Warranty on new OS Engines

[Tim Procter]

Can anyone shed any light on what warranty with what terms you get when buying a brand new OS engine.

I'm a little dismayed in Ponteflyers response from his local hobby shop regarding his engine troubles in this thread

I asked the same question when I bought a new OS Hyper 50 and got a similar response.

How can they dictate what fuel you run when half the country is running the same fuel in theirs with no trouble.

Discuss.

[Sesame]

Just been through the other thread, the way I understand it as long as the fuel you have used has the minimum % of oil in it that they recommend then you should be covered by warranty, and off the top of my head I think its 18%.

personnally I would phone up Ripmax and have a blast at them, bypass the shop as they sound less than useless 9/10 ripmax will fix it foc. they did for me when I had a problem with a hyper and I know they have exchanged a couple of mashed new 91's for clubmates.

[Sieze2]

I had lots of discussions with Robbe re when my Align 91 H engine failed after 4 gallons. They spent the first 10 minutes explaining whyit was my fault, bad choice of fuel, badly setup etc. To be fair I sent it to them, and they looked at it within 48 hrs. Obviously they told me the warrenty didn't appy as it was user error that caused the problem.

Interestingly I asked them if I could buy the parts I need from them, and they could send them back with the engine. Incredibly they don't keep parts for the engine, which makes me wonder why I sent it.

In my experience there is no warrenty with model engines, as they are so sensitive to setup or user error. The distributor is well aware they can use that as an argument against a warrenty claim, and I feel commonly do so.

[Jackflap]

Ah well looks like I'll be a plank flyer this weekend then. Hang on all them have OS engines. I wonder if they are broke too?? (seeing as I haven't used them for a few months)

Tim can I come and watch you fly this weekend and see what my 600 should fly and sound like???

Seriously though, I do appreciate bearings go (part of the hobby) but isn't there a replacement bearing than could prolong the life of the engine something ceramic perhaps?? Anyone found anything? Sorry trying to be positive and not dash to Fast Lads and buy a new hyper to get flying again....

[shaun.e]

Shaun,

Sorry to hear about the engine, I wonder now what mine will look like ??
You might try Boca Bearings - www.bocabearings.com - I've not used them but they do advertise in Model Helicopter World mag. Might be worth a look anyway.

Regards

[Tim Procter]

Tim can I come and watch you fly this weekend and see what my 600 should fly and sound like???

You mean you want more.

I must be improving.

Of course mate, You have my number.

[barney]

If you use ceramic bearings there is a tendency for them to destroy the internals of the motor if/when they let go.

Just try a different brand or better quality brg as specs vary greatly..I'm not fond of the OS's own

Engine Warranty. If your buying a new engine and providing you run it properly and want a warranty pay for it using a Visa card..If it goes wrong and you dont get proper service let them deal with it.

Engine Bearings..yes Hyper 50 tends to go through them..To get the best out of them careful engine Alignment and dialling the clutch help no end and the obvious one is not running it to lean or excessively rich.

A lot of folk I've seen set there main needle for mixture in idle 1, say for example 1700 rpm hover with a few squirts of climb..test the backplate temp all seems good.

They then proceed to run it at 2100 banging in Max pitch/cyclic and wonder why there is no power as its working harder now. You need to set the mixture for your highest Headspeed or loading you will subject the engine too.

As flying skills advance and you are better able to keep the motor loaded during flight you will find the motors will run a lot warmer under sustained loading and the mixture needs to be richer to give cooling in this sort of situation so needle setting for one person may not be right for you.

hope that helps you out Brian

[Jackflap]

Thank you so far

Brian, Shaun,

Thank you for your idea's just looking on Boca now. With the advice on ceramic next best might be stainless bearings. I don't know....

At the moment against my better judgement I feel like buying an OS just to get on with it and persue the warranty next week. This isn't looking good from the feedback so far. Wouldn't have this problem at Argos...

[Jackflap]

You mean you want more.

I must be improving.

Of course mate, You have my number.

Friendliness and enthusiasm just what I need at the minute

[Jackflap]

Bugger it! I'm going to Fast Lads for a new engine and I'll persue any faint glimmer of warranty work next week.

[Jackflap]

Tony,

This hyper came with the T-rex NSP it's the Align copy.... Going to Fast Lads now to buy the real thing (OS) so I can fly.

Thanks for the input.

Shaun

[Pipistrelli]

The problem with this type of product (just like Lipo's) is that the warranty is limited to shortfalls in the manufacturing process. Most manufacturers use CNC machining centres and only inspect against a sample from each batch.

The problem with Lipo's and Engines is that its very easy to damage them through owner misuse, such as, overcharging or incorrect Jet settings, so unless you can prove the failure was a manufacturing error, then operator error will be very difficult to disprove.

I doubt you will get very far with any warranty claim, so it might be worthwhile to cut your losses and not get too stressed about it?

[Jackflap]

The problem with this type of product (just like Lipo's) is that the warranty is limited to shortfalls in the manufacturing process. Most manufacturers use CNC machining centres and only inspect against a sample from each batch.

The problem with Lipo's and Engines is that its very easy to damage them through owner misuse, such as, overcharging or incorrect Jet settings, so unless you can prove the failure was a manufacturing error, then operator error will be very difficult to disprove.

I doubt you will get very far with any warranty claim, so it might be worthwhile to cut your losses and not get too stressed about it?

Pip,

Unfortunately for me these are words of wisdom... (point well made) I have an "OS" Hyper being delivered to Fast Lads for next week to move the flying on, however this will not distract me from voicing my concerns with the LHS and the importer / distributor but at the moment to be fair to that party they know nothing of this yet, however LHS do and will get to know my feelings and escalate it to the distributor for feedback or resolution in the near future.

Shaun

[Pipistrelli]

Shaun,

If you don't ask, you don't get!

Its worth a shot, all they can say is NO, but sometimes its possible to get goodwill gestures from companies!

Let us know if you get anywhere with it, maybe useful info for a few others?

[raptorheli2]

i have not read the other thread entirely but i've always had luck with warranty from ripmax. i had an os91 that snapped a rod inflight, sent it back with a letter saying what fuel i used. (don't BS them saying it's never been lean, you can tell by looking it at when you've seen enough). they replaced the engine FOC as repairing it was uneconomical.

OS engines carry a 2 year international warranty if i'm not mistaken and i've had to use it twice in 6 years or so and both times they fixed it. i don't ask them to replace wear/tear items obviously but if something breaks then it's going back.

i did mention this a few weeks back funnily enough and tbh our engines are very easy to wriggle out of warranty. or the shops it is very easy to wriggle out of it. however the amount of people who treat the engines wrong must outweigh those that treat them right which is probably why people struggle with warranty. so many try to abuse it which harms those of us that know how to use them when they do fail.

if i was you i'd bypass your LHS and send the engine to ripmax, i would be surprised if they didn't put it right assuming it's not been misused.

cheers