Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

I just lost an os surpass 91 II, plane and servos due to the lock up on this radio. I knew about the sub trim issue with ail diff so I avoided using sub trim in the radio.
So I was flying my edge 540 I handed it to a friend to fly it and he told me it needed left aileron trim. As I trim the aileron and he’s flying the radio locks up! I dug my plane out of the grown and took it home.
Once home I started playing with the radio to see if I could make it lock up again. I came up with the following if you start moving your right stick around while full throttle and count down timer going at the same time while doing the aileron trim. The radio will eventually lock up. I just replicated this about 5 times.
So I called hitec to see if there was anything they could do for me. The only thing I was told is send the radio in and well look at it, but there is nothing we can do about your plane.

I am writing this because I don’t want someone else to go through this. I have had several friends buy this radio as I loved it too much. I think they will be getting rid of theirs and going with something else after they witnessed this.

Thanks for your time.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Make sure you send this to Hitec. They should know that if they don't start owning up, they WILL lose business.[:@]

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

just wanted to let you know that i have followed your instructions for the last 15 minutes and could ot get mine to lock up. So i hope that this is just and one time glitch and not wide spread. I will def. watch my radio for that.

Flyboy76

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Here are my settings.
epa 100 on all but 3 thgat has 109
d/r channel 1 at 40 channel 2 at 40 channel 4 at 100 for low rates and 100 for high rates. was using low rates when this happened
expt was -15 on chanel 1 -15 on channel 2 and -40 on channel 4
subtrim +40 on channel 3
channels 1-5 reversed
t-cut +50
adiff on

i will make a video of this and post it shortly.

Thanks

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Here is a Video if getting this radio to lock up.
http://adirondack.relic.net/~dose/lock.mov

not a great video i used a digital camera without audio.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

In my my opinion, they should replace the plane and anything else that got damaged.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Mine too. Of course if they decide not to, the only opinion that will matter is the judge's. If they decide not to pay, court may be the only way to get them to get them to accept responsibility for their error.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

I just got off the phone with my friend Dose (Orlando) and he walked me through setting up my radio the same as his was... and IT LOCKED UP! We bought the radios about the same time from Tower. I can't find a S/N on the radio but I do know it is at the same firmware revision as his. Needless to say, I find this disturbing. Have I been flying on borrowed time? If it locks up with these settings what other possible combinations are there? I find it hard to believe that he stumbled across the the only combination that would cause this. Hitec will be hearing from me as well. I was planning on sending it in to get the FW upgraded to fix the lockup issue with the sub-trim and hopefully it will resolve this issue. I am sitting here thinking that maybe I should have sprung for the little extra and got a Multiplex EVO 7, instead. Maybe there is something to be said for my old Ace analog box after all.
Brian

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

I think someone owes you a plane, radio AND engine - locking up - that's crap!!!!!

Jerry

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

locking up - that's crap!!!!!



have you explained to H tec that with your settings
you and your friends radio both lock up?

this should concern them
it is a long shot, AMA might also be interested also
press the issue, fight the good fight

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Wow

That's scary.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Hitech has come a long way...The company has become wealthy and put out some good products....If you can prove that they have a malfunctioning radio on the market,then they should cough up the damage you have endured to your belongings.This would only print a positive image on Hitech,and they aint gonna go broke over coming good for this incident.Keep pushing.;)

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

I'm sure in their opinion paying for planes and engines is opening up a big can of worms, especially after the whole thing get's posted on the web. The warrantees from all manufacturers mention they are not responsible for damage to other equipment wether it was their fault or not.

I have heard of people turning the radio off and then on again after a loss of signal to try to recapture control. It takes some quick thinking and I don't know if it would ever occur to me during the heat of battle however in this case it might have done the trick. At full throttle you probably didn't have time for any options.

BTW, what were you doing flying an Edge at full throttle during triming?

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

That really sucks.

I can tell you I was just looking for a 6 channel computer radio and I heard rumours of firmware glitches on the Optic 6 and gave it a wide birth.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

I have three E-Clipse Seven radios and they have worked flawlessly thus far, however I have not tried this combo. I will program these settings into one of my Sevens this weekend and see if they have a problem also. Has anyone else had a simular problem with the Sevens or is this an Optic Six issue only?

Thanks

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

I just got my hands on a third radio and it also locks up with those settings.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Dose sent you an pm.

Grinder.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Imagine the can of worms that will get opened if someone gets hit by an out of control plane because of a known defect in the radio or the servos!

There is a defect, they now know, they should take care of it and the damages.

It's about time the companies completed their beta testing at the factories instead of in the field, in my opinion.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

I carefully set up my radio just like yours and spent several minutes moving the right stick and trim but it won't lock up. I'm still concerned though. When did you buy your radio? I got mine from Tower on Feb. 17, 2005.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

i got mine in may 2005
do you have the fix for the subrim and ail dif on yours?
if you enable aileron dif and make the subrim on channel 3 lower than -60 does your radio lock up?
if it doesnt that might mean that the patch fixes more than just the subtrim issue. also are you running v 1.1 on your radio?
all the radios i tested ran version 1.1

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

hitec has a problem and owes you everything you lost, the radio caused your plane to crash not your piloting skills. the next time you speak with them tell them alot of people know about this and will not buy thier products any longer. eventually the word will spread and hitec will not be a choice anymore for radio's

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Lanny,
You overestimate the power of RCU and the relative handful of people who will read this thread. What would really spread is word that Hitec will replace all your gear that you lost in a crash.

P-51,
I completely agree that we are used as Beta testers in this hobby but it just goes to show what a small crappy business our hobby is. It is cheaper to let us Beta test and replace what goes wrong than to do a lot of expensive research and delay a new product.

They do know of the problem and are offering to upgrade the radios but the thread starter admitted that he knew of another problem but chose to ignore it so what should Hitec be responsible for? They can't force people to send in radios for upgrades and the old "what if someone get's killed" arguement is just farfetched and silly. With all the planes flying and all the crashes where are all the people getting killed? It's just so remote that I don't think it is valid.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

Dose, this is weird. I have v. 0 but my radio doesn't lock up with aileron dif enabled and channel 3 subtrim way lower than -60. I don't know if that means I have the fix, but being an older version, I doubt it.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

oh so looks like version 0 didnt have that problem and it was introduced either in 1 or 1.1 the subtrim and the one i had. interesting. maybe the fix for the subtrim fixes it.
thank you for the info.

RE: Hitec Optic 6 = Countdown to your crash
 

i knew about the -60 subtrim problem i called and asked if that would be the only way i would get that lockup and i was told that was it. in fact i was told if i used subtrim of -60 and up i would not have any problems at all. if they would have told me it could cause other problems besides the one of me not being able to use excesive negative subtrim i would have sent it right back.