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Finally, there is an optical heli-tach available that won't break the bank. Despite the low price, this is a quality unit that will provide you with accurate headspeed readings of your model helicopter. With it's wide RPM range (1000~3600RPM), it can be used for almost any size heli.
The Turnigy Heli-Tach 3600 is very easy to use. Simply adjust the RPM by pressing up or down on the side rocker switch. The LCD will display the RPM value that you currently have set. Once the dots between numbers disappear, the tach is fixed on that RPM. You will then look through the viewing window at the heli blades as it is flying, and adjust the RPM until the heli blades appear stationary. Once the blades appear stationary, the RPM value on LCD will indicate the true RPM of the heli blades.
New Feature: The Turnigy Heli-Tach 3600 now features an ON/OFF power switch on the side of the unit to easily switch the device on and off.
*Note: Never attempt to use Heli-Tach while flying your model. Always have someone else take the RPM reading for you as you fly, or have someone else fly your heli while you use the Heli-Tach.
This will work with 2-3-4-5 blades. All it does is synchronize with a rotating object. You could even check the rpm of your drill press or lathe with it. Just adjust it until the chuck appears stationary!
OOOOP's! Was wrong! Won't work with 3 or 5 blade, only 2 and 4 blades and was all wet on the drill chuck bit, UNLESS you put a bolt through a two blade plane prop and spin it and read off that. The Turnigy tach HK has will read any rotating object! Sorry!
Mine WAS **** from the beginning. When it shut off after use the battery ran down over night. I got a switch at Radio Shack and installed in series with the positive side of the battery. This stopped the battery from running down when it powered itself off and you shut the switch off. . From the first use it never ran the viewer motor at a constant speed no matter what you set it at to start. It was nearly impossible to tach the heli. On the third use the motor on the viewer quit running. I chacked and the board is no longer putting any voltge to the viewer motor. So much for return since I had to modify and put a switch in it to keep from the battery running down. First **** item I have received from HK in abouit $4,000 worth of merchandise. I would not recomend buying this until Hk modifys it and put a switch to shut it off and improves the quality in their control board.
Safety is not even a remote concern with this setup, it just takes two people You tach the heli while it is flying from a distance. You are no closer to the heli than the pilot. You can tach your heli as its making a high speed pass at 200 feet or hovering at 3 feet.
This is not a laser tach its based on shutter speed that you match to your blade speed as you look through the shutter. It was originally created by an engineer in San Diego, CA and Miniature Aircraft sold it.
Optical tachs are still preferred by heli pilots these days mainly from a safety point of view. I understand that you may have used a laser tach to check headspeed on a smaller heli on a test bench. This is quite un-safe, and I can only assume it was on a smaller heli such as 450 size (which is still a bad idea from a safety point of view considering the 2500 rpm range). What you have to keep in mind is that some of us need to tach our .50 to .90 size helis which have a 50" rotor span, which one
For a nitro/gas heli, this is an ideal tach. I've put an EagleTree optical tach on my nitro, but you still have to stop the heli, download the data and review. This tach, with a partner, allows you to fly - adjust - fly -adjust all without shutting down your heli and from a safe distance. This is the best way to tach large nitro, and really any heli if you don't have telemetry on head speed.
I don't understand this....
I bought an optical laser tacho, which can read out to 10,000rpm, a few years ago for approx $50. Why would anyone make, or want, a 'visual' based tacho?
A laser tacho shows you what the rotor speed actually IS, not you needing to set some speed yourself so it syncs up your vision to the blades. But you do need to aim a laser tacho into the blades perpendicularly, which is no issue to do with the heli on a test bench (sit it under the rotor arc pointing upwards while you can stand back and away from it).
This 'visual tacho' principle is a very ***r man's way to do only do a so-so job...
"Turnigy" should make a 'good cheap' laser tacho for people. In this $30 price range.
This method is far safter and far more accurate than tying heli to a test stand. You just fly the heli like normal and have someone else watch the heli through the tach. You can tach the heli in various phases of flight, such as climbing cruising and autorotating, with the blades both under load and unloaded. This concept has been working very well for R/C heli pilots for about 20 years.
Yes, optical tacho is 20 year old technology.... no need for it these days. Not at this price versus laser or telemetry ($10 to add a homemade realtime RPM sensor for that).
Peter, Optical tachs are still preferred by heli pilots these days mainly from a safety point of view. I understand that you may have used a laser tach to check headspeed on a smaller heli on a test bench. This is quite un-safe, and I can only assume it was on a smaller heli such as 450 size (which is still a bad idea from a safety point of view considering the 2500 rpm range). What you have to keep in mind is that some of us need to tach our .50 to .90 size helis which have a 50" rotor span, which one would not dare to spool up on a work bench. Also, not to mention anyone with a nitro powered model would also not dare run on a bench/indoors. This technology has been around for many years, yes, but is still readily used in the heli market.
Jason, that makes sense somewhat, but still doesn't seem the best way. I am only at 450 and 500 size. But if I did own bigger heli's they would definitely all have telemetry RPM (like my 500 has). If you have 'big' heli's then you would do everything 'professionally'.. or I would (I do for 500 even as I consider that a pretty serious size to already need 'NASA standards' of precision and safety, lol).
By test bench I mean in the backyard running over a test/landing-board really, tacho mounted on the board under the heli and it also records the high and low in memory. You can even hover over it fine, so I am as far away as per taking off from anywhere I would fly at a field.
Optical still seems antiquated and that it would be quite difficult to use efficently, to me.
Guys, if you haven't used this or a similar one ( like miniature aircraft) it might not be obvious how they work. It takes a separate observer to "shoot" the heli for rotor speed. Range is not an issue. If you can see the heli well enough to have orientation, it will work. The observer sights the blades through the window and works the speed toggle until the blades 'stop', somewhat like a strobe timing light. Then the readout will show the rotor RPM. I ordered one to replace my old Minair tach that only goes to 1999 RPM- that used to be fast, LOL. Try it, you will like it
I just checked, my laser tacho was $79.95. Bought in Australia from an online shop in Perth in 2008. It is a general purpose tacho seemingly made for industrial users measuring motorised machinery, to check rpm of flywheels, rollers, anything really, but perfectly suited to model aircraft (heli etc).
There is almost nothing inside it, just one board with some VLSI looking chip and everyhing else needed on it (laser diode and sensor etc), so it must cost about $1.50 to be made in China! lol
It's quite good for the price and has a pretty good rate of precision. But, to be honest, with the new Turnigy LCD Tachometer out there, I wouldn't choose the mechanical path anymore! 10 times more precise!!
I certainly hope the reading can be done from a safe distance (at the right angle) and not have to be directly underneath, I wouldn't like to be standing under a 500 size heli to check the RPM! -B!
This is great that Turnigy offers an optical tach now! It's the only safe way to tach your heli - standing at a distance. Till now, you either had to build one or shell out over $100US for one.
Anthony, Trust me I was not having a go at the product or it's price, just the way one must go about about measuring the RPM/HeadSpeed. Hey if someone need/wants something you seem to be able get it made and sell it at a price we can all celebrate and say 'up yours' to the rip off merchants! That's what HK (you) does the best and I love it!
You Can, but not as easily, To multiply the RPM, you could look for a double or triple image of your prop. So a two bladed would appear as a four bladed to double the tacho rpm range.
I.e. if you see 4 blades (on a two bladed) at a reading of 3100rpm, your prop is doing 6200 rpm.
Its not the easiest to use tacho, since you need to try to sync the speed of your hand held to the speed of the prop/blades so it usually takes about 10-20 seconds to get a reading, so for planes you would rather use a conventional tacho, while for helps you don't really have a choice.
Therefore Owen, the true RPM could be 2x or 3x or 4x etc.of what the display shows. Also, if you can not distinguish between the two halves of the prop, the actual RPM could be 0.5x or 1.5x or 2.5x or 3.5x of what the display shows. If you see a two bladed prop as a four bladed prop, the actual RPM could be 0.25x or 0.75x or 1.25x etc of what the display shows. Isn't that correct?
So, it looks that it is best suited for heli blades, where you know the approximate RPM that you'd expect, and also you can usually distinguish between the two blades because you have marked them already to check the tracking.
The viewer is a rotating drum with a slot in it.. As you vary the speed of the rotating drum it syncs with the blade speed to make the blades look like they are stationary..When they look stationary in the viewer, then you can check the RPMs in the LCD. This process takes a little while so you can not simply point and "click" to get the RPM's - also if the heli is moving it's more difficult to measure.. really needs to be hovering..
Sfakias and jockstrap, your both right, its not a quick and easy press and read, and has potential to be mis-read. It Could be used for aircraft for users who are careful and can work out how to use it and know what ball park rpms to expect, but its a compromise system that its mostly suited for helis where there is no other solution that can safely measure blade rpm without risking serious injury.
it requres a bit of math. How you use this tach is you sight through the slot and adust the up an down rocker until the blades appear to stop. when they appaear to be frozen that is the tach. if you look at a since a plane prop turns so much faster. you have to use multiples. if your Tach reads 3000 RPM and instead of the prop appearing stopped you see 2 blades. in an X pattern. That means the Plane prop is turning at 6000 RPMs and if you see 4 blade that means it is turnign at 12,000 RPMs
I was looking at building one for myself but looks like HK beat me to it. Great thing to have. This is the best way to measure rpm of heli rotors from a safe distance. I know what damage the rotors can do.
I was looking at building one for myself but looks like HK beat me to it. Great thing to have. This is the best way to measure rpm of heli rotors from a safe distance. I know what damage the rotors can do.
Interesting one. This thing has no on/off button. It starts when you use the switch on the right side and stops by itself after 40 seconds idle. A runs little noisy. Haven't tried on a heli yet.
Jeje,, siempre quise tener uno, se usa mirando al heli en vuelo por la ventanita. y pulsando sobre el boton negro hacia arriba o hacia abajo de forma que variamos la velocidad de obturación de esa ventana, cuando vemos las palas del heli paradas, es decir la velocidad de obturación de la ventanita es igual a la velocidad de las palas del heli, leemos lo que dice el aparatito y son las RPM de nuestro bicho.
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FIREBLADE
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Love this optical tach more than my laser tach and have found it much easier to use in varying light conditions. As mentioned by someone else, this thing can drain your battery if you leave it in the tach after use. I would suggest removing it after every use.
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Mekon
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There is a problem in that if the battery is left in then within a couple of days the battery will be dead be careful you have be warned. Other than this it it does offer value for money. Testing and QA needs some work doing
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boxo53
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I'm a bit disappointed in the tach. I also have a MinAir optical tach that only goes to 2000 RPM, so I ordered this one form my small electric helis.
Pros: Low cost, good sturdy case ad it seems accurate compared to my MinAir tach.
Cons: As mentioned in other reviews it will drain the battery if left in, even though it appears to be off. I had not read the reviews prior to using it and it cost me a good $5 battery..
Also it is slow to react to the speed switch and it takes many seconds to actually hit the target speed. It reads in 1 RPM increments, but this is not really useful ( 10 RPM is plenty close enough for a model heli) and may be part of the slow response. In comparison, the MinAir tach reacts quickly and takes only a second or two to sync with the heli blades.
Conclusion: It's probably worth the $30, but is frustrating to use compared to the higher $ tach, and will cost a battery if you forget to remove it between uses. The design needs refinement, IMO..
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