Hi Guys,

I finally got my bird in the air yesterday afternoon, what a rush seeing my first build fly and pretty darn good for the most part, and I'm very thankful to everyone for their help and patience to get me up and going, you guys are all awesome.


I do have one issue, a slow tail wag of 1.0 - 2.5 inches at all head speeds that I just can't seem cure. A fellow pilot and I checked over the mechanics and they are smooth as silk with no binding or drag whatsoever. The servo is set up properly with the right amount of throw in both directions. There is no tail blow out issues, and it stops and turns great, just has that slow wag. Now I will list you all my settings below as per information I got from a forum member. And later explain what adjustments I made in my transmitter a Spektrum DX9, and also the software in my Spirit BE on an OXY3 -285, bear with me this is a little lengthy, but I want to provide as much information as possible. The following is a cut and paste of info I was sent and followed to a "T" with the exception that I used the "C" switch in place of the "E" switch noted below.

~BEGINNG
I have Bank switching on Switch E (its your choice of 3 position switch)
Bank 0 is Normal Self Level
Bank 1 is Normal Rescue
Bank 2 is Acro Self Level

Lets start with the Radio
Power on Radio Holding down the roller until powered up
Then go to Channel Assign and assign Aux 2 to your switch in my case E
Then go Model Main screen
Click roller and scroll down to Gyro and assign it to the same switch.
And set position 0 to -100
Position 1 to 0
Position 3 to +100
Then we need to set up 3 mixes
Mix 1 and Mix 2 will be EXACTLY the same
GER>GYR
Rate -100 % 0%
Offset 0
Switch I White Box 0 Black Box 1
Mix 3
Aux2>Aux2
Rate -100% -100%
Offset 0
Switch I White Box 0 Black Box 1

Now in the software
General Tab
Channel Assign
Gyro Gain Channel 5
Bank Channel 7
The I Diagnostic Tab
Verify Bank switching follows 3 position Switch
reverse in radio if necessary
Channel 5 verify 0 and +/-100 use travel adjust for the 100 and sub trim for the 0
readings. This is the ONLY time you use Sub Trim.
Then in radio in Gyro set position 0 and 2 to -60 and position 1 to +60
In Stabi Tab Select Bank 0 lower right corner
Select Normal Stabilization
Bank 1 Select Normal Rescue
Bank 2 Acro Stabilization.
How it works is when Switch E in 0 and 2 you have Neg Gyro gain and Stabilization Mode
In position1 you have Pos Gyro Gain Normal Flight NO stabilization.
When in Position 1 and press switch I Gain changes to Neg and have rescue.
When in Position 0 and 2 and press switch I you change to Bank 1 and Gain Neg and have rescue.
When you get it all done we can then verify you have it all programmed correctly.
~ END



Now the heli flies very stable, hovers hands free and the self level and rescue works excellent straight up and away like it should, but the slow tail wag is still there. The following are steps I have taken to try and correct this issue.

1. I started with gyro setting of 60% and worked both ways higher and lower in 5% increments with no changes in tail stability.

2. I went and set my tail/rudder delay (in advanced tab) from 8 to 4 and then to 0, but no changes.

3. I set my pirouette consistency from default of 155 to 175 and the 200 and no changes.

My CC Phoenix Edge Lite 50A ESC is set to RPM governor speeds of Normal - 2605, IU1 - 2750, IU2 - 2950 using 3S batteries.

Now my Flight mode switch is not tied to the GYRO as far as I know because when I am in the GYRO menu the little arrow to the right of your values only change when I move the "C" switch, and they do not move when I change the IU settings for RPM changes that I have the regular "B" switch for doing so. I am not sure if this has any bearing on the tail wag which is consistent in all IU speeds.

This is pretty much all the information I can supply and hope someone has a remedy for this problem.

Thanks in Advance,

Kevin

_________________
Blade 230 S / 230 S NF / 450X / 500X / 550X ~ Trex 470LM ~ OXY 3-285 / OXY 4-325 / OXY 4 MAX ~ Spektrum DX9 BE / DX6 Gen 2 ~ Spirit FBL
_______________________________________________
Team OXY Helicopter - Lynx Heli Innovations Field Rep

A slow wag where a change in settings has no effect to is a mechanical issue. There is binding / sticking in your tail mechanism. Check the thrust bearings if they are placed the right way around, the slider for any stickiness and the pitch links for being overly tight. You can spool up without main and tail blades, disconnect the rod from the servo and move it by hand. Do you feel any stickyness?

Thank you for the details.

Usually tail wag is occuring when mechanics is not smooth enough that the tail servo is able to move the rudder to a desired position fast enough.
In this way the servo is overshooting back and forth and slow wag is there.

To solve the issue, please make sure that everything in the mechanics including ball linkages is perfectly smooth.
Also what rudder servo do you have and what rudder frequency is configured in the unit?

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Spirit System developer

Thanks guys, and yes I did feel just the slight bit of stickiness or notchiness when moving the tail pitch assembly with the rod unhooked from the servo ball. I will go through the tail mechanics thoroughly and find what is causing that slight drag and try to fix the issue. I know everything seems to be good in software settings so I am fine there. Again I appreciate your help and have a great day.

Kevin

_________________
Blade 230 S / 230 S NF / 450X / 500X / 550X ~ Trex 470LM ~ OXY 3-285 / OXY 4-325 / OXY 4 MAX ~ Spektrum DX9 BE / DX6 Gen 2 ~ Spirit FBL
_______________________________________________
Team OXY Helicopter - Lynx Heli Innovations Field Rep