dcam

Hi all,
I received the F4 Fantom kit the other day complete with radio, motor charger and exta battery etc. This is my first all electric plane and kit and all I can say is wow, it was awsome, all the parts were there, they fit beautifully, and it's a great looking plane.

I put it all together, the instruction book is not even neccessary, it's all self explanitory, piece of cake.
Anyway, after I charged up the battery, installed new AA's in the transmitter I turned it on, then plugged in the plane battery, all the servos twitched alittle and moved the controls just alittle bit then nothing, I waited a minute to see if anything else would happen and nothing. I unplugged the plane battery and tried again, same thing and all the controls moved just a bit more. Did this a couple of more times and then everything started working normally, although the servos all moved a little iratically. I chalked this up to being an inexpensive radio and continued with some ground taxing in the street at home for a while.
All seemed well except every time I've unplugged the plane and plugged it back in I've had to go through the same ritual with it not powering up and all the servos twitching over to the sides.
I charged up the plane battery and headed out to the field, had some other guys there check it out and they thought the Speed controler might be the problem. After the same ritual again it finally started working correctly, except for the servos still acting abit irratic but tollerable. First flight lasted about 5 seconds, I banked after take-off and when I tried to roll out straight nothing happened, the plane hit the ground hard enough to break into several pieces.
It should be repairable but I don't want to fly again until I resolve the control issue.

Does this sound like a speed controller issue? Could I possibly get a new one and see if that works?
Like I said this is my first all electric plane but after seeing the others at the field it sure seems that's the problem.
My order number is - Order Number: 495383. 1- 2009 New Style!! Jolly Roger Exceed RC F-4E Phantom 4-Channel RC Jet w/ Brushless, LiPo Setup, 64mm Electrid Ducted Fan, 100% RTF

Thanks for your help.
Don

dcam

I forgot to mention that I did double check all the connections at the receiver including servos and the crystal and also checked the crystal on the transmitter, even unplugged and plugged everything back in again. Also checked the voltage at the plane it was at 11.6 with one battery and 12.1 with the other so they were fully charged. Transmitter battery light was green. Inspected the ESC and all the solder joints looked good, wiring all appeared to be ok too.


HELP!! I wanna fly this baby.

opjose

It could be the ESC, receiver or transmitter... Yeah I know that helps a lot...

Try to isolate the problem as much as you can.

Start by unplugging the other channels, except for the throttle.

Turn on the TX and then power up the plane, so you'll only have throttle.

Run the plane at 1/3 power or so for 1-2 minutes and see if you can run the throttle up and down w/o problems.

If so, then plug in one of the servo channels, and try again.

Keep doing this with the others.

What you are looking for is to see if the problem occurs over time, or with one specific channel plugged in or only when all the channels are plugged in.

If it only manifests when ALL of the servos are connected, then it is likely that the included ESC's on board BEC is not able to take the drain from all of the servos, and so it is shutting down.

BTW: The servos jittering, tend to indicate that you have the TX powered but the antenna extended. This swamps the RX's electronics because of the strong signal which leads to the twitching...

Of course having a very week or no TX signal can create the same symptom too!

dcam

opjose,

Thanks for the suggestions.
I did as you said and disconnected all but the ESC. Still nothing. I double checked the crystal on the receiver, unplugged and plugged back in. Still nothing, so I checked the crystal in the transmitter, unplugged then plugged back in also. Now everything seems to work properly. I plugged in all the servos one at a time until all were in place and it seems to be ok. Ran the motor and operated the controls until the motor died, still had servo control (thats a good thing). Let the plane sit for 15 minutes and plugged in the other battery and all still worked well. I will recharge both and see what happens. Right now it seems that the transmitter crystal may have not been making good contact. I hope that cures it, I hate repairing crashed airplanes.

Thanks again opjose!!!!!!!!!!

Don

opjose

Excellent!

I would suggest that you put some tape over the crystals both on the plane and the TX to prevent it from working loose in flight causing the plane to loose the signal. I usually spread the contact "feet" very slightly to force a good contact, before applying a bit of scotch tape...

That the motor cut off with the servos still operating indicates that the LiPo cutoff worked properly too... a good thing.

It also points to servo load not being an issue which is always re-assuring...

thorn247

My Feedback: (6)

i had the exact same problem. i bent the posts on the tx crystal outwards a bit and seemed to eliminate the problem. altho i havn't flown it yet do to the snow outside. i was finding it wouldn't conect unless i wiggled the crystal on the back of the tx

dcam

I retested the radio and it was still acting up. In the transmitter right next to the crystal there are two adjustable pots?, I noticed that the upper one was turned a bit different than the other one, so I turned it back, maybe a 5th of a turn, not much. But then it all worked perfectly. I've been testing it for a couple of days, off and on and it all seemed perfect, every time. Ran down the battery pack and recharged it twice during testing. It never missed a beat.
Took it to the field this morning, did a range check, and all was working perfectly. Time to fly!

Take off was good, climbed up to about 50 feet or so and did a slow circle back around, still everything working perfectly and looking good, throttled back to about 2/3's got back around over the runway and then all of a sudden it hard rolled to the left and into the ground, had no control at all. The plane is now dumpster material. Haven't checked the radio yet, don't know if I can trust it even if it is working. Sad day. It's a beautiful plane (was) and I know they can fly well, it was flying great until the death roll, but I don't think I will use this radio again.

Don

keroza

just put together the F4 Phantom as well and its already been in 3 crashes. Epoxy does work wonders and the plane still is in one piece! However I noticed that I didnt have any control of the plane or throttle when the plane was a good distance from me. This meant that the plane crashed as I couldnt control it. Now I did the distance test and noticed that it was real erratic. So I also reseated the TRANSMITTERS crystal and then it worked much better! The crystal was not pushed in all the way as it stuck out. I believe this caused the plane to lose control.
I also noticed that weak LiPo batteries in the plane also cause this to happen. I didnt cycle the batteries meaning I didnt drain it all the way down and recharge it. I believe this should help. So now I have a plane that still seems to be in 1 piece and I also should have gotten the trainer plane first so I could learn better. However I am doing lots of practice by taxiing the plane up and down the street. And I also notice that you have to be careful of the direction that the plane is going and have that awareness on the joystick. So needless to say, I will keep gluing the plane back together and once I get profecient with it, I will try and get the foam pieces and rebuild it later on. I may also shelve this plane and get one of the TRAINER planes as a first start to learn.

keroza

OK here is an update on my progress with the F4. I had a RANGE problem which turned out the be the batteries, or how I had them inserted into the transmitter. I had the green light all the time, but my range was no more than 100 feet with the antenna extended, and only 30 feet with the antenna retracted. After replacing the batteries, I am seeing 280-300 feet range with the antenna extended and about 150 feet with the antenna retracted. Keep in mind that the plane was sitting on the ground, and I think that because the antenna is routed across the belly of the plane, it does cause a reception issue on the ground, but not in the air. So the batteries were the culprit here for me. I also believe that the reception is better in the air than on the ground, as the line of sight is better.

Then I also did another test where I placed the plane facing away from me (the rear of the plane was facing me). I got the 280 foot range on the ground that way. When I turned the plane towards me, my range is much much less. So now I am thinking of rerouting the antenna wire to get a better reception on the receiver. This is critical as the plane does fly past you and its direction is constantly changing. This is important from the standpoint that the Receiver can never lose contact from the transmitter, or ....you guessed it, a crash will occur. I discovered this all in the last few days.

So I feel I am making progress with the plane, and I will continue to provide updates as I continue working with this.

The other caveat is that this is my first RC Plane, however I have learned lots by taxiing the plane up and down my street, like controlling the steering etc. This I believe is also a critical first step in determining the range of your transmitter, and ensuring that there are no problems.

The other issue that I am having is the Elevator control. I am going to move the linkage to the outer most hole to help provide more elevator sweep. I have flown pretty fast and I am having trouble getting the plane to ROTATE. This could also be a center of gravity issue.

Keep in mind that my plane has had 3 major crashes, and the epoxy does work wonders!!! I used the PLASTIC Epoxy that sets in 7 mins and it works great! In fact, I was flying in 30 minutes after my first crash, as the glue did set quickly. It is recommended that you wait 24 hrs though.

So I will provide further updates on the plane as I go forward. I hope that this info will be helpful to most folks that may be struggling with the setup and configuration of their RC F4 EDF.