MSH Brain self leveling feature

The MSH Brain has a self leveling feature to aid in learning to fly. It makes the heli fly like a coaxial bird by leveling the swash when the cyclic is centered. It can also work as a bailout aid by leveling the heli from any bank angle and even from inverted!  To do this you have one of the setup banks with self level enabled. Thus when you switch to that bank via the aux channel, the heli will level itself. You will need to control the collective though, so just put in positive pitch when the switch is flipped and you will go away from the ground. 

I tested this feature on the bench by tilting the heli over as if it was banked in a turn and turning on self level and letting go of the cyclic. The swash tilted to level the heli!  

There have been reports that vibrations will make the swash jump when switching into self level. To test this, I took the main and tail blades off and spun the motor up to full speed, tilted the heli on its side, them switched in and out of self level. The swash tilted to right the heli and didn't jump around. 

Next time I go fly, I'll test self level in the air by banking the heli and centering the cyclic. If self leveling is working the heli will level itself. Without self level it would continue at the same bank angle. 

When to fly?

So. My normal time to fly was in the morning, thinking the wind would be less. But, lately it's been breezy the entire time. Also, it tends to be really crowded in the mornings, so I need to wait my turn to fly. It's kinda nice as I get to chat with everyone and check out other people helis. Yesterday there were at least 6 others at the pad!

I'm thinking the next time I fly, I'll try going in the late afternoon, flying until sunset.   I won't need to wake up early or charge my flight batteries the night before.  Hopefully it won't be as crowded and the wind dies down as the sun sets. 

Now that's a Heli!

One of the guys showed up with a Mikado Logo 800!  This thing is enormous, sporting a 6ft rotor diameter and weighing 15 lbs!  It makes the Trex 700 sitting next to it look small. 

Test Day!

Today I flew my new setup. KDE XT head, Castle Talon, and Brain FBLC. I took it very easy the 1st few flights, getting used to the feel of the Brain.  I was messing around with the tail gain, but the suggested staring setting was practically dead on!  During the last 3 packs, I started flying how I usually so, as I was becoming used to the handling, even doing a few flips. 

Ready for flight testing!

All setup and ready to test!

Head speeds:

Normal- 2300 rpm

IU- 2500

Collective pitch:

Normal; -3, 0, 10

IU1; -6. 0, 12

IU2; -12, 0, 12

Max; -15, 0, 15

Cyclic pitch- -8, 0, 8

Upgrade almost complete!

I finished mounting the Brain FBLC and Talon ESC, then programmed both of them. Last night I assembled my KDE Direct XT Main Rotor Head and mounted it on my 550 this afternoon after spending the morning getting all the link lengths just tight. 

Last up is to set the max pitch and cyclic, then program the pitch curves. The ill be ready for a test flight!

New electronics!

Woohoo!  I was finally able to program my new MSH Brain Flybarless controller!

550 upgrade time!

Finally got around to tearing down the 550 to begin installing the new parts I've been collecting.

Out Flying again!

Been on a break from racing, so I've been out to the field to get some flying in :)

New KDE aluminum battery plate!

New DC fan for cooling the battery after a flight to reduce some down time waiting for a pack to charge. 

Last pic before I tear her down and install my new KDE DFC head, MSH Brain Flybarless gyro, and Castle Talon ESC with head speed governer mode.  You can also see my new 2mm thick Lynx tail fin, which doesn't vibrate at high head speeds :)