Sats ~ Flashing

[Grumpy]

Yes, i was surprised when the flashing LED thing was explained to me too.

Like I said, i appreciate that the align BEC is marginal and recommended for upgrade, but I'm still amazed if it cant even power the standard system up with no load. Surely that cant be normal?

[coolice]

Hey buddy.

No you're dead right, DSMX cannot warn you of browouts. Just shot upstairs and tried it, gutted as used leds on sats as a good indication.
Works when transmitting on DSM2 but not when using DSMX protocol. Glad we've had this conversation.

With the Align BEC nothing surprises me. It was a good unit, the 2in1 for example, but it's been outdated now by flybarless and model design in general demanding more from the power circuit. At one stage i was lead to believe the Align servo current draw was reasonable, but that was proven wrong a few years back now.

[tourerjim]

Hey Jim.

This is the smaller CC BEC isn't it? This is still not good enough for 600+ machines unfortunately, you need the BEC PRO or a different one.
.

I did wonder that Ian after i dug it out last night & realised the size so not taking chances on that one however I have got couple LifE batteries i can use till i decided on a bec.

[waveydavey]

Hey buddy.

Bear in mind a brownout is a drop in system voltage, not a packet/signal data lose, so yes the DSMX is frequency hopping but still alerts users to power interuptions.
I checked, DSMX sats also blink on brownouts, it's Spektrums way of indicating this type of problem. I have a model here running a Vbar with DSMX sats and will double check, but a quick Google shows lots of flashing DSMX sat threads.
.

HI Ian, I'm not so sure thats correct, if you're using DSMX sats that have reverted to a DSM2 system then yest that will happen, but a pure DSMX system won't, at least mine doesn't

Edit : Written before reading rest of thread

[PorscheBoy]

Not sure if this helps, but I recently had a crash caused by an electrical problem with the tail servo. When I tested on the bench, as soon as I circled the sticks the sat lights started going dim and flashing (I think the flashing was related to when the tail servo moved). Unplugged the tail servo and all was fine (vBar, Kontronik Jive, 6S) changed the servo and all seemed ok (well for one flight anyway..... :-().

Could the OP issue be a dodgy servo?

[tourerjim]

Don't want to get into the discussion of sats in the related topics as i just don't have the experience to question any but i can say by bypassing the bec with a LifE battery plugged direct to the 3gx has solved the problem of the sats flashing & just to double check i reconnected the bec & within minutes sats start to flash, reconnect LifE & sats stay solid, like me you would not have fault its the bec but when I think of it many months ago i had to fit separate bec on my 500dfc, 250dfc i had to fit the Align blue esc because of power lose to servo's & sats started flashing but being the newest 600 out just didn't expect it to be a bec issue.

I would stay with the LifE battery if there are good battery testers these days otherwise would prefer going bec, whats me best bet...?

[waveydavey]

Jim you can't rely on a battery checker for a LiFe pack, what you can do is make a not of how much you use per flight, IE if you use 400mah per fligth and you've got a 2300mah pack then you can safely have 3 flights, maybe 4 and have no issues with voltage drop. I use LiFe's on the 700 and have had no issues whatsoever, I use the CC Bec Pro on the Raptor, again without issue. I think without a doubt you've identified the weak link and it's up to you what suits best a regulated or straight voltage setup

[tourerjim]

Jim you can't rely on a battery checker for a LiFe pack, what you can do is make a not of how much you use per flight, IE if you use 400mah per fligth and you've got a 2300mah pack then you can safely have 3 flights, maybe 4 and have no issues with voltage drop. I use LiFe's on the 700 and have had no issues whatsoever, I use the CC Bec Pro on the Raptor, again without issue. I think without a doubt you've identified the weak link and it's up to you what suits best a regulated or straight voltage setup

Cheers Dave, I'm been LiFe on my 6 & 700 nitro's so I can use them for now but its difficult to find spare time apart from evenings to fly so with the bec i can keep better check on battery power so think its me best option.
I'll google the CC bec pro see who's local

[Grumpy]

Good that you got it sorted, I'm amazed that the stock align BEC isn't even good enough to power up the FBL unit under no real load. I'm not sure how Align can justify supplying something so woefully inadequate.. unless maybe you got a faulty one?

I'm using a CC BEC Pro on my 600 DFC and it seems to work very well. Rx voltage reported by telemetry is rock solid. I have it wired direct into one one the two 6s main flight packs (the one on the negative side of the series connector) thus negating requirement for stand alone battery.

[tourerjim]

Good that you got it sorted, I'm amazed that the stock align BEC isn't even good enough to power up the FBL unit under no real load. I'm not sure how Align can justify supplying something so woefully inadequate.. unless maybe you got a faulty one?

I'm using a CC BEC Pro on my 600 DFC and it seems to work very well. Rx voltage reported by telemetry is rock solid. I have it wired direct into one one the two 6s main flight packs (the one on the negative side of the series connector) thus negating requirement for stand alone battery.

This has pretty much been the problem throughout the Align range of heli's since the intro of v3+, looks like ill be going for the CC bec.

[tourerjim]

Castle bec pro is now wired in to my 600e now & ready test flight & bench test found no sign of sats flashing so what output voltage are we setting them default is 5.1v

[waveydavey]

You need a castle link to change the output to 6.0v Jim. Ive got one if you're about Wednesday evening I'll do it for you.

[tourerjim]

You need a castle link to change the output to 6.0v Jim. Ive got one if you're about Wednesday evening I'll do it for you.

Thanks Dave also ive already got the link so ill do that now & hopefully get to fly tomorrow afternoon

[Grumpy]

Yep i have mine set at 6.0v too. In use voltage stays pretty close to that value, telemetry says between 5.8v and 6.1v.