strato911

Tracker II owners and future owners: Past discussions with Mr Polk from Polk's Hobbies have shown that he is willing to update the Tracker II software if the suggestions are easily implemented.

I am starting this poll to see how many people would be interested in having the failsafe function returned to the Seeker receiver. The original manual I received had it listed in the table of contents, so it should be easy to re-enable it. When asked why they removed it, Mr. Polk said "We have removed the SPD as too many people felt it was more harmful than helpful."

I for one think a properly programmed failsafe would be invaluable to ensure a runaway plane doesn't hurt / kill bystanders.
By properly configured I mean if signal is lost for more than ...3 seconds, apply full aileron, full opposite rudder, full flaps , spoilers or crow and throttle cut. This bleeds excess speed quickly, minimizing potential non-aircraft damage in a crash.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

And for the reasons dennis stated. I do intend to pick one up when a little more of a track record has been established.


John

causeitflies

If its programmable.

Maiden Voyage

There has been a great deal of discussion as to the "Safety" of this type of feature. I believe that any safety feature if implemented improperly can do more harm than good. It is the choice of the manufacturer (unless forced by law) to include or exclude any of these "optional" features. However, once it has been included it is the responsibility of the owner to make a conscious decision as to if and how it will be used.

I for one would like that ability! So include the ability, but default to disabled. Of course these settings should be model specific and saveable.

One thing is for sure, this IS my next radio!

strato911

The failsafe settings are stored in the RECEIVER (so it knows what to do when it loses signal), so it would be specific to the plane it is installed in.
Welcome aboard.

skypupmut

Hi Dennis
have been flying my seeker in a Lazy ace for a while now
great.
Might be nice to have the fail safe, this bird sure could end up far away if signal was lost

Maiden Voyage

Oh, duh. It must of been a late night! :sleeping:

Kevin Brice

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Dennis and co.,

I installed my seeker II receiver in my new 120 size edge 540 from creek hobbies and flew it for the first time over Memorial weekend. I was very pleased with the performance of the receiver.

The No. 8 channel (I am using my 7 channel eclipse radio) allowed me to set it up with a dual battery system - two switches, two batteries, plugged into two slots on the receiver. My batteries were brand new and ironically one did end up being bad. I was able to still fly without tearing the plane apart. I have six servos all in their own channel with one channel left over yet to add a smoke system in the future.

I don't really desire a "fail safe" system because who knows what attitude I will be at if/when signal is lost. I would prefer a "fail secure" option where the last position would be maintained until signal is found again. The one exception to this is perhaps throttle. I would prefer that programing and research effort be spent on maintaining signal reception all of the time, unless we are talking about perhaps dropping your radio in the lake while flying a float plane or some other equally catostophic event.

strato911

Kevin - Every failsafe is programmable by the owner. If you want, you could instruct it to kill the throttle, but maintain the last position for all other channels.

The term "fail-safe" is a misnomer. As you pointed out, who knows what the plane's attitude will be when the signal is lost. However, when you're flying with a large crowd of spectators, it's better to program the "fail-safe" with a command which slows the plane as quickly as possible to minimize the danger to the public. Of course, this will likely destroy the plane, but better to lose a plane than take a life.

The bigger your plane, the more important this becomes.

strato911

I would like to post a correction: Depending upon design, the failsafe MAY be stored in the Tx, and transmitted at routine intervals during the flight. Futaba's 8AU transmitts the failsafe settings once every minute.

If the Tracker II / Seeker II worked this way as well, I agree, the failsafe settings should be model specific.

strato911

That's it?!? Only 12 people have an opinion on this??? I expected far more opinions than that...

strato911

I have just learned that the loss of the failsafe was in order to provide room for other features, and cannot be re-integrated without losing something else. Therefore, I will close this poll (if I can), since it is a moot point.

Thanks for voting.

rcav8or

My Feedback: (5)

The poll has been closed at Dennis' request, however, comments, etc, can still be made.

Thanks.

Rog, the Mod