temperature and spektrum

[matt27]

oh ye i forgot about that david
maybe i shouldn't worry

cheers

Matt

[moyesboy]

If running a separate rx pack then the power from that is very likely to drop in volts in the cold, particularly if nimh. However a regulator should be fine in the cold.
We all know that lipos struggle to give the current in cold weather but rx packs are so over rated usually they should be OK.

I've flown in very cold conditions at our field which is also at over 1000 ft asl and not had any problems.

My AR7000 uses 0.3-0.4W at 8v with no servos connected. My 2 cell lipo goes direct to the receiver and the servos are driven from the 2in1 reg. I reckon tha might keep my rx warm enough. I guess at 5-6v it shuld be 0.25 watts or so. dunno how to figure that into dissipated heat. Wrapping the rx in a load of foam will obviously keep the generated heat in!

I've had no issues at all.

I'm more worried about my AR6000 in my 500 that is hanging out the back of the frames well away from the heat sources. I've been flying that in the cold too with no problems binding and no issues in the air, no flashing lights etc.

I would expect those slope soaring gliders with spektrum should get the problems first with the gliders going fast through very cold air high up with no warming motors. I also reckon a look in other forums should find the folks I've heard of flying on frozen lakes in canada which would make our current weather seem toasty. If there is a problem it should be showing up worse for fairly large groups of spektrum users in worse conditions than we get in the UK...

Cold will eventually make the semiconductor stuff stop working properly.
Most likely problem is loss of binding info with internal memeory reset. cold nights the radio in my car forgets its channel presets, and you used to be able to reset those keycodes putting stolen radios in the freezer (so a scouse friend told me).

My bet is a spektrum that is working will not stop working in the air in weaher we are prepared to stand out in. But the problem will first manifest itself as a failure to bind with a cold radio starting up (which is what these incidents are so far by the look of it?).

I might call those helpful guys at horizon Uk tomorrow and ask.

[moyesboy]

I just took a look on the dark side and there is an active thread there where they are saying the spektrums AR7000 are running at -20c in sweden with no probs and other really cold places in canada. nobody seems to be having problems in the cold.
Lots of probs with stiffening plastic ball links and the grease inside the servos going hard...

I presume they already had their fingers fall off...

[Thomas]

My hands will stop working long before the RX fails

[Arwel]

Oh bloody hell. Something else to think about! Do you think it will affect the rxs being stored in a cold garage??

[Ade_Law]

from what i gather its to due with the on chip clock circuits, the tuning is done on the silicone which changes its properties with temperature

this effects the speed the chip runs at which throws everything out of time.

the chips are speced to run within a seperate temperature range. This SHOULD be a worst case so all of the chips released from the factory will work at the limits of the specified range plus a little safety margin.

however some will be better than others. lets say the chip is speced to 0deg C minimum Some might stop working at -1deg C where others will go -10.

if it was me and i had speky, the next really cold night i would have the model outside, let it cool down for a couple of hours then see if it works. atleast it doesnt loose range or some other difficult to reproduce fault.

getting happier by the day that went futaba!

Ade

[TimmyB]

I noticed this problem last winter flying my zagi with an ar6000. First flight was always fine but refused to work again untill it was warmer.

I also found that the insulation round the aerials would get very brittle in cold weather and sometimes snap. Think they use a different material now tho.

[Ashley Davis]

of course you all realise that there are chips in far more things than just your rx and most of them will only be rated to around 0 degrees.

Interesting this came up as a spektrum thread, PCM and PPM rx have had this issue for years.

Faast being rated to -7 won't do it much good when all the servo micro controllers decide they are going to not bother working at below zero, or maybe the BEC or in fact any electronic device on your heli that has some chips in it.

Bottom line.... care should be taken operating in freezing or below freezing conditions whatever electronics you are using.