Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

[boomer108]

RE: Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

Hey great to hear Boomer, they DO fly better with a gyro!  I had mine up in the breeze a couple of times and what's so impressive is when I go to land, even in a cross wind, those wings are beautifully level, I definitely love my Waco now.  Great little bird for aerobatics!  Now she's what I would call an 'honest' bird.  Let me know how the drilling goes, I'm going to attempt the same thing, been busy for the last little bit.

Grossman56

Hey G Man!
   Had the Waco out Friday. Something went wrong on a low pass over the runway. The wings started wiggle real bad so I turned off the gyro right away and at the same time was approaching the tree line so I started a right turn to clear and lost altitude and could not correct back to level and cartwheeled into the grass. On inspection I noticed a broken aeilron clevis and the gyro came loose from the double sided tape. I don't know if one or both came loose before or after the crash. The Waco is repairable but make sure your gyro is staying put with the tape. I think I will get some outdoor double sided tape and see if that keeps it in place. Good flying G Man! 

Roy B.

[Grossman56]

RE: Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

Hey Boomer, yeah I chucked the 3M tape a while ago and got Du-bro Doubled sided tape Cat No 634.  This stuff is STICKY!  I had the 3M stuff come loose before, which is not a big deal if its the receiver, but a whole different ball game if its the gyro.
Speaking of weird Waco day, mine had an 'interesting' day as well.  She was flying fine, then decided to act weird, flip flopping the ailerons.  Got her slowed down and into a head wind and plopped her down on the ground, rolled on her back but this was getting to be common place with her before the gyro.
Turns out that a cabane had broke (one that I've glued together before, dang cheap plastic pieces!!) and one point on the upper wing/strut connection (that has also been glued together before) so her upper wing was probably doing some strange things.  Anyway, got her glued back together and I also reinforced the joints with foam tack as it seems to make a super strong, cast-like bond.  She's ready to bounce back up again.
I hope you saw that post about the master gain that you can hook up to the radio.  I'm thinking that all I have to do is get the gyro turned all the way up and then assign a control knob to the master gain and I'll never have to worry about adjusting the screw on the gyro, no drilling holes!! Plus I can control the amount of gyro to dial it in while in the air, gotta like it!

Grossman56

[retiredflyer]

RE: Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

I'm glad other folks have questions about using the remote gain feature. I won't be able to get to the gyro after final installation so I need to utilize this feature. I just don't know where to place the gain screws on the gyro unit to start. Do I leave them at 12 where they started, or at 0, or does it matter as once you hook up a cable to the slot on the gyro for remote gain, it overrides the screw anyway.
I haven't figured out how to program my knob switch on my Dx9 yet either. It's got a nice knob on the top of the radio that would be perfect for adjusting the gain. I can program the knob to go from -100 to +100.
I guess the only way to test it out is trial and error and physically move the gyro after increasing the knob and see if the gyro is more responsive, and vice versa.
The instructions are not very specific on how this works.

[Alpha]

RE: Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

I maximized the travel on the Remote Gain channel, and turned the onboard Gain dial to maximum. This greatly improved the graduated sensitivity of my Hitec radio's rotary knob.

[retiredflyer]

RE: Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

I just figured out the settings for my Spektrum Dx9 and the remote gain. I ended up leaving the onboard gain set to about 10 o'clock. This gave me a good variation of gain from my adjustable knob on the radio. It actually mirrors the onboard gain adjustment with the relative position being what I would have put the onboard one at.

UPDATE: After installing the gyro into the plane vs. moving it outside during initial adjustment, I too found that moving the on-board gain to maximum worked the best. If it was set below 12 o'clock the remote knob on my radio had very little effect. After I maxed it out however, I now had full control with the radio.

[Dewey H Lee]

RE: Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

Hey Roy, in the pilot hatch, here's a couple of pics of how I have it set up.  As I said, do all your adjusting before you mount it as you'll have to release the tape in order to get at it again.
I put the gain a little hotter as mentioned, should be able to get a flight in on Sunday if the weather is good.

Grossman56

Hey Grossman56
I was just checking in to see if you seen any adverse effects on your plane not having the gyro on center. I would like to do the same with a plane of mine.

[Grossman56]

RE: Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

So far so good Dewey, I try to get it reasonably close to the CG, but I haven't had a problem with any of my gyros.  Just make sure that you have it on a switch and that its turned off on the initial flight.  Old Crow got piled up because I forgot that important step.  Got her repaired and back in the air. 
It was a matter of making sure the gyro was correcting in the right direction.
The Pitts was the same, I got her up to a safe altitude and switched the gyro on briefly and the elevator wasn't right.  Be prepared to switch on/switch off.  If it performs correctly you can always turn it back on, if not, you land and correct rather that crash and cry.
A simple formula to remember the light patterns is "AER" as in aero.
Two flashes   - A (ailerons)
Three flashes - E (Elevator)
Four flashes   - R (Rudder)

Also, I have the P51D and the Pitts  Gyro gain on the knob of my DX8, so I can control the amount of gain since I had a spare channel in the receiver.  Its a cool feature, I just leave my gain cranked on the gyro and adjust it to where I want it with the knob.  The trick is remembering that as my other planes don't have that feature and I'm not buying a bunch of new receivers to accomplish that.
BTW, I turned the 3D setting right down to nothing, don't need it and I don't want to accidently click it to 3D!!

Also, (but don't tell anybody!) I use the dreaded Aileron/Rudder mix as well, but I love the way my planes handle with that and the gyro, its not an automatic pilot by any means but the response it crisp and exactly what I want.

Grossman56 

[Dewey H Lee]

Thank you for your response Grossman. The hellcat has all that space but to far down in the plane for my old hands to get to. That side rail looked good and after seeing yours there I just had to ask. Thank you for info.

[Grossman56]

No prob friend, its all about having fun! If I can help anyone to enjoy this hobby, then so be it.

Grossman56

[F106DeltaDart]

I just flew my Durafly Corsair with this gyro today, and it made a world of difference! I modded it with a scale diameter propeller, and it flew great except on landing. The huge prop produces so much torque that on landing that significant aileron movement with throttle pulses was necessary to keep the wings level. Now, it stays solid all the way to the ground and looks silky smooth it the air.

[StormyDog1962]

Lots of good information pilots and I also love the way the Gyro makes the plane feel. For me it just makes the experience that much better and relaxing.

[cferg]

Does anyone else have problems of this cycling and servo jumps every couple of minutes like it does at initial startup? I recently installed one in the FW F-15, don't recall this happening with my other a3l gyros.
Thanks

[retiredflyer]

I have an electrical connection gyro question for anyone. With the new A3-L gyro, it comes with a capacitor to install to help with servo longevity. It states in the user guide that it can be plugged into any empty slot on the gyro or the receiver. I'm using all my slots in my Tactic 6 channel receiver , HOWEVER the battery slot is open. Can I use that for the capacitor? I assume all the connection slots on the receiver use the same power bus inside so it should be OK. Any thoughts from you electrical types out there?

[doctormike]

I am putting A3-L's in all my planes with great results... except for my Multiplex Funjet. It fishtails at high speeds even with the gain set at 9 o'clock. I turn the gyro off and it flys clean as a whistle. I've determined that it is so stable, it doesn't need a gyro, even in wind. Doc

[Konrad]

I have an electrical connection gyro question for anyone. With the new A3-L gyro, it comes with a capacitor to install to help with servo longevity. It states in the user guide that it can be plugged into any empty slot on the gyro or the receiver. I'm using all my slots in my Tactic 6 channel receiver , HOWEVER the battery slot is open. Can I use that for the capacitor? I assume all the connection slots on the receiver use the same power bus inside so it should be OK. Any thoughts from you electrical types out there?

You have the correct idea, the bus is the same. Now I have to ask how large is the cap? To aid with motor life (start up currents) it would have to be rather large.

All the best,
konraK

[Grossman56]

Gee Retired, I'm not sure what you're talking about as regards a capacitor, but then I work better with a picture! LOL
I'm wondering if the guys from Motion R/C could chime in on this. Is it something we should all be considering if it increases our servo life??

Grossman56

[Grossman56]

RE: Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

I maximized the travel on the Remote Gain channel, and turned the onboard Gain dial to maximum. This greatly improved the graduated sensitivity of my Hitec radio's rotary knob.

That's what I've done on BBD and The Pitts, the beauty of it, to my mind, is that I can fine tune the gain while in the air rather that landing and adjusting multiple times.
the trick is having an extra, unused channel, but well worth it if you can do it.

Grossman56

[boomer108]

Gee Retired, I'm not sure what you're talking about as regards a capacitor, but then I work better with a picture! LOL
I'm wondering if the guys from Motion R/C could chime in on this. Is it something we should all be considering if it increases our servo life??

Grossman56

Hey GMan!

The new A3-L comes with a capacitor. Look at the user manual on the Motion site under the support tab. They show a picture of it.

Roy B.

[Konrad]

Thanks Roy,

Well, that is a rather small cap for any power application, like actually starting a servo motor. It looks like it is used to filter out any transient power losses that might trigger the reset of the micro processor. These caps are no substitutes for a larger properly spec'd BEC.

from the manual;

After installing the gyro, the servos will move more frequently than before, it is highly recommended that a reliable UBEC or ESC be used to provide sufficient working current for the servos on the plane, otherwise the gyro may become unstable by an occasional voltage drop. A large capacitor (3300uF/16V) can be used to get a more stable and secure voltage level. You just need to simply plug it into any open slot of the gyro or the receiver.




All the best,
Konrad

[Grossman56]

I see what your referring to now, that's something different! Now I ordered an A3L for the P 40, I'll have to check to see if that was included in the box, don't remember seeing that.

Now, my planes have a ESC/BEC combo, is that good enough Konrad?

Grossman56