I’ve always felt that wiring a helicopter is an art form. It’s the job that takes me the longest when I build a helicopter. I tend to agonize for hours about which way to route a particular wire and the best way to secure it in place, making sure it isn’t rubbing against any hard corners.
I’ve learned—and seen—many approaches to wiring, and I am pleased at the end of a build to see it neatly finished.
Aside from the pleasing aesthetics, there is a functional side to taking that extra step with your wiring. By carefully and thoughtfully routing your wires, you can avoid chafing and faulty wires, making it easier for you to remove a component without getting lost in a rat’s nest of unkempt wiring.
We’ve all experienced what can happen to a neglected wire in a helicopter. One instance springs to mind for me, and it happened when I was flying a 700-size electric heli. During this particular flight, I noticed a smoke trail coming from the helicopter.
After an immediate landing and a frantic run to where I had landed, I saw a flame licking out from underneath the canopy. My immediate thoughts were that either my LiPo had decided to erupt or I had fried my ESC, but I never would have guessed what had actually happened.
I carefully, but quickly, pulled off the canopy and my knee-jerk reaction was to blow out the flame. To my surprise, it extinguished on its own, which eased my mind about the possibility of a LiPo fire. (You would never be able to blow out a LiPo fire.)
I looked at the ESC, which was in perfect shape. Slightly confused, I looked closer at where the flame had been, and found a brittle, burned-out chunk of carbon-fiber side frame that had been setting underneath my three main motor wires.
After more investigating, I found that the heat-shrink tubing that I had used around the motor and ESC wires had rubbed away, along with the second layer of heat-shrink tubing that sealed the connectors. With the wires bare, the carbon-fiber side frame had acted as a conductor and I had “cooked” the resin out of the carbon fiber. What remained was a powder-like substance that crumbled to the touch.
What surprised me was that although I had taken great care routing wires around corners, I hadn’t considered the area where the wires laid across a flat piece of the side frame. I had doubled the heat-shrink tubing, but that hadn’t been enough.
Now my motor wires are secured with additional Velcro wrapped around them (soft side against the wires), with plastic zip ties holding it all in place.
I use a number of methods to keep my wiring safe. There is a fine, expandable, plastic wire-mesh available, which slides over any servo wiring. It is available in many colors and can be cut to length. The ends are secured with a small piece of heat-shrink tubing. I think the mesh looks cool, but it is also functional. It will protect your servo wires from chafing, and is perfect for wrapping plastic wire ties around without cutting into the wire.
Vibration is always the enemy on a helicopter, and even a snug zip tie can eventually cut through a wire. I use this mesh in all of my helicopters now, as well as the rest of my RC fleet. It is available from many hobby vendors and specialty websites. It’s a product that works for me.
Heat-shrink tubing is also useful. It can secure a servo extension so that it can’t come loose, and can insulate any bare wiring. (Have you ever unplugged the power cable from your ESC plug?) Plastic zip ties will keep everything in place, and they are a quick way to tie something down.
With great power comes great responsibility (said Spiderman’s Uncle Ben) and you have to be careful not to snug the zip ties too tight (causing them to cut through the insulation), or too loose (causing them to vibrate and chafe through the wire). There is definitely a “Goldilocks Zone” when it comes to tightening zip ties, and it’s something you learn with practice.
Fuel tubing is great for securing antenna wires without risking a zip tie touching the wire. I usually figure out where I want my antenna wires to go, and cut a small length of tubing, which I then attach to the location. I usually feed the antenna wire into the tubing before snugging up the assembly with a zip tie.
For larger wires, I’ve discovered that Velcro works well to protect a wire that you have to zip-tie into place. I use Velcro on the motor wires—the type that sticks to itself, with the fuzzy side in toward the wire. I have yet to find a wire tie that can cut through it.
It’s important to not pull any wires too tightly, resulting in no slack at either end. This tight routing, when combined with vibration, can wreak havoc on a wire, causing breaks in the wire or plugs to come loose. This is particularly important with satellite receivers, because those fragile wires easily break.
Tight wiring into a gyro can also cause erroneous flight characteristics, so it’s always a good idea to leave a little slack going into sensors and gyros.
The next time you are at a fly-in or at a club field, take a look at the way your fellow fliers have wired their helicopters—it can be a learning experience!
Good wiring will never replace the need to periodically check over your helicopter, even in places where you wouldn’t expect to need to look (as I found out).
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/04
Page Numbers: 117,118,119
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/04
Page Numbers: 117,118,119
I’ve always felt that wiring a helicopter is an art form. It’s the job that takes me the longest when I build a helicopter. I tend to agonize for hours about which way to route a particular wire and the best way to secure it in place, making sure it isn’t rubbing against any hard corners.
I’ve learned—and seen—many approaches to wiring, and I am pleased at the end of a build to see it neatly finished.
Aside from the pleasing aesthetics, there is a functional side to taking that extra step with your wiring. By carefully and thoughtfully routing your wires, you can avoid chafing and faulty wires, making it easier for you to remove a component without getting lost in a rat’s nest of unkempt wiring.
We’ve all experienced what can happen to a neglected wire in a helicopter. One instance springs to mind for me, and it happened when I was flying a 700-size electric heli. During this particular flight, I noticed a smoke trail coming from the helicopter.
After an immediate landing and a frantic run to where I had landed, I saw a flame licking out from underneath the canopy. My immediate thoughts were that either my LiPo had decided to erupt or I had fried my ESC, but I never would have guessed what had actually happened.
I carefully, but quickly, pulled off the canopy and my knee-jerk reaction was to blow out the flame. To my surprise, it extinguished on its own, which eased my mind about the possibility of a LiPo fire. (You would never be able to blow out a LiPo fire.)
I looked at the ESC, which was in perfect shape. Slightly confused, I looked closer at where the flame had been, and found a brittle, burned-out chunk of carbon-fiber side frame that had been setting underneath my three main motor wires.
After more investigating, I found that the heat-shrink tubing that I had used around the motor and ESC wires had rubbed away, along with the second layer of heat-shrink tubing that sealed the connectors. With the wires bare, the carbon-fiber side frame had acted as a conductor and I had “cooked” the resin out of the carbon fiber. What remained was a powder-like substance that crumbled to the touch.
What surprised me was that although I had taken great care routing wires around corners, I hadn’t considered the area where the wires laid across a flat piece of the side frame. I had doubled the heat-shrink tubing, but that hadn’t been enough.
Now my motor wires are secured with additional Velcro wrapped around them (soft side against the wires), with plastic zip ties holding it all in place.
I use a number of methods to keep my wiring safe. There is a fine, expandable, plastic wire-mesh available, which slides over any servo wiring. It is available in many colors and can be cut to length. The ends are secured with a small piece of heat-shrink tubing. I think the mesh looks cool, but it is also functional. It will protect your servo wires from chafing, and is perfect for wrapping plastic wire ties around without cutting into the wire.
Vibration is always the enemy on a helicopter, and even a snug zip tie can eventually cut through a wire. I use this mesh in all of my helicopters now, as well as the rest of my RC fleet. It is available from many hobby vendors and specialty websites. It’s a product that works for me.
Heat-shrink tubing is also useful. It can secure a servo extension so that it can’t come loose, and can insulate any bare wiring. (Have you ever unplugged the power cable from your ESC plug?) Plastic zip ties will keep everything in place, and they are a quick way to tie something down.
With great power comes great responsibility (said Spiderman’s Uncle Ben) and you have to be careful not to snug the zip ties too tight (causing them to cut through the insulation), or too loose (causing them to vibrate and chafe through the wire). There is definitely a “Goldilocks Zone” when it comes to tightening zip ties, and it’s something you learn with practice.
Fuel tubing is great for securing antenna wires without risking a zip tie touching the wire. I usually figure out where I want my antenna wires to go, and cut a small length of tubing, which I then attach to the location. I usually feed the antenna wire into the tubing before snugging up the assembly with a zip tie.
For larger wires, I’ve discovered that Velcro works well to protect a wire that you have to zip-tie into place. I use Velcro on the motor wires—the type that sticks to itself, with the fuzzy side in toward the wire. I have yet to find a wire tie that can cut through it.
It’s important to not pull any wires too tightly, resulting in no slack at either end. This tight routing, when combined with vibration, can wreak havoc on a wire, causing breaks in the wire or plugs to come loose. This is particularly important with satellite receivers, because those fragile wires easily break.
Tight wiring into a gyro can also cause erroneous flight characteristics, so it’s always a good idea to leave a little slack going into sensors and gyros.
The next time you are at a fly-in or at a club field, take a look at the way your fellow fliers have wired their helicopters—it can be a learning experience!
Good wiring will never replace the need to periodically check over your helicopter, even in places where you wouldn’t expect to need to look (as I found out).
Edition: Model Aviation - 2014/04
Page Numbers: 117,118,119
I’ve always felt that wiring a helicopter is an art form. It’s the job that takes me the longest when I build a helicopter. I tend to agonize for hours about which way to route a particular wire and the best way to secure it in place, making sure it isn’t rubbing against any hard corners.
I’ve learned—and seen—many approaches to wiring, and I am pleased at the end of a build to see it neatly finished.
Aside from the pleasing aesthetics, there is a functional side to taking that extra step with your wiring. By carefully and thoughtfully routing your wires, you can avoid chafing and faulty wires, making it easier for you to remove a component without getting lost in a rat’s nest of unkempt wiring.
We’ve all experienced what can happen to a neglected wire in a helicopter. One instance springs to mind for me, and it happened when I was flying a 700-size electric heli. During this particular flight, I noticed a smoke trail coming from the helicopter.
After an immediate landing and a frantic run to where I had landed, I saw a flame licking out from underneath the canopy. My immediate thoughts were that either my LiPo had decided to erupt or I had fried my ESC, but I never would have guessed what had actually happened.
I carefully, but quickly, pulled off the canopy and my knee-jerk reaction was to blow out the flame. To my surprise, it extinguished on its own, which eased my mind about the possibility of a LiPo fire. (You would never be able to blow out a LiPo fire.)
I looked at the ESC, which was in perfect shape. Slightly confused, I looked closer at where the flame had been, and found a brittle, burned-out chunk of carbon-fiber side frame that had been setting underneath my three main motor wires.
After more investigating, I found that the heat-shrink tubing that I had used around the motor and ESC wires had rubbed away, along with the second layer of heat-shrink tubing that sealed the connectors. With the wires bare, the carbon-fiber side frame had acted as a conductor and I had “cooked” the resin out of the carbon fiber. What remained was a powder-like substance that crumbled to the touch.
What surprised me was that although I had taken great care routing wires around corners, I hadn’t considered the area where the wires laid across a flat piece of the side frame. I had doubled the heat-shrink tubing, but that hadn’t been enough.
Now my motor wires are secured with additional Velcro wrapped around them (soft side against the wires), with plastic zip ties holding it all in place.
I use a number of methods to keep my wiring safe. There is a fine, expandable, plastic wire-mesh available, which slides over any servo wiring. It is available in many colors and can be cut to length. The ends are secured with a small piece of heat-shrink tubing. I think the mesh looks cool, but it is also functional. It will protect your servo wires from chafing, and is perfect for wrapping plastic wire ties around without cutting into the wire.
Vibration is always the enemy on a helicopter, and even a snug zip tie can eventually cut through a wire. I use this mesh in all of my helicopters now, as well as the rest of my RC fleet. It is available from many hobby vendors and specialty websites. It’s a product that works for me.
Heat-shrink tubing is also useful. It can secure a servo extension so that it can’t come loose, and can insulate any bare wiring. (Have you ever unplugged the power cable from your ESC plug?) Plastic zip ties will keep everything in place, and they are a quick way to tie something down.
With great power comes great responsibility (said Spiderman’s Uncle Ben) and you have to be careful not to snug the zip ties too tight (causing them to cut through the insulation), or too loose (causing them to vibrate and chafe through the wire). There is definitely a “Goldilocks Zone” when it comes to tightening zip ties, and it’s something you learn with practice.
Fuel tubing is great for securing antenna wires without risking a zip tie touching the wire. I usually figure out where I want my antenna wires to go, and cut a small length of tubing, which I then attach to the location. I usually feed the antenna wire into the tubing before snugging up the assembly with a zip tie.
For larger wires, I’ve discovered that Velcro works well to protect a wire that you have to zip-tie into place. I use Velcro on the motor wires—the type that sticks to itself, with the fuzzy side in toward the wire. I have yet to find a wire tie that can cut through it.
It’s important to not pull any wires too tightly, resulting in no slack at either end. This tight routing, when combined with vibration, can wreak havoc on a wire, causing breaks in the wire or plugs to come loose. This is particularly important with satellite receivers, because those fragile wires easily break.
Tight wiring into a gyro can also cause erroneous flight characteristics, so it’s always a good idea to leave a little slack going into sensors and gyros.
The next time you are at a fly-in or at a club field, take a look at the way your fellow fliers have wired their helicopters—it can be a learning experience!
Good wiring will never replace the need to periodically check over your helicopter, even in places where you wouldn’t expect to need to look (as I found out).