Why a Newbie can hate the CX2 in under two weeks

[JeffK]

OK, I'll admit that the title is a bit strong, but obviously my CX2 isn't in the trashcan yet, and I'm posting here for positive replies (not to nail me on my negative comment). So, in the spirit of moving forward in a positive direction, I'll explain my gripes first:

1. Two hours to charge (out of the box, and every time there-after), 7-10 minutes of flying time. What good is that???

2. RTF...is that a joke? On receipt the servo's (at neutral position) were at 8 O'clock on the left (looking from the rear), and 2 O'clock on the right (again, looking from the rear). How is a newbie supposed to learn how to fly set like that? Should be RTTF=Really Tough To Fly (on delivery).

3. Piezio gain pot makes very little difference. Twitching? Yea, there's lots of twitching, but it's fingers trying desperately to hold the thing from smashing into a wall (not the tail of the heli twitching). Currently it's at 11 & 5 O'clock CCW from full position, and the heli is all over the place.

4. Upper main rotor blades tracking - Hmmm, I don't think the linkage screwed all they way in (very tight) is optimum "tracking". Did anyone even look at it at the factory?

5. Packing - The heli was in the box so tight that one of the flybar weights was jammed against the Styrofoam; jammed so tight that the Styrofoam actually stuck to the weight, and I had to scrape a big chunk off of it with my fingernail (stuck like double-stick foam tape would stick to it...took me 3 {careful} minutes to get it off). Severe TBE prompted me to replace it (I think the packing bent it), and the TBE is gone.

6. "Balanced" E-Flite blades (not after-market) that are not only out-of-balance, but aren't even stamped with a number. Sure, not a big deal because I learned to to balance them, what what happened to RTF?

Where does my CX2 stand right now? Actually, despite all of the above, I think I've done a pretty good job:

- The servo's are now centered where they are supposed to be (90 degrees, or parallel to blades).

- The elevator trim and aileron trim are pretty much dead center (lots of adjustments of the linkage on my part). The rudder trim is slightly right; I just haven't gotten around to adjusting the proportional mix some more yet (the battery never lasts long enough...see #1 above).

- Heat sink installed (with heat sink grease).

- Training wheels still installed (tongue-in-cheek joke...I know they're not wheels)

- Despite being "all over the place", I can fly it (hover) for the duration of the battery. "Hands off" the right stick is possible for a few seconds, but not much more than that. Plus, the hover is about 3"...away from the ground wash effect. Not to bad!

I could probably send it back, but being an Ebay purchase I'm not sure if that will help. Will I get another, perhaps more out of adjustment than this? Does anyone know of a (reasonably priced) hobby shop that will "put your heli into spec"? There aren't any locals here.

Despite the rather negative comments above, there are lots about the CX2 I very much like, so there's no regret on buying it. Probably most impressive is how easy every single part of the unit an be taken apart; it's clearly designed for easy maintenance, repair, and re-assembly.

This isn't a "gripe" post at all...it's a plea for help. I've spent lots of time (money isn't important...$$$ is part of any fun hobby, otherwise go read a book), and I truly enjoy both working on it and flying it (despite the severely short flight times I get). Where to do I need help?

a) What's up with the gain trimmer pot not "twitching"? Even at max CW the heli flies the same as fully CCW (all over the place, in other words).

b) What's up with the battery? The charger seems to operate properly (other than the fact it takes 2 hours). Hmmm, I just realized that I've never taken my DVM to the batteries and checked the charge afterwords. I should do that.

c) Is there a place out there, for a reasonable price, that will tune it up? My concern is that with so much out-of-whack on receipt, that some of my adjustments may have negated the purpose and intent of others. For example, is the upper main rotor tracking so far off that the piezo can't do it's job? They look aligned to me (with a white paper behind them to make it easier to see). Think about it; a newbie adjusted *every* adjustment on the heli. You can imagine that things are probably pretty "freaked-up" right now .

Thoughts, comments, opinions, help, resources...all welcome.

[Benzee1]

I understand your pain. I bought my CX2 off of ebay also. Mine was "used" though. Between talking to LHS (local hobby stores) and reading my *** off on the forums (helifreak.com is really good btw), I've learned a lot.

1. When you notice while flying that it takes a little more throttle than it did earlier, time to stop flying. If full throttle gives you a 4-5' hover, you're killing the battery. I started off like that and now my charges went from 2+ hours to 1.5 hrs or less.

2. Always make pot adjustments with battery unplugged.

3. Servos should be at 90 deg while armed. Unarmed it don't matter where the sit.

4. Learn how to properly track blades. There are quite few posts about this, as well as videos.

It may not hurt to have someone that knows that copter look at it. A twitching tail could be a few things. Right now, my tail twitches really bad because I crashed it hard last night and broke the link that the tail mounts to. I've also had it twitch from a bent shaft. If you adjust your gain +/- (batt disconnected) and there's no difference, it may not be the gain after all.

Sign up at helifreak.com. It's worth having more than one resource for info.

[JeffK]

Thank you Benzee1. I appreciate your input so much, I'm going to address each suggestion you made, so it will be easy to follow. Here goes:

I understand your pain. I bought my CX2 off of ebay also. Mine was "used" though. Between talking to LHS (local hobby stores) and reading my *** off on the forums (helifreak.com is really good btw), I've learned a lot.
Yup, yup! Reading on the 'Net has been valuable. Scotch tape on a blade does a lot more than one might think (though I'm cheap old fart...I built my own blade balancer). I'll make a point to check helifreak.com, but I found post here more current (though perhaps it's a simple over-sight on my part).

1. When you notice while flying that it takes a little more throttle than it did earlier, time to stop flying. If full throttle gives you a 4-5' hover, you're killing the battery. I started off like that and now my charges went from 2+ hours to 1.5 hrs or less.
Yea, I'll have to admit I did that, but certainly not intentionally. I was concentrating so hard on adjusting the trim(s), it wasn't until late that I noticed the throttle all the way up. I cut back and recharged it.

2. Always make pot adjustments with battery unplugged.
Other sites make conflicting statements; that one pot can be adjusted "live", while the other must have the heli "rebooted" (can tell I'm a computer geek, huh?). Good advice; I unplug for BOTH pot adjustments.

3. Servos should be at 90 deg while armed. Unarmed it don't matter where the sit.
While not that when upon delivery, yes, that is exactly how they are adjusted now. Thank you for the confirmation that I did it right.

4. Learn how to properly track blades. There are quite few posts about this, as well as videos.
I'll admit that this my hardest task, making me wish I had some sort of "MythBusters" high-speed camera or such. I'm guessing (and it's a HUGE guess) that they aren't that far out, due to the fact that I can hover pretty good. I just can't see how at that RPM, anyone can tell one blade is higher than another...they're just one big blur to me.

It may not hurt to have someone that knows that copter look at it. A twitching tail could be a few things. Right now, my tail twitches really bad because I crashed it hard last night and broke the link that the tail mounts to. I've also had it twitch from a bent shaft. If you adjust your gain +/- (batt disconnected) and there's no difference, it may not be the gain after all.
No, I was being (friendly) sarcastic earlier; the tail isn't twitching, my fingers are trying to hold the heli in a fairly good hover. Yes, it's true that when I adjust my gain plus & minus, I don't see a difference, so I agree, it might not be the gain after all. OH, and regarding getting someone that knows it to look at it, I have nobody local. I wouldn't mind shipping it off to a reputable shop, but as a newbie, I don't know who's reputable and who isn't. I'm not looking forward to some shop God-knows-where telling me that they found 14 parts wrong, and the repair cost will be $179 ($10 less than I paid for it).

Sign up at helifreak.com. It's worth having more than one resource for info.
Thanks Benzee1, I'll check it out right now!

[Benzee1]

You should be able to adjust the heli so when you hover, you don't have to touch the right stick and barely touch the left. It will drift some, but if it always turns left (or right), it can be adj pretty well. My heli always turns nose left. I also have a weak motor. As the battery runs down, these tend to start turning to one side. I have to gradually move my trim to the severe right by the time I'm ready to land.

I agree with not wanting to spend as much to fix it as it costs new!!! LOL
BTW, I'm a computer geek too. Been in the biz for 15+ yrs.

[Benzee1]

There's a HobbyTownUSA in Swansea, MA.
Hobbytown USA (508) 678-8688 147 Swansea Mall Dr, #B, Swansea, MA

Of the places I looked at, I would trust them. I'd wait a few days after going thru the forums first though. I almost took my heli to a lhs and I kept with forums then got it all figured out!

Does anyone on this forum know of a good heli place in RI?

[JeffK]

Yea, you pretty much expressed everything that you can do, but I can't. It's a good observation of the difference we are both experiencing.

Whenever in a hover (high enough to be away from ground wash), I can't let go of the right stick for more than 5-10 seconds, before the heli has shifted about 5-10 feet one way or the other. "Barely touch the left" is accurate for me though.

Interesting point about a weak motor...I noticed the other day that the lower-rotor motor does not "free-spin" as well as the upper. I've read on the 'Net that both should start the same time (when throttle is applied straight up), but I use a different test. With no battery, I give a firm "push" to both blades to spin them. The upper blade spins about 2 turns. but the lower only spins about 1 turn. What prompted me to check this is that when powering down, I always notice the lower blade stops first.

Checking out the gears on the bottom, I can't see a problem. The mesh doesn't seem too tight (not that it's that adjustable anyway), but the the lower motor has a bit of what I'll call a "click" to it. This same effect is noticeable on the upper rotor, but not as bad. Looking carefully, I can see that the "click" is not a gear-mesh problem, but I now think it's a motor issue.

Since motors have stators and rotors, there's a natural magnetic attraction as they pass each-other. It appears that the lower blade motor has more pull. If I'm right, this will mean that as I loose voltage, the lower blade will loose torque sooner than the upper, forcing me to trim until the battery says it's time to quit. Oh, and I tried the "#20 paper strip" gear mesh adjustment to no avail.

IMO, I think this is a great hobby for computer geeks like us; it gets us away from the keyboards and screens, out into other areas, exercising true eye-hand coordination (not computer simulated), and the mechanical aspects of changing parts and making adjustments is a pleasant change.

I did sign up at the other forum, though haven't posted yet. I'm not going to waste anyone's time with a duplicate post. Perhaps I'll ask over there about any "Bring into factory spec's" shops, but that will probably be it.

Thanks again!

[JeffK]

Originally Posted by Benzee1

There's a HobbyTownUSA in Swansea, MA.
Hobbytown USA (508) 678-8688 147 Swansea Mall Dr, #B, Swansea, MA

Of the places I looked at, I would trust them. I'd wait a few days after going thru the forums first though. I almost took my heli to a lhs and I kept with forums then got it all figured out!

Does anyone on this forum know of a good heli place in RI?

Wow! What service? THANK YOU!

Swansea is about 30 minutes from here (I'm outside of Providence, but the state is so darn small it's not necessary to be too specific), and about $20 in gas away .

Yes, I'll take your advice and wait a bit. I mean, if the heli was only doing tailspins and bounced off walls 20-feet apart on every liftoff, that would be different. But, like I said, I can hover for the duration of the battery, which obviously isn't *too* bad.

Today I'm researching chargers that can charge two batteries (or maybe more...who knows what the future will bring), but I can't find one that I really like the looks of. For example, I wish I could find one that had an integrated adapter (not a separate purchase for $25 or such), and a charger that *clearly* indicated which adapter wires I need for these batteries.

Any input in this area would be appreciated too, even if contrary to my "wish list". If a good charger cost "xx", and my "wish-list" charger cost "x", but the "xx" one has a good track record and is well liked, I'll make the smart choice, not the cheap choice.

[Benzee1]

I dup post quite often. Look up the "blue blades" post. LOL
If your heli needs right thumb input, there are adjustments for that. I'm assuming that which ever way your heli is pointing, it drifts left.

1st, have you tried the trim on the TX for it? (tx=transmitter or remote control)
If you trim to max right and it still drifts left, I can help you make a simple adjustment on the heli.