I crashed twice in the past week and am wondering what to do with the receiver. I know you can 'send it in' and am wondering if anyone knows how long it takes and how much it costs. Also, I'm wondering if there are other ways to test the receiver, i.e. with range checks or something; is there a method of determining if a receiver is still good without sending it somewhere?

It seemed to be working just fine after the first crash. I just plugged the servos in to the receiver in my room and it appears to be working fine.

Thanks.

For me, I would plug in all servos and range check. If it works I would go with it as long as the cause of the crashes were not glitch related.

Just be through in your testing!

What he said lol. No glitch in it before crash and it works. That is one thing about crashes you can usually use your electronics, motor and stuff in your next plane. Just check them out, range test and go have fun.

Depending on the crash, I am thinking that I would send it in for a check up. There could be things wrong with it that a range check will not find. You could now be affected by vibration, have a cracked crystal, just to mention a few. Good Luck, Dave

This one is a no brainer for me. The receiver gets sent in to be checked. If it doesn't get checked it doesn't go back into a plane. Crashes can cause small cracks in the circuit board that can cause failure in flight. These cracks may not show problems in a range check, but will cause problems once in flight and subjected to the vibrations of the engine. Look at it this way, is the ~$50 repair cost worth the chance of losing an airplane??

Especially considering your receiver has now been involved in two crashes. I would send it in for service.

Ken

What David and Ken said. The rx might perform good in a range check but might have a crack in the electronics that could only show up when flying and under vibration.

Curt

A really good guy in our club had a crash and then put the same receiver in a beautiful GP Shoestring little while later. It range checked fine. During the flight it glitched several times so he wisely decided to bring it in. On the final approach it glitched bad and the plane went in. It was pretty sad to see that happen t such a nice plane.

I see RC planes just like full scale planes. If you take too many chances or shortcuts, bad things can happen. I like my planes and have too much invested to risk something so preventable.

I agree 110 % with everyone. I crashed my plane last year, bought another plane and put the same RX in the new plane. I ranged tested it and it worked great. I gut up to 100 feet and absolutely no glitches. So off I went and again I crashed my plane and I thought it was me that caused the crash but really couldn't figure out what the heck was going on. Anyway, the front end was destroyed but everything inside was unscaved. Heck it was all still secured where I put everything even. I sent in the receiver because I just couldn't believe I destroyed 2 planes in 2 flying sessions and sure enough part of the antenna was pulled away from the board. $50 or whatever the plane costs and possibly the other equipment on the plane definitely not worth it. So I would send that RX in and get it checked out. Just MHO

I'd send it in as well. Not worth loosing a plane, hurting yourself or someone else.

Ok, thanks guys. Don't really have $50 so I guess I'm grounded for a while[&o] Is there another brand of receiver that will take my Futaba crystal? Or should I replace that, too?

You should never use another brand crystal in a receiver. Get the crystals made for that receiver. And on that note, a crystal that has been in a crash should be suspect in the same manner as the receiver it was in. Do not reuse a crystal unless it has been checked out by a repair shop. Crystals can crack in a crash and then not operate properly.

Ken

Ok, thanks Ken.

Hey gaRCfield, I have a Castle Creations Berg 7 channel in my 3DHS Extra 300 SHP which seems to work fine and they typically cost $50 and they also have the 4 channel MicroStamp that is full range and sells for around $30 and the crystals are $7 or $8 bucks

Rob

Rob why are you not at fun fly???!!!

I'm heading down in an hour, just to see people/mountains/planes, and maybe get some build advice. I'd be there now but I was up 'til 3:30 gluing wings and servo trays

Do you have a Futaba radio? These Tower Hobbies receivers work great and are only $50. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXMFU6**&P=0

You may be tempted to use your old receiver. There's a chance that it might even work fine. You can get lulled into a false sense of confidence that way though. I've seen that happen all too many times. People get away with things and they start to feel that what others describe as risky is really no big deal. After all, they did it before. In RC that will eventually lead to a crash. In full scale flying, industry and other situations it often leads to someone getting killed.

I don't have $50 right now. End of May and beginning of June are two of the hardest months (financially) for us full-time students. But thanks Chuck. You're absolutely right, there is a temptation to use it. But, now that I think about it, I had a problem on Wednesday. At WOT the plane started giving itself full up elevator and doing loops in the sky. I brought it in and found that the throttle push rod was hitting the bolts in the metal engine mount. Club instructor said that was the problem, creating 'noise'. I bent the wire so this wouldn't happen and the plane flew fine. I flew it the Sunday before, however, without a problem, which I thought was odd (why would it just start having a problem if it was fine the flying day before?) but maybe it's related to the crash. Maybe now it's just more prone to difficulties. I don't want to lose my new plane because of something stupid that I could have avoided. Luckily I'm still assembling the plane, and will have a full-time job starting on Monday to keep me distracted from assembling it too quickly. Maybe/hopefully I can get checked out or get another receiver before the plane is ready. (Doubt it, though, 'cause I'm apparently pretty obsessive with this plane!)

Ken has been flying a lot longer than I have, and I always respect his opinion. I'm going to mention some advise that runs contrary to his statement quoted above, however, so take my advice with the caveat that others have been around longer than I.

The GWS RD8SL 8-channel Dual Conversion receiver available from Hobby City for $24.99 is completely compatible with your Futaba dual conversion crystal. There are third party crystal manufactures who make excellent (reputed to be better than manufacturer's original) crystals for major radio brands. I've purchased radio crystals from Performance Devices for Futaba receivers, and they work perfectly. Performance Devices also makes Hitec compatible and JR compatible receiver crystals.

How do I know for certain that Futaba crystals are compatible with the GWS dual conversion receiver? Someone very knowlegable about radio crystals at Performance Devices told me they were. My friend Fred is flying his Thunder Tiger Imagine 50 pattern plane with a GWS RD8SL receiver and a Performance Devices Ch 22 Futaba DC crystal and it all works perfectly together. These $6 Performance Devices crystals have worked just as well for me as the $13 to $17 Futaba DC crystals in Futaba receivers.

As for your receiver, I can't really say RC Ken isn't offering you the best advice. Sending in a receiver and crystal after a crash for service inspection is the best course of action. If you are unable or unwilling to do that, however, a thorough range check with the glow engine running from 100 feet away is the next best thing. There is no guarantee that a receiver or crystal new in the box isn't defective. The 100-foot range check with antenna collapsed and glow engine running is how we check to make sure.

I would fly a plane that passed such a range check with no indication of trouble, other pilots may be more cautious than me. Good luck with whichever course of action you take!

Kat, I've crashed a couple also. I have sent two receivers into Futaba for checkout and repair if needed. Both had a Ceramic Filter that was cracked. One had a non-futaba crystal which they stated was also bad. One had been under the tent of the fuselage for about four months through our rainy season and the other was a hit so that the engine was in pieces.

I also ask Futaba about checking out an older receiver that wasn't worth the cost of a repair, and got the following advise. Range check with the engine running and go out about 200 ft. A point I picked up from one of the ham radio guys at the field was to go out between 100 1nd 150 ft and then set the transmitter on the ground and watch for glitches. As long as your plane and batteries will pass this test, they should be OK. Error on the side of caution though. The repair shops are getting into the busy season now, so turn around time may be an issue.

Don

Biged, thanks. That crystal info makes a difference, really. I can return some landing gear to Tower in exchange for a new crystal, and may be able to swing buying that $25 receiver and use that until I get my receiver checked out (then maybe get another crystal and have 2).

I'll look in to it.

After many years of both RC and Electronics experience, there is nothing like a product or part that is OEM.. Original Equipment Manufactuerer. If you have Futaba, stick with Futaba. There are many reasons for this, and the paramount issue is compatibility. Total, undenied compatibility.

The few dollars you save by buying something that is not OEM is not worth the issues posed by potential problems. Consider this.

You are flying your plane, with a possibly defective circuit board, and a non OEM receiver crystal. And, there are, oh, 20 men/women/kids in the area behind the flight line, watching or getting ready to fly. You make a turn, and the plane is now facing the crowd in the background. The RX crystal fails. You now have absolutely no control over your 8 pound plane travelling about 70 miles per hour, towards the crowd. What do you do now besides YELL.

If you think this is NOT a scenario, well I invite you to look into the internet about a crash of a model that happened in Hungary two years ago where a couple were killed over a scenario very similar to what I described. It may not have been an RX failure, but it was a failure that caused the accident. It could have been an RX crystal. Here is a snippet from that internet article:

My point is, there is no fooling around with the safety of flight with these planes. You must realize that it is a hobby, a sport, and a dangerous flying apparatus if used incorrectly.

Nope. OEM is the only way to go. If you want to get a Castle Creations RX, then get one. But get the right crystal to go with the receiver. Same for Futaba, Airtronics, JR, and so on... don't rely on saving 10 bucks just to get a cheaper part for your RC Receiver. It just isn't worth it.

CGr.

CGRetired... I couldn't agree more. Another thing to consider when mis-matching parts is liability. If you've modified something, you don't have a leg to stand on if anything goes wrong. The manufacturer can just point to the section in the manual saying to use only OEM parts and it is all on you.

Also, accidents are bad for the hobby. The "anti-fun" crowd is out there trying to impose regulations on or ban just about any activity that people enjoy. RC flying doesn't need the bad press. That's just a theoretical extreme scenario of course but it is something we all should think about.

Like I said, RC airplanes are still airplanes. I try to treat mine with the same care and precautions I would for a full size plane carrying people I care about. Not to mention the fact that I hate risking the time and money I have involved in every plane.

I've got two receivers right now that should be sent in and checked. Problem is, I can buy a hitec 8-channel all day for 39 dollars. I don't have those high-priced receivers so I'm probably under the radar of most of the repair guys. One is an electron 6 and the other is a Futaba FP-R129DP. I've got some other servos to send in so I might send them all at the same time.

The RC airplane crash that CGRetired mentioned above was due to a local radio station saturating the local flying bands with test frequencies during the airshow. There was no evidence of faulty equipment or mishandling and the pilot was cleared of any wrong-doing in the incident. The pilot had a very sophisticated and thorough PCM radio setup in the plane including failsafe settings, the result was two dead and four injured.

Radio safety isn't something to be taken lightly. I believe in thoroughly range checking an airplane before its first flight and I will not fly any airplane that displays even slight issues during a range check. I also don't "play around" with radio equipment or experiment with what may or may not work.

That having been said, while I am a very happy Futaba owner (7CAF, 4YBF, several R127DFs, and 1 FP-R138DP PCM receiver), I don't think Futaba and Hobbico should have a license to fleece me at their will. Hobbico has enough faith in the quality of Performance Devices crystals to sell them for GWS and Airtronics radio systems through Tower Hobbies. They just don't want to cut into Futaba crystal sales, so they don't carry the Performance Devices crystals for Futaba.

Tower Hobbies gets $12.99 each for Futaba dual conversion 72Mhz crystals, while my local Hobbytown USA whacks us $16 or $17 each for these crystals. Why can Hitec sell their dual conversion crystals for $7.99 or less while JR and Futaba get $13 to $17? Anybody who's flown Hitec dual conversion receivers knows they're at least as good as the other major brands. Hitec receivers and crystals sell for 30% less than comparable JR and Futaba units, but are just as good.

Futaba makes the Tower Hobbies brand radios, and they make the Hobbico and Tower Hobbies brand receivers. A Futaba R168DF 8-channel FM receiver is $59.99 plus $12.99 for a Futaba crystal from Tower Hobbies. The same receiver badged as a Hobbico Command receiver or a Tower Hobbies System 3000 receiver will only run you $49.99 including the crystal.

Tower is selling Futaba crystals with their Hobbico and Tower Hobbies brand receivers, so at some level matching receiver brand to crystal brand isn't necessary. Granted, in this case, all three receivers are basically identical units except for the decals and packaging. I can't imagine why the Futaba packaging and decals are worth an additional $23 versus Hobbico or Tower Hobbies, but Hobbico thinks they are.

I have personally seen Performance Devices crystals in Futaba and GWS receivers and the planes in question flew perfectly with typical field radio traffic present. I've also flown the same GWS receivers with the $3.99 OEM GWS 72Mhz dual conversion crystals at high altitude, distant range, and fast speeds and again there was no glitching, no radio problems, nothing but rock solid performance.

I'm not advocating never spending more than $4 for a radio crystal, I'm just saying that there are high quality, safe alternatives out there to paying your LHS $17 for a receiver crystal. The GWS RD8SL shows that top quality FM receivers don't have to cost $50 or $60 and that top quality radio crystals don't have to cost $13 to $17. My experiences with Performance Devices has shown me that you can get top performance wihout having to use OEM crystals in your receiver. If Hobbico doesn't agree, then it sure is strange that Tower Hobbies is selling Performance Devices crystals.

Futaba makes great products, but Futaba's pricing scheme is stupid. Tower Hobbies will sell you a full 4YF radio system w/ flight pack for $3 less than the cost of the flight pack alone plus a receiver crystal. They pay you $3 to take their transmitter, transmitter battery, and wall charger. Suckers buy flight packs alone instead of saving three dollars and then selling the transmitter set. Suckers pay $72.98 for the R168DF and a Futaba crystal when they could buy the exact same receiver and crystal in the Hobbico or Tower Hobbies package for $49.99 instead. Suckers pay $13 to $17 for a receiver crystal when proven alternatives are available for 4 for $20.

Anybody who thinks I'm wrong had better be reading this e-mail on a geniune IBM brand PC, because nothing else is OEM.

gaRCfield,
I've been following your other posts and it sounds like the last crash with this receiver on board was a real lawn dart. I'd send it in or replace it. I'm not meaning to be harsh and I know what a bummer it is to wait on a paycheck to resume flying. But don't let your financial situation affect your judgement. Your safety and the safety of those around you depend on it.

Rufcut

According to the Hobby Services web site, you'd only be looking at $15.00 for having a receiver checked out plus $8.99 for standard return shipping. That's a little less expensive than replacing the receiver with an RD8SL, and you'll feel a lot more comfortable flying your receiver once it comes back with a clean bill of health.

http://www.hobbyservices.com/futaba-rates.html