Throttle control with knob instead of stick?

[vfrjohn]

Just wondering... has anyone else tried this?

I'm learning to fly a 450 size electric heli.

In the interest of simulating prototype controls a little more than usual, I decided to set up my transmitter so that the throttle (ESC) is controlled by one of the rotary knobs, instead of the collective pitch stick.

When I'm ready to fly, I click off the throttle hold switch, and turn the knob to spin up the rotor - kind of like rotating the twist grip on the collective of a real heli.

When it sounds like the rotor is about at the right speed (it sounds like "whirrrrrrrRRRRR...") I raise the collective to lift off and hover.

Actually, I mixed a little bit of collective position in, so if I change collective, the throttle goes up and down a little - the idea being to keep head speed constant. I did this by setting the Normal throttle curve to 50-55-60-65-70.

(After playing with this a bit, I found it was interesting but I preferred the normal way of doing things after all....

Whaddya think?

[RCModelReviews]

Um... it would make anything other than hovering very difficult because you effectively lose one control (ie: you only have two hands but need to twiddle two sticks *and* a knob with your setup).

[vfrjohn]

I totally agree. It wouldn't be a practical method unless perhaps with a transmitter that had a stick with a rotational control added (I once worked with a computer graphics display system that had a "3d" joystick - up/down, side/side, rotate) which would be much more difficult, and out of the question for anything like aerobatics.

I just was curious if I am the only weirdo to think of trying such a setup.

[takilara]

Not sure i fully understand. If you've effectively moved throttle to a knob, then the "collective" stick is now a pitch-only stick, much like 3D/idle up mixing would be anyways.
For powerful setups, i think this setup could have merit. For weaker systems, i think there would be a major chance of bogging down the motor unless you put the throttle fairly high with the knob, say 80-90%.

Not sure if this setup has any real benefit over the normal collective setup though.
For scale applications it would be much truer to the real thing though, as a real helicopter flies at a fixed motor speed, and the pilot only adjusts the pitch.

[derku]

In the interest of simulating prototype controls a little more than usual, I decided to set up my transmitter so that the throttle (ESC) is controlled by one of the rotary knobs, instead of the collective pitch stick.

What an interesting idea. It would be more intuitive for a helicopter pilot new to RC helicopters to have a rotary knob(throttle) situated directly at the top of the thottle stick(collective) to reflect that of a manned helicopter.

However most electric RC helis have governer modes so the ESC 'adjusts' the throttle to suit any rotor load change so its redundant - unless of course you want the entire degree of control to simulate a governer failing from an RC transmitter control perspective (have fun!)


Derku
Australia

[takilara]

I was under the impression that governor was mostly used for nitro helis. I have never tried on my electrical, but i know of friends that use governor on electricals as well.
I am scared of more electrics. I feel the little i have (esc, bec, motor, gyro, Rx etc) is failing too often as it is..

[brett657]

What an interesting idea. it would make anything other than hovering very difficult because you effectively lose one control over the rc helicopter. It wouldn't be a practical method unless perhaps with a transmitter that had a stick with a rotational control added which would be much more difficult.It would be more intuitive for a helicopter pilot new to RC helicopters.

[cynr100]

Hey Bruce, this guy is not making any sense....................another AI

[BillGriffiths100]

Yeah he's a BOT!