The 3DRCForums -Discuss Anything Thread-

[njswede]

Are you absolutely sure you had a lockout? Not trying to doubt your competence here, but about 70% of the cases I've seen where people claimed to have lockouts in any TX, what really happened was that they overheated the ESC, making the built-in BEC either burn up or go into thermal shutdown.

The best example was someone who crashed his plane and was cursing and screaming "NEVER A SPEKTRUM AGAIN!" while his ESC was literally smoldering and smoking.

I'm not a Spektrum fanatic in any way (although I've had 100% success with their products), but I would hate to see you invest hard-earned cash in a new radio system only to have the same problem again.

 

[-DJO]

Are you absolutely sure you had a lockout? Not trying to doubt your competence here, but about 70% of the cases I've seen where people claimed to have lockouts in any TX, what really happened was that they overheated the ESC, making the built-in BEC either burn up or go into thermal shutdown.

The best example was someone who crashed his plane and was cursing and screaming "NEVER A SPEKTRUM AGAIN!" while his ESC was literally smoldering and smoking.

I'm not a Spektrum fanatic in any way (although I've had 100% success with their products), but I would hate to see you invest hard-earned cash in a new radio system only to have the same problem again.

Yes I'm almost 100% sure. I had a DX5e once and had glitches with it, and that was on DSMX. I have the DX6i now and was using a DSM2 receiver and lost the connection. I could tell and know that it was a failure now because I didn't have throttle control. At the time I just thought that one of the servos had got stuck, but that didn't make as much sense.

Thinking about it now, when my trianer plane went into a tree through a "death spiral" (and it's still up there! ) that was probably a link failure too, because I had ample time to recover and pull up. And I was pulling straight up but the plane went straight down. I think I've been overlooking these issues.... right from the beginning. Maybe it's my location, IDK.



Dan

 

[Park_Aviator]

Yo guys,

Unfortunately I had a lockout with Spektrum on my jet... and it crashed. Second time I've had issues with Spektrum now, and I don't think I'm going to trust it any longer on my Edge. I'm looking into a Futaba FASST or FHSS system, is the 7C a good 3D radio to work with? Does it only do 125% throws or what? No way I can afford an 8FG Super.

Thanks!



Dan

Yeah, the 7C is a great TX. Ask Alex, he had one

You may be able to find a used 8FG(S) in your p[rice range

 

[-DJO]

I'm also taking a look at the 8J....

FHSS RXs are relatively inexpensive though... hmm



Dan

 

[njswede]

I have a foam glider I sometimes use for aerial photography and video and that thing would ALWAYS lock out on me. Luckily it was slow enough that I always managed to get back control. I thought for sure there was a link problem, so I ripped out the cheap little $5 OrangeRX and put in a genuine Spektrum receiver. Still the same problem! Then I figured it was antenna placement. No difference! Then I switched out the ESC. Same crap. All my other planes were doing fine, though. Finally I checked the amp draw of the ultra-cheap servos. They were all fine, except one that drew something like 3-4A when I moved it. It looked and sounded OK, but something internally was definitely wrong. After that it was just fine!

It just goes to show that intermittent control problems aren't always what they seem. I would suggest you run the motor with a wattmeter (if you haven't already done it) to make sure you're not over-amping the ESC. Then I would hook up a voltmeter to the BEC output and check that you're not seeing any significant voltage drop when you move the control surfaces. If that checks out, I would give Spektrum a call. They're pretty famous for good customer service and they may be able to fix it for you.

If none of that got you any closer to a solution, I'd be thinking about investing money in a new radio system.

But then again, it's your planes and your money...

 

[gyro]

I have a foam glider I sometimes use for aerial photography and video and that thing would ALWAYS lock out on me. Luckily it was slow enough that I always managed to get back control. I thought for sure there was a link problem, so I ripped out the cheap little $5 OrangeRX and put in a genuine Spektrum receiver. Still the same problem! Then I figured it was antenna placement. No difference! Then I switched out the ESC. Same crap. All my other planes were doing fine, though. Finally I checked the amp draw of the ultra-cheap servos. They were all fine, except one that drew something like 3-4A when I moved it. It looked and sounded OK, but something internally was definitely wrong. After that it was just fine!

It just goes to show that intermittent control problems aren't always what they seem. I would suggest you run the motor with a wattmeter (if you haven't already done it) to make sure you're not over-amping the ESC. Then I would hook up a voltmeter to the BEC output and check that you're not seeing any significant voltage drop when you move the control surfaces. If that checks out, I would give Spektrum a call. They're pretty famous for good customer service and they may be able to fix it for you.

If none of that got you any closer to a solution, I'd be thinking about investing money in a new radio system.

But then again, it's your planes and your money...

+1000 - had the same problem with some inexpensive servos I had bought, causing the BEC (within the ESC) to reboot. Luckily I caught it on the ground before I ever flew the airplane. Had I not, I surely would have lost it.

-G

 

[-DJO]

I have a foam glider I sometimes use for aerial photography and video and that thing would ALWAYS lock out on me. Luckily it was slow enough that I always managed to get back control. I thought for sure there was a link problem, so I ripped out the cheap little $5 OrangeRX and put in a genuine Spektrum receiver. Still the same problem! Then I figured it was antenna placement. No difference! Then I switched out the ESC. Same crap. All my other planes were doing fine, though. Finally I checked the amp draw of the ultra-cheap servos. They were all fine, except one that drew something like 3-4A when I moved it. It looked and sounded OK, but something internally was definitely wrong. After that it was just fine!

It just goes to show that intermittent control problems aren't always what they seem. I would suggest you run the motor with a wattmeter (if you haven't already done it) to make sure you're not over-amping the ESC. Then I would hook up a voltmeter to the BEC output and check that you're not seeing any significant voltage drop when you move the control surfaces. If that checks out, I would give Spektrum a call. They're pretty famous for good customer service and they may be able to fix it for you.

If none of that got you any closer to a solution, I'd be thinking about investing money in a new radio system.

But then again, it's your planes and your money...

No no no it's not the Spektrum radios that are the issue, I was getting high 2.4 GHz interference on VIDEO when I flew with 2.4 GHz for FPV video and 72 MHz for control at my location. I really just want to try FHSS or FASST because I've heard that they're both more robust links than Spektrum.



Dan

 

[hosam]

I never had the 7C but programmed allot of airplanes for guys at the field that are computer radio "lost"... I hated that it lacked throttle curve and you had to use expo. Also it will not let you run 2 elevator servos unless you use a Y reverse, other then that it's not bad. If you plan to fly a 50cc or bigger then you will need the 8 channel or higher radio for sure.

I flew Futaba for 10 year then switched to the Hitec Aurora 9, had it for 3 years and love it. Great prices on the radio and Rx and it gives you most of what the high end radios have...

 

[3dNater]

I love my A9 as well.

This is a great deal on one at bphobbies.com

http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id=D2448811&pid=G1694384

DJO you should listen to NJSwede and not just dismiss him out of hand because of things you think are happening. If there really is a lot of interference there that could be an issue, but I still think another component could be the real issue and deserves to be checked out thoroughly. I have also had my esc shut off because of servos drawing too many amps. The whole thing will usually shut off including throttle so not having throttle response is not a cut and dry indicator of an rx lockout. In reality an rx lockout is extremely rare where there isn't some other issue that causes it. Getting 2.4 interference while flying fpv is normal in just about any environment. Cell phones, wifi, and wireless internet providers use the same frequencies and your fpv tx/rx uses a raw channel with no coding. I don't think that kind of normal interference would cause an rx lockout on spektrum or any other system.

As was stated before it is your $ and equipment but I personally recommend looking into things more deeply for a real cause. If you still come up empty then you may have a radio problem. Without checking you are risking future planes regardless of the radio system.

 

[cwojcik]

Also selling my Aurora 9. shameless plug