Hi Bros...
While I was setting up my new bird (Trex 700E), I decided to try on Skookum Govenor to compare with CC ESC govenor.
While doing so, I encountered a few issues, tweaks here and there, test flight etc... to finally get it working nicely.
Thus, to make all Skookum owners life easier if, you want to embark the Govenor feature, I'm listing down the steps / procedure and also screen shots of my setup.
Probably you might have seen part of this setup else where, but nothing beats a summarise page and assurance of successful test flight before I post this.
So here goes, In this senario, I'm using :
- Futaba 8FGs Transmitter
- Sk540 FBL Gyro on firmware 3.43
- CC Edge 120HV on firmware 4.11
----------------------------------------------------------------
Setting up CC ESC for RPM Out
1. Connect CC ESC to laptop via Field Programmer and set / verify the following settings
Take Note to set using "External Govenor"
Take note to Set Aux to RPM Out
----------------------------------------------------------------
Endpoint Setup for CC ESC
1. Connect SK540 to Laptop via USB cable
2. Power Up TX
3. Power Up SK540 with direct 2s lipo / BEC
4. Reset your TX High & Low Throttle Endpoint to 100%
5. Set Linear Throttle Curve (0, 25, 50, 75, 100)
6. In Skookum GUI, Under Drive System
- Set Govenor Mode : OFF
7. Move TX stick to Low throttle position, Click on "Set Idle Throttle" in Skookum GUI
8. Move TX stick to High throttle position, click on Skookum "Set Max Throttle"
9. The above steps are necessary in order for SK540 to send the correct TX endpoint values to the CC ESC later on for calibration
10. Next, remove USB cable from SK540 with Gyro still powering up with direct 2s lipo / BEC
11. On TX, set both High & Low Throttle Endpoint to 50% (in preparation for CC calibration)
12. While TX on High Stick Position, Power on the ESC with main flight packs
- After ESC completed on Lipo beep count, slowly increase High Thro endpoint till ESC beep
- Push Stick to Low position
- Slowly increase Low Throttle endpoint till ESC beep
- CC ESC is now calibrated
- Power off ESC
13. You will get something more or less like this
14. Connect SK540 to Laptop via USB again
15. Power Up TX
16. Power Up SK540 thru direct lipo / BEC
17. In SK GUI, Under Drive System
- Govenor Mode : OFF
18. While TX on High stick, click on SK "Set Max Throttle"
NOTE : DO NOT click on "Set Idle Throttle" at this point any more, as we need it to set up Auto Rotation Bail out later
----------------------------------------------------------------
Setting Up Govenor
1. Once the above endpoint setting on ESC & SK540 is done.
2. Connect your phase sensor (For CC ESC Edge, its the white cable) to IO-C on SK540
3. You may follow these screen shot if you are setting up for a 700 size heli
4. Gear Ratio is calculated as : ((Main Gear / Pinion) x Motor Pole) / 2
5. You may start Govenor Gain with 30%, if encounter tail wag, slowly drop down by 5%
6. Low Ramp : ESC Soft Start
7. High Ramp : Headspeed recovery
8. Overdrive : Headspeed boost during / if headspeed Bogs
9. On TX, set the following Throttle Curve, to activate Govenor
10. Set the following for Throttle Hold and Bail Out
- Set up an Idle Up 3 switch as Throttle Hold
- Use TX Throttle Hold Function for Bail Out
11. Once all this are setup, you are ready for Bench test. Please remove all Main & Tail blades for safety purposes
----------------------------------------------------------------
Bench Test Skookum Govenor
1. Power up your Heli and TX as usual
2. At this point, CC ESC will not arm as it did not "see" a Zero throttle value, and thats where the Idle Up 3 comes into play
3. Flick on Idle Up 3 now, ESC will now initialise
4. Once you are ready to Bench Test your heli, Flick off Idle Up 3
5. Motor should now start at a very very slow speed
6. Move TX Stick to Mid position, that should kicks off your RPM1 Value
7. Let it stable for about 5 sec, Flick to Idle Up 2
8. To perform a Bail out, Flick to Throttle Hold switch now
9. Motor should reduces headspeed
10. Flick off Throttle Hold, Headspeed should ramp back to RPM2 with 2 - 3 secs
11. And that's how auto rotation bail out is setup
12. Once you are done with your testing, Flick to Idle 3 again and lower your TX stick, that should cut off the motor now
----------------------------------------------------------------
Verifing your values
1. Connect CC ESC to laptop via Field Programmer
2. You can verify your RPM and Ramp up speed via the CC log file
From the screenshot above
- At Idle Up 1 (about 2025 rpm), I flick the Throttle Hold switch
- Headspeed quickly reduces to about 830 rpm
- I then flick off from Throttle Hold
- Headspeed ramps up to Idle 1 (2016 rpm) within 2 - 3 secs
This feature is not new from within CC ESC, but it takes a little tweak for Skookum to function.
As such, anyone who wants to learn / practise / try on Auto-Rotation can have a peaceful mind knowing that once you release Throttle Hold, headspeed will be back within 2 - 3 secs.
This is equivalent, to flying a Nitro
- When you flick Throttle Hold, the engine don't dies off, instead it remains at idling
- Once flick off Throttle Hold, engine quickly ramps up to desire headspeed with the Nitro Govnenor.
Hope the above clears anyone's doubt in setting up Govenor or Bail out feature for Skookum Gyros.
If you are not using CC ESC, but if you are familiar with Endpoint setup / calibration on your brands of ESC, and also familiar with your brand of phase sensor setup, then you just need to follow the procedure on the Skookum section mention above.
----------------------------------------------------------------
To summarise up
- Set CC ESC to enable "RPM Out"
- Disable Govenor in SK540
- Calibrate SK540 throttle endpoint
- Calibrate CC ESC throttle endpoint
- Re-Calibrate SK540 High throttle endpoint ONLY
- Enable Govenor in SK540
- Setup desire Headspeed and Govenor Gain on Skookum GUI
- Setup TX for Normal, Idle Up 1, Idle Up 2, Idle Up 3 and Throttle Hold Settings
- Ready for Bench Test
Do let me know if you have any questions regarding the above, I will try my best to explain.
Else you can PM me / meet me at the field so as to show you.
While I was setting up my new bird (Trex 700E), I decided to try on Skookum Govenor to compare with CC ESC govenor.
While doing so, I encountered a few issues, tweaks here and there, test flight etc... to finally get it working nicely.
Thus, to make all Skookum owners life easier if, you want to embark the Govenor feature, I'm listing down the steps / procedure and also screen shots of my setup.
Probably you might have seen part of this setup else where, but nothing beats a summarise page and assurance of successful test flight before I post this.
So here goes, In this senario, I'm using :
- Futaba 8FGs Transmitter
- Sk540 FBL Gyro on firmware 3.43
- CC Edge 120HV on firmware 4.11
----------------------------------------------------------------
Setting up CC ESC for RPM Out
1. Connect CC ESC to laptop via Field Programmer and set / verify the following settings
Take Note to set using "External Govenor"
Take note to Set Aux to RPM Out
----------------------------------------------------------------
Endpoint Setup for CC ESC
1. Connect SK540 to Laptop via USB cable
2. Power Up TX
3. Power Up SK540 with direct 2s lipo / BEC
4. Reset your TX High & Low Throttle Endpoint to 100%
5. Set Linear Throttle Curve (0, 25, 50, 75, 100)
6. In Skookum GUI, Under Drive System
- Set Govenor Mode : OFF
7. Move TX stick to Low throttle position, Click on "Set Idle Throttle" in Skookum GUI
8. Move TX stick to High throttle position, click on Skookum "Set Max Throttle"
9. The above steps are necessary in order for SK540 to send the correct TX endpoint values to the CC ESC later on for calibration
10. Next, remove USB cable from SK540 with Gyro still powering up with direct 2s lipo / BEC
11. On TX, set both High & Low Throttle Endpoint to 50% (in preparation for CC calibration)
12. While TX on High Stick Position, Power on the ESC with main flight packs
- After ESC completed on Lipo beep count, slowly increase High Thro endpoint till ESC beep
- Push Stick to Low position
- Slowly increase Low Throttle endpoint till ESC beep
- CC ESC is now calibrated
- Power off ESC
13. You will get something more or less like this
14. Connect SK540 to Laptop via USB again
15. Power Up TX
16. Power Up SK540 thru direct lipo / BEC
17. In SK GUI, Under Drive System
- Govenor Mode : OFF
18. While TX on High stick, click on SK "Set Max Throttle"
NOTE : DO NOT click on "Set Idle Throttle" at this point any more, as we need it to set up Auto Rotation Bail out later
----------------------------------------------------------------
Setting Up Govenor
1. Once the above endpoint setting on ESC & SK540 is done.
2. Connect your phase sensor (For CC ESC Edge, its the white cable) to IO-C on SK540
3. You may follow these screen shot if you are setting up for a 700 size heli
4. Gear Ratio is calculated as : ((Main Gear / Pinion) x Motor Pole) / 2
5. You may start Govenor Gain with 30%, if encounter tail wag, slowly drop down by 5%
6. Low Ramp : ESC Soft Start
7. High Ramp : Headspeed recovery
8. Overdrive : Headspeed boost during / if headspeed Bogs
9. On TX, set the following Throttle Curve, to activate Govenor
10. Set the following for Throttle Hold and Bail Out
- Set up an Idle Up 3 switch as Throttle Hold
- Use TX Throttle Hold Function for Bail Out
11. Once all this are setup, you are ready for Bench test. Please remove all Main & Tail blades for safety purposes
----------------------------------------------------------------
Bench Test Skookum Govenor
1. Power up your Heli and TX as usual
2. At this point, CC ESC will not arm as it did not "see" a Zero throttle value, and thats where the Idle Up 3 comes into play
3. Flick on Idle Up 3 now, ESC will now initialise
4. Once you are ready to Bench Test your heli, Flick off Idle Up 3
5. Motor should now start at a very very slow speed
6. Move TX Stick to Mid position, that should kicks off your RPM1 Value
7. Let it stable for about 5 sec, Flick to Idle Up 2
8. To perform a Bail out, Flick to Throttle Hold switch now
9. Motor should reduces headspeed
10. Flick off Throttle Hold, Headspeed should ramp back to RPM2 with 2 - 3 secs
11. And that's how auto rotation bail out is setup
12. Once you are done with your testing, Flick to Idle 3 again and lower your TX stick, that should cut off the motor now
----------------------------------------------------------------
Verifing your values
1. Connect CC ESC to laptop via Field Programmer
2. You can verify your RPM and Ramp up speed via the CC log file
From the screenshot above
- At Idle Up 1 (about 2025 rpm), I flick the Throttle Hold switch
- Headspeed quickly reduces to about 830 rpm
- I then flick off from Throttle Hold
- Headspeed ramps up to Idle 1 (2016 rpm) within 2 - 3 secs
This feature is not new from within CC ESC, but it takes a little tweak for Skookum to function.
As such, anyone who wants to learn / practise / try on Auto-Rotation can have a peaceful mind knowing that once you release Throttle Hold, headspeed will be back within 2 - 3 secs.
This is equivalent, to flying a Nitro
- When you flick Throttle Hold, the engine don't dies off, instead it remains at idling
- Once flick off Throttle Hold, engine quickly ramps up to desire headspeed with the Nitro Govnenor.
Hope the above clears anyone's doubt in setting up Govenor or Bail out feature for Skookum Gyros.
If you are not using CC ESC, but if you are familiar with Endpoint setup / calibration on your brands of ESC, and also familiar with your brand of phase sensor setup, then you just need to follow the procedure on the Skookum section mention above.
----------------------------------------------------------------
To summarise up
- Set CC ESC to enable "RPM Out"
- Disable Govenor in SK540
- Calibrate SK540 throttle endpoint
- Calibrate CC ESC throttle endpoint
- Re-Calibrate SK540 High throttle endpoint ONLY
- Enable Govenor in SK540
- Setup desire Headspeed and Govenor Gain on Skookum GUI
- Setup TX for Normal, Idle Up 1, Idle Up 2, Idle Up 3 and Throttle Hold Settings
- Ready for Bench Test
Do let me know if you have any questions regarding the above, I will try my best to explain.
Else you can PM me / meet me at the field so as to show you.
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