Futaba 8 chan R/X- heads up
06-21-2004, 03:29 PM
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Futaba 8 chan R/X- heads up
External examination of a friend's crash damaged Futaba FP.R148DF FM receiver revealed the following.
1. The Printed Circuit Board on which the servo plugs are mounted was slightly pushed in at the top side of case. Receiver was dead.
2. Receiver could be made to operate by pulling out on servo plugs.
3. None of the male servo connector pins on the servo plug PCB were bent even slightly, or damaged in any way.
4. The receiver case showed no damage or scratches whatever.
Internal examination revealed.
1. That the servo plug PCB was secured by a tab fitting in a slot in the bottom PCB, but relied only on the 14 jumper wires used to transfer bus, regulated, and signal voltages between the top and servo plug PCB's. The cross section of these wires measured only .012" where they enter the PCB's and all were cleanly fractured flush with the Servo plug PCB.
2. Located approx .080" behind the normal position of the Servo plug PCB is a rail projecting from each side of the upper case. I believe these rails were intended to provide the backup for the servo plug PCB in the case of any heavy thrust loads being imposed on the servo plug PCB. The .080" clearance defeats this backup protection for the servo plug PCB.
I my view this is a design fault in the packaging of this otherwise fine receiver. Since the PCM version of this receiver appears to use the same case, the above remarks are probably applicable to it also, although I cannot confirm this as I have not had occasion to remove the case from a PCM R/X. I did inspect my own R148DF receiver and it too had the .080"gap referred to above.
I was able to rewire this receiver and return it to service after the expenditure of much time. It is a very fiddly job. On reassembly I glued the servo plug PCB to the top PCB with epoxy to provide support for the top of the servo plug PCB. I would suggest any owner consider this modification also. I also suggest that this R/X be mounted crosswise in a fuselage so that sudden stops, as in a crash, do not induce excessive loads on the servo plugs and servo plug PCB.
1. The Printed Circuit Board on which the servo plugs are mounted was slightly pushed in at the top side of case. Receiver was dead.
2. Receiver could be made to operate by pulling out on servo plugs.
3. None of the male servo connector pins on the servo plug PCB were bent even slightly, or damaged in any way.
4. The receiver case showed no damage or scratches whatever.
Internal examination revealed.
1. That the servo plug PCB was secured by a tab fitting in a slot in the bottom PCB, but relied only on the 14 jumper wires used to transfer bus, regulated, and signal voltages between the top and servo plug PCB's. The cross section of these wires measured only .012" where they enter the PCB's and all were cleanly fractured flush with the Servo plug PCB.
2. Located approx .080" behind the normal position of the Servo plug PCB is a rail projecting from each side of the upper case. I believe these rails were intended to provide the backup for the servo plug PCB in the case of any heavy thrust loads being imposed on the servo plug PCB. The .080" clearance defeats this backup protection for the servo plug PCB.
I my view this is a design fault in the packaging of this otherwise fine receiver. Since the PCM version of this receiver appears to use the same case, the above remarks are probably applicable to it also, although I cannot confirm this as I have not had occasion to remove the case from a PCM R/X. I did inspect my own R148DF receiver and it too had the .080"gap referred to above.
I was able to rewire this receiver and return it to service after the expenditure of much time. It is a very fiddly job. On reassembly I glued the servo plug PCB to the top PCB with epoxy to provide support for the top of the servo plug PCB. I would suggest any owner consider this modification also. I also suggest that this R/X be mounted crosswise in a fuselage so that sudden stops, as in a crash, do not induce excessive loads on the servo plugs and servo plug PCB.
