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Inertia RC 860 Gyro and LCD Programmer
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There's a new Gyro on the market!
There are a lot of new products coming onto the scene these days. Inertia R/C is a new player in the electronics game.
Just released recently is the brand new Inertia 860 gyro. Naturally, when a new product comes out I'm curious to give it a try. I put the Inertia 860 in my Hirobo SDX, and paired it with the Logictech 6100g servo. This seemed like a good combination, the Logictech servo is fast 0.05 sec/60! AND costs less than some others available right now. It does need to be used at around 5v, so if you are using a 6v regulator, or a 5 cell nicad battery, you'll need a stepdown.
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Inertia 860 Gyro |
Inertia LCD Programmer |
The Inertia 860 includes double sided adhesive mounting pads, and a steel plate to isolate the gyro from vibration. This is important to install the gyro correctly, as vibration can result in poor rudder performance. Mount the gyro where you would typically mount any gyro, which means any place on the helicopter making sure that it is mounted perpendicular to the main shaft.
The Inertia 860 is programmed with a hand held programmer with an LCD screen. There are several parameters that can be adjusted with the buttons on the programmer:
Description |
Function |
FUNC+, FUNC- |
Scroll up/down function menu |
+10, -10 |
Increase (+) or decrease (-) value by 10 units each time.
Automatically change to 1 units if the maximum function value is less than 20. |
+1, -1 |
Increase (+) or decrease (-) value by 1 unit each time. |
Reset |
System reset |
Detailed settings of Function Menu:
1. SERVOTYPE - servo type selection
Menu Items |
Description |
152-33
(Default) |
Servo pulse width 1520us, working frequency 333Hz includes:
Futaba: S9253, S9254, S9650, S9257, S3153
JR: 8900G, DS3405, DS3500
Hitec: HS-5084MG, HS-5925MG
Align: DS510, DS520, DS610, DS620
LogicTech: 3100G
Most digital servo without special marking should be in this category. |
76-33 |
Servo pulse width 760us, working frequency 333Hz includes:
Futaba: S9251, S9256, BLS251
LogicTech: 6100G |
152-25 |
Servo pulse width 1520us, working frequency 250Hz includes:
Futaba: S3154
JR: 8700G, 2700G |
2. GYDIRECT - Gyro direction selection
Direction of resulting yaw
Attention: Check that the rudder direction matches the transmitter stick direction. Otherwise, please reverse the rubber servo direction in transmitter program.
Menu Items |
Description |
NORM
(Default) |
Rotate the helicopter left (nose). Rudder servo should compensate to the right automatically. Otherwise, change value to “REV”. As shown in the diagram |
REV |
Rotate the helicopter left (nose). Rudder servo should compensate to the right automatically. Otherwise, change value to “NORM”. As shown in the diagram. |
3. MID-TRIM - Rudder Servo Neutral Adjustment
Attention: Rudder SUB TRIM value of Transmitter should be set to zero . Install rudder servo horn to closest to 90 degree. Use MID-TRIM to fine tune the neutral point of servo horn to achieve exact 90 degree. Check the neutral position by switching the Inertia 860 to the NOR mode, or by moving the rudder stick to the left and right at least three times at high speed and immediately returning the stick to the neutral position. This temporarily resets the rudder servo.
Menu Items |
Description |
-100 ~ 0 ~ +100
(Default) |
Fine tune rudder servo neutral point. |
4. L-LIMIT - Rudder Left Pitch Travel Limit
Menu Items |
Description |
0 ~ 240
(Default 160) |
Adjust rudder servo travel at end limit. |
Suggestion |
Suggested setting between 160?230. If setting is higher than 230, please install ball link to the outer hole of servo horn or use longer horns. If setting is lower than 160, please install ball link to the inner hole of servo horn or use shorter horns. It is recommended to keep difference between L-LIMIT and R-LIMIT within ±20. |
5. R-LIMIT - Rudder Right Pitch Travel Limit
Menu Items |
Description |
0 ~ 240
(Default 160) |
Adjust rudder servo travel at end limit. |
Suggestion |
Suggested setting between 160?230. If setting is higher than 230, please install ball link to the outer hole of servo horn or use longer horns. If setting is lower than 160, please install ball link to the inner hole of servo horn or use shorter horns. It is recommended to keep difference between R-LIMIT and L-LIMIT within ±20. |
6. RPIRGAIN - Right Piro Stop Gain
Menu Items |
Description |
50 ~ 200
(Default 100) |
The higher the setting, the harder the braking effect in piro stops.
The lower the setting, the softer the braking effect in piro stops. |
Suggestion |
If tail bounce back occurs, please lower the setting . Excess hard braking for piro stop will affect the service life of rudder servo! |
7. LPIRGAIN - Left Piro Stop Gain
Menu Items |
Description |
50 ~ 200
(Default 100) |
The higher the setting, the harder the braking effect in piro stops.
The lower the setting, the softer the braking effect in piro stops. |
Suggestion |
If tail bounce back occurs, please lower the setting . Excess hard braking for piro stop will affect the service life of rudder servo! |
8. RUD-GAIN - Rudder Stick Gain
Menu Items |
Description |
50 ~ 150
(Default 100) |
Fine tune the stick response to the actual piro rate. The higher the setting, the more sensitive the stick movement. |
9. ACC-EXP - Acceleration Curve
Menu Items |
Description |
0 ~ 15
(Default 0) |
The higher the value, the smoother and longer it takes to reach piro speed from static. |
10. DEC-EXP - Deceleration Curve
Menu Items |
Description |
0 ~ 15
(Default 0) |
The higher the value, the longer it takes for the tail to slow down. Used to smoothen the deceleration of piro when coming to a stop. |
Menu Items |
Description |
5 ~ 100
(Default 5) |
Rudder has no response if stick movement in deadband zone.
Useful to prevent minor unintentional rudder stick commands. |
12. N-RUDEXP - Normal Rudder Curve
Menu Items |
Description |
-100 ~ +100
(Default 0) |
Normal Gyro expo curve to the stick movement in non-head lock mode |
13. A-RUDEXP - AVCS Rudder Curve
Menu Items |
Description |
-100 ~ +100
(Default 0) |
AVCS Gyro expo curve to the stick movement in head lock mode |
After I entered the servo type and pulse width, I decided to try the Inertia 860 with the default settings. I found these to be pretty good, but there was a small bounce back, which was easy to get rid of. I adjusted the "right piro stop gain" and problem solved. I found that it was important to make small changes, and make only one change at a time, otherwise it may be difficult to tell what setting change actually did what.
I then flew my entire standard 3d flight, which I'll admit is certainly not like Bobby Watts, or Alan Szabo, but what I feel is good enough to get a good feel of what a 3d gyro should be capable of coping with. During Hurricanes, rainbows, funnels, piro-flips, the tail was totally locked in and solid. I put about 6 tanks thru the SDX with the Inertia 860 on it, and it performed flawlessly every time.
I can recommend the Inertia 860 to any R/C heli pilot without hesitation. It can be used with any size R/C helicopter and the best part is it's quite affordable at $169.99 WITH the programmer!
CLICK HERE TO ORDER! |
