Aldi helicopter

Ilyushin76

Does anybody know if this helicopter on sale in aldi is any good?Bought a smaller one last year and it stopped taking off after a few months

Bruthal

I seen them myself the other day, good quality frame in them from a quick look at them. The only thing is, if you want to get the feel of flying a true RC helicopter, they need 4 channels. The aldi one has 3 chanels, so hovering it wont be the same, or have the same control, as hovering a full control RC helicopter, if you were planning on progressing.

Other than that i am not sure what that particular one is like to fly. I have tried 3 channel ones in the house, and 4 channel. 4 channel is much better.

Ilyushin76

Might get it any-ways seems like good value as the are nearly 100 online.Not to bothered about the controls as I just want something to mess around with.Any idea why my other one stopped taking off?

Bruthal

John85 wrote: »

Might get it any-ways seems like good value as the are nearly 100 online.Not to bothered about the controls as I just want something to mess around with.Any idea why my other one stopped taking off?

Possibly the battery just not charging as much as it used to, that would be the simplest cause.

gugleguy

If you look around harder in Dublin City Centre anyway, you'll be able to find equivalent models cheaper.;) I fly 'em myself, I have the small Revell Military Helicopter.
Personally, I consider it the same way as the guide books advise you before go to Las Vegas, don't shell out more money than you're prepared to loose on gambling, or, in this case, small radio control Helicopters:D

Ilyushin76

robbie7730 wrote: »

Possibly the battery just not charging as much as it used to, that would be the simplest cause.

I changed the battery and it still just hovered a few inches above the ground.

gugleguy wrote: »

If you look around harder in Dublin City Centre anyway, you'll be able to find equivalent models cheaper.;) I fly 'em myself, I have the small Revell Military Helicopter.
Personally, I consider it the same way as the guide books advise you before go to Las Vegas, don't shell out more money than you're prepared to loose on gambling, or, in this case, small radio control Helicopters:D

Thanks gugleguy but I bought it in aldi .The flight time is very short though for the time it takes to charge.

Today's ibood is a helicopter ye might be interested in. Only available til midnight

http://www.ibood.com/ie/en/

Bruthal

John85 wrote: »

I changed the battery and it still just hovered a few inches above the ground.

Yes but batteries deteriorate after a certain time and number of charge cycles. So they dont charge as much as they used to when newer.

The reason it would lift a couple of inches is because a helicopter does not need as much power to hover in whats called in-ground effect, and it didnt have enough power anymore to hover above this.

WebGeek

£20 in Aldi UK vs. €50 here - usual rip off ireland.

http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/special_buys3_17078.htm

Ilyushin76

Its £39.99 on aldi uk.What site are you looking at?

Bruthal

We have this one, got it for son for flying in the house, great they are for indoors. They are 4 channel.

Ilyushin76

What can you do on a 4 channel that you cant do on an 3 channel ?

si_guru

John85 wrote: »

What can you do on a 4 channel that you cant do on an 3 channel ?

Fly side ways.

A true heli would be 5 channel... but the 3/4 channel are more stable and easier to learn...

Be aware they all smash light fittings!

Bruthal

John85 wrote: »

What can you do on a 4 channel that you cant do on an 3 channel ?

Yes as said, fly sideways.

The 3 channel can throttle up to take off and vary the height over the floor by adjusting throttle to vary this height.

The 3 channel can also vary the throttle mix between the double rotor to turn the nose (rudder, or yaw).

And its other channel uses a small horizontal propellor at the back(not a tail rotor on these) to tilt the helicopter for forward or backward flight.

The 4 channel ones have the throttle and rudder as above, but also have 2 cyclic channels for flying forwards, backwards, and sideways left or right while still keeping the nose in the same direction. It makes flying more controllable.

As si_guru said, full size model helicopters use 5 flight channels, and usually a 6th for changing the gyro settings from the radio.

But the 4 channel ones are great in the house, i had a go at flying the lama v3 one up the stairs and into a room, back out and down once or twice, quite challenging:D. Id definitely recommend the 4 channels anyway. We got a set of extreme blades as spares, very tough, if only they made them for the trex 600:eek:.

WebGeek

John85 wrote: »

Its £39.99 on aldi uk.What site are you looking at?

Oops! I was looking at this one http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_16623.htm which is from 2010. Thanks for pointing that out - I'm looking for one of these so I'll probably get this one after all...

Ilyushin76

WebGeek wrote: »

Oops! I was looking at this one http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_16623.htm which is from 2010. Thanks for pointing that out - I'm looking for one of these so I'll probably get this one after all...

That one is infra red as-well which means it can only be flown inside.I would recommend it, its great fun and not to hard to fly.The seem to be retailing at around 80 online so its good value in aldi.

Ilyushin76

Have a problem with this already:rolleyes:.

Even when the battery is left charging for the recommended time the heli only flies for a few seconds and then descents to the ground.

I was thinking it was the battery but am not sure ,anybody any ideas?

Bruthal

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

Have a problem with this already:rolleyes:.

Even when the battery is left charging for the recommended time the heli only flies for a few seconds and then descents to the ground.

I was thinking it was the battery but am not sure ,anybody any ideas?

Probably the lipo battery (lithium polymer) in it has been over discharged a few times. Them small heli`s usually dont give any warning as to when the lipo battery is running below its recommended minimum. And when this is done a few times, they wont charge fully again, especially if it has been left switched on overnight.

When flying with a fully charged battery, they should be landed at the slightest indication of reduced power.

Mobile phones for example use lithium ion batteries, which also are ruined by over discharging. But mobile phones have battery protection in them, thats why the phone switches off and cant be switched back on at low battery, its not that the battery is completely flat, the phone shuts off at about 80% discharge to protect the battery. Same with lithium ion battery drills etc, they suddenly stop rather than gradually slow down like ni-mh battery ones do, for the same reason.

Thats assuming this helicopter has a lipo battery in it. Thats was another plus with the 4 channel one, they have batteries you can easily remove and change them, for a couple of euro each.

Ilyushin76

Thanks Robbie that's probably the problem.Its a li-poly battery alright.I let it over charge a few times.The charger that came with it doesn't tell you when its full charged,any idea if I can get one that will.

It say in the manual that came with it that you can buy spare batteries but the don't seem to have any on their website.I'll sent them and email and see what they say.

Bruthal

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

Thanks Robbie that's probably the problem.Its a li-poly battery alright.I let it over charge a few times.The charger that came with it doesn't tell you when its full charged,any idea if I can get one that will.

It say in the manual that came with it that you can buy spare batteries but the don't seem to have any on their website.I'll sent them and email and see what they say.

It is probably more over-discharging that caused it, flying when the battery was getting low. If i had the charger to test, i could tell if it can over-charge the battery.

The 4.2v charging circuit might be built into the heli itself though, so using a proper charger might not work well, i wouldnt know unless i seen the heli setup. Is it charged from an adaptor that came with it? Or from connecting the heli to the radio to charge from the radio batteries?

It is easy enough to get single cell lipo batteries anyway, not sure if they are soldered into that or plugged in.

Ilyushin76

Ya I flew it a few times where it wouldn't lift off any more .Its charged from an ac adaptor I got with it.

I took the battery out and its 3.7 v 1200mah and you plug it in.

Bruthal

Have a look on ebay for 3.7v 1200mah lipo, or 1s 1200mah lipo.

Should see some there. Usually if the battery power required is above 400 or 500mah single cell, higher cell count batteries would be used. The lama v3 for example uses 2 cell 7.4 volt 800mah batteries, which would be the equivelant capacity to a single cell 1600mah, so that size of single cell would not really be used, as the higher voltage-lower mah is equal capacity in watt-hours, but the higher voltage is more efficient.

But you will need to use single cell 3.7v ones for that helicopter.

Ilyushin76

Would this one do Robbie.

Bruthal

Yes it should do. Is that red plug the same as on your battery? Jst plugs they are.

Anyway, probably not worth while getting a good charger unless you end up getting another more advanced chopper later. If you do get the battery, land at the first sign of the motor slowing, and charge, and dont forget to switch it off, or plug battery out when not using, whichever method that heli uses to switch off.

Ilyushin76

Will get that so.They look like the same connectors.

Ilyushin76

Got the battery and only after flying it a few times in the last week or two it is already dead:mad:.I was only flying it for about 5 or 6 minutes and landed it before any reduction in power,think I will stick to flying planes.

Bruthal

Its hard to judge by a reduction in power though, and it could possibly be getting over charged either. Even flying the big model heli`s involves properly timing the flights. Although they do have a warning system which pulses the motor power when the low voltage is reached.

gugleguy

Remember - a digital watche's battery will last a few years: low power consumption

however, the current in a battery in your heli is being drawn by a hi power source i.e. the rotors which lift the thing into the air.
so 5 -6 minutes is about right.

Bruthal

Its not really about it only lasting 6 minutes and then having to land. Its about the lithium polymer batteries not charging after a few flights the OP is talking about.

This is due to over-discharging of the battery, or the possible overcharging due to a bad charger. I have a li-po charger which does this, and a couple of batteries were quickly ruined by it.

In this case though its possibly over-discharge, or badly balanced cells which would cause one cell to drop too low when flying discharges the battery, although its only a single cell in this one i think.

Get the lama V3, we have one here a year and a half and not a bother on batteries. Even the t-rex 600 batteries are fine after 2 years i have them particular batteries for it. Its all about not over discharging, and having good chargers to look after the charging.

Ilyushin76

I bought a lipo voltage tester on ebay and when I checked the voltage the old battery had a reading on 4.21 and the new one 4.08 is this normal?

Bruthal

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

I bought a lipo voltage tester on ebay and when I checked the voltage the old battery had a reading on 4.21 and the new one 4.08 is this normal?

4.2v is a fully charged lipo cell voltage. But getting a full voltage does not mean the battery is in good condition, this can only really be ascertained by discharging it to the fully discharged voltage, then charging it with a charger that shows the miliamp hours the battery takes to charge it fully again.