Align Trex 450 Video

The Youtube link below is a short video of my Trex 450 heli flybar running Ardupilot Traditional Heli 3.5.1 on a 3DR Pixhawk. Thanks to Chris Olson for the setup tips.

David Ardis

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Congratulations, the state is quite good

Can share your configuration?

I have the same model, the configuration is not very good

Check this out.

I would suggest you have a read at these two posts below the suggestions that chris made really helped. My setup would be completely different because of linkage length servo travel etc

David Ardis

Can I use flight controller (APM or Pixhawk) on a heli with flybar ? I am now running a Trex 450 flybarless with APM2.6. I always have a doubt that flight controller will fight with the flybar when in stabilization.

Pls share your thoughts.

Using flybar is no problem at all. In fact, they are incredibly stable flown with ArduPilot. I have a 600 flybar flown with a Pixhawk, and it is one of my favorite helicopters to fly. The really nice thing with flybar is that you can switch to Acro flight mode and it has pass-thru control so you are flying “pure” flybar. I am somewhat of a purist old-school pilot and I love no-gyro flybar helicopters, as it is what I learned to fly heli’s on. They have a certain amount of grace and smoothness in flight that FBL has never quite achieved. When I want to fly and have fun the old flybar is my go-to heli.

There is a parameter, H_FLYBAR_MODE which set to 1 will use the flybar. For tuning you basically turn off the rate PID controller by setting the rate PID’s to zero for pitch and roll. Set the rate VFF (I suggest starting with a setting of 0.22) for pitch and roll, and tune the rate to get proper rate control. The flybar will handle the stabilization of the head and it replaces the rate PID controller with a mechanical version.

We do mention how to tune flybar heli’s in the Tuning Wiki:
http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/traditional-helicopter-tuning.html

Really appreciate the input on your experience. I actually have a Trex 450
flybar sitting on a shelf for a long time. Will give it a try and may need
your help again in future.