Hitec HS-65 Servo Way Better than E-Flite S75

February 22, 2009 on 6:30 pm | In Servo | No Comments

One of the weakest points of my TREX 450 SA build was the cheap E-Flite S75 servos I used for the cyclic. They had trouble centering and just didn’t have much torque and it seemed I was always adjusting the trim to get a good hover. This weekend, I tossed them in favor of the Hitec RCD HS-65 servos which seem to be the defacto servo for the TREX 450… It’s seriously night and day. The HS-65’s center very well and move the cyclic with authority. They also take full-sized servo horns even though these are micro servos. Here’s a picture of the two next to each other:

The new version of the HS-65 has 3 holes (instead of the previous 2, requiring you to drill a center hold for the TREX), so its a direct fit. If you’re going to pick these up, be sure you’re getting the new 3-hole version.

My First Crash with the Align TREX 450

February 15, 2009 on 10:09 pm | In Crash, Servo | 2 Comments

So it was bound to happen sooner or later. I hadn’t been doing any flying for the last couple of weeks with my TREX 450 (or any helicopter since I got rid of the Axe CPv3), but on Saturday morning, since it was the first day it hadn’t rained in a while, I went to a local park with my wife to hover around. I affixed some training gear to the landing struts just to be sure I wouldn’t tip on the uneven ground in a landing, but I ended up crashing it anyway.

I’m not exactly sure what happened, but it seems that my elevator servo in the collective failed and that’s why I lost control and landed on my side. It actually wasn’t too bad of a hit, as both blades flew off (breaking at the blade grip), and the landing gear struts snapped off. The elevator servo is also ruined, but I think that was what failed, although it might have been something else and the servo could have just died in the crash.

In either case, I’m getting rid of these jenky E-Flite S75 servos that I have. They have a terrible time centering, and just seem really weak. I’m contemplating between the JR Digital 285 or the Hitec HS65 servos. The JR digital servos obviously will do a better job at centering and keeping their position, but they’re relatively weak and slow (and expensive at $35 each). The HS-65 servos seem to be the most commonly used servo in the TREX 450, with a decent speed, the most torque in a micro servo, karbonite (or metal) gears, and a ball bearing on the top. I originally had thought about the HS-65 servo, but it seemed that the mounting holes wouldn’t line up and I would have to drill custom holes for them. Well the new version of the HS-65 has 3 mounting holes, so they fit fine in the 450 without any modifications. I found the karbonite gear version on ebay for only $21 each, so I think I’ll pick them up and try them out. I’ll write up a post about them once I get them in and fly them around.

Before the crash, my wife took a minute of digital video on my new Sony MHS-CM1 HD camera that I just got. The video isn’t very interesting, I’m just hovering around before I start flying (and crashing which isn’t on the video).

Cheap LiPo Batteries on eBay

February 11, 2009 on 7:18 pm | In Battery | No Comments

I was pretty skeptical about some of these really cheap LiPo batteries available on eBay that ship directly from China, but so far I’ve been very pleased. the 11.1v 25c 2200mah batteries that I use for my T-Rex 450 are about $75 at local hobbly shops and online, but the same battery can be had for about $20 (shipped) from eBay sellers shipping directly from overseas.

So far I’ve had no problems with charging or output or consistency with these batteries. It makes sense that manufacturers in China can sell for much less since these are likely the same batteries that get re-branded and redistributed here in the U.S. Just thought I’d share that insight, and if anyone has had bad experiences with these cheap LiPo’s, I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Well, I think I’m Done with the Axe CP

February 3, 2009 on 12:04 am | In Axe Cpv3 | No Comments

I know I didn’t have too many posts on this blog about the Axe CP, and it looks like I won’t be saying much more about it at this point. I think the Axe CP was a really good helicopter to learn hovering in all orientations and forward flight and flying circuits. It was cheap enough to get into the hobby, and now has me hooked. The problem is that it’s just so small and fragile, and the replacement parts are too expensive.

A couple of weeks ago I had a pretty bad crash, losing orientation about 25 feet up and coming down on the rotor head. $50 worth of parts ordered from Tower Hobbies later, and I still had some pretty bad wobble, and as I was making adjustments, I broke a ball off of the swash plate and kinda decided that was enough (having just installed that swash plate). If it had a metal head, I’d have more interest, but setting up the metal head on the Axe CPv3 is gonna be a few hundred dollars and that’s just kinda nuts.

So it looks like I’m going to focus all of my attention and flying on the T-Rex 450. It’s the helicopter that I probably should have bought in the first place, but the initial investment is so steep, that I didn’t want to spend that much money if I ended up bored with it. It’s also nice that I didn’t have all of those crashes that I did with the Axe on the T-Rex, so it’s still in nice shape (although I’m sure that’ll change once I start trying 3D on it).