Originally Posted by
mirored
The one that failed is a down and locked. I am going to send them in for them to look at. I am keeping options open and gaining facts on the situation and make a decision after I get it all together.
I've had some experience with electric retracts and have a theory as to why they fail to either retract or deploy. Basically, the retract motor is a DC motor operating a jack screw arrangement which should be an ingenious way to do the job. And, when everything works, it is! However, it seems to me, after some dis-assembly of the electronics portion of the gear mechanism, there are 2 power transistors or ic's (not sure which) that are used to supply the motor with the proper voltage at the correct polarity depending on which direction the jack screw should turn. When there's a failure, there's a high probability that one of the transistors or ic's has failed. The transistors or ic's are actually surrounded by their own heat sinks again making me feel I have the part that fails identified. There's no cure - the electronics portion is completely potted. I've experienced this with 2 servo mechanisms I received from Motion RC who sells a variety of ARF's made by "FMS". Most likely, the electronics portion of a lot of these mechanisms comes from the same factory in China. I would think after all this time with these mechanisms, there would be someone "over there" who would beef up that portion of the electronics.