Castle Creations Governor Mode

[Soclarke]

Hey Guys,

A couple of us are setting up a couple 3D Pros and I'm not clear on how to use the governor mode of the CC Phx10 ESC.

Could anybody lend some insight?

Thanks,

[Neil]

I'm no pro but I'll take a crack at this one, feel free to correct me on anything guys. Still very new to this myself.
I use the phlink cable that I would be happy to share, makes things easier and you can update your software.The updates are worth it, I think the one I got from century shipped with ver 1.021, now they are at ver 1.61 and it seems to run ESC cooler and work better with the outrunners.
But if you need the manual to set ESC with tx here it is.
http://www.castlecreations.com/documents/Phoenix-10%20User%20Guide.pdf
Also explanations of settings here
http://www.castlecreations.com/documents/Explanation%20of%20PHX-Link%20Settings.pdf

Basic points would be.
If you are going with stock himax motor use governor low, if going with axi or the like use governor high.
If possible you want a tach, watt meter, various pinions and second set of hands near by to fully tweak the system, again I have those tools and I'm happy to share.

-Governor mode will disable brake and set to throttle to fixed throttle. I still set Brake to disabled while I'm in there just to be sure.
After that you want to change:
-Cutoff : "soft cutoff"
-Startup: Soft or softest startup, I've found "softest" seems to hunt a fair bit on spool up with stock motor and does not maintain rpm as well under load, "fast" startup seems a little hard on the gears, with both stock motor and axi.
-Current limiting: set to disabled, (read CC's opinion on this in the explinations link)
-Motor timing: I've left that at the default "standard advance" but other setting may work better with different motors.
-PWM In ver 1.61 it is set to autodetect, in older versions I had left it alone also as everything ran fine as is.

Set voltage cutoff to whatever is needed and start tuning your throttle %
Your curves should be flat 92,92,92,92,92 or 0,92,92,92,92, I use a throttle hold to engage/disable motor, so I have no zero point in my curve.
Fly it at various head speeds and pitch curves to find what you like but the
3D Pro and most small heli's like headspeed. 2000rpm is a good neighborhood and 2500-3000rpm is a great neighborhood.:D

One side note I have had motor drop to what seems to be half throttle when flipping between idleups when in gov mode it takes a second to regain headspeed, I'm running the same throttle % in all idleups but different pitch curves, now I just fly +/- 11 degrees all the time in the same idleup. Trying to sort that out and will post fix if I find it, but probably just be a setup error in my tx that I have not found.

Hope that helps, let me know if any of my tools or time can be of use.
Enjoy it guys, it is a great little heli.

[cgroves]

That is pretty much the setup I run on my T-Rex. Normal is 0,87,87,87,87 and the idle-ups are 94,94,94,94,94. I use the softest startup setting since the motor can really kick the gears hard on a fast startup. Each pinion/motor combination is going to be different and you really need a tach, meter, etc to get it right. These tools are available from many of the local heli flyers and most people are willing to help with setup.

[Soclarke]

Last night we were tweaking Mike's setup and we weren't getting the headspeed up nearly as high on Mike's as with Ed's and what a difference it makes in the stability. I've got most of the tools I need except for a decent pitch guage. The paper one that came with the kit is the pits. Since we're just learning I'm trying to set the low end of the pitch to zero degrees and then go up from there. I don't want to drive the heli down in a panic situation.

One other question. We were getting a violent shake at certain rpms and once you spun past it things would get smooth but I noticed that when we started to get the shake the heli would suddenly spin out. Would this just be caused by the shaking confusing the gyro?

Thanks

[cgroves]

Yeah, vibrations are a real problem for gyros. If you shake them around they start to give bad data. You shouldn't have any shakes except maybe as the blades are straightening out and that shouldn't be bad enough to jam the gyro. Have the blades been balanced? Are the grips maybe too tight? THe blades should be just tight enough to stop them from dropping when the heli is held on its side.

[Soclarke]

We've staticly balanced them but I think I'm going to have to do some tape work on them. I also increased the throttle curve to spin past the bad stage and it helped.

Lots of new stuff to learn. This is fun.

[Neil]

Corey,
Can you think of any reason my rpm's take a dive when I switch between idle-ups, happens going from normal to idle-up 1 or 2 and only when in gov mode.

[cgroves]

Wingnut:
Take a fast servo like an HS-50 with no load and plug it into the throttle channel on the Rx. When you switch modes see if it blips at all.
DANGER: This usually means you need to plug the ESC/BEC into a different channel which may be sending values that cause the motor to start, be careful.

[Neil]

thanks Corey,

However I'm not sure I follow.

If servo blips then I need to plug ESC into another channel, or are you saying to seperate BEC and ESC by plugging BEC into another channel.

Also I have an sBEC but I'm maxed out with my electron 6, could I Y-cable it in on a channel?

[Soclarke]

I think what Corey is saying is by using the servo on the throttle channel you can visually tell if there is a change in throttle settings as you switch idle ups. his suggestion to plug the esc into another channel is only so you'll get power from the BEC. If you have another power source you can leave your ESC disconnected entirely while you perform the tests.

Hope that helps.

[Neil]

Ok DUH!! I get it.

Corey is saying to power Rx while testing plug in ESC/BEC into another channel and watch out in case that channel is triggering ESC to run. I got it.:o
I thought Corey was suggesting issues with channel 3 or issues with ESC.
I read it to quickly and did not re-read it when I did not understand, my bad.
Corey you explained yourself well, I just did not click in on that one.
I just lived up to my name "wingnut":rolleyes:

It was so simple how could I.........bah!!!

Thanks soclarke for explaining the oblivious and thanks for the tip Corey.

[cgroves]

Bingo, that is what I was trying to describe.

[Soclarke]

We got the 3D Pro's working with governor mode tonight and the heli seemed a lot more stable. Ed's was a snap to configure but Mike's was a bear to configure. The tail was nearly impossible to control and noticed the response from the tail servo was extremely slow and mushy :rolleyes: so we swamped out the gyro. This didn't help as the one we put in (new out of the box) didn't seem to work right at all. So we put a third gyro on and finally got the tail under control.

Next we turned our attention to the apparent pulsing we seemed to be getting from the ESC. We decided to swap out the Rx. for a Berg that was known to work well and bingo!!! :D Things got a lot smoother. Then I increased the headspeed a touch more and decreased the pitch a bit and that did it.

I won't say that it's completely sorted out but we can atleast get a somewhat stable hover now. It'll take a little more trimming but I now know that the heli isn't the problem and it won't be long before it's cruising right along.

Later
:D

[Neil]

Bingo, that is what I was trying to describe.

What that I'm a wingnut? Don't answer that one.:)

When you said blips I was thinking you ment it jumps but returns to center.
I guess your looking more to see if it holds a diff position in diff idle-ups.

I did tests as suggested and servo did not move. I changed my curves to verify and then it did move positions between idle-ups. Back to same % across the board and no movement.:confused:

My CC10 smoked tonight:( , not sure why yet, both BEC chips on it look fine but the rest of it is toast. Motor seems ok, no shorts.
Could be once I put a new CC10 in the idle-up problem will be gone,but that might be wishfull thinking.

[Neil]

The drop in rpm when switching between idle-ups is gone with new CC10.
I can not makes sense of it, thanks to Corey I was able to verify the throttle position signal from Tx was the same in all idle-ups.
Only thing that changed is the CC10 that went up in smoke lastnight.
Well problem is gone either way, now I can get back to getting use out of my pitch curves and not running +/- max pitch all the time.

Thanks for the troubleshooting tips Corey.