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...just kidding! The plane is fine 
I'll let Jeremy explain what happened.
I'll let Jeremy explain what happened. -
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Looks like a bit of verticalstabus interruptisTeam PowerBox Systems Americas... If flying were the language of men, soaring would be its poetry.Comment
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Going to need more than a Gyro to help you there.
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David Payne!! The human Gyro...Len Buffinton
Team Horizon HobbyComment
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I was not expecting this to be so small!Comment
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The new generation of these are tiny and powerful. I'm going to take the dive as well...
Team PowerBox Systems Americas... If flying were the language of men, soaring would be its poetry.Comment
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Steve,
What are you thinking of putting that in?Comment
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Probably the Pawnee. It's the next up to get airborne. It's been too long since Len and Rob did that nice install of a DA120 and cans.Team PowerBox Systems Americas... If flying were the language of men, soaring would be its poetry.Comment
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The only minor issue I have with the iGyro is...outputs. They have two ailerons, two elevators and one rudder. I am using two channels on my DX18 for rudder on the Carbon Cub. Not a huge hassle...I'll just have to put a "Y" on the rudder servos and make them one channel.
PeteComment
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The system that was in the Pawnee I flew at the Horizon Aero Tow was the PowerBox Royal SRS. This is a great way to go if you are going to use a power distribution unit. I built this Pawnee for Dean Gradwell who flies Futaba so I had 2 Futaba 7008B receivers connected to the PowerBox via a single serial cable each. This provided complete receiver redundancy with 4 antennas, 2 per receiver. If you fly Spektrum, you don't even need a main receiver, just connect up to 4 remote receivers.
I have also used the iGyro SRS in a Pegasus that I made many modifications to for Dean. Functionally the 2 systems are exactly the same and very easy to set up once you understand the process. I had to read the manual several times before I really understood it. The real beauty of these systems is that all 3 axis can be adjusted individually in 1 test flight. I don't think the eGyro can do that. If I understand it correctly, you do a test flight and adjust the gain for all 3 axis simultaneously. I assume you can then adjust 1 axis per flight later on, but I am not clear on how that is accomplished.
I am not sure the GPS gain adjustment buys us much on our tow planes but I am using it since it is there.
I really like how the gyros reduce the workload of towing. It gives me much more time to look around for conflicting traffic and keep an eye on how the towee is doing. I typically fly by just bumping the controls to establish a pitch or bank angle and leaving the sticks centered to let the heading hold mode of the gyro fly the plane. The gyro won't hold the bank or pitch angle indefinitely, but I don't have to constantly input corrections like I would without the gyro on a bumpy day. As an example of how well it works, when taking off to the west at Monticello with a brisk north wind, I simply advanced the throttle and left the right stick centered. After breaking ground I would occasionally need to bump in a bit of bank to maintain heading in the crosswind and/or bump the elevator to adjust the pitch angle to whatever was required for the glider on tow. After that it was pretty much hands off until time to make the first turn. The gyro took care of all the corrections needed while flying through the rotor coming off the Illini Glider Club hangar.
I believe that in order to derive the full benefit of these systems you must be willing to modify your flying style. For me that involved changing from concentrating on making constant quick smooth adjustments to angle and bank to just bumping the stick occasionally and trusting the gyro for most of the flight. If you are constantly on the stick then it is never in the center and the gyro is never in heading hold mode. The plane still flies better than before because the gyro in rate mode is correcting for the turbulence. But you are not experiencing the benefits of heading hold. It took me quite a while to trust the gyros but once I did the workload diminished immensely.[FONT=times new roman]Rick Shelby[/FONT]
[COLOR=#0000CD][B][I]Team Horizon[/I][/B][/COLOR]Comment
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Rick, thanks for taking the time to do this understandable explanation. Finally, I understand what it is the gyro is supposed to do. It makes much more sense now. BTW, congrats on the distance record.Comment
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Great write up Rick! The iGyro comes with a quick start guide that says to start off adjusting the gain for all three at once.....just like you said. The QuickStart guide doesn't explain how to adjust individual axis. I need to go on to PowerBoxes website to look for more info. The quick start guide does say you can also do the "set up" using a laptop/PC and I noticed that one of what I think are the out out channels on the 3e says "USB"....but no USB cable was provided. Anybody ever seen a USB cable that has a JR connector on the end?.....maybe it's an accessory they sell?
While at Illini Jets, Ali Machinchy had an iGyro 3e installed in his big F86 and he was adjusting individual axis using his iPhone. I need to find the full blown instructions for this thing to find out more!
Pete
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How come I couldn't post two links in one reply.....?Comment
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Thanks to a couple great reviews, on the Powerbox website, I now have a much better understanding about the iGyro 3e! One review from RC Sportflyer is by Dipl. Ing. Karl-Heinz Keufner and the other is by our very own Andrew Griffith in Fly RC!!!! Thanks Andrew
Here's a link to the instructions and to the very helpful reviews.
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Yes, there's a master gain and then each channel can be individually adjusted on the 3e.
That said, unless you're flying a jet or something fast you won't need to tinker with each axis.Comment
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