bhelisN6
Heliman
Location: Fremont, California
| Hello Nick,
You are correct, the photo on the web is of the older PG2000 that was dual rate but the gain settings were controlled by the two pots on the gyro unit itself.
With the PG2000 IIR, there is one pot for Gain Resolution and the LED, the casing is the same and Century has covered over the other hole. Actually, under the hole is an empty space on the pcb.
On the RD6000, the red connector (remote gain lead) should be connected to channel 5, the gear switch on the radio (may be called something else).
Setup
- Initially set the gain resolution to 50%.
- Using ATV on channel 5, set position 0 (switch set back) to 75%
- Set position 1 (switch set forward) to 65%.
These settings will get you flying. Once you are comforable hovering the helicopter, maybe a little forward flight, then consider tweaking the gyro. At this later time, you will be much better prepared to make changes and actually feel the change, beginners have far too many things to worry about to really feel the difference between 65% and 75% gain.
To cover the bases, when you are comfortable with hovering, continue to increase the position 0 gain setting until you are happy with the gain (defined as hovering on a windy day, a higher gain setting will resist the desire to weathervane into the wind - a lower gain setting will allow the same wind to easily weathervane into the wind). Even at the maximum gain setting the tail will still weathervane.
Why Gain 2 then? When you are well into forward flight and you have adjusted the gyro to the maximum gain for hovering manuevers, you will experience a tail oscillation when changing from hovering into forward flight. This is a result of transitional lift. Hovering requires the most power from the engine, greatest fuel consumption and highest engine heat. As soon as you start flying forward, the helicopter engine requires less power to continue flying because there is airflow under the rotor disk as a result of forward motion. This reduction in engine power also reduces the torque on the helicopter and now the gain setting is too high. Conclusion, use a second, lower Gain setting for forward flight.
There is another common situation, I fly with one gain setting for both hovering and forward flight. While I am hovering, I need to fly the tail more to keep a constant heading in a cross wind but I do not need to worry about flipping a switch. To each their own.
Andrew |
I just turned the gain down, I'm used to holding the tail w/rudder. Learning to fly the only way I could get the heli back when it ran away was to fly it backwards at myself (and./or sideways) to avoid having to look at it's profile or nose 
