pcofield

I have flown 2 blade 400s that i have for a couple years now with no crashes I have flown my 2 raptors (both 50 nitro) for the past couple years no crashes. I only state this to show I do know how to fly and am not new to helis or there setup. This. Being said I purchase a blade 500 fly bar version bind and fly. I set it up in my dx6i word for word number by number as per the manual .I flew 2 flights both flawless just some simple circuits some loops and some inverted. On the third flight I was hovering about 3 feet of the ground clicked the switch to stunt mode hovered a moment longer then advanced the stick for a climb out when the Heli violently rolled right and went into the ground. I contacted horizon hobbies they were polite and help full as they have always been with any issues I have had they sent ,a call tag for the Heli after a week or so one ,of the techs called me and stated he could find nothing wrong with the electronics and gave me a quote for a repair which I simply requested it be returned. I did not cause the crash. Apparently horizon is ruling out the Heli which leaves me with a unsolved puzzle. If anybody has any reasonable ideas as to why it crashed I would love to hear them. At this point I am tempted to just replace the whole thing since I have no idea why it crashed.

BubbasanJohn

Of course they could find nothing wrong.  Take your car to the mechanic and it stops acting up.......    How could they test you twisted mass of cf and plastic to tell f it worked to spec or not?

pcofield

Actually the damage was limited to tail boom and blade grips but all the electronics tested 100%. I have tried to be polite and professional with the whole situation. Its fustrating not getting any explanation I would feel better about the crash if I had simply dumb thumbed it I to the ground.

Red Baron Gary

My Feedback: (59)

Sounds like a gyro problem. Friend had an early BX 7200 that flew well two times. On the third flight gyro went nuts, he did some fast dancing for twenty seconds or so.

Would suggest you return the gyro to them and have them take a closer look at it.

pcofield

I am not ruling anything out but it beha Ed as if I gave it full right aileron on hg

High rates.I expect the Heli will be back in my hands tomorrow and I will do some testing of my own.I will throw it all in the garbage can before I fly it again with out knowing the cause. Or at least a decent educated guess as to the cause.

Red Baron Gary

My Feedback: (59)

Here is what could be called the $319.95 (or less) answer:

Get a nib Blade 300 heli and pull the gyro from it and install yours in its place.

The little 300 is available online for *much* less than that if you noodle about the web a bit.

Here is s link http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ess-Helicopter

Methinks it can be had for less than the MAP price being its lit up in red.

Just my thoughts plus you end up with a blast to fly cheap-o heli.

Gary

pcofield

I have 2 blade 400s that I could test the gyro on. The blade 500 is the fly bar version not the fly barless version.I don't see the connection between a aileron roll and a gyro failure if I am missing the connection please explain what I am missing.

Red Baron Gary

My Feedback: (59)

My guess here: the gyro just didn't like that movement either left or right. Reread your first post noted the following: " clicked the switch to stunt mode" ...

Something else switched in the gyro too, is my guess.

I know, wasn't supposed to, but it did.

You may have already done this, but... double check *all* of your radio screens one by one when as you flip the anti-gravity toggle.

I have seen the real pros at my flying site have their brand new pride and joy do something like you have described only to discover they had overlooked something tiny (but important) in the setup.

Good luck, I hope you find the gremlin that bit your heli, let all of us know if you do, please.

Gary








Gary

pcofield

I think gremlins may be the ultimate cause found when all is said and done. I have flown it in both normal and is up modes with no issues previously and after goi g into idle up mode on its final flight I did continue to hover while making sure I had clear area to fly. I leaning towards radio interference as I have nothing else at this point that makes sense.my tail never kicked out prior to the crash.I will keep digging till I figure it out.

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi there,

First off, yours is a flybar version so the only thing controlling the aerilon function is the receiver and your transmitter, this isn't an FBL machine so the gyro has nothing to do with cyclic control, only rudder.

Blade electronics aren't the greatest in the world, suggest you consider upgrading the cyclic servo's and tail servo before taking her to the air again. It came with the AR6210 w/ satellite? Both of these had the yellow light lit on them indicating both were active before the flight?

A bit of long shot here but were your batts (both lipo and tx) fully charged? How long into the 3rd flight did the crash occur? Do you use a timer to time your flights? Sounds like the servo jittered and caused the unwanted roll you experienced.

Also, this is a belt driven tail right? Did you do any static spray on the belt or boom before your flights? You could have experienced a static shot which would have screwed with your gyro and/or reciever, this could ultimately be your problem.

Hope this gives you some trouble shooting direction to go in.

Mark

pcofield

Thanks for your contributions as is suggests some of my suspicions are more likely then I thought. None of my raptors or my blade 400 helis have carbon fiber frames. I was not aware of the static issue before researching my issue with this Heli. My reading states all brands of receivers can be effected by the static discharge from the tail boom to the carbon fiber frame. I did not lube the belt with silicone spray or take any steps to prevent a condition I was not aware of. I will take steps to prevent it in the future such as using the wire grounding method. My batteries were in top notch condition in both the controller and received. As far as how long into the flight I would say no more then 30 seconds. I used the settings in the book for the Heli to set it up to my radio and matched the specs to the letter. I was very impressed that I did not even ha e to trim the Heli. The 2 flights I had with it were great very responsive even with the stock paddles and weights. The Heli is what I am looking for to fill a mid size Heli spot in my hanger. But I do need to make it reliable. The article I read specified spectrum receivers to be prone to the static spark and just tonight we had a dsmx receiver fail on a plane. When the ailerons are cycled the brush less motor will start running.I checked the servo monitor in his radio and when it does it the throttle shows that it is not moving. It is starting to look like the 2.4 is not as bullet proof as I thought it to be. As far as do I use a timer yes I do the book says 4 minutes I only flew 3 minutes on both of my flights and checked how many mah the battery used (1600 mah on a 2650 mah) it was my new baby and a new size electric class for me I was taking no chances or so I thought.

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

I am sorry to hear about your downed bird...I know the feeling. []

I did have a 500 sized belted bird (Protos) that used a unique drive system in which a belt ran the mains and tail. It was known to have static issues and so there was lots of info on the grounding wires (tail to boom - scrap the paint to bare metal, boom to frame, and frame to motor mount) as well as static spraying the belt. I did have several static 'hits' that would cause a servo to jitter and depending on the hit it could be a quick servo loss or a long one (resulting in a crash). It was frustrating to say the least and I had to maintain the static spray every several flights just to feel confident with it.

After you get it back together, do the wire grounding and static spray and then do a spool up with no blades (main and tail) and go through all the throttle ranges (watch that flybar btw ) and you should see if there are any problems. If not, then try a low level hover...but know there are no guarantees with this. I think weather also plays a part with static build up...you may want to check on this. Afterwards, keep up with the static spray on the belt and you should be fine.

Mark

pcofield

I found the cause of the blade 500 crash. Tonight while flying my blade 400 during spool up it just tipped over on its side to the right same thing as the 500 did. I was lucky I was still on the ground and not up to full rpm it only bent the main shaft and possibly the feathering shaft of which I have spares. When I walked up to the 400 the swash was maxed to the right only by pointing the radio in different directions was I able to get the swash to correct itself. Moving the stick had no more effect then to make it glitch. Never liked that radio anyway guess I will convert what I have left on that radio to my other radio. Thank you to those who posted I appreciate the help and hopefully can return the favor someday. Its a relief just to finally know the cause now I can put it back in the air.