willyuk

I hope someone out there can give me a clue on where to start on solving this issue.
I have been flying my 2m aircraft with a hacker c50-13xl, jeti spin 99 pro opto and 10 s setup for well over a year with no major issues. On Sunday, a rare very hot day in the UK, on the fourth flight I had a sudden lack of throttle response, i.e the power went to idle, after a couple of seconds it cam back. I landed and checked it out and all was working OK. Checked the ESC and it showed no errors to cause a shutdown. This happened again on the next flight. Yesterday I tried again, first 3 flights no issues, on the fourth flight exactly the same symptoms, no throttle response for a second or two. I had lots height so flew around and then it happened again and I would get power for a while and loose it if I pushed the throttle a bit far. SO, I swapped the ESC for another and it immediately exhibited the same behaviour.
Today I will take another aircraft and check out the transmitter ( different aircraft, esc and motor) If that doesn't cause an issue I will swap the receiver for the one from the 2m model, if that all works It leaves the Hacker as the only other possible culprit. At least thats how I see it
Has anyone any clue how such a symptom might be shown, could a fault with the motor only show up after a few flights and then go away the next day? My only guess is that the motor may have a fault that shows up when it has really been used for a while, got good and hot and started a fault but why would it not work, then work ok fow a few minutes. Could it be a heat problem with the windings or something???

Jason Arnold

What have you set the ESC temp to? It sounds like the ESC might be protecting itself particularly if all has been going well until hot weather hits. Then again, a scorcher in the U.K. Is probably 29 C.... ;-)

BTW, the ESC should log what the max temp was...

Cheers,
Jason.

willyuk

Hi Jason,
esc protection set at 100 degrees, max temp reached on the flights when the problem occurred 85 degrees and 78 degrees. No errors shown on the jetibox readout. So it looks like the ESC was well within limits. I even tried a second spin 99 in case there was a glitch with the original and the same thing happened.

thanks
Al.

Jason Arnold

That seems to be the normal settings and readings. Did the problem occur on hard acceleration?

it might be worth checking your solder joints and connectors just in case you have a dodgy solder joint or a carbonised connector.

willyuk

Hi Jason
It did occur when increasing power for verticals or a large radius. I will check all the connectors, BUT when I swapped the esc, I changed all those anyway, except the batteries I guess which may account for it. I will have a good look to see if I can isolate any particular connector or set of connectors

Thanks
Al

Goodie_2_Shoes

I saw something similar to what you're experiencing a couple of weeks ago at my local club. We discovered that the problem was due to the external arming system. They didn't have an anti spark, just a deans style connection. The deans plug had developed carbon build-up creating a poor connection. A new arming system with an anti spark solved all the issues.

Good luck with everything.

snaproll4

I'm assuming the second ESC had the same programming as the first. Check the Low Voltage Cutoff. At the end of the flight, voltage can really sag, especially on verticals. Check the Data Log to see the minimum voltage during the flight and make sure the LVC is lower. Although, I would think you would get an alarm code if the LVC was the culprit. It sounds like the ESC is shutting down. You might be able to trace it back to batteries that are the end of their life cycle, since you had some good flights.

​​​​​​​Steve

willyuk

Well here is the interesting thing. I used a different plane today and experienced the same issues BUT, the esc showed the error when the problem occurred. Note I was deliberately forcing lots of power through the system and blanking the airflow over the esc.. The ESC cut off at 100 degrees C, as it should. I could replicate this very easily on the ground and by connecting the Jeti box, watch the temperature rise as I increased the throttle. At 100 degrees Bingo the motor cut and as the temp of the esc dropped below 100 it became active again. The jeti box also logged the error as T = Y So far so good, it was just as we expect. ON the other model, exactly the same symptoms BUT the esc never went above 85 degrees and no errors were logged. I think it is clearly a temperature issue as it has never happened before and 32 degrees C in the UK is most unusual. I have checked all connectors and it happens with both new and well used batteries, as the Hacker is very old and very well used, to be safe the motor is out and off to Hacker to be overhauled.

nonstoprc

My Feedback: (90)

I wonder if you should test the ESC which reports the temperature and shuts down the motor correctly on ground test on the plane that you have issue with originally. It could be that the ESC in that plane may act up in high temperature.

I have experienced similar issue before here in Texas and concluded that the pack just can not hold the charge any more as reported by the ESC (min voltage during the flight is 31 V). The error code from Jeti Spin 99 is C = Y.

faguilarm29

I have being suffering from similar symptoms, which started last 2016 summer time. Here in Madrid, Spain, so high temperatures are not so rare in mid August¡¡ but other people were flying and without ESC cuts¡

Trying to know more details, I installed the telemetry (basic one, which give idea of signal quality) module and came out a lot of failings and signals lost. So, conclude the case of motor cuts is because the radio system enters fail safe mode.

After all this time since the begining of the file, had checked and renew the regulator (receiver and servos are feed independently from motor battery), had changed the receiver and so on, as soon as I perform the range test, telemetry give me a lot of fails...

Right now, I am considering to use other branch trasmiter and receiver system.

It is being a nightmare¡¡

ron_van_sommeren

Motor-soldering, motor-connectors, motor-connections, connections in motor:
Motor stuttering? Won't run? Read before asking. RCG

Vriendelijke groeten Ron