Blade 230s Problems – What Can You Do?

It’s quite frustrating when a newly bought beginner-friendly RC helicopter has issues. We know that it makes a person go crazy trying to find the right solutions.

Blade 230s is no different. It also faces some problems like any other RC model out there. So one might wonder-

What are the Blade 230s Problems?

Blade 230s faces binding issues, low response to throttle, lack of self-leveling, etc. It also has a fragile body and canopy. Trim flights, staying at 15 meters, switching to DSM2 can solve these.

But these were just the overview of the problems faced by the Blade 230s. There’s also a solution to each of these problems. Which we’ve mentioned in detail throughout the article.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s dig right in to know more!

Major Problems Blade 230s Face and Their Solution

Blade 230s is an RTF electric helicopter. RTF means Ready To Fly. So it comes with everything that’s needed to get the helicopter in the sky. It’s a handy RC model that comes with a collective pitch. So the pilots can harness their skills.

However, behind all these pros of Blade 230s, there are some problems that take place. These problems are not expected by a lot of users. They often get frustrated facing these issues. Let’s have a look at these problems in detail-

Stability Issue

Blade 230s is sometimes seen to have a little drift to it. Most users complain that their helicopter is drifting to the right while on its own. This happens without moving the cyclic, just the throttle itself.

This makes it hard for the pilot to keep the helicopter stable. It changes its direction without even changing the cyclic.

The reason behind this can be the lack of trim flights. Trim flights make the helicopter remember the preset flying data. That makes the helicopter stable.

Solution

So in order to have stability back in Blade 230s, trim flights are needed to be done. In order to do a trim flight, take your helicopter out on a day when there’s no wind at all. Wind will make it even more drifty, and drifty flying data will be set.

To do a trim flight, follow these steps-

• Set the helicopter on a plain surface with everything turned off and the helicopter not connected.
• Plugin the helicopter flight battery. Come at a safe distance and turn on the radio transmitter. After that, turn your throttle stick on.
• Place all the trims at the center position and throttle stick at the bottom.
• Now place the throttle stick at the left bottom and the cyclic controller at the top left. Holding this position, hold the panic button until your heli does a little dance. This ensures that you are now in trim flight.
• After that, it’s time for take-off. Slowly spool up the heli through the middle of the throttle stick. The heli will start recording flight data after the throttle stick goes half distance up.
• Do little adjustments on the cyclic control to keep the heli steady. Hover the heli on air for 2 minutes. The longer the better.
• After 2 minutes, slowly put it down on the ground. Do not turn on the throttle hold after landing. This will cancel the trim flight data recording. Just hold the panic/bind button and it’ll do another dance that has recorded the flight data. You can reboot the heli and do another flight.

In the next flight, you’ll see there’s no more drifting/stability issue. It won’t totally go away of course. There’ll always be a little drift. But it’ll reduce much more than before trim flights. You can also test your motor with a good servo tester.

Binding Problem with the Transmitter 

It’s often seen that the Blade 230s faces issues in binding with the transmitter. This can raise a lot of questions in your mind. But there’s a high chance that you made some small mistake which is causing it.

The binding problem occurs for the following reasons-

• The transmitter was too close to the heli.
• The binding button is not pulled out.
• Battery not disconnected from ESC before pulling out the binding plug

Solution

As we said, the binding problem occurs due to small mistakes as we mentioned. The solution to this is also not that complicated. Let’s see-

• Switch to DSM2 from DSMX. It should bind now.
• If it still doesn’t bind, pull out the flight battery. Turn on the transmitter and set trims to the center. Keep the throttle stick down. Plugin the binding button/plug to the left side port of the heli.
• After that, connect the battery to the ESC. The LED should flash now. Turn the transmitter on. Press and hold the bind button and binding will be successful.

If you still face binding issues, contact the help center if any hardware troubleshooting is needed.

Not Responding to Throttle

It’s sometimes seen that the heli is not responding to the throttle stick. But it’s responding to the cyclic. Here the problem may be caused due to the throttle trims being too high. Another probable cause can be moving the heli while it was initializing.

Solution

In order to solve this problem, follow these-

• Pull out the flight battery
• Place the throttle stick down and throttle trim some clicks down.
• Reconnect the battery and let the heli initialize. Don’t move the helicopter while it’s initializing.

Doing these shall solve the problem of the throttle stick not responding.

No Automatic Leveling

It’s often seen that the helicopter does not level itself automatically. It happens in intermediate and agility mode when the sticks are let go 

of.

This mostly happens of the bank angle being not limited in Blade 230s. It’s not possible for the model to return to level after the cyclic stick has been let go of.

Solution

If you are new to flying, then it is recommended that you utilize stability mode. That’s because it will help self-leveling thanks to the bank limit. Otherwise, in intermediate and agility mode, there’s no way of self-leveling.

Once you gain a little experience in flying, you will not need this automatic leveling anyway. Neither would you need the stability mode. Fragile Body

A common problem of Blade 230s is the body being too fragile. You won’t face this problem in blade inductrix. Plus the landing gear is made up of flimsy plastic. This fragile landing gear gives rise to the vulnerability of any other parts of the heli to crash.

Solution

The only solution to this fragile body is caution.

Execute the landings as safely as possible. Avoid uneven places to land on. Landing in uneven places can easily cause the heli to flip due to its light and fragile body.

The next thing you can do is make use of the throttle hold as much as you can. The throttle hold prevents any unnecessary throttle at the wrong time. So, it prevents the occurrence of accidents in the heli while you are near it. 

It also makes the landings smooth. That’s because you don’t want any unnecessary throttle bump while you are putting your helicopter down. So as soon as you are near land, turn the throttle hold on. This is located on the radio. And it’ll prevent any crash to the fragile body.

Low-Quality Canopy/ Hard to Take Out

The canopy is the enclosure present at the top of the cockpit in any aircraft. In Blade 230s, the canopy is used as the covering over the battery.

The canopy in the blade 230s is disappointing to many users. They often ask if it’s made of eggshells due to its low quality. The grommets are seen to come off after a couple of flights compromising the canopy.

Plus the canopy is not easy to take out either when not in flight.

Solution

You can solve the hard-to-take-out problem by using rubber or plastic-safe silicone grease or lube on the grommets. With time, the grommets get loose, and it’s easy to take it off.

Some people prefer to fly it without the canopy. However, it’s always better to have at least some protection than none. So do use the canopy. Even if it’s a fragile one.

However, it’s better if the stock canopy can be replaced with a fiberglass canopy. It’s much better in quality and easy to remove too. 

Here’s our recommendation-

Tips For Blade 230s Users

We tried to bring forth the major problems that are faced by Blade 230s with solutions. Now we’ll talk about some tips that’ll help you operate this model. 

• Make sure you are always at a safe distance from the heli while it takes off.
• Always turn on the throttle hold after it lands and when you need to touch it.
• Ensure that the battery is at room temperature before use.
• Always take off from an even surface. And land on an even surface too.
• When it comes to finding quality batteries in the RC world, it gets really tricky. In the case of Blade 230s, never leave the battery to charge overnight.

FAQs

Now we’ll be answering the frequently asked questions regarding blade 230s-

What is blade SAFE technology?

SAFE stands for Sensor Assisted Flight Envelope Technology. It enables the user an automatic leveling technology. It also has panic modes and flight modes that make flying much easier.

Is the blade 230S V2 discontinued?

The BNF models are discontinued. However, the RTF models are still continuing.

Conclusion

This was all for today. We hope we’ve been of help to you in finding out the problems Blade 230s face. If you follow our solutions, these problems should not be an issue for you.

Thank you for staying with us till the very end. Do let us know if you have any queries.