hover. air movement also effects you a lot. heater coming on, ceiling fan on in the summer the A/C coming on and off.

the best thing is you are not afraid to ask when you don't know, and have found a forum that is willing to help you understand.

 

[6string]

Well, seeing as though orientation is more of an issue at this point than stick movement, I guess it doesn't matter for me. I think the simulator helps with understanding how little stick input is required. What it DOESN'T help with is how quickly things can get hairy in the real world and you need to bail.

I'm making progress, I had a few good hovers yesterday. I'm thinking once the snow melts and I can get outside with more room I'll be able to make some real progress. Being inside and having to account for couches, kitchen tables and only 9' of clearance doesn't help.

Thanks again.

 

[Nerobro]

What helped me a lot with flying the Nano CPX was to set the pitch curve to 45-45-50-75-100. The "massive negative thrust" made even lifting off kinda weird. By setting "minimal" or "no" negative thrust the thing won't quite smash to the ground as fast.

I also found setting the throttle curve to 0-50-80-90-100 helped. That initial spin-up can be a little hairy. With a CP heli, most of your thrust changes come from pitch, instead of from throttle position, that curve helped me get over the hump.

Make no mistake, it's tiny, and really twitchy. I can fly my mCPX with authority, and fairly smoothly, I still can do no such thing with the Nano CPx.

Good luck. And I really find these tiny birds lovely.. crash all you want, you really don't break much.

 

[6string]

well, good news and bad news. The good news is, I have made a lot of progress on hovering. I can now, most of the time, get it into a decent hover. Unfortunately, I simply cannot control it very long, and the hover typically ends in a crash. but I CAN get it up and control it for a minute or so on a pretty routine basis.

The bad news? The canopy is toast, the boom is snapped, and the landing gears is in three pieces I don't think that its because the bird is overly fragile, its because the darn thing has a tendency to always crash in the stairwell (I live in a split entry) from the living room I fly in, so it's always worst case scenario and falling farther than it normally would. Hitting the walls doesn't help either

So, looks like a trip to the hobby shop this weekend.

One quick question, this was totally unlucky, but one of the pegs from the landing gear snapped of and was left behind in the frame. How unlucky is that!? I couldn't get it out, so had to drill it out. I think I will have to replace the frame if I ever want a new landing gear to attach to the frame properly. Any advice on how to get that peg out without using a drill in the future? Is replacing the frame pretty tough?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Nerobro]

Getting in the habit of doing the throttle cut will help that. If you cut the motor, you'll have less energy in the crash, which will save parts.

 

[6string]

Getting in the habit of doing the throttle cut will help that. If you cut the motor, you'll have less energy in the crash, which will save parts.

I'm actually getting quite good with the throttle cut (with all the crashes). The issue is I live in a split entry and fly in the living room. So, the stairwell do the doorway is open to the living room. NOt sure if you are familiar with a split entry, but basically, in the corner of "flight area" is a gaping hole to the entryway or the basement, depending on how bad of a crash.

And for some reason I have a tendency to crash down the stairwell. Call it Murphy's law Its like a black hole my copter gets sucked into... hitting the throttle cut and watching it disappear down the stairwell and out of view... rinse/repeat.

 

[Nerobro]

Yeah, I know how that goes. Ifly in a room that has sloped ceilings. So as my altitude goes up, my flying area drops. It makes for some interesting crash scenarios. It's also a 10x10 room with 6.5' ceiling in the center..