I've come to the conclusion.......

I have been messing with it over two weeks. I think I have set everything just about every possible configuration and the best I can do is get more-less half the radio working. The guy from clearview simulator tried helping me and he is the one that happened to find that article. Just would have been nice if they told people about it. Would also be nice to get some fight time on a sim before I crash my heli over and over. This is what is really scaring me if I made the right chose about getting a Walkera helicopter. If you can't get the flight sim to work.......what about the 'chopper itself? It looks really well made thought. Any thoughts?

here is the article.

http://www.milehighwings.com/faq.htm#10


just seems interesting.

[sportygreg]

Interesting...I have the old 4 channel Zhen Hua so it works without any adapters.You must have a transitional or ppm radio.If you have a transitional radio,it doesn't even send any signals to the port!If you have the new ppm radio,you have to buy a microchip interface for it to work!Nice that the Walkera dealers still ship serial cables that are useless without telling people!Maybe if people swamp Ebay dealers with complaints about this, Walkera will be forced to do something.Of course,the dealers consider the cable to be a "bonus" item and really just want to sell helicopters.New buyers should insist that the dealer guarantee the sim cable will work.

Well, I bought it off of an Yahoo store front, that I didn't know was a store front till I received the receipt. I also got cheated the " free" training kit that they promised in the discription. This is suppose to be an x-mas present for me, hence why I haven't flown it yet. But so far it's turning in to a nightmare. Can't get the sim to work, missing "free bonus parts". Now I'm scared from what I read on all these posts that the damn thing will blow up or something. It's sort of sad, becuase it does seem to be a well made machine, can't speak for the electronics........but i have had futaba radios with "twitchy" servos as discribed in some treads, but just how twitchy? Also, I understand I will need to "properly set it up" that doesn't scare me, just I don't wanna to have to replace all servos and Rx right off the bat. If that's the case, I'm thinking I should have spent a couple bucks more and gotten better heli. Any insight into any of my rantings....? LOL!

[sportygreg]

Don't be afraid to try the heli-Walkeras may not be the best but they are surprisingly durable.I have the #4 [the cheapest one] and it has taken a beating with the only casualties being a set of blades and a tail motor.You can learn without a sim if you take it slow and easy.Setting up basically means balancing,aligning the blades,making sure flybar paddles are flat and getting the swashplate level either by adjusting links or using transmitter trims.You should try to obtain training gear-it definitely helps in the beginning.The worst that can happen is you crash but if you kill the throttle before it goes in it will save the 4 in 1 unit and keep damage to a minimum.It's a good idea to have extra blades and ca glue to fix broken skids.If you have questions,this forum is the place to get answers and good advice from people who have been there and done that!

[sportygreg]

I would just like to add that Helihobby.com has a lot of information on setting up and flying micro helis as well as parts and upgrades for many different models.

Well its good to hear that. I bought a walkera becuase it seems everyone and their bother sells them, so parts wouldn't be a problem. Plus it has the brushless upgrades avalible ( for when I get a little better). And no tail motor to burn out every other flight,form what I hear. i also ordered 2 sets of main blades, 1 set of tail blades and an extra stock battery. i got the training gear from another store, so I'm cool with that too. I guess I'll just have to wait now, be patent when I do get to fly it.

i just have one other question, when the time does come to upgrade a little, do I need to change anything to go to Li-Po's, all the web sites suggest going from 9.6v stock to 11.1v li-Po's, but won't the change in voltage blow the receiver of something?

I really appreciate all the help you've given me thus far!

[sportygreg]

You might get away with using the 11 volt in the 9.6 volt heli-the #4 uses 8.4 volt and many people fried their 4 in 1 units when they tried to use 11.1 volt lipos in the #4.Since yours uses 9.6V it may tolerate the higher voltage.I wouldn't worry about using higher voltage until you at least learn to hover and do some basic flying.The higher voltage increases performance but tends to heat up the ESC and motor resulting in a shorter lifespan of those components.The stock batteries are fine for learning-I still use the 2 batteries that came with my #4 but I may get a 7.4 lipo for longer flights when the original batteries give out.