Raptor 90 Lockout

[mattie-lodge]

Hi,

All flew my raptor 90 today and seemed to get lockout on the radio.

First of all the fore and aft cyclic stuck and the collective stuck. For a split second.

All this is following a engine replacement, 611 gyro replacement, quick UK base loaded Ant fitment and crystal change

What do you all reckon?

I was thinking about going back to where I was and just keeping adding until it fails again, but it's a bit scary when it does fail.

Cheers All

[Thomas]

Are you using the Quick uk metal tail?

I had problems with mine when one of the grip blade bolts was causing noise.

[3dbasher]

get rid of that base loaded ant use a normal one and try again,
Also set your failsafe to center your swash with 0 degrees of collective and throttle hold on engine back to tick over. it'll give you the best chance when it FS

[ChrisB]

Failsafe to throttle hold and hold all last servo positions

[Raptorite]

Yeap, I agree, the ideal failsafe is throttle to hold or slightly above tickover and all other servo's to hold last position.

I have had lockouts with both this method and pitch to 0, throttle to hold and cyclics to neutral, which wasnt a good idea, I can assure you of that

Cheers,
Pete.

[ChrisB]

I saw Ade do a stunning save on a Rappy 90 that locked out with centre all servos and zero pitch..

Boy she dropped like a lead balloon

Not a good idea,but he held his nerve and it gave him control back with literally inches to spare

[David Drew]

What was the most likely cause of this given his list of upgrades? Hope it's not the aerial as I've planned one of those too.

Presumably PCM Rx. I'm still on PPM on my Raptor, but PCM on my Swift.....


Thanks



David

[ChrisB]

Antenna and crystal would be my first suspects

If it was me i would replace things 1 at a time,and while testing it out to recreate fault keep heli quite high and well out in the field away from you with failsafe set as i described and wait for it to lockout..

[mattie-lodge]

Yeh, I think I'm gogin to do that. Crystal first then ant.

Wish Me luck

[ChrisB]

good luck wear a hard hat

You could also try rangetesting the heli and then change crystal or Ant then rangetest again to see if there is any difference..

[mattie-lodge]

Tried range test. I get a massive range aerial down, put the heli on the ground where we park our cars and walk to the other side of the flying strip with no glitching.

Pretty good I thought

What do you reckon?

[robgt]

A mate of mine had a glitch that took an age to find.
In the end, it turned out that water had managed to get inside his Tx (when flying and it started raingin I presume) and had managed to cause a short of some sort.
Once cleaned up, it was all systems go again.

I notice you have multiple heli's...
If this only happens on the Raptor 90, then I doubt this is the answer for you, however

Cheers,
Rob

[Raptorite]

I have just looked over the list of things you replaced on the model prior to getting this lockout problem. The one thing you dont mention is if things like the engine and gyro were new or pre used ones.

The thought occured to me that having done a successful range test, presumably without the engine running, whether it could be the engine itself causing the noise. I have seen this sort of thing before where a suspect bearing, usually the bottom one in the engine is causing enough metal on metal interference to cause radio lockouts.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
Pete.

[mattie-lodge]

Hi,

The gyro and engine are brand new. I hope it's not of these although I have heard the same as you.

Cheers

[Raptorite]

In which case I would think it unlikely that the engine is causing the noise, although I wouldnt rule it out completely at this stage. If it is proved to be going into failsafe or glitching only when the engine is running, it could be the start shaft or clutch bearings, as these are the only parts on the model that are running when the engine is ticking over.

The only other thing that I can think of at the moment is there is a bearing somewhere which has spectacularly failed and is therefore generating enough noise to cause lockouts. In which case I think if it were me, I would strip the areas containing bearings one by one and checking each and every bearing individually.

One that Ade knows only too well is the bearings in the tail gearbox and in the pitch slider on the output shaft, so this is as good a place as any to start.

Good luck

Cheers,
Pete.