Problems with aileron extensions
 

This is actually the same post I put in my other thread. I am reposting as people may not look at that one as the title of the thread does not match.

Actually, I didnt go flying today (flying has resumed after nearly 4 months). Reason: when I took the plane down from storage and hooked everything up, only one aileron responded. This is a problem I am facing since I got the reactor. Every other week one of the ailerons either does not move or move slower than required. Invariably it is down to a extension or extension connector problem. Since these are two piece wings with ane servo per wing and mounted on the wing itself, I need two extensions per wing- one from the servo lead into the fuselage and one within the fuse from the servo extension lead to the RX. The second one allows to disconnect from the RX without removing the RX from its place while installing or removing the wing. Servos are channel 1 &7 and mixed as dual aileron setups require. One of these two seems to have a problem every other week. I have gone through 6 or 7 hitec HD extensions in this way.

I am using 9CAP with 2.4ghz TM8 module and futaba s3010 servos everywhere except throttle.

Sat up late at night and get everything working. And now, this morning, the other servo is doing the same.

I am considering putting in Muldental extensions instead of Hitec now. Will need to replace only the aileron ones as the ones on elevator and rudder have leads soldered (instructor did that in initial setup). Any idea what my problem is and whether the Muldental ones are good enough?

Ameyam

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

Yes it seems that you have an extension problem...but not if you have changed it for new ones 6 or 7 times.....once yes, twice doubtful..no way 6 times.....

Did you swap your servo one wing to the other? Possibly mixing them up on reinstallation?

If you didn't then lets look at whats left...assumming you used new extensions...you could be just moving the problem around if you didn't. then you have either a bad servo, or a dirty connector on the servo...clean it with contact cleaner or alcohol. A switch can cause intermittent problems like you are having...The Y extension out of the receiver is most likly the problem. Lastly the receiver itself....

By the way both aileron sevos are the same brand and model aren't they...they have to be

Hang in there you will be back in the air soon

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

Funny in this hobby how things go wrong when you desperately want to fly. Now my 6V battery is dead. On such short notice none of the other fliers have anything ready. A couple of them have some unused 4.8V batteries which they have not used in some time. I myself have one that I have not used in 8 or so months. We are trying to charge them and check if they hold charge. Two questions here:

1) Will a 4.8V battery be able to take my 3D capable airplane? Am using high torque servos all around. I flew my first trainer for a year on 4.8v battery but that had normal servos

2) Is there a reliable way of checking whether the battries are holding charge? I found that even the dead 6V battery shiws same charge on no load on my voltwatch but almost immediately goes to low on turning a few servos. More worrying is what the servos do when the battery runs low, they start to move in one direction is small steps and do not respont to controller input. This is quite unlike my experience with the trainers battery which would deadstick and let me land safely.

Ameyam

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

You might want to try a Y Harness instead of mixing on the radio. Just a thought, Dave

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

Dave, the reason to have a 9-C is to be able to get away from things like Ys. Servo extensions tend to corrode and require cleaning, even the ones with the gold coated ends. To do away with the problem instead of using extensions you just cut the servo wire in half and solider in servo wire to the length needed, shazam, no more dirty extensions. I still have two short extensions always plugged into the RX for the ailerons so I'm not plugging in and out of the RX. My batteries are always on trickle charge so my planes and radio are always good to go.

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

David and GrayBeard,

request to answer my questions on the battry. Right not, I cannot even check my setup (I put the muldental extensions in) because there is no working battery

Ameya

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

I'm pretty light on electrical so it's not a big surprise I have never heard of a Muldental Extension. The reason for using the 6 volt battery is so you have enough on board juice to operate your servos without allowing the battery to get low enough so you are getting brown outs in your RX. 4.8 volts work just fine if you have enough mah and check your voltage under load before every flight. A lot of people here are still using 4.8 but a small pack is 1400MAh. I use them but the smallest pack I have is about 2000. I also have a fast field charger so if for any reason {too many flights} my battery gets low I just top them up. The extensions I have connected to my RX are only 6 inch long so I don't need to be pulling leads out of my RX. Other then those two extensions you won't find any others in any of my planes. I just lengthen the servo wires so I don't require them. I know people use extensions and Ys without trouble all the time, I'm just not one of those people. A dirty lead is one of the main servo problems I have run into.

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

I do this also. Very convenient.

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

I third that. I will get a fellow flier to solder the connections and use only the 6" extensions into thr RX for disconnection purposes. Thanks to all

Ameyam

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

Hi!
Sounds strange that you loose programing from day to day????
4,8V is Ok as long as you the status of the battery pack (same for a 6v pack).
To check a battery pack you have get a "Multimeter" so you can check voltage under load. Just run 4-6 servos and as the same time check the voltage over each battery (you stick needles in the + and - poles)

A good way to always have some knowhow about the battery status in the plane is to use a "voltwatch"! I have one of those in every plane I have. Have been using them for the last 25 years.

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

I received a 4.8V 2200mah pack fully charged from the club secretary, very kind of him.

No Jaka, I am not losing programming day to day. Saturday morning I was testing with the faulty battery pack. Hence, I found that the ailerons would suddenly stop moving. When I looked at the receiver I found that it was blinking green but the red led also seemed to be blinking and the one set of control surfaces was slowly moving in one direction. I didnt figure out that the battery pack was dead untill I put it in another airplane and found that the RX wouldnt come on and then I tried the voltwatch2. What I was having was a RX brownout.

I dont know whether previous problems were due to the extensions or the battery. Certainly, every time I changed the extensions I had it working OK and I have had atleast 3 weeks on that pack after the aileron problems before flying was stopped in January. Since I dont have a charge cycler, I didnt cycle the battery pack. In fact the what I was doing on Saturday was using the servo test feature in the radio to put atleast one cycle through the pack when these problems started.

But for peace of mind, I am neither going to use those extensions nor the battery pack in future. I was toying with moving to LiFe(PO4) batteries for some time recently and this is the indication (or excuse) to make that move. I didnt have this problem with the TX because I was using (both of) them for my simulator and hence they kept in circulation. I am using NiCd in the 6EXHP and NiMh on the 9CAP+TM8

Ameyam

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

Battery going down can also be the switch. A long time ago to cycle batteries I used to turn on my RX and TX then watch TV while moving the sticks around until they quit working. Then I would charge the pack on my wall wart for a day or two and do it again. Not the best system to do it but it worked. A fully charged pack isn't going to go down that much unless you have a short someplace. I have been known to leave the plane turned on for a few days too, it happens. A 6 volt pack is going to require much more charge time too if you are using the wall warts. Just a couple of things to think about.

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

It could be that you are getting corrosion on the connector terminals: Low cost extension leads most likely will be using tin flashed connections. These can suffer electrolytic corrosion through being in contact with dissimilar metals. If you are using 3 extensions per servo, I'd suggest making up your own leads with soldered connections at the servo with 22AWG minimum UL1007 wire to a high quality connector in the model. It doesn't need to be a Futaba standard servo connector, any 3 pin connector will do, but |'d recommend gold plated pins for the connector that is mated and un-mated a lot.
It could be the effect of cement dust if you store in a garage. "Death to Chrome" can get anywhere and start dissolving away.
It could be "black wire corrosion" if you left your battery connected in storage.
It could be congealed engine gunge in the switch?

RE: Problems with aileron extensions
 

If you have an electrical meter you can check the voltage and amperage going into the servos at each juncture point. That will let you see if it's a battery problem, an extension problem, or a servo problem. As for checking to see if a battery is up to the task, you can hold two control surfaces and move them to full stalling, then look at the voltwatch to see if the voltage your system has is good enough. That's the worst flight load you'll ever have so if the plane passes that test, it'll fly.