elton
Heliman
Location: Calgary AB, Canada
| Hey guys,
Have a few nitro's but new to mini electrics. So here's my problem. The heli is a 3DX400 with an Align RCE-BL35X ESC, I'm not currently using governer mode, just using radio to set throttle/pitch curves. I'm using flightpower 2170mah 25C packs. Both have been freshly charged, balanced with flightpower V balancer. Motor is the smallish 3500Kvm that you get from CNC heli, the purple one (outrunner) with the built in fan. It runs the machine nice and smooth, and doesn't ever get more than slightly warm, same with the ESC. It will heat up to (maybe) 95-105 farenheit, depending on flying style/day. You can touch either one and they feel warm, not hot.
I've got a hole in the bottom of the canopy, and the airflow is excellent to both.
So today is a puzzle. I started out doing some light forward flight, this is after one or two minutes of hovering, testing and making sure everything is doing as it should. Heli is smooth, tail is rock solid, no glitching, wagging or anything untoward. I fly for 3-4 minutes, put it down and go to idle up, thinking to do some very basic loops and rolls. Hmmm, motor seems a little sluggish, takes a second or two of struggling to get the blades moving, but once going, it picks up nice and smooth as normal. As I lift off, and get about 30 feet up, bang, heli goes to idle, I pull collective down and bring it in under full auto, still with control. I curse, look at my flight condition switch. Yep, it's where it should be, idle up is in it's position, and all of my controls are functioning. EXCEPT the throttle. I can move it forward, blade pitch responds, but nothing from motor. So, I put motor to hold, go over and feel motor and ESC, both are warm, nowhere near thermal shutoff range. So, I wait a minute or two, engage throttle again (AFTER removing throttle hold), and see if it will spool up. Nothing. All controls still work freely though. Okay, so I'm thinking somthing has fried. Well I pack up, come home. Put in other battery at home, thinking the first one is dead, even though it still shows in the green on the V power.
New battery, start it up, engine begins to spool, get up to hovering speed, get a foot off the ground, BANG, goes back to idle, still have all flight controls, but once again, no throttle response. This time I feel motor and ESC, they're both cool. What gives guys, anyone else have this. If the ESC loses signal, does it cut just the motor and leave control power, or does it kill complete setup. If it overheats, is this the cutoff signature, where just motor power dies. I'm scratching my head, this is the first time in 15 flights this has happened. The motor has unknown number of flights, I bought it used, but the ESC has 15 flights. I bought it brand new at Heli-direct. Which is my next question, what are the options with Align/Heli-direct? Can I send this back for inspection/repair/replacement since it's pretty much brand new and only has a few weeks of time on it, or do I have to bite the bullet and get a new ESC on my dime?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
E |
