manicirishwriter

Greetings All--

Got one of these from Santa, who's obviously fading a little on the whole naughty & nice thing, and have had fun learning to fly it here in Atlanta as spring rolls in. Prior RC experience has been all amateur car stuff, though admittedly I have kept all five of them and they all run well.

Mostly no problems, but taking Stormy out yesterday after a while (6 weeks?) unused, I ran into a scenario I've found but little discussed in the forums. The motors cut off after only a few seconds, and only remounting the battery will start it again at all--only to stop again.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that 1 prop spun intermittently, even when motor was running. Is it perhaps stripped, and does this throw off the whole design and induce shutoff? I know it's not very sturdy, but it's really only crashed seriously once. Ok, full air speed into a brick wall, damn school buildings in the middle of lovely fields. 10 yr old son's first flight--enough said. Taped well.

On a brighter note, I inherited an 8 yr old brand new (assembled but never used- was missing charger) in the box Jet Arrow that I was able to pilot today for the first time. Stormy was supposed to be my tow boat just in case. But the Jet Arrow ran fine, and though I've been driving MC (manual control?) boats since I got my first one at 13 yrs of age, the RC boating experience was Really Cool (RC?). Might have to get some little ones for my little ones so they don't touch the big one. It's the only running boat I have in the water at present!

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Frank

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

It's possible that the crash into the wall shorted the speed controller or battery, but it's also possible the battery for the mini storm launcher simply isn't getting a full charge. By any chance would you happen to have a voltmeter to check the battery and charger with?

manicirishwriter

Hey-thanks for responding. Been out of the e-loop for a day and a half...

Put a meter to it, and yes, it was low @ 2.4V. For some reason the auto charger wasn't getting past blinking red. Plugged and unplugged several times, and kept putting battery back in. Finally went to the green blink of charging and eventually into the solid green of charged. Runs fine in living room; will test this weekend up at folks lake house. Supposed to be sunny and almost 80 deg all weekend here in Atlanta!

By the way, are there any special concerns about the Launcher in the water? Don't nose dive from 50 ft up? I'm decent on the flying but wouldn't bet money that I wouldn't send it into the water. The motors look fairly enclosed, but I'm guessing they're not exactly waterproof. Plus wave action may be a bit heavy w/ spring traffic. If the motors get drenched, should I remove battery and let dry, or should they be fine, especially being air-dried by the props?

Wonder if I can race it in a straight line w/ the Jet Arrow...

Thanks again for the info,
Frank

jongscx

Can I assume you have a full-sized S/L?

anyways, Esc and Rx are in a plastic baggie that inside the body near the top, so unless you flip it, then pour a bucket of water on it, the outside of the bag won't even get wet...
Motors methinks are just cheap chinese ones, so they should just dry... I'd suggest running it at a low speed (read low voltage) for a little while to let it dry without too much shorting.

Where in the atl are ya? I used to be at tech and when I get back, I'm thinking of checking out piedmont for flying...

Dave ESPI

I torpedoed a SL 2 weeks ago. That baggie is not waterproof. At some point I overheated a diode, and it burned a small hole in the baggie. I was lucky that water dod not ruin the chip board, but the motors really do not like water and I tried running them underwater as it was upside down like a propeller.. well, it doesn't work like that... LOL. Ihe motors dried out and were fine later.