rrTV-PHOTO   New HD TV
HOME   rrTV-PHOTO   GALLERIES   MY GALLERY   HELP-FAQ
myHOME PM pmRR MEMBERS 305 ONLINE 25 EVENTS SEARCH REGISTER  START HERE
 
1 page522 viewsPOST REPLY
Autography FlightPower . Advantage Hobby . Revolution Models

.
.
e-JR Voyager E > Wobble
 
 
davemartin88
Senior Heliman
Location: Leesburg, VA

Have a Voyager E that I've been unable to get set up right, thought I had made it today. I had just replaced the tail boom and some other tail rotor parts after an earlier crash and this time, I flew for about 2 minutes, first time it's flown so trim wasn't perfect but not too bad.

Helicopter started wobbling, front to back but I was able to get it to the ground, found that the receiver had come loose and figured it had caused a balance problem. Fixed this, took it up again, about 1 foot off the ground as I was lifting off, it started again to wobble very fast and tipped over, blade hit the ground and broke a rotor grip.

Trying to find the cause of the wobble and found that one of the screws that holds the TAIL blade holder to the tail center hub was bent slightly. Could this have caused the out of balance condition and if so, is it possible it would have been okay for a couple of minutes before becoming a problem? There wasn't any noticeable wobble as I spooled up so looks like it starts to happen at a certain speed.

The bearing in the holder looks okay and can't find anything else that looks to be a problem but just concerned I haven't found the real issue? Any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Dave MartinLeesburg, VARaptor 30 V2 and VE
04-21-2004 Over year old.
 
 
KnimRod
Senior Heliman
Location: Central Michigan

You didn't mention your motor/battery/pinion combination but I'll bet that your headspeed is simply too low. This is a common problem and even has a name: "The VE Wobbles". It seems to occur when the rotor rpm drops below 1450~1500.

Was your battery pack charged up fully? Are you using at least an 8-cell pack?

Increase the headspeed with a bigger pinion, more cells in your battery pack or a higher kv motor. I'll bet this will fix it.

Good luck!

Lance
04-22-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
davemartin88
Senior Heliman
Location: Leesburg, VA

Thanks, will have to search that a bt. I do have an 8 cell Nimh but it wasn't fully charged, that could explain why it was okay for a while, then got in trouble. It was nice flying for two minutes, I'm looking to use the Voyager E to fly at the house since it is so nice and quiet but so far, hasn't been a good experience.

After I rebuilt the tail yesterday, I was checking it out sitting at the kitchen table, thought I was in the mode where the electronics were active but not the motor, ESC was flashing and for some reason, the motor started turning and hit me in the arm, some nice, clean slices! My son was standing next to me and can vouch that I didn't touch anything when it started. I reached for the transmitter to make sure the throttle was off and before I could reach it, it started again and hit me in a different spot on the arm! My son grabbed it and held it while I turned the ESC off-- we're calling this one Christine from the Stephen King novel. Was debating whether to even bother with it again today but when it flew for a couple of minutes, thought I was on my way.

Will order the parts, charge the battery and give it one more try!

Dave MartinLeesburg, VARaptor 30 V2 and VE
04-22-2004 Over year old.
 
 
KnimRod
Senior Heliman
Location: Central Michigan

For some, the "wobbles" is an indication that the battery pack is on it's last leg and it's time to land. Mine has never exhibited the wobbles - probably because of all the upgrades.

I had a similar situation awhile ago and had my arm sliced up with the CF blades. It was my fault though... I needed to reverse the rudder servo but had a brain fart and reversed the throttle instead. Woops...

Lance
04-22-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Ralphw
Key Veteran
Location: Spring, TX

Lance is absolutely right on this one. When the headspeed gets low, the VE will wobble front to back. I used that as my signal to land...NOW. If you let it go on, it can really get ugly and make a safe (damage free) landing very difficult.

There are some things to do to help that a bit although they require mods to the head.

As for the motor starting up, there are couple of things you can do. Dirst is to put a connector between the motor and ESC. When you want to check settings in various modes, just disconnect the motor. Second thing is to set up the throttle hold function of your radio with a 0% throttle setting.

With that in place and the THR HLD switch thrown, you can check most functions with no fear as the motor should never spin up...even with the collective at full up stick. I use this mode to connect the battery on my VE because of the possibility of having the blades spin up with my face near them. I may not be pretty to look at, but I don't need that kind of "Extreme Makeover"!!!

Ralph W.
"Life's Short, Fly Fast"
04-22-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
FinnDave
Elite Veteran
Location: Kouvola, Finland

MIne was the same, as the battery neared the end of its charge, the headspeed would drop and the wobbles begin, good sign of time to land.

David S., Kouvola, Finland
04-22-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
davemartin88
Senior Heliman
Location: Leesburg, VA

Thanks to all, if I only would have searched for wobble before I had one!

I ordered a brushless motor and ESC last night (hacker c40-8l and phoenix 45) and will look at adding a connector as suggested when I do that install. Should the stock pinion work with that combination?

Will probably look at a LiPoly again as well to increase some run times but will make sure I land at the first sign of wobble from now on.

Thanks again.

Dave MartinLeesburg, VARaptor 30 V2 and VE
04-22-2004 Over year old.
 
 
Ralphw
Key Veteran
Location: Spring, TX

Hey Dave,

Astroflight makes a great 3 pin connector for the brushless setup. It makes it easy to swap the wires to get the proper direction of rotation on the motor and they also have a very low loss.

Ralph W.
"Life's Short, Fly Fast"
04-22-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
davemartin88
Senior Heliman
Location: Leesburg, VA

Will give the connectors a try, any special tool needed to assemble these?

Dave MartinLeesburg, VARaptor 30 V2 and VE
04-22-2004 Over year old.
 
 
Ralphw
Key Veteran
Location: Spring, TX

Just a soldering iron. They are only for the three wire brushless connections though, so don't get them until you make the move to the brushless motor.

Ralph W.
"Life's Short, Fly Fast"
04-22-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
davemartin88
Senior Heliman
Location: Leesburg, VA

Thanks, will order the 3 pin types as I'm getting the brushless motor, still having a bit of time trying to decide what pinion I'll want to run. I have a 8 cell Nimh now but may go to a 3S Lipo in the future. Thanks again.

Dave MartinLeesburg, VARaptor 30 V2 and VE
04-22-2004 Over year old.
 
 
Ralphw
Key Veteran
Location: Spring, TX

Dave,

If you go with the Hacker (C40-8L) and a 3s pack, the 17t pinion seems to be about ideal. You can get away with a 16t but anything smaller starts to bring down the headspeed.

Ralph W.
"Life's Short, Fly Fast"
04-23-2004 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
1 page522 viewsPOST REPLY
CarbonXtreme . Midland Helicopters . HeliProz

.
.
e-JR Voyager E > Wobble
 PRINT TOPIC Advertisers 

Subscribe to This Topic

Friday, January 9 - 9:09 am - Copyright © 2000 - 2009 runryder.com | email | link to rr | runryder needs cookie