scott finnie Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 i have 2 of the new eflite apprentice s15e's , the one i am mainly flying just now is completely stock including DX5E the other flown off DX9 and with power 25 fitted, whilst flying over the last few days when i'm roughly 60 feet away the wings start rocking and the motor stops for a few seconds, is this a brown out or something else? Its fine beyond 60 feet and also closer, really doesn't fill me with confidence . It only does this with the DX5E , with my Dx9 its fine, Scotti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Skilbeck Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Doesn't sound like a brown out, or it would do it with both transmitters, it sounds like loss of signal and it's gone into failsafe mode. I would suspect a fault with the Dx5e but its strange that it's ok when farther away, unless at 60ft distance you happen to be near an interference source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Could it be down to antena position on the receiver. Are they are right angles to each other? I had a DX7s with a dodgy transmission board. The signal loss didn't normally occur at great distance, so much as at particular angles, when, I suspect the signal was being masked by components. Might it be worth swapping around and flying the other aprentice with the DX5? Am I right in thinking that the SAFE receiver might actually mask the symptoms of signal loss by returning to level flight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Green Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 The DX5e has had a widely reported power switch problem - switch on, try pressing lightly around the power switch, put a bit of up/down/left/right pressure on the toggle itself and see if the tx leds drop out. The 60' thing might be a red herring. Cheers Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott finnie Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 Hi all, i managed to try the second dx5e and apprentice and still found this issue, i fle in gentle circuits and 2 out of 8 it miss behaved , i then went down to the coast while the tide was out and it done the same there, what bothers me is that the first few flights there was no issues. IPhil i'll check the switch in the morning and report back to you , Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin 216 Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Hi Scott - have you had any problems since this posting? I have had trouble with uncommanded control movement on the ground, even though the apprentice has successfully completed its set up routine. The ailerons for some reason go to full left bank on application of power. The most recent uncommanded control movement being this Monday unfortunately I had just taken-off and no amount of right stick would prevent the apprentice from banking left, contact with the ground was inevitable. I was flying on the 'Experienced' setting, and have been since August. The apprentice is repairable and I am going to disconnect the Tx/Gyro and fit a standard 4 channel Tx. I was surprised to find that 'Wheelspin Models' had a cowel and motor mount in stock, perhaps others have had a similar experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hopkin Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Posted by 216er on 31/12/2014 08:31:28: Hi Scott - have you had any problems since this posting? I have had trouble with uncommanded control movement on the ground, even though the apprentice has successfully completed its set up routine. The ailerons for some reason go to full left bank on application of power. The most recent uncommanded control movement being this Monday unfortunately I had just taken-off and no amount of right stick would prevent the apprentice from banking left, contact with the ground was inevitable. I was flying on the 'Experienced' setting, and have been since August. The apprentice is repairable and I am going to disconnect the Tx/Gyro and fit a standard 4 channel Tx. I was surprised to find that 'Wheelspin Models' had a cowel and motor mount in stock, perhaps others have had a similar experience. Did you power up the model with it sat on the ground? The Stabilisation logic takes its reference points from the airframes position when powered up - so if that was the case the SAFE technology might just have been trying to return the aircraft to what IT thinks was straight and level........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin 216 Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Hi Dave, I always power up in the pits, letting the apprentice go through its routine of control movements and arming of the motor which finishes with the beeps. In fact the gyro does not work until the throttle is advanced from idle. The gyros then stay active irrespective of throttle position until the apprentice is switched off. I have been flying this since March, I wondered if there was a programming error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott finnie Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 Hi all i decided to send my dx5e and safe receiver to HH and was told they couldn't find any issues. I politely said to keep it and have flown it once since with my Graupner mz24 without issues though without the safe. Thankfully I don't need the safe system for my friend as he's learnt to fly in aided now! I have a lot of apprentice spares many still in packets so if you need any I can have a nosey at what I've got.Have a great new year when it arrives!Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Flyer Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I had all sorts of issues with the 'SAFE" system when I bought an Apprentice with it included for my son to learn on. The worst issue seems that it just had "park Flyer" range despite the apprentice having a fairly large wingspan. I was using it with a DX6i which I use on a number of Helicopters with no problems. I binned the "SAFE" receiver in the end and put in a full range Futaba receiver(I use Futaba on my planes). Since then no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Cunliffe Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Hi All I'm returning to RC flying and thought that the Apprentice was perfect for my retraining. It isn't cheap when compared to other planes but it was promoted as all singing all dancing so I bought one. Out of the box the right Airelon servo was duff, what a saga to get a replacement. They sent it very quickly BUT with a short lead and they wouldn't accept that a wing servo needed a longer cable, eventully sorted. In my printed instructions it gives settings for Spektrum DX6i BUT the downloaded ones DON'T. With all the problems I have had with control I think they have now realised that it doesn't work correctly with a DX6i. Problems such as (you only get two settings beginner and expert) it took ages to aquire the transmitter, ESC beeped and then nothing for anything up to 3 minutes. I was helped by several very experienced flyers and re-bound, checked and rechecked all of the instructions and settings. Flying, I understand it limited input BUT... I couldn't land, it added power and levelled the plane. On several occasions I was almost forced into crashing to get the plane down. It wouldn't turn left - this only happened on one day. I couldn't get it out of the Beginners mode. I then started to find a work round and found if I set it to expert and pressed the panic switch it suddenly went rogue and took several seconds to recover to level flight. The front tyre came off on almost every flight, I glued it onto the rim. The tail assembly has a laminate covering. During one of the rough landings the elevator had put a crease in it and during the last flight the laminate started to flap in the breeze. The whole tail assembly is far too flimsy for a novice plane, it has two very slim strips applied across the assembly to strengthen it but.... I have taken the receiver out and replaced it with a Spektrum 6ch. I have reduced the Hi/low settings to 70/35 and it is now flying like a trainer, but a very expensive way to learn about modern RC tech and planes. In comparison I have a Riot wich I changed setting to the same as above, the build quality is twice as good, hinges etc are much better and it has flown as a trainer straight out of the box. Riot approx £160 Apprentice £350 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Smith 14 Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Sorry for your misfortune but unfortunately that's what now seems to be the norm for horizon hobby products, I stopped buying anything they do years ago after the appaling dx8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Griff Posted December 17, 2020 Share Posted December 17, 2020 This is worrying as I was/am thinking of getting a new spectrum tx and Rx. Do Standard Futaba servos fit and work with spectrum stuff. Was thinking of the cheaper less expensive spectrum radio gear as I have a very tight budget Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted December 17, 2020 Share Posted December 17, 2020 Posted by Rich Griff on 17/12/2020 15:14:03: This is worrying as I was/am thinking of getting a new spectrum tx and Rx. Do Standard Futaba servos fit and work with spectrum stuff. Was thinking of the cheaper less expensive spectrum radio gear as I have a very tight budget Futaba servos do fit/work with the Market Leader Spektrum Rich. IF the side tags are still on your Futaba plugs, then trim those off, as to would On some regular Rx pack plugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Flyer Posted December 17, 2020 Share Posted December 17, 2020 Wow I’m very sorry to hear they still haven’t sorted out the stock Apprentice receiver... my post was in 2015 .. I guess many others must have had that problem! All I did with ours was to pull it out and replace it with a standard Futaba unit to fit with the rest of my gear. ...a full range standard Spectrum receiver would be just as good as a Futaba and eliminate the early transition to safe mode. My guess was that the receiver they fit in the Apprentice is just park flyer range. Spectrum gear is perfectly good but my personal preference is certainly Futaba. The apprentice receiver is so awful I wouldn’t even risk giving it away! We left the servos as they were. A large plane needs a full range receiver even more so if flown by beginners who often fly too far out. Overall I think the apprentice with a decent receiver is a great trainer.....my son soon mastered it and it’s now hanging on my garage ceiling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIGGER Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 I for one only use the Apprentice rx, I have brought more Apprentice rx and put them in all my models and I don't have an issue with them . My Tx is the DX6E and the DX8E . I recently had a problem with a switch on the DX8E sent it to them and got it back fully repaired, serviced and updated free of charge. I send and deal with HH in Germany and have found them very helpful with any questions I ask them. I for one won't use any other TX or RX. On RC GROUPS there is a thread called SAFE in other models, the information on there especially the early part regarding the Apprentice rx and the setting up of them is extensive. I don't know how to put the link on here but I'm sure someone will. It's one of the best sites for this information I've come across, there is always someone on there who will sort out any problems. Try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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