Upgrade's 180cfx Micro Ikon/brain Install

Discussion in 'Blade Heli's' started by Manyc, Jun 16, 2015.

By Manyc on Jun 16, 2015 at 10:04 AM
  1. Manyc

    Manyc Well-Known Member

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    Ok.. been flying this little heli for a while now stock.. and for a micro is goes well.. plenty of power.. I cant both elevator and aileron tick toc.. as well as even piro flip it... Tail holds reasonable in a funnel.. but the tail is a bit inconsistent during some of the piroing moves... The stock AS3X is stick programable, or via telemetry if you have a DX9.

    Anyway then came along the msh with the micro brain, which of course meant there was a micro ikon. Thanks to @BladeBandit at ArkRc I picked one of these bad boys up as well as some Zeal blades and lynx tail blades. I will test it without the improved blades just to see how it goes..

    Just a quick look in the box.. get the micro ikon of course.. some adapters for sats and futaba rx's... as well as a little usb port extender that plugs into the sysio port on the board...

    [​IMG]

    Before installing.. I powered up the 180.. folded the blades back, and went full collective.. measured the distance between the blades so I could use that as a very ball park pitch guage.

    To remove the AS3X, just unscrew the 6 screws into the base plate and pull it off.. 4 screws go into the base, the other 2 go into the boom supports.. unplug everything, remove the board and put on the ikon

    [​IMG]

    Due to the way the esc cable reaches.. mount it in the above orientation.. also with the way the ports are laid out.. you will need to run the esc, and the front servo's wires to the other side of the frame.

    before you mount it into the frame, I would connect you sat and connect it to the PC. Here you will be prompted to update the software, which I recommend... and bind your sat. in the receiver tab there is a bind box you can tick to help bind. I would also go into the servo selection, and set both cyclic and tail frequencies now... both should run at 1520 and 333

    ok.. now plug everything in, and mount up the ikon...

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Just remember.. remove a wire from the motor.. and use a battery to power the unit, before connecting the USB cable. There is enough current to half initialize the servo's and they will go nuts... you dont want this.. so connect a pack, then the USB to the PC.

    Next run through the standard setup for an ikon/brain. just remember when it comes to the servo direction... you need to keep reversing the servo's until when you hit the sub trim for each servo.. plus moves it up, and negative moves it down.. even if the servo's move the right way with stick movements.. you need to make sure its right especially if you want to use self level.

    Seeing the link lengths are good for these servo's.. I just put on a swash leveler and sub trimmed to it was right.

    Then mounted the head.. checked the distance, which was pretty spot on out of the box. And moved on...

    Now there is a new screen for the "motor" this is where you set the endpoints.. have a straight throttle curve in you radio.. go full stick.. then move the slider till it beeps... then low stick.. and move the slider till it beeps... else you will not be able to arm the esc..

    I have only test hovered in the garage.. seemed reasonable.. will let you know how it goes...

    [​IMG]
     
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Comments

Discussion in 'Blade Heli's' started by Manyc, Jun 16, 2015.

    1. smakmeharder

      smakmeharder Administrator

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      I am VERY curious to see how the different gyro flies on this helicopter. I predict its going to feel like a new heli - ie much more stable. And with carbon blades it should be even more responsive again. Make sure you fly it over long grass though.
       
    2. Beaver

      Beaver Well-Known Member

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      So in your opinion @Manyc , is the 180cfx worth the money? I notice HH is dropping prices on many of their helis. For $70 more I could get a 300cfx.
       
    3. MickyD

      MickyD Well-Known Member

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      Just out of curiosity did you update the firmware on the 180cfx?
       
    4. Manyc

      Manyc Well-Known Member

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      @Beaver I went the 180 as I tend to fly largish and the 300 would take a bit more room, and I doubt I would have enough space where I fly to stick bang.. it would be a good heli, but if I was going a 300 class I would have gone the oxy3. but the main reason is that I can run plastic blades, and if I have some grass around damage would be less.. chances are blades would be fine... but with the 300.. it would be all CF.. so if I was going to fly I would just get out the mini protos crash cost wise.. this way I have mxpc BL and 180 in the boot of the car with a dx8.. for how it flies.. pretty much I what I can do on a larger heli I can do on this... even piro flip. Tail holds well even in funnels.. tho I am noticing if you bog the motor a bit you can get some nasty tail oscillation...

      @MickyD yes I updated the firmware, and went to the new version of the software, which introduced the new tab for the motor end points. updates the same was a regular ikon..
       
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    5. Busher

      Busher Member

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      Can I ask if the small icon has a governor option, and if so are you using it?
       
    6. simon

      simon Well-Known Member

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      Very intense focused reflection in the monitor
      Simon
       
    7. Manyc

      Manyc Well-Known Member

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      I'll double check about the governor but pretty sure it does.... I stand corrected there is no governor

      Yes Simon trying to avoid @smakmeharder grade photos

      Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
       
      Last edited: Jun 17, 2015
    8. Manyc

      Manyc Well-Known Member

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      Sorry I was incorrect.. Checked the software there is no governor in the micro ikon

      Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
       
    9. Busher

      Busher Member

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      Thanks for the info,

      I hope the flying goes great with the new setup
       
    10. MadBird

      MadBird Well-Known Member

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      That was a nice little write-up @Manyc.

      It will be interesting to see if what the flight characteristics are like with the ikon and the stock blades. Looking forward to hearing more.
       
    11. Manyc

      Manyc Well-Known Member

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      so I have given it 3 flights,, with zero wind.. but not the greatest light.. and I will say the tail feels a lot nicer.. and seeing I upped the cyclic rate to 350 deg, which is my standard rates... it felt very nice... takes a bit to get used to.. heli seems a lot more stable.. and is holding better in flight.. but then again zero wind.. so not a true comparison.. I will try and get some more flights when I get a chance and the weather improves.. but it seems very promising.. just you will end up dropping the tail gains a bit from stock..
       

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