She just fell out the sky!!!

[Pj1969]

On my 1st pack yesterday, did 4 mins and had about 2 mins left when all of a sudden I lost all inputs to the 450 ZYX S unit. I had no sticks at all, luckily I hit the TH but she still went in. Luckily only damage was bent skip pipe, but noticed the unit was beeping one single beep, like when it hasn't bound. I took her back to the pits and checked lipos, still had 32% so enough to hover. I tried to spool her up, but didn't even get 1/4 stick and lost connection again!!! Has anyone else suffered with loss of bind during flight ??? I'm not sure what caused it.

[milly0812]

I don't know what your prob was but you def won't have had another 2 mins if your pack was on 32% ....you will kill them

[waveydavey]

Sounds like a low voltage brown out, when you tried it again was that after turning your tx and the heli off and were your sats flashing afterwards, I'm assuming spectrum

[JoeBailey]

+1
Are you using an internal bec on your esc to power the heli?

[Pj1969]

It was strange, when unplugged and plugged back in, sats flashed and was bound, but spooled up and lost bind, I've always got 6 mins out my packs, so that's why I'm lost. Surely if it was the lipo, she wouldn't spool up?? I'm not using a bec, just the standard ESC and unit and yes spektrum

[milly0812]

I would start with a reprogram of the esc if it's an align 35 then 1-2-1-2-3 should so it make sure you do it with a linear throttle 0-25-50-75-100.
Then rebind to set your fail safe

[KevDavies]

It was strange, when unplugged and plugged back in, sats flashed and was bound, but spooled up and lost bind, I've always got 6 mins out my packs, so that's why I'm lost. Surely if it was the lipo, she wouldn't spool up?? I'm not using a bec, just the standard ESC and unit and yes spektrum

Here in lies your problem. The BEC built into most esc's is not powerful enough to power a FBL system. You need a seperate Voltage regulator! There was an extensive thread on this as I almost totalled a model due to the same thing!

Before you do ANYTHING else get a stand alone power system for your flight controls! Or you wont get away with a bent skid next time!

[Pj1969]

Here in lies your problem. The BEC built into most esc's is not powerful enough to power a FBL system. You need a seperate Voltage regulator! There was an extensive thread on this as I almost totalled a model due to the same thing!

Before you do ANYTHING else get a stand alone power system for your flight controls! Or you wont get away with a bent skid next time!

Thanks for input Ken, thing is I've been using this heli since March with same set up as now and never had any problems. I will remind and run a test etc, I'm kinda thinking it may be down to cold???? Since I've moved house, the heli is kept in my man cave in the cellar and it's only around 10* as no heating as yet! May be a factor, just not sure. I'll run an accurate charge on 1 lipo and run it on a bench with blades off, see if she drops out then? Tbh I've got a AR7200 bx I can use, but love this little tarot unit, it's worth checking a few things before I throw the towel in on her.

[tomatwalden]

Here in lies your problem. The BEC built into most esc's is not powerful enough to power a FBL system. You need a seperate Voltage regulator! ...!

I think that depends on the ESC. For example, the Talon range of ESCs have very strong BECs built-in, more than capable enough for most FBL units. I only have a discrete BEC on my 550 (my 700 has an RX pack). My G500 (and my old Trex500) fly quite happily on internal BECs (tested on 3GX, BeastX and full-size VX1).

If the OP was getting 6 mins our of the packs previously, and had been running 6 mins up until now, I would suggest there's a chance that the packs are simply knackered. As Don hints above, 32% at four mins is about the limit. There was 30 seconds at most left in those packs to keep above 20% charge. On the assumption that the packs had regularly been run too low, there's a chance that despite the meter reading 32% at rest ..., under load, the voltage was dipping too low, causing the brown outs.

If somebody can lend you a less-worn pack to test, I would suggest trying that before you invest in further hardware. Find the problem first, then buy the solution!

[milly0812]

I would also agree that it's probably bad lipo, I've happily flown my 450 with align esc on fbl for ages without issue. I only put a kontronik on it because one came up cheap.

[tomatwalden]

Hadn't noticed it was a 450! Almost certainly a duff LIPO, or as mentioned above - too cold! Try a new battery, and I would suggest lowering your timer to 4-5 mins. In fact, do a test ... fly for 4 mins then land and measure the LIPO. You never want the charge to drop below 20% at the end of a flight - less than that and you will shorten the life of the LIPOs.

Personally, I prefer to land with nearer 35 to 40% left in the packs (depending on which heli I'm flying). The 450 I do tend to run nearer to 25%

[tomatwalden]

...I'll run an accurate charge on 1 lipo and run it on a bench with blades off, see if she drops out then? ...

I doubt that will achieve much. Without having to spin the blades (which become very heavy with centrifugal force, and aerodynamic drag) and lift the heli off the ground, the current draw will be a fraction of that during real flight. Even a knackered LIPO would probably cope.

[Mark_T]

In the cold, 32% with no load could easily drop too low when under load during spool-up.

Also as previously mentioned, if 4 mins took it down to 32%, 6 mins was never going to happen. You need to cut the timer when you move from warm sunny days into cold freezing weather.

Also with regard to brown-out indication on Spektrum do remember that only DSM2 shows a brown-out warning, if you are bound using DSMX the sats will not flash even if you do brown-out.

Not sure you need to look further than cold weather and over-discharged lipo ...

Those percentage meters are really only a very rough guide, check how much power you put back into that pack when it is charged and see just how low you've been taking it.

[miskin]

I'm Running 450 on a 6s setup with HV Servo's and a ZYX-S .. Also using a YEP 45a ESC but I read that some people were having brownouts . I wanted to be safe so I ran a Separate BEC. I looked around and couldn't find a Gryphon Polaris 30V 10A Mini BEC in stock anywhere . So I got the hump and because I was impatient I ended up buying this

Turnigy dlux 10A (10~60V) HV SBEC

Its quite big but it hasn't given me any problems . I using Turnigy 6s 1300 mah Packs and my Timer is set for 4 Minutes .

Anthony

[Pj1969]

Cheers for inputs and help guys, will try a new pack and see if it happens again, appreciate the tips