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CarbonXtreme . Midland Helicopters . HeliProz

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Radio - Servo - Gyro - Gov - Batt > My 14MZHP died?!?
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

Yup, went flying yesterday and had a great time. Came home planning to go out again today, I charged all batteries and prepared everything last night. Last thing I did was verify that the radio and helis were talking to each other (which they were), so I go to sleep.

Got up today (great morning in Florida), packed everything in my truck and headed for the nearest field. Started prepping things for my first flight and when I go turn on the 14MZ I noticed the power switch was on. I don't recall whether I switched the radio off or not last night (must be getting old ), but I was worried I had left it on with the Tx enabled. The antenna was plugged in, but not extended (although you get the first part out on the 14MZ).

I turn off the radio, wait a few seconds and try powering it on ... no juice. Take my backup battery and swap it out. Turn the power on, screen lights up blue, the Futaba logo starts doing its disco dance and during the yellow flashing (which happens just before it's useable) ... nothing! The logo keeps flashing yellow and the Futaba intro banner doesn't get displayed (screen simply remained blue). Waited a few seconds and when nothing happened turned the switch off. Waited a few more seconds and the radio wouldn't shut off. Tried the reset switch in back, nada! Removed the battery.

At this point I'm worried about the module, but I recall seeing that module problems would cause the Futaba logo to flash red. Anyway, pack everything up and head back home. Unfortunately I didn't take my backup 14MZ since everything was fine the night before. Get home and the first thing I try is to see if the radio works with the backup radio's module ... NOPE! I check the "dead" radio's module on my backup radio and it worked just great. So the Tx module is okay.

Guess radio will be taking a trip to Futaba this week; will try calling them tomorrow morning to see if they know of anything that could be causing this. Anyone else experience this problem with their 14MZ?
08-14-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
nivlek
rrProfessor
Location: Norfolk England

Quote 
Unfortunately I didn't take my backup 14MZ since everything was fine the night before.

Money to burn !

At the end of the day , it gets dark .
08-14-2005 Over year old.
 
 
modtron
Veteran
Location: Oxford. UK

Before you send it away, have you tried the reset button in the back of the case. just a thought?

Modtron
Oxford UK
08-14-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

UPDATE: IT'S ALIVE!!!! ALIVE!!!!

Not being one that leaves broken things alone, I decided to get in and see what I could find. Since the internal battery is soldered, I didn't want to mess around with it directly. Instead, I took a paperclip, shorted the internal battery connectors and powered the radio up ... VOILA, thing came up without a complaint; after putting it back together found none of the settings had been lost (incl. the name pin). Still going to call Futaba in the morning to see what may have caused this (will probably end-up sending it in anyway just in case). Bottom line is make sure the 14MZ is powered off and NEVER allowed drain its battery.

modtron, reset was one of the first things I tried without sucess.
08-14-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

UPDATE: IT'S DEAD AGAIN. :(

I should have known to wait ... It's dead again, this time the "workaround" didn't do anything so I decided to check the 3V battery voltage; it was at 2.85V. The real scary part is that this time when it "died", I was in the middle of checking the thing out with a heli ... when it happened, I LOST COMPLETE control of the heli (thank god it was on the bench) and all the radio did was start flashing the Futaba logo in yellow!!!! Glad it happened now and not while I was out flying.

So much for that I guess; I'll send in to Futaba for the opinion, but first thing I'm doing once the warranty period expires is add an onboard base to the battery so it can be changed.
08-15-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
I3DM
rrProfessor
Location: Israel

So is it the backup lithium battery causing this ?

Team pilot for Radix, Helidirect, Logictech, ThunderPower, Fromeco, Gaui
www.liorzahavi.com
08-15-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

I'm guessing it is. Other than being left on and the main battery being completely drained this morning, the radio was working fine last time I used it (last night and earlier in the day yesterday when I was out flying). The radio is only a few months old (since I purchased it new), not enough time for the onboard battery to die. I'm calling Futaba in the morning to give them the (bad) news and see what they recommend. I'm sure it'll take a trip in to service. I can't imagine having the main battery be drained would have any impact on the onboard one, but who knows -- this radio is still "young" and major bugs have yet to be discovered. We'll see.
08-15-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
gt900uk
Key Veteran
Location: Scotland

It has a backup battery? I am rather shocked at that i thought it would have used some kinda eprom like the PCM9x2 uses so that there is no backup battery. In a radio this price seems a bit mad. Hope u get it sorted it is a bloody nice TX

This Heli Will Self Destruct In Five Seconds!!
08-15-2005 Over year old.
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

Called support and they've never heard of this happening (call lasted about 3 minutes, incl. hold), so this PM I'll ship out radio to the Futaba service center. Hope they come back with an answer.
08-15-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
rckrzy1
Elite Veteran
Location: Hurst Texas

If you have 2 14mz's you probably have one of your many house servants ship it for you or send it with your corporate jet on a special trip to hobby services.



Wildcat Fuels
08-15-2005 Over year old.
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

No servants, but I did have the wife ship it (does that count?).
08-15-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Dazzler
Elite Veteran
Location: Ohio

Maybe it has something to do with this

When I originally saw this post, I knew you would be making a post like this soon.

http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/...?highlight=nude

Daz...
08-15-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

Nope! I've been taking electronic equipment apart since I was a teen ... thanks for all your concern.
08-15-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

Radio has been repaired. They replaced the main board and lit. battery; I'm waiting for a response on what caused the lockout after main battery drain.

Parts changed:
HSP79112 9M30A03502 14MZ MAIN PCB ASSY
HSP79064 AA0171 L BATTERY BR2023
08-19-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
MicroDOC
Veteran
Location: Goleta, CA

Your transmitter is nothing more than a specially designed computer. Logic board problems are to be expected in cases like you explained. I have seen cases where the damage was not covered under the warranty so be careful in the future. ie: a leaking battery that is not a approved replacement part, spilled liquid, plus many others to numerous to mention.

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it!
08-20-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to get Guinness out of a
laptop?

What a mess that was
08-20-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
I3DM
rrProfessor
Location: Israel

RCfan i have a theory on why it died - maybe you left it on and Transmitting, and this caused overheating of some of the circuits since there was no antenna present at the time.. ?

just a wild thought..

Team pilot for Radix, Helidirect, Logictech, ThunderPower, Fromeco, Gaui
www.liorzahavi.com
08-25-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

I did leave it on! It was transmitting and the antenna was connected, since the last time I used it I was bench-checking it with the heli! The antenna was not "extended", although with the 14MZ it's already "out". I don't doubt that the Tx circuit got fried, but should that have prevented the radio from booting into windoze or not allowing it to power off? I say NO!

Radio's already on its way back (should be here today) and I hope the Futaba tech. included some description on what he/she found (if not, I'll call them). At this point, all I know is that the main board and lit. battery were replaced.
08-25-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
RCfan
Key Veteran
Location: Longwood, FL USA

Got the radio back, no info on what caused the boot problem. I'll try calling tomorrow.

Radio arrived with a new version of part of its software (Encoder v 1.13, from 1.09). Also found that the H/W Reverse button under System menu had changed to Hardware Setting. When you select it, it now opens a screen with two buttons, H/W Reverse (with identical settings as before) and a new Stick Setting for assigning gimbal response (1-32, default 4) and hysteresis (1-32, default 1) values. Haven't played with them yet.
08-26-2005 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
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Radio - Servo - Gyro - Gov - Batt > My 14MZHP died?!?
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