Voyager Tips by Ian Williams & Me

Motor brushes
Ian says, the brushes on the 540 motor could be reused. Due to the fact that the negative will receive less wear, it can be used for another flight or so. I would personally prefer a brush rotation.  After every 2-3 flights change the brushes around. This would give more proper wear to the brushes.

Power wires
The factory fitted connectors are current suckers!!  please do spend some money on some low loss connectors (eg.Deans ) expensive but this is the key to get the Voyager to fly longer!! The factory connectors will actually heat up but not with the low loss connectors....another great idea is to keep the wires as SHORT as possible. This will not help reduce weight but will reduce overall resistance that will provide more power.

Saving weight
Another thing Ian point out is to lighten the structure. He claims that his voyager is actually lighter after cutting some bigger holes
on the canopy. I think its a great idea but this would definately weaken the canopy. He also mention cutting parts on the main frame. I would not think it will be a terrific idea cos, the structure should be as rigid as possible and probably the JR engineers have went to the limit so there isnt a need for doing that.
K&S (aka KSJ) have build carbon frames for the Voyager and is lighter than the stock frames but for the price to save the weight, i insist on the stock frame.

CG
To aid with the CG of the heli, Ian suggests that the rear skids could be shifted to the more desired position . This Mod would also hold the battery firmer.
If you are suffering from a tail heavy situation, a shift of components to the front would help. Elizabeth is now nose heavy and flies well!! I had the RX battery right in front so is the gyro.

Servo
The voyager need not have powerful digital/super servos. standard servos will be fine but i used Nes-321 minis because i had one lying around and the voyager supplies brackets for the 321s
Ian, on the other hand, went to the extreme by using Nes-371 micro servos throughout
-On my second Voyager and many other i know, Hitec 225BB or 225MG works great
-JR recently made a whole new selection of mini digital servos but at S$110 a piece is not very tempting.
-Recently i heard of fellow voyager gurus using HS-85BBs and HS-81 on the tail. Not a bad idea but my believe is using more robust servos such as the 225BB. Also, they made special mounting in order to use the HS-80 series servos.

Specs of the servos
NES-371 -  torque of 1.3kg 0.22 sec speed and weight of 9 grams
NES-321 -  torque of 2.3kg 0.23 sec speed and weight of 22 grams
HS-225BB - torque of 3.9kg 0.14 sec speed and weight of 25 grams
DS-3201 - torque of 2.3kg 0.21 sec speed and weight of 24 grams
HS-85BB-  torque of 3kg 0.18sec speed  and weight of 0.7 ounce

Gyro
As for the gyro, the lightest HH is the Gy240(28g)  and for a non-HH, the GWS pico(7g) will be perfect
Ian has been flying with the GWS with no problems. Rounding out the tail would definately need a good tail servo.
For me, Hitec 85BB  works great in conjunction with the 240 and Ian is having a NES-371 hooked up to the GWS pico.
The kit provided G400 is a big and 30g (2g more than the Gy240) and will not fit under the canopy.
The new kits provide the HH JR 460 instead of the G400 and is rather a good deal.
Many are using Gy401 and are pleased with the performance compared to the Gy240. In reverse flying, the 401 holds much better.

Specs of the servo
HS-85BB-  torque of 3kg 0.18sec speed  and weight of 0.7 ounce
HS-81MG- torque of 2.6kg 0.11sec speed and weight of 0.67 ounce

Specs of suitable Gyros
Futaba Gy240
Futaba Gy401
JR 400
JR 460
 

Receiver
Ian is using a R600 receiver while i stay on with a slightly bigger 649 RX.
Using the RX without the casing has been discussed but this would caused several problems like safety and mounting limitations
Crashes, will also destroy the RX for sure
A suitable lightweight RX is always welcomed

Battery
Ian and i have all started with RC2000s while Ian have bought himself some RC2400s
flight times do increase and please do use low loss connectors to fully utilise the power your batery is supplying.
Sanyo's new 3000 are nice but some mentioned the lack of punch although the flight times is significantly improved.

Radio
Who cares if one uses a 200kg transmitter to fly the voyager? Standard 6-8 channel will be nice but 8 channel will be better since they usually have 5 point pitch curves and much more useful function.
Common radio being used are JR 3810 (8103) , Futaba FF8 as long they have 120deg CCPM function built in.

Weight
The JR engineers says the flying weight varies from 1480-1580 grams
With micro servos being used and all other factors considered, My Girl weigh about 1500grams while Ian's weigh is 1484g
there must be ways to get a weight around 1300grams and i am still trying!!
- Brushless set-up can weight as must as 1.8kg due to ten cells configurations and extra RX battery.

Ian William's voyager.  His canopy is much better than mine but the connectors he is using are rather big/heavy.
This cranky buddy of mine really went to the limit by building a heli pad for the Voyager!
Those wires are from a constant 32amp supply which he used to hover effortlessly with while i do not know know the purpose of the white strings................

Well, you if have something to add or correct please do NOT hesitate to send me a mail
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