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Autography FlightPower . Advantage Hobby . Revolution Models

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Gasser Model RC Helicopters > Xcell Lock out
 
 
mickt
Senior Heliman
Location: North Yorkshire UK

Hi Guys

I just piled in my gasser today. I had a complete lock out at 200 ft, no response whatsoever. the heli eventually crashed in a poughed field which was resonably soft. as i approached it i heard the engine ticking over so i closed the trim to kill it , but no response again, then the engine acelerated 2 or 3 times and died of its own accord. there was no control response whatsoever when i got to it so i turned the tx off and back on and hey presto it was working again. I cant find any obvious problem with the Tx and rx, it had been flying ok for about 14 mins before the crash. We did have a glitch the other day but it was only minor when the nose pulled up and the engine quit momentarily. I put this down to one of those things and after checking it with no fault found carried on. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions ( no smutty ones, I'm not that type of boy) i'd be all ears.
Fortunately damage is limited to mast ,flybar, spindle, blades , canopy and a few other small bits. It could have been a hell of a lot worse.

Cheers

Mick
02-07-2003 Over year old.
 
 
sodflyer
Veteran
Location: Frederick Colorado

Bad on / off switch maybe? lost the connection until you cycled it.
02-07-2003 Over year old.
 
 
mickt
Senior Heliman
Location: North Yorkshire UK

don't think so . Tx JR3810 is brand new and why would it happen after 14 mins

Cheers
02-07-2003 Over year old.
 
 
sodflyer
Veteran
Location: Frederick Colorado

But you seemed to point to the problem when you said you turned it off then back on. as far as the time limit I cant tell you on that. Did you check the fuse holder? make sure the fuse is making good contact and not moving around. A buddy of mine found his loose last week and it was making his TX screw up. Just a thought. I just went through this process 2 weeks ago of trying to find the fault.... not fun. Good luck. Jeff.
02-07-2003 Over year old.
 
 
mickt
Senior Heliman
Location: North Yorkshire UK

Jeff
Surely if the fuse holder was faulty would you not lose the onscreen graphics. I had them all the time.

Not having used PCM before i'm a bit in the dark as to the ins and outs of the system. how long does a "normal" PCM lock out last? I am very tempted to go back to PPM and see what happens, or is that not such a good idea....
02-07-2003 Over year old.
 
 
sodflyer
Veteran
Location: Frederick Colorado

Ok, You didnt say if you saw the screen on at first. As far as ppm and pcm, I use ppm just b/c thats what I have always used. I think the total time on lock out in pcm is somewherearound 3 sec? that's if the signal is clean immediately after the faulty one, I can be wrong on this. I am sure others here can chime in and help you figure it out. Jeff.
02-07-2003 Over year old.
 
 
mickt
Senior Heliman
Location: North Yorkshire UK

Thanks for the reply Jeff, I think I will send Tx, Rx and switch to JR for a checkup, at least then we have eliminated or confirmed one possiblity

Cheers

Mick
02-07-2003 Over year old.
 
 
cfranks
Veteran
Location: Adelaide South Australia

I've had similar surprises with my gassers. They are very prone to self-induced electrical interference. Check your fail-safe settings in the Tx. I've got no explanation though for everything to recover after the Tx was switched off / on. I cured my interference problems by electrically grounding the Boom and both Boom support struts to the engine. Havent had a hit since.

Charles
02-09-2003 Over year old.
 
 
mickt
Senior Heliman
Location: North Yorkshire UK

Thanks Charles

I have sent the radio gear of to be checked so i'll keep you posted

Many Thanks
02-09-2003 Over year old.
 
 
ddavison
Veteran
Location: Brownsville, Pennsylvania

In my total time on my gasser(6yrs or so) I have one crash from a total lock out, this was caused by the single rear mounting bolt backing out of the head. A couple of years ago I had many intermittant lockouts. I went through all possibly causes to find the trouble. First did a once over to find anything loose,everything was found tight. Next changed receiver,switch, gyro, antenna, intermittant lockout came back. I should add, I have failsafe set so throttle goes to idle and all other hold their position. Next changed coils(both), plug and lead, still no help. Next changed mainshaft bearings,clutch bearings, still nothing. Finally decided to tear the maching completly down and rebuild it replacing anything suspicious. As I was disassembling the lower and upper frames, I removed the four long bolts that go through the gold dogbone spacers. On removing the front two bolts the black threaded dogbone spacer between the upper frames fell out in two pieces. Here was the source of the interference. It being black and located in a almost hidden location it was not possible to see the crack. Since then we have found one other spacer cracked like that on a glow SE. So check them, check the rear engine mount bolts, also check the lower coil mount bolt, this provide a ground for the coil to engine(I have a wire jumper between this bolt and the engine to insure a good connection. Hope these tips help.

DaveDavison, Miniature Aircraft Field Rep. Spectra,Stratus,Furion, JR 12x 2,4
02-10-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Billme
Key Veteran
Location: MS

Awesome tips Dave!

Bill
02-10-2003 Over year old.
 
 
mickt
Senior Heliman
Location: North Yorkshire UK

Thanks Dave

I'll get on to those points next.

Cheers

Mick
02-10-2003 Over year old.
 
 
rbort
Elite Veteran
Location: Franklin, MA - U.S.A.

bad crystal

I have seen this problem before where you turn the tx or receiver off and back on and then it works. It has been an intermittent crystal problem for me. Cycle the power on both items off and on several times and you be able to reproduce it. If you do, when you turn on nothing will work. If you have a second tx and/or receiver on the same channel you can use them at that time to determine if it is the receiver or tx problem without powering them off (keep the problem happening while you check). You will find that if you replace the suspect crystal this problem will go away.

Good luck,

-=>Raja.
02-10-2003 Over year old.
 
 
mickt
Senior Heliman
Location: North Yorkshire UK

Have Just sent the radio gear to JR for a checkup, so its a wait out on that.

Thanks to you all for the help and replies

Mick
02-10-2003 Over year old.
 
 
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Gasser Model RC Helicopters > Xcell Lock out
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