Spectrum radio gear shutting down

[mgjackson]

A few weeks ago my 450 lost pwer during flight, and I'd assumed a faulty servo had caused a brown out.

Just got round to rebuilding the model, replacing two of the servos rather than just changing the gears, and tried a test flight dans le jardin.

Open the throttle up, model spins up and then span down again by itself. Still power cos I can hear the tail servos, but the rest of the model is dead; no lights on the receiver

Then suddenly the lights come back on the receiver, but not flashing and the heli seems ok. Moment later the lights go off again and 10 seconds or so come back on, again not flashing.

So yet another weirdy....presumably the receiver is bust, but has anyone seem this before I pack it off to Spectrum?

Thanks,
Matthew

[Geek]

Speed controler gets my vote
yes heard of this before
sorry

[moyesboy]

take the main blades off and weight the heli down through the skids while checking out the radio gear.
1 could be static off the belt making it shut down
2 could be the esc bec is not up to the current and it is shutting the rx down
3 could be a loose connection that fails due to the vibration of running.

1 - I had a repeatable problem with static on my 450. when the revs reached a certain point the motor cut off, and also it started to get the odd twitch of cyclic too. This did make he leds on the 6200 rx flash though.
Liberal application of silicone spray on the belt was a temporary solution.
It was cured by connecting the tail boom, motor mount to the battery -ve like I have done as a precaution on my 500. Since then it has been fine but I still lube the belt every now and then.

2 - should be repeatable by loading the servos with your fingers without the motor running. What can happen is the ESC BEC overheats and shuts down when the servos draw current. Then the RX switches off, the servos stop drawing current so the Rx comes back then the BEC over heats again and it all repeats. This could well be your problem. The Rx should come back with a flashing light though.
This one is more likely if oyu fitted digital servos. What sort of ESC is it? Castle Creations are well known for a poor BEC.

3- its a case of wiggling the tx sticks and at the same time wiggling the wires everywhere in the heli. For safety loosen the motor and disengage the pinion in case it starts up.

You can run the heli with no main blades up to fairly large rpms for a short time.
Don't run the motor with the pulley disengaged except for a short blast.

Lack of flashing LED might mean your rx doesn't have the quick-connect software in it. If you switch the rx on, then switch the tx off and back on again, do you get the flashing LED?

Hope this helps!

[mgjackson]

Thanks, these are all posibilities that I thought it might be when it fell out the sky a few weeks ago.

However, this time it was also doing it while the model was stationery, ie nothing moving so couldn't be static or something overloading the bec.

>If you switch the rx on, then switch the tx off and back on again, do you get the flashing LED?

Yes and it rebinds immediatly - so its at the right software level.

The ESC is the Align one that came in the box.

[moyesboy]

unlplug each component one at a time and see when the problem stops?

Is it range related? those lottle antannas a promne to being dmamged in a cash.

[dunny]

Check to see if the green LED on the rear of your transmitter is going out when you lose controls.Had a similar problem to what your describing with one of my 600N's recently and it was the RF board in my DX7, Horizon Hobby replaced my DX7 free of charge even tho' it was 18 months old as they were out of RF boards.

[gary911]

hi can anyone please tell me how to post a thread as i cant seem to find out from the website thanks gary

[boxy]

just to let you know that i have just been on the bmfa website and there is a thing on a link about 2 g transmitters follow it through its all about the dx6 and the fact if its certain modle number the need to be sent away but check it out just in case good luck mate.

[mgjackson]

Check to see if the green LED on the rear of your transmitter is going out when you lose controls.Had a similar problem to what your describing with one of my 600N's recently and it was the RF board in my DX7, Horizon Hobby replaced my DX7 free of charge even tho' it was 18 months old as they were out of RF boards.

I hadn't checked that, although I've a module that goes in the back of a JR X3810

[Janek]

Try switching everything on, turn the 3810 over so you can see the light on the module, then tap the module with your fingers. Does the light flicker on and off ?

[Nick B]

Check the main battery connectors...if deans,try connecting and then slightly pull the two plugs apart by 1mm and see what happens.

If bullets,make sure they are tight with no slop

[mgjackson]

Try switching everything on, turn the 3810 over so you can see the light on the module, then tap the module with your fingers. Does the light flicker on and off ?

Bingo!

There's some movement of the module - I can wobble it about and the lights on the module and on the heli all go out.

I assume the answer is pad the module with a bit of card or something. The original 35M module was a very tight fit and I never had any problems with that.

[Janek]

OK, the problem is the contacts between the Tx itself and the module, on the TX side it's the long pins that are exposed when the module is removed, on the module side, it's the "Holes". The connectors in the module are not making proper contact, and need "adjusting". . . . . . but anything you can do, is just delaying the inevitable. Your best bet is to return your module and Tx to the supplier, and thence to the importer (Horizon) and get it sorted properly. . . . . it's too late for me because I buggered about with my module, and thus invalidated my warranty.

The problem is worst if you continually swap the module in and out.

My permanent solution was to buy a second 3810 (cheap ), thus I have one exclusively for 2.4 and another for 35, removing the need to swap modules.

I'd opened up the module and "tweeked" the contacts, which sorted this issue, but invalidated the warranty (I assume). I've now got the module taped in, to remind me NOT to remove it.

[mgjackson]

I've bunged the module in the post to Horizon just to make sure there's no internal nasty - it could be that connection has broken loose from the circuit board.

I'm competant enough with a screwdriver and a soldering iron to check something like that myself. However, from expierence I also know it could be something else so I'd rather let an expert look at it.

Of couse, this means I'm well and truly grounded, so the rest of you can enjoy the sudden change to unseasonbly warm and sunny weather we're about to get!

[mgjackson]

Just got my gear back from Horizon and they've replaced the module, which is very nice of them.

Must say that I'm impressed with their service - the turn around was quick, although as I type this I can see the clouds rolling I'm going to have to be quick if I want a quick play :-)