SYMA S031G R/C COAXIAL HELICOPTER
This is a long page with at least 42 images on it; dial-up users please allow for plenty of load time.
You have no chance to survive make your time.
This isn't a flashlight, household lamp, Christmas light set, or other thing that glows, but it *DOES* have a bunch of flashing LEDs on the sides of its fuselage and along the length of its tail boom, so what the hey.
This is only the twelfth R/C helicopter to have graced these pages (out of at least a thousand other products) over the last eleven-plus years this website has been online, so please play nice and don't bite my head off to tell me that I forgot some important detail.
I love things that fly; that's why I took the bate (I saw it on Ebay not that long ago) and also why I added a seperate section titled "PRODUCTS DESIGNED TO FLY" on my website a number of years ago. I was also attracted to three things that this heli has that many others don't...
1: It's much larger than any of the "micro" helis I have flown before -- I specifically wanted a larger model. 2: It has all kinds of colorful blinking lights on its fuselage (pronounced ""; not "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would pronounce it ) and tail boom. 3: It has a gyro -- that means it's easy to fly even for a "craptastic" pilot like me.
This is a fairly large, lightweight (as a helicopter in a metal & plastic body goes), easy-to-fly 3-channel remote-controlled outdoor (and indoors with a large enough space) helicoper. Its remote uses RF (radio frequency) radiation.
It has a coaxial design to minimise those "out-of-control" moments, and make flying possible even with a busted tail rotor (though if the tail rotor is completely gone, moving forward & backward will no longer be possible).
"Coaxial" in this case means that it has two sets of main rotor blades; one set of blades spins in the opposite direction as the other. Doing things this way virtually eliminates that wild, out-of-control spinning that plagues many other non-coaxial R/C helicopters and makes this one exceptionally easy to fly even for beginner pilots!!! It also has a gyroscope (very commonly abbreviated to just "gyro") in it that makes this heli exceptionally stable and lets slow-speed maneuvers and hovering be accomplished much more easily than it would be in R/C helis without a gyro.
SIZE
This toy (some people might call it something other than a "toy") is remarkably easy to use for a helicopter...here's how to get it off the ground:
As with any rechargeable product, charge it first (see directly below), and then you can pretend to fly a dragonfly (well, that's what the kitty cat thought it was when I flew it in the house yesterday).
Secondly (and you only need to do this one time): Screw the furnished antenna into the receptacle for it on the front of the remote control ("front", as the joysticks face upward). Screw it in finger-tight only; please do not use tools of any type here. Then pull up on it to extend it.
1: Place the heli on the ground so that the tail faces you. On the right side of the Coaxial Helicopter's body (on the metal part just below and behind the cockpit), there's a fairly sizeable on/off switch.
Slide this switch to the "on" position.
A series of red, orange, and yellow lights along the sides of the fuselage and on the underside of the tail rotor should come on a second or so later. A video farther down this web pages shows this.
Move several feet away from the helicopter (at least six feet away).
2: On the remote control, turn the "on/off" switch to the "on" position.
3: The yellow light on the remote will now come on and start blinking. Push the left-hand stick on the remote control forward and then let it go back. This "arms" the helicopter. If you did this correctly, that yellow light will go from blinking to steady-on.
4: Gently push the left-hand stick on the remote control forward a second time -- but do so more gingerly this time so that the helicopter doesn't just blast away -- it has a good deal of thrust, so the possibility of it getting away in this manner does exist.
5: The Coaxial Helicopter should now lift off the ground. Congratulations, you're now a pilot!!!
Reading this web page (about another R/C helicopter) will give you a good idea of the process of flying it.
For additional instructions & tips on how to fly, please read the instructional material that comes with the product.
There is a button on the lower right face of the remote: it is to change modes from "beginner" to "master hand" (this is how the furnished instructional materials refer to them -- the legend printed under the button itself reads "TAIL MOTOR SPEED SWITCH").
In "beginner" mode, the tail rotor speed is limited; "master hand" mode causes the tail rotor to increase in speed -- thus allowing the heli to fly forward and backward more quickly. This allows beginner pilots to not crash the model at high speeds, while allowing the more experienced pilot the ability to fly faster if they really "feel the need for speed".
Turn the Coaxial Helicopter and remote control off when finished using them.
Same switches as before, but slide them in the opposite direction this time.
The battery in the Coaxial Helicopter itself is rechargeable and is not designed to be changed; however the batteries in the remote will need to be changed from time to time.
To do this, unscrew & remove the phillips screw from the battery door on the underside of the unit, using a small phillips screwdriver (the #0 from my set of jeweller's screwdrivers worked well here). Set the screw aside.
Remove the battery door, carry it to the top of the basement stairs, and kick it down those stairs into the basement crawling with thousands of hungry piss ants that have to piddle -- they'll think it's something yummy to eat and start chewing on it, but quickly find it unpalatable so that they drag it to the queen, who also finds it distasteful so she piddles on it and instructs the worker ants to do the same...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.
Remove the four used AA cells from the compartment, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.
Insert four new AA cells into the compartment, orienting each cell so its flat-end (-) negative faces a spring for it in each chamber.
Finally, place the battery door back on, and screw the screw back in.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that battery door down the stairs to all those hungry, hungry piss ants with full bladders now?
To charge the battery in the Coaxial Helicopter, take the thin cord that's attached to the "wall wart" charger, and note that the end has a small rectangular plug on it (be certain that the Coaxial Helicopter is turned off at this point). On the underside of the heli, you'll see two sets of red & black wires connected to one another with plugs. Carefully unplug them.
You'll note that one of the plugs has a black plastic "collar" on it. Plug this one into the plug on the end of the wall wart's cord. It is designed to fit only one way, so if it doesn't fit in, turn it 180° and try again.
Plug the "wall wart" into any standard (in north America anyway) 110 volts to 130 volts AC 60Hz two- or three-slot household receptacle (or "outlet" or even "wall socket" if you prefer).
When the charge cycle is in progress, the red LED on the wall wart will stay on; it will turn green when the charge cycle is complete.
You may then safely unplug the helicopter from the charger, unplug the "wall wart" from the AC receptacle, and plug the two cords under the helicopter's cockpit back together.
Charging is advertised to take between 60 and 70 minutes when the battery in the helicopter is essentially fully discharged (flat).
Fully charging the Coaxial Helicopter's battery should give you 6 to 8 minutes of flying time.
(UPDATE 08-14-12: After having this heli for 14 months now, flight time is still over 5:30 on a charge!!! Yes, it is the same battery that was in it when I purchased this cute and loveable little (or, "not-so-little" as the case is here!) helicopter!!!
This RC helicopter is meant to be used as a toy in a dry area outdoors (or in a large open room indoors), not as a flashlight meant to be carried around all the time, thrashed, and abused; so I won't throw it against the wall, stomp on it, try to drown it in the {vulgar slang term for a fudge bunny}bowl or the cistern, run over it, swing it against the concrete floor of a patio, bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoñata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piñata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a scanner-type device on a platform with a large readout, with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; and the cannoñata is only used to shoot piñatas to piñata parties away from picturesque Piñata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or inflict upon it punishments that I might inflict upon a flashlight.
So this section of the helicopter's web page will be significantly more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.
Stated range of the radio in the Tx (RC hobby talk for "transmitter") is 50 meters (~150 feet); frequency is stated as 27.000MHz and 40.000MHz.
The unit has a 3-channel remote control; this allows for forward / backward / up / down / left / right movement (movement on all three axes -- X, Y, and Z). It also has a fully proportional control system; simply meaning that the motor speeds can be varied depending on how far you move the joysticks -- it isn't simply "full power and no power at all" like some other R/C products.
This heli is rather large and powerful; it could be termed a "cat slicer" or even a "cat killer" if it were flown indoors in a pet-owning household.
Photograph of its remote control.
Spectrographic analysis of the one of the greenish-yellow LEDs in the side of the heli's fuselage* (body).
Spectrographic analysis of the one of the greenish-yellow LEDs in the side of the heli's fuselage; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 555nm and 595nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is ~583.60nm.
Spectrographic analysis of the one of the amber LEDs in the side of the heli's fuselage.
Spectrographic analysis of the one of the amber LEDs in the side of the heli's fuselage; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 570nm and 620nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is ~591.85nm.
Spectrographic analysis of the one of the orangish-red LEDs in the side of the heli's fuselage.
Spectrographic analysis of the one of the orangish-red LEDs in the side of the heli's fuselage; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 600nm and 650nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 628.00nm.
Spectrographic analysis of the yellow LED in the helicopter's remote control.
Spectrographic analysis of the red "Charge cycle in progress" die of the bicolor LED in the helicopter's battery charger.
Spectrographic analysis of the yellow-green "Charge cycle complete" die of the bicolor LED in the heli's battery charger.
Spectrographic analysis of the yellow "Gyro stabilised" LED under the heli's canopy.
This LED has decent intensity, but is positioned where the spectrometer can't reach all that well.
The lights on the fuselage and the underside of the tail boom of the Syma S031G R/C Coaxial Helicopter.
They're on steady when idle; they flash in unison (together) when the main rotor is actuated.
This video is approximately 1.16343727730 megabytes (1,389,483 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than six minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide this video in other formats, so please do not ask.
ALL OF THE OTHER FLIGHT VIDEOS HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THEIR OWN WEB PAGE
SO THAT THIS WEB PAGE WOULD NOT BECOME TOO CUMBERSOME!!!
TEST NOTES:
Test unit was purchased on Ebay (from Superstition Hobbies) on 04-21-11 (or "21 Apr 2011" or even "Apr 21, Twenty Double Sticks" if you prefer), and was received at 1:46pm PDT on 04-26-11 (or "26 Apr 2011" or even "Apr 26, Twenty Double Sticks").
* This word is definitely *NOT* pronounced "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would pronounce it ; it is pronounced "".
The AC charger is labelled to have an input of 100 volts to 240 volts 50 or 60Hz, an output of DC +11.10 volts, and is able to sink 900mA.
UPDATE: 06-04-11
Some people have had some problems in getting their S031G heli to function...here is one solution that I posted on a BBS about R/C products:
"You should also note that the S031 has a gyro; the heli itself will need to be kept absolutely still at power-on and for approx. 500 - 750ms (½ to ¾ second) afterward, or else it will look and act totally dead. If the heli is moving at all (such as if you're holding it in your hands), nothing at all will appear to happen at power-up (that is, the lights on the sides of the fuselage and on the underside of the tail boom will remain dark, and the heli will not accept any input at all from the Tx); the only reliable way to tell if any power is reaching the heli at this point is to look at the opening on the front upper surface of the canopy for a yellow LED."
The following photograph demonstrates exactly where you should look and what you should see:
See where it reads "GYRO INIT. LED" and has an arrow pointing at it?
That's where you would look -- the LED in here will be illuminated regardless of the state of the gyro -- it will be pulsating rapidly when the gyro has not yet initialised; and turn steady when it has.
UPDATE: 06-06-11
I had planned on flying this product at a nearby baseball field this past weekend, but my elderly father fell down and now requires near-constant assistance, so I have to stay home for the indefinite future.
UPDATE: 04-28-12 OOOOOOO NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
I was flying it in the senior park I call "home", and a gust of wind carried it far, far, FAR away!!!
Boy, when mother Nature goes on the rag, she is one pissed woman, tell you what!!!
Since is is now lost, the dreadful "" icon will have to be used for the very first time on this website -- additionally, the "" icon will also be displayed because I really did love this studly little {or "not-so-little"} heli.
My sister made a video of this unfortunate flight (I chose her to be the cinematographer {or "videographer" if you prefer}) while I flew the copter, but since she clearly spoke a toliet word (the "S" word) when the wind got ahold of this heli, I won't publish it on this website. This website was designed to be "child-friendly" in that regard, so it was the only right thing to do.
UPDATE: 04-28-12
No, you aren't seeing things.
Yes, a same-day update!
Guess what I found?
Cummon, you know this one by now...
Take a whack at it anyway...
If you guessed,
"the Sacred Chalice of Rixx**" (an old clay pot with mould growing inside it) then... ¡¡¡HUSOOS CRISTO EN UNA MULETA, NO!!!
The correct answer is...THIS HELICOPTER!!!
I found it in an adjoining senior park; aided greately by my having taken several photographs of trees where it went down and then reversing them to show what they might look like from the other side (see below); it crash-landed right about where I saw it go down!!! When I saw the trees, I rang the doorbell of the home in front of those trees and asked for permission to go into the gentleman's back yard, which I was rather quickly granted.
After going through some rather thick underbrush, I saw it in a small clearing approx. 20 feet (~6.096 meters) west/northwest.
I can now remove (or simply not post at all) those dreadful "" and " icons!!!
Some very minor crash-related damage was rather handily fixed with nothing more than a simple screwdriver, so everything's kosher for my next flight...which (needless to say) won't be taking place here!!!
Here's where the crash took place.
And this is the same stand of trees as it might appear from the other side.
See that smaller tree? That was my cue that I was in the correct location; its branches were distinctive enough that it looked very similar to the small tree in the first photograph.
** Pronounced as though it were spelled, "Reeks".
UPDATE: 05-15-12
I had some ***FANTASTIC*** flights of this heli at Celebration Park in Federal Way USA on the 10th and 12th of this month; please see this web page for the videos (two of the same video; one with Anthrax zax and the other without for those who would prefer not to receive an unwanted earwhipping).
The area of the park I flew in contains two socker fields; the photograph directly below shows but a small part of this locale.
UPDATE: 05-21-12
I took it out for a flight on Saturday 05-19-12, but even though it was too windy, I had a heck of a perfect landing -- so good in fact that I drove my wheelchair close to the landing site and took the photograph that now headlines this web page before picking it up and driving off.
UPDATE: 07-16-12
I had a couple of excellent flights on the morning of 07-12-12 in one of the baseball diamonds at Celebration Park in Federal Way WA. USA; although it was still a bit too windy, I kept full control of this brave little (or "not-so-little") heli and shot the photograph of its landing shown directly below.
The video accompanying this photo will appear on this heli's 'videos' web page within the next day or so.
UPDATE: 07-24-12
While I was flying it at the park on 07-21-12, I was doing just peachy keen until the heli started making this funny noise and subsequently spiraled to the ground (it literally fell out of the sky; this wasn't the consequences of a crash). The lower main rotor spun at full throttle regardless of the position of the joystick (except if the stick was all the way down; it did deactivate as it should have at this point), and the upper main rotor was receiving no power at all. Please see the video on today's update on this heli's videos web page.
After I removed the canopy, I immediately saw the cause of the in-flight failure...to wit:
See the yellow wire dangling free? It broke off the small PCB from the solder pad labelled, "OUT".
Soldering it back on appears to have rectified the problem!!!
UPDATE: 07-26-12
While I was flying it at the park on 07-24-12 trying my first attempt at aerial videography, the heli crashed (because it did not have sufficient upward thrust with the additional weight of the camera) and busted off one of its main rotor blades, as the photograph below shows:
I wasted no time in ordering a new set of main rotor blades; they should arrive by mid-August 2012.
In the meantime, I conducted a repair using two different types of adhesive and some duct tape {cough, sputter, sound of a toliet flushing}...the next step is to see if the heli can fly using the improvised repair. My suspicions are that either the repair itself will fail or there will be unwanted blade strike that will result in repair failure -- either one will cause a crash, so the flight (assuming that the heli even gets off the ground) will be at low altitude over grass. But you know what they say..."When you assume, that makes an ASS out of U and ME".
UPDATE: 08-03-12
The replacement rotor blades arrived yesterday, and I wasted no time in replacing both lower main rotors with the new ones...I'll be taking the heli out for a post-repair test flight later this morning.
UPDATE: 06-10-14
I attempted to perform a little aerial videography using my new Rechargeable Mini Keychain Video Recorder on the morning of 06-08-14, and the heli wobbled excessively on the ground, there were multiple blade strikes, and the heli tipped on its side, breaking off its two lower main rotors. I wasted no time in ordering a set of replacement blades and soon thereafter, a new (improved!) version of this heli itself!
MANUFACTURER: Syma
PRODUCT TYPE: Medium-sized ("400-size") R/C helicopter
LAMP TYPE: LED
No. OF LAMPS: 17 (1 yellow in R/C, 1 bicolor in charger, 15 in helicopter itself)
BEAM TYPE: N/A
SWITCH TYPE: Slide switch on/off on both R/C and helicopter
CASE MATERIAL: Plastic & metal
BEZEL: N/A
BATTERY: 4x AA cells for R/C; 800mAh 9.60V Li:PO battery in helicopter
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND URANATION-RESISTANT: Very light sprinkle-resistance only
SUBMERSIBLE: FOR CHRIST SAKES NOOOOO!!!
ACCESSORIES: Charger, tail rotor blade, phillips screwdriver
SIZE: 24" L x 18" Rotor diameter
WEIGHT: 437.20g (15.4217 oz.)
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: China
WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated
PRODUCT RATING:
Syma S031G R/C Coaxial Helicopter *
Do you manufacture or sell an LED flashlight, task light, utility light, or module of some kind?
Want to see it tested by a real person, under real working conditions? Do you then want to see how your light did? If you have a sample available for this type of
real-world, real-time testing, please contact me at ledmuseum@gmail.com.
Unsolicited flashlights, LEDs, and other products appearing in the mail are welcome, and it will automatically be assumed that you sent it in order to have it tested and evaluated for this site.
Be sure to include contact info or your company website's URL so visitors here will know where to purchase your product.
This page is a frame from a website. If you arrived on this page through an outside link,you can get the "full meal deal" by clicking here.
"; not "fyoo SELL' uh jee" as Drake Parker from the TV program "Drake and Josh" would pronounce it 
SIZE
" icon will have to be used for the very first time on this website -- additionally, the "
