Parkzone Super Decathlon - Motor only works for a brief moment
 

Complete newb here. Just bought a USED Parkzone Super Decathon (Red). Testing out at the swap meet seemed to work fine. However, got home, charged up, and tried it out, and the motor goes for a brief moment, then turns off. It can't even get past about 50% throttle. Once it goes on and throttle ups, it dies. Motors move etc, so I don't think its the battery. I then try to throttle up, goes for a very brief couple of seconds, and then motor cuts.

Any ideas?

Appreciate it.....John K.<br type="_moz" />

RE: Parkzone Super Decathlon - Motor only works for a brief moment
 

Make sure your throttle trim is set all the way low before you turn on the receiver.

RE: Parkzone Super Decathlon - Motor only works for a brief moment
 

Looks like this is an old question so you've probably already either figured it out or given up, but what it sounds like is...

If the throttle cuts out, and then you return to idle and can re-advance it part way, you're probably hitting the Low Voltage Cutout (LVC) of the ESC/Receiver (I think the parkzone decathlon has a combo ESC/receiver)... if this is happening, you will know because the motor will go back to zero but you'll still be able to move the flight controls. ESC's are designed like this so when your battery runs low the motor cuts out but you can still control the plane to glide to a landing... or even pull the throttle back to idle for a second and have a short burst of being able to advance it again if you need it for the landing. Hitting the LVC point could be happening for one of these reasons:

- Battery problem that is causing the voltage to droop when you advance the throttle and start drawing current - probably means the battery pack is bad and needs replacement

or, more likely:

- I think the ESC/receiver of the Parkzone Decathlon has three jumpers (according to http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=492 ), and one of them adjusts the Low Voltage cutoff point. With the LVC set for 9 cell Ni-MH batteries or 3S LiPo packs, if you have an 8 cell or even 7 cell Ni-MH it might think you have high enough voltage to allow things to work at first, but then when you advance the throttle and the voltage droops a bit it hits the LVC point, cutting off the throttle. "Auto Cut-Off: Your Super Decathlon comes with the jumper included in the third port. This sets the auto cut-off to function with 6-8 cell "Ni-MH battery packs. If you remove the jumper, the auto cut-off will function with a 9 cell Ni-MH battery pack or a 3S LiPo battery pack. "

What you probably need to do is look at the jumpers on the ESC/Receiver and see if one of theme is missing. If it is, short those two jumper pins together with whatever you have (screwdriver tip to test it, but to replace it you can make something up that stays in place) and see if the problem goes away.