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I give up!


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" I was using a separate 4 cell Nmhd battery to power the radio side and as soon as the voltage from this dropped to 4.5v I lost the radio never to recover."

Hi Jetsome...do you mean 3.5V  cos otherwise I would be getting real worried myself ! 

I may have missed it somewhere, but did you confirm that you had the QC enabled on your receiver this time Shaun. I had a feeling that the original crash had a NON QC version of a receiver ?

I seem to then recall a conversation based on something like...

anyone who flys a spekky system without QC receivers needs their head examined

Sorry....genuinely forget the whole scenario and you may well have confirmed that your set is now QC enabled.

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The rx is QC enabled (post crash 1) and as you say, for the original crash it wasn't. Once I received it back from HH, I tested it as per your instructions, in the model, and it responded correctly i.e. flashing lights after power interrupt.

I tested it after this crash and it still indicates correctly. Unfortunately I could not test it immediately at the crash site as the battery had disconnected in the impact and would therefore have indicated an interrupt anyway.

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Shaun I ran some tests using my E-logger and a temp sensor on the ESC when in flight on my E Flite Beaver where the ESC sits behind the bulkhead, the temp went up when running at part throttle and down when running at full throttle. But it only went from 26 DegC to 34 DegC.

I also have a Fantom in which the ESC, battery and Rx are all enclosed (in the foam fus) with no airflow over them. When I land after a fairly spirited flight the battery is pretty warm but I've not had any RX problems (6100) in this set up.

It could be that you do have a faulty component on the Rx (or just a bad connection) which causes it to cut out when it gets too warm, or alternativelly the UBEC cut out through getting too warm. Hope your tests show something amiss, if just for POM.

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Thanks for that.

I have just had an email from HH and they are going to replace the rx for me. I'm still a little perturbed though, so before I post it off, I'm going to run another experiment by wrapping up the rx, esc and battery in a box with no airflow and running at half power until the UBEC kicks in (or something dies!)

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Shaun Chant wrote (see)
I'd be happier if they'd replace the model too.


look on the positive side-at least you can go to the shop and buy a new one. If I stuff the York then that's it-my dad's not going to build another one.

Am even thinking about making a trip to the ex-in-laws' and digging my old twinstar out of their shed for radio testing purposes....

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Hi Jetsome, Shaun and all. I have decided to do some "real world" bench testing ( as opposed to manufacturers claims and statistical data ) of this whole current drain / voltage drop / brown out thing is obviously quite important. I should stress that this was NOT IN ANY WAY intended to doubt or dispute the various claims that different people have made about their own experiences, but was to merely satisfy myself of what is the real likely scenario. I had always assumed that Spekky receivers were good down to 3.5V - even though as you rightly point out the manual does say " for safety ensure your receiver battery shows at least 4.7V". I guess this is an off load preflight check suggestion, and probably expected to be performed by a simple non loaded voltmeter or similar.

Rather than hi-jack Shauns thread I am starting a new one entitled " Brown outs and Grey areas - the truth ! "

I have filmed the process and explained the test setup.

Thread should be up in the next hour or so, after video has been processed and uploaded.

Makes interesting viewing
PS I still dont think Shauns crash was likely to be a brown out problem - 6V UBEC and all....nah ....unlikely.
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Shaun Chant wrote (see)

Thanks for that.

I have just had an email from HH and they are going to replace the rx for me. I'm still a little perturbed though, so before I post it off, I'm going to run another experiment by wrapping up the rx, esc and battery in a box with no airflow and running at half power until the UBEC kicks in (or something dies!)

The UBEC does not "kick in" - you are confusing that with the LVC of the speed controller.
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Shaun Chant wrote (see)
So any theories then?

Yeh...plenty - but they are exactly that - theories. Others have already chimed in with some, and I ( nor anyone else I suspect ) can really be sure.

If I was pushed - which I don't want to be - then I am afraid I would say the most likely is either

  •  The  doughnut of death ( aerial orientation )
  •  Faulty installation - by which I mean one or more faults in EVERYTHING involved such as wiring, switches,    socket pins, loose connectors etc etc
  • Pilot error
  • Faulty receiver as described earlier.
No order of likelihood I hasten to add
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Be really great to see some unbiased and credible figures.  Great stuff, Timbo.  I am, as I said, very pleased they are replacing your receiver like that with no quibbles, Shaun, but it sure would have been nice to eliminate it from the ring of possible suspects one way or another.
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JETSOME wrote (see)
I have a number of 6200s and never had a problem in fact apart from a hidden fractured aerial wire on a 6100 and the Canberra rx voltage failure I have had no other problems with any of my Speky gear and it gets a great deal of use. I'm at the stage now that I can hardly believe how good this stuff is and I am really reluctant to fly 35Mhz .

As I am sure most peeps know by now, I have been totally "Spekkyfied" across my whole fleet of 15 models for almost 18 months and hundreds of flights, with never a single issue. Maybe I am lucky
I would never go back to 35Mhz now.
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Sorry chaps, I have had finger trouble whilst typing, the rx is an AR6100, not a AR6200 as previously stated. Sorry, but I doubt it makes a difference.

Doughnut of death - it was fine for the previous few mins, and I didn't move. Could be I suppose.

Equipment fault - it could of course be this, but as far as I can tell, all connections work as advertised, and how could the UBEC be installed wrong, there's only 3 leads? The red lead is soldered to the red esc lead for the esc / battery, the black lead is soldered to the black esc lead for the esc / battery. The ribbon cable goes to the rx battery connection.

Pilot error - I grant you this is possible, I am not by any means more than an beginner / intermediate flier, but even I can get out of a wings level 3 degree glide that lasts nearly 10 secs! When I heard the motor power down, I swore loudly, closed the throttle and then tried to reopen it, I also tried to rock the wings and gently pull up to level off. The model did absolutely nothing and there were eyewitnesses who watch the whole thing.

Faulty rx - as was said before, any number of components can be to blame.

I know a poor workman blames his tools, but c'mon.

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Shaun Chant wrote (see)

Hi guys. The rx sits fairly clear of all wires etc and the aerial goes side to side.


Shaun, first of all, commiserations.  That's a real kick in the teeth, especially after what you've been through recently.  When you say the aerial goes "side to side", do you mean the aerials were installed at 90 degrees to one another?  If they were parallel to one another (ie. directly in line) they could get into an orientation where they are in line with your radiated field and would receive no signal from the tx. 

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