Micro electrics helicopters - absolute basics
Ok you have received your micro elctric helicopter and unpacked the box…
1. Charge the helicopter batteries
You will have probably one of 2 types, either lipo batteries or Nimh. They are not the same and should NOT be treated the same.
Remember if you connect a battery to the electronics on the helicopter that has little to no charge you will get strange behaviour that you may construe as a technical fault.
If you have a Nimh battery it will be written on the side as such. For most electric helicopters thay have a capacity of around 650 mAh - 700 mAh and have a green plastic casing. When charging these batteries they should take no longer than an hour to charge depending on how much charge was initially in them. The rule of thumb is charge until they are slightly warm. If you forget about this battery it can get hot, in this situation disconnect it from the mains and let it cool until it is cold again. You will damage the batteries life by doing this a lot.
The lithium polymer (lipo, li-ion polymer) battery is not as robust (unless rules are adhered to) and should be treated with caution if you wish to preserve it’s life.
Important rules: Never charge on carpet or other surfaces that can catch fire, never charge a damaged battery, never overdischarge the battery (very common failure scenario). Further details here: lipo safety bascics.
2. Switching on your helicopter.
A. Add the 8 AA batteries to the transmitter and switch on (lights will illuminate on the front), extend the aerial. Make sure you use new or fully charged batteries.
B. Move the throttle trim and throttle stick fully down on the transmitter. If you have a mode 2 this stick is on the left (mode 1 it is on the right). I have expected you have read the manual here to explain what the movements of each stick will correspond to on the helicopter.
C. Make sure the crystals on the transmitter are firmly pushed in, this is vital.
D. Applies to 6 channel basic transmitters only. On the 6 channel transmitters they have a silver switch at the top it will indicate flight mode N or 1. Make sure this is set to normal (N) leave it in this mode and never switch during operation unless you know what you are doing.
E. Now you are safe to connect the charged helicopter battery to the helicopter. Give it 5 seconds and then you are ready to go. With PCM helicopters - Walkera 52 give it about 15 seconds to sort it’s self out. *Remember DO NOT TOUCH THE TRANSMITTER AT ALL WHEN WAITING FOR THE HELICOPTER TO INITIALISE.
3. Getting into the sky
OK learning to fly - maybe you should consider fitting a training kit before you start (unless you have a coaxial helicopter). See below.
Pick the correct surface - no thick pile carpet, nothing with grooves. Laminate is good, this will let you glide around with out tipping the helicopter.
Face the helicopter with it’s tail pointing toward you the goal is to keep this tail pointing toward you all the time. If you can not do this when increasing power -you are not ready to hover. The helicopter should also not move more than 2 metres away from where you first place it. If it does power the helicopter down and recentre it.
You need to keep doing this and never going above a height of 30cms until you can hold a hover. When you can hold it you need to practive moving forward, backward, left and right (keeping the tail pointing toward you).
…more coming soon…