Hobby Eagle A3L Gyro

[Prowler901]

Hi Tom. The capacitors charge up when you plug in the battery pack.

[Tom Smith]

So I just plug it into an unused channel and forget about it?

[Grossman56]

Hey Tom, personally, I just forget about them as I used several A3L's before they decided to put these in the kits. I'm not sure what the problem was or what it was supposed to solve, but all of mine (11) work fine without them.
Hopefully someone can give us an answer. Personally, if I have an unused channel, I use it for a gain control.

Grossman56

[xviper]

The capacitor thing is something that came with the last purchase. None of my older HobbyEagles came with it. I'm not sure what problem it's supposed to resolve. I think it's supposed to maintain a steady voltage during spikes in the current to the RX. I used it because it was there. However, this is the very first unit that made my plane go nuts. During a bank, the plane would lose altitude like crazy (alarmingly so) and I barely got it back down unscathed. This even happened when I flipped the switch to turn OFF the stability. Not knowing what it was, I took the plane home and yanked out the A3-L and just hooked up all the wiring back the way it was and the next time out, the plane flew perfectly. I don't if it had anything to do with that little capacitor but I will do a round of testing in my "junk" plane. I have a MAKO that I use for testing all new RXs and stabilizers before they go into any plane.

[Tom Smith]

None of my flying is aggressive so I doubt I would ever over amp the esc. I just putt putt around with an occasional loop or roll. Maybe I'll leave them off for now.

[Grossman56]

Weird!
The only thing I've had issues with was when I didn't have the direction of the correction the right way.
You probably know this but you crank up your gain and then move the plane sharply to check this, for instance, snap it to the left to see if the rudder correction that the gyro adds is to the right, if not, reverse it, same with the elevators and ailerons. Sometimes it can fool you, so that's why I take off and get the three mistakes of altitude, then very briefly turn the gyro on and off. That;s enough to tell you whether its set up correctly or not. If that's not it, check to see if it's programmed for right side up and not upside down mounting, oh and the wires always face towards the rear of the plane.

Other than that, if you have all that correct, I couldn't tell you whats wrong.

Grossman56

[xviper]

Weird!
The only thing I've had issues with was when I didn't have the direction of the correction the right way.
You probably know this but you crank up your gain and then move the plane sharply to check this, for instance, snap it to the left to see if the rudder correction that the gyro adds is to the right, if not, reverse it, same with the elevators and ailerons. Sometimes it can fool you, so that's why I take off and get the three mistakes of altitude, then very briefly turn the gyro on and off. That;s enough to tell you whether its set up correctly or not. If that's not it, check to see if it's programmed for right side up and not upside down mounting, oh and the wires always face towards the rear of the plane.

Other than that, if you have all that correct, I couldn't tell you whats wrong.

Grossman56

I thought this same thing but the oddity is that it did it even when I switched it off.

[Grossman56]

definitely something strange, maybe try a different gyro, do you have more thanone?

Grossman56

[xviper]

No, it's the only A3-L I have left. I'll test it on my MAKO and see if I can figure it out. Meanwhile, the Pilatus seems to fly pretty good without a gyro. I was just hoping to smooth out the cross wind landings a bit but I can manage.

[Grossman56]

Just had the Bearcat up for her maiden. Set the gyro up this morning and took off got three mistakes of altitude, briefly switched on the gyro and she was fine.
So, I'm thinking it has to be the unit itself.

Grossman56

[caddguy6]

Hi everyone, Happy New Year! I'm in the setup stage of a Freewing F-15 90mm edf and will be using a DX9 with one of the new AR8010T Telemetry receivers. I have a few questions, hoping for some help here. First concerns the orientation of the gyro itself, I've placed it upright with the connectors facing forward, contrary to all installs I've seen here, but according to the instruction manual for the A3-L, "You only need to ensure that the servo connector pins always point toward the front (or rear) of the plane." Having mounted it this way I did have to reverse the three flight controls on the gyro to react correctly. Due to the tight internal space for the gyro there isn't a whole lot of alternate locations but it should work if the instructions are correct. Is this correct?
My other question concerns using sub-trims in conjunction with this gyro, or any gyro for that matter. Is it okay to use them when setting up control throws and centering when mechanical adjustments are not enough?
Thanks in advance.

[xviper]

Hi everyone, Happy New Year! I'm in the setup stage of a Freewing F-15 90mm edf and will be using a DX9 with one of the new AR8010T Telemetry receivers. I have a few questions, hoping for some help here. First concerns the orientation of the gyro itself, I've placed it upright with the connectors facing forward, contrary to all installs I've seen here, but according to the instruction manual for the A3-L, "You only need to ensure that the servo connector pins always point toward the front (or rear) of the plane." Having mounted it this way I did have to reverse the three flight controls on the gyro to react correctly. Due to the tight internal space for the gyro there isn't a whole lot of alternate locations but it should work if the instructions are correct. Is this correct?
My other question concerns using sub-trims in conjunction with this gyro, or any gyro for that matter. Is it okay to use them when setting up control throws and centering when mechanical adjustments are not enough?
Thanks in advance.

You say that you've got the gyro response directions in the correct way. I presume you've tested this by picking up the plane and seeing which way they move. IE, if you roll the plane right, does the gyro try to make it go left? Pitch down, it tries to make the plane go up? Yaw right, it tries to make the plane go left? If this is so, there's nothing more to say about it.
Unlike the Spektrum AS3X stabilized Rx's, the use of the trims (either on the outside of the Tx or within the servo sub-trim menu) won't affect the way the stabilizer works. However, this sort of trimming should only be done for minor adjustments. Gross trimming should always be done mechanically via control rod lengths.
The only thing left is to do final adjustments for gain. On a plane like this, you won't need 3D adjustment and that one can be dialed down to zero, leaving only the normal gain to be fiddled with. It would be handy to have the ability to shut the stabilizer off while in the air in case the gain is badly out. With that Rx, you should be able to plug the ON/OFF into a 2 or 3-way switch and use remote adjustable gain via the AUX3 knob.

[OV10]

Hi everyone, Happy New Year! I'm in the setup stage of a Freewing F-15 90mm edf and will be using a DX9 with one of the new AR8010T Telemetry receivers. I have a few questions, hoping for some help here. First concerns the orientation of the gyro itself, I've placed it upright with the connectors facing forward, contrary to all installs I've seen here, but according to the instruction manual for the A3-L, "You only need to ensure that the servo connector pins always point toward the front (or rear) of the plane." Having mounted it this way I did have to reverse the three flight controls on the gyro to react correctly. Due to the tight internal space for the gyro there isn't a whole lot of alternate locations but it should work if the instructions are correct. Is this correct?
My other question concerns using sub-trims in conjunction with this gyro, or any gyro for that matter. Is it okay to use them when setting up control throws and centering when mechanical adjustments are not enough?
Thanks in advance.

Hello CD6 and welcome to the Squawk family errrr forum,
Mounting the A3L on it's side is perfectly fine, the instructions are correct.
Can't advise on sub-trims because believe it or not have never needed to use that function on my 25+ warbird fleet using a DX9.
Best regards,

[caddguy6]

You say that you've got the gyro response directions in the correct way. I presume you've tested this by picking up the plane and seeing which way they move. IE, if you roll the plane right, does the gyro try to make it go left? Pitch down, it tries to make the plane go up? Yaw right, it tries to make the plane go left? If this is so, there's nothing more to say about it.
Unlike the Spektrum AS3X stabilized Rx's, the use of the trims (either on the outside of the Tx or within the servo sub-trim menu) won't affect the way the stabilizer works. However, this sort of trimming should only be done for minor adjustments. Gross trimming should always be done mechanically via control rod lengths.
The only thing left is to do final adjustments for gain. On a plane like this, you won't need 3D adjustment and that one can be dialed down to zero, leaving only the normal gain to be fiddled with. It would be handy to have the ability to shut the stabilizer off while in the air in case the gain is badly out. With that Rx, you should be able to plug the ON/OFF into a 2 or 3-way switch and use remote adjustable gain via the AUX3 knob.

Yep, the pick it up and pitch it through the 3 axes showed me the correct corrective movements in the appropriate control surfaces so its good. I put the remote gain on AUX3 and that seems to work nicely. At the minimum rotation setting of the knob on the DX9 there's no reaction when the plane is pitched about, for all intents its at an off setting. As the AUX3 knob is rotated toward the plus direction there's a nice smooth increase in control compensation. The first flight will be made just above the minimum setting and will adjust in subsequent flights.

[Plastic_Aviator]

After coming across this thread I decided to purchase few of these but have yet to use them. Prior to trying these I attempted to use the Spektrum Gyros but those things left such a bad taste in my mouth, they were so difficult to program and were virtually impossible to work with on their phone app. Anyway, after reading through this thread Im really excited to get home and test one out today! They seem so easy to setup and use. I noticed some have luck with just dropping them in and only having to adjust the gain, others have to reverse controls and such.

Im assuming these arent all a "drop in fit" so to speak, so they dont leave the factory with default presets and require changes to be made?

I plan on using them for my Warbirds so Im keeping them normal, no 3D and moderate gain since I deal with Orange County winds.

[xviper]

Im assuming these arent all a "drop in fit" so to speak, so they dont leave the factory with default presets and require changes to be made?

I plan on using them for my Warbirds so Im keeping them normal, no 3D and moderate gain since I deal with Orange County winds.

It's always a good idea to go through the "steps" to insure all the response directions are correct. If you can, assign the gain to a rotary knob and you can adjust in flight. If not, start off low and work your way up till it shutters, then back off a notch. Have it on an ON/OFF switch so you don't shutter all the way to landing. It will shutter the most as airspeed increases.

[Plastic_Aviator]

It's always a good idea to go through the "steps" to insure all the response directions are correct. If you can, assign the gain to a rotary knob and you can adjust in flight. If not, start off low and work your way up till it shutters, then back off a notch. Have it on an ON/OFF switch so you don't shutter all the way to landing. It will shutter the most as airspeed increases.

Oh! You just brought up other questions. :)


For smaller planes running 6ch receivers, using all 6 channels there is no way to obviously program this to a switch, correct? I would need to have an available AUX connected to the MOD port?

Also, "oscillation" basically means that the servos will flutter at high speed. That indicates that the gain needs to be lowered?

[xviper]

Oh! You just brought up other questions. :)


For smaller planes running 6ch receivers, using all 6 channels there is no way to obviously program this to a switch, correct? I would need to have an available AUX connected to the MOD port?

Also, "oscillation" basically means that the servos will flutter at high speed. That indicates that the gain needs to be lowered?

If you have no spare channels left, the A3L will simply go to its default setting. I have a couple of planes like this where everything is pre-set on the unit itself and it just comes on when you power up the plane. You can tell what it's set to by the color of light on the unit. Start with gain very low and increase in small increments with each flight. As you speed up to max throttle, it will begin to "flutter", back off the speed and it will stop so you can land and adjust the gain down a bit.
Since you don't want or need 3D, turn that pot to zero just in case. It usually defaults to "normal" stabilized mode when you can't connect it to an empty channel.

[bobbyc]

Hi chaps can I just plug in and set up my new A3 flight controller using just rudder and elevator using a mode 2 transmitter , right hand stick only. Left stick throttle only.i.e. So do I just connect aileron( rudder really) and elevator.i do not have ailerons on my model.just an old timer but I am new to flying after a long lay off.so this controller looks like a great flying aid ,especially in oh crap mode (auto balance). Hope I am correct but please give your views/input.

[OV10]

Hi chaps can I just plug in and set up my new A3 flight controller using just rudder and elevator using a mode 2 transmitter , right hand stick only. Left stick throttle only.i.e. So do I just connect aileron( rudder really) and elevator.i do not have ailerons on my model.just an old timer but I am new to flying after a long lay off.so this controller looks like a great flying aid ,especially in oh crap mode (auto balance). Hope I am correct but please give your views/input.

Hello bobbyc..............welcome to the Squawk and welcome back to the hobby.
Regarding your comment on 'oh crap mode', this gyro functions as an attitude stabilizer and not as a correction device(auto balance as you indicated).
In other words if the oh crap moment happens to be you got disoriented and put the airframe into a banking inverted decent it is not going to correct your attitude back to level upright flight.
This capability is done by what is trademarked by Eflite as "SAFE" receivers and they are programmed for use in a specific airframe. Here's an example.

https://www.motionrc.com/collections/beginner-and-trainer-airplanes/products/e-flite-apprentice-s-15e-rtf#description-tab

With regard to question on connections, so yes you connect your rudder servo to the aileron port of the gyro when using the aileron stick(right stick mode 2) to control your rudder.
Best regards,