Hi Guys ,
Ilost a Kingcat yesterday due to what I can attribute to unexplained 2.4 issues.
I was using a JR DSM9 radio with the 9ch Rx and 2 extra remotes , the kingcat was rigged with 2 x Powerbox 2800mA batts for Rx , 4000mA Powerbox batt for ECU , Powerbox evolution , Powerbox smokepump , Jetcat Afterburner ring and a Jetcat 160.
Aircraft had 25 flights on it without incident data logger had shown Rx and receiver location to be OK - No fades or holds.
Here was an aircraft that was perfectly setup , redundant systems etc and a troublefree history flying at theand same airfield,but on Sunday , on the first flight after takeoff and into the 2nd circuit the Gear dropped and turbine shutdown and no control was restored until impact.
Everything was detroyed !
This is the 2nd time a similar thing has happened to me with a 2.4 system, the first time was with a large Gas heli which went into Failsafe but regained control after a few scary seconds , never flown the heli after that.Again the set up was a fully redundant power system, additional remote extensions and over 10 incident free flights to prove the system
The point is- the 2.4 system seems to have too many quirks and bugs most of which are encountered during setup i.e while binding or after binding some systems will cycle the gear on powering up or a bound system will require to be recycled or have to go thru the binding process again because lights on one remote will keep flashing etc .
Or even worse you could just randomly get hit by the system going into failsafe for no assignable reason whatsoever.
I know there was ahuge controversy about Ali's Hunter crash on RCU sometime agoand the thread ran into many many pages with various people pointing out to the cause of the crash and advocating redundant power supply systems etc.
Itdefinitely beyond doubt that the weakest link today appears to be in addition to batteries , also our preferredprimary control systems
My post is not JRor Spektrum specific , I know Futabaalso has its own issuesin high operating temperatures etc but I have nofirst hand experience with Futaba
I also know that there are many people out there that have many successful flightswith 2.4 systems
I myselfhave logged probably more than200 flights since the spektrumconversion modules came out
IMHO I think if we look at pure percentages,the older 35, 40 , 72mHZ systems are relatively troublefree whencompared to the2.4gHZ technology out there.
The percentage failure rate on the 2.4gHZ seems to be unacceptably high !
In my 20yrs experience with the older FM/PCMsystems I've NEVER had a failure that could not be explained
Interestingly the Europeans do not seem to have switched over wholeheartedly to the 2.4gHZ tech.
My observation is from 3 consecutive years that I have visited the JETPOWER show in Germany - most of the pilots (90%) seemed to prefer the 35 or 40mHZ system - I wonder if there is a reason for this ?
My question for all of us to consider is :
<ul>[*]Is the 2.4 technology really ready for the hobby ?[*]Or are we enthusiasts guinea pigs for a evolving technology where the manufacturers are doing their R&D at our cost ?[/list]I am definitely pulling out all my old but reliable 35mHZ receivers and possibly go with a twin Rx RRS system - No more 2.4 for me !
Xantos