Jon0
Heliman
Location: Norwich - UK
| If you’re thinking of buying a CarbSmart when the production models come out, then I’d be careful.
I purchased a pre-production CarbSmart from RealRaptors and fitted it to my Synergy N9 a few weeks ago and the result was that as my heli spooled up for its trial CarbSmart flight there was a series of undemanded cyclic inputs and as a consequence the heli jumped up off the ground and applied full left roll. As you can imagine the damage was pretty severe, despite me hitting throttle hold just prior to impact.
What CSM didn’t allow for when designing the CarbSmart was that some guys out there (like me) are using the SGP Reactor along with the JR DS10 Receiver and as a consequence have the “Battery” port on their receiver free. When using these two products in conjunction with the CarbSmart it is essential that you don’t power your CarbSmart from the “Battery” port - otherwise your helicopter will crash. I have since found out that there are other Regulators being used by the masses that leave you with a free battery port on your receiver too.
When I called up Colin Mill at CSM, the day after the crash he admitted that the signal line on the Carbsmart could cause undemanded reactions from the servos if plugged into the “Battery” port and that they were unaware of the different regulators on the market such as the SGP reactor. During this phone I was offered two production CarbSmarts by way of apology, but this changed to an offer of ‘nothing whatsoever’ after a nights sleep and quite possibly consulting Wendy Mill.
It appears that if you help CSM out with some research and development and your machine crashes then you’re on your own. Although having said that, I am no hero test pilot. I purchased my two pre-production units from Real Raptors at full price along with another 60 odd people!
In case you are wondering - the Carbsmart instructions sheet just has a diagram saying that the Carbsmart needs ‘Power’. To me the definition of power was the Battery port.
I have since found out that a few of the CSM sponsored pilots had the same (but less severe) glitching problems after plugging into the ‘Battery’ port on their receiver but were lucky enough to get the ship back on the ground with no damage. Something that’s more telling still, is that there are some CSM sponsored pilots who have yet to fit all of their free CSM electronics. You can see why, if you have a diary full of competitions to attend and there’s a chance that fitting a new prototype gadget will crash your machine.
I’ll certainly be boycotting all CSM goods in the future on principle, along with all the friends at my club and local shop, despite being a good CSM customer and attending many of Colin‘s seminars held at the 3D Masters over the years.
I flew a sponsored friends (CSM) Flybarless heli the other week and feel sure that it will be the future, however I’ll be waiting for Curtis’ system!
Photo of my mixture control Installation on N9 (on RealRaptors site);
http://www.real-kbase.co.uk/csm_mixture.html
Published 'Post crash' warning to other CarbSmart users - no Matelle re-call though (remember only 60 sold!)
http://www.realraptors.co.uk/zen-ca...ews&news_id=133
Crash damage £300. Blades, Main shaft, Axle shaft, Flybar, Tail boom, Torque drive, Main gear, Boom supports, 3 servo gear sets, Custom painted Canopy, etc....
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