Mtthwacrss

My Feedback: (1)

Lost my Alpha 40 again[:@]. I am starting to not like Spektrum very much. Second Ar500 in this Alpha. I will be working on it this winter and will post some pic's as it comes along. I will be flying my Falcon 56 Mk II with my Hitech focus 4 until I get this one done.

Mr67Stang

Wow. Looks like it went straight in. Can you describe the curcumstances of the crash?

Mtthwacrss

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Took off to the east turned north then did a west downwind to a south base turned final and radio locked out in the turn. Recovered and tried to level the wings over corrected a little and lost the radio again never regained control I tried to chop the throttle but plane rolled over and went almost straight in. Engine was stuck in ground, broke engine mount, ruptured fuel tank, and broke Wing. It will be a lot of work but I have done it before.

outdoorhunting

Did you check your battery afterwards? We've had a couple of problems @ our field with almost the same thing happening. Turned out their batteries were low. When you RXbattery getlower than (I think 4v) it the TX goes into some kind of failsafe mode. It will stop transmitting for second or two & then kick back on. We decided to ALWAYS check the battery ( under A LOAD).

Mtthwacrss

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Batteries were good at take off just off the charger and at 4.8V. After crash battery was in pieces. Receiver never went to fail safe. Receiver is on the way to horizon for a checkup. I have seen a lot of threads on here that sound like what mine has been doing. Checked the radio with a different receiver not an Ar500 and had no trouble. I guess we will see what they say. If they can’t find a reason I will be changing radios.

outdoorhunting

This year there have been 3 planes lost due to loss of signal, or the saying "I don't have it"! ALL have been the 2.4s. I'm sticking to my old "junk" 72 TX!!! Go figure- they are the ones loosing planes with their "good" radios ,but mine is the "junker" Oh,well!!

Eganwp

My Feedback: (1)

Here's a tip from my experience with easily over 700 flights on my DX6i.

You must must must must use a 5 cell RX battery on the spektrum rx's!!! Even if the battery is fully charged on a 4.8, especially if you're running standard size or larger servos, if you operate all surfaces together the amp draw will be too much and cause the RX to brown-out. I've seen it over and over again. You may not notice it on the ground, but when a plane is flying there's huge forces on the surfaces if flying fast, and that amp draw can go through the roof quite easily. The problem is magnified even more if you have a surface that is sticking or end-points not adjusted correctly. Take a voltmeter (or measure current draw) at home while using all surfaces and weighting them all in some way (like lightly taping them and using sticks very gently to not strip gears). Don't be suprised when the voltage drops a ton.

A 5 cell RX battery will solve nearly all the issues, as it's much harder to hit the LVC for Spektrum's RX's with these, even if they're only partially charged. It's also worth noting that if you're running NIMH batteries to switch back to NICAD's as their loaded voltage doesn't sag close to as much as NIMH. I run A123 and LIPO's now almost exclusively and absolutely love the extra servo performance. There's a reason why you'll notice you hardly ever see an electric pilot have Spektrum issues (aka most beginners now are going with electric park fliers), and it's because lipo's can handle the load like nothing as most of them are using a UBEC or BEC on the ESC to power the RX. The load doesn't even break a sweat on LIPO's or A123's!


The other 2 things I can suggest are that you ALWAYS point your antenna straight up. I've seen it for myself at the club where guys have the antenna pointed to the side and the plane cuts out when directly in line with the antenna. When at a club you should never have your plane directly overhead.

One last thing is I would recommend you run an AR6200 or 7100 RX with a satellite receiver. The AR500's are only designed for the small park fliers I believe, and the range and spectrum will be a lot smaller. This problem is worth if mounted near servos, carbon fiber, thick fuse wood, etc. A second antenna will make a huge difference.

Lastly is something I just learned a few days ago. I always thought you were supposed to "do it backwards" with these radios and turn on the RX then the TX. BUT after some testing and speaking with Spektrum on this, it's actually wrong!!! I found I couldn't get a link (flashing RX) when turning on TX first, but the reason why is I either wasn't waiting long enough, or else I had the TX too close to the plane (must be more than 4 feet away). What happens is, if you turn on the RX first the RX will automatically use the last 2 used channels from your last flight. Problem is, these channels may very well have interference, especially if you're at a new location! So when you turn on the TX, it see's the RX is transmitting those 2 channels and binds, AND DOES NOT SCAN THE FREQUENCY CHANNEL FOR CLARITY. I have confirmed this with Spektrum as well as Horizon.

What happens if you turn the TX on first (like the old 72mhz) then the RX is it will scan the 2.4 band and find 2 clear channels like it's supposed to, giving you complete path redundancy. I wish I would have known this a long time ago! lol


Anyway, hope this helps. Sorry it's long. Maybe I'll type up a more in-depth guide for a sticky.


Cheers!
Eganwp



Hope this helps.

chevypower1930

I'm sticking with 72.... Don't fix what ain't broke right? Never had ANY problem with 72 mhz.... not one glitch, one lockout, nothin

outdoorhunting

I'm totally with you Chevypower !! Although it is quite a chore pulling up that darned antennae!!!! Let's see new TX= at least 200bucks-I have 6 planes- 6 RX= close to 600bucks. Hmmm- 800 bucks- that's at least 8 airplane kits. Whahoo !!! With all that saved cash, my wife will surely let me buy a whole bunch of RC stuff, won't she ???

pdm52956

My Feedback: (1)

I may have missed something, but if the battery is/was a 4.8 battery and just off the charger it showed 4.8, it wasn't fully charged. The battery was nominal at that point, not fully charged and I wouldn't have flown it.

That being the case, when you're flying and the servoes are drawing juice, the voltage dropped and the receiver locked out. The servoes quit moving and the battery votage increased enough to allow the rx to function giving you control back. You get control, start to head for the runway and again, the voltage drops..........lock out again. The cycle ends when the plane lawn darts. Been there done that.

Like I said, I may have missed something.

Adui

I run Spektrum, and have not lost a bird yet to RX lock out.(Knocking on wood)

However, as was suggested get 5 cell batteries in there now. I did the research before I bought mine, and while several so called experts say it is not necessary, every single radio loss that I have ever read about regarding Spektrum that wasn't due to a faulty radio was in reported to be with a 4 cell RX pack.

I've not used the 500's yet, but i was lead to believe they are a full range RX. They don't have the remote receiver pod, but they do have the extended second antenna you are supposed to place like you would the remote pod.
Question did you range check b4 flight?

chevypower1930

Thank you outdoor... haha yah I could NEVER see myself converting all 8 of my planes to new tx and rx's.. no way, when I already have only 3 tx's that fly all of them why bother? and yeah that near 1000 dollars can buy me a whole lot more planes.. whether it be little parkflyers or a big bird.. especially when I have NEVER had a problem with my 72's

ohnoucdat

My Feedback: (16)

Seems everyone agrees that the spectrum stuff needs a 5 cell battery to help prevent brown out/lock out , why would Horizon continue to sell it with a 4 cell battery if this is so?

Mtthwacrss

My Feedback: (1)

Yes Range check was good. I now have a 5 cell for this set up but still waiting for the reciever to come back as well as the rebuild.

pdm52956

My Feedback: (1)

I'd agree that a 6 volt system should be better than 4.8 but, I flew my pulse with an AR6200 on 4.8 for quite a while. When it did poke the ground, it was because of a bad switch connection, not battery. As long as you monitor the battery, and charge it when needed, you should be fine with 4.8. Of course that depends also on what you're flying and how it's set up. Standard servos on a trainer, shouldn't be a problem provided the battery in question is properly charged in my opinion.

Having said that, I upgraded to a 7.4 lipo and a regulator in all my planes.

basman

Your wife still won't let you buy rc stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

outdoorhunting

I don't know how ya guys do it down under, but here in the states We tell our wives we're going to go buy our RC stuff,so just be quiet !!!!! When I decide to buy some stuff, I go ahead & do it. She won't question my decision at all. ( Oh, crap!!!) here she comes, I hope I can send this off before she sees it !!! Uh, don't pay any attention to the last sentence guys. OK. HAHA

chevypower1930

hahah outdoor yeah I wish thats how it was... my girlfriend one time went on my bank account and added up ALL THE RC STUFF I bought in just a random month... 800 DOLLARS!?!? and i don't even remember what I bought! hahah and remember I'm 19 years old and not a spoiled little brat either ha... so that's a LOT of money... but hey it's all worth it when you see your planes lift off the ground... nothin like it man

outdoorhunting

All kidding aside, my wife really doesn't care what RC stuff I buy. Before I retired, my hobby was building street rods. I guess she figures that this is a whole lot cheaper, definitly not as dirty & a lot less aggrivations. I've got a jewel in my wife (46 yrs) as she never has given me a hassel about my hobbies. In the same respect, I've never went overboard either.

Mtthwacrss

My Feedback: (1)

Just talked to Horizon about my Rx and they are sending me a new one. Didn't catch what they were sending will up date you when I know.

basman

Hats off to you outdoor, not many couples around for 46years + .................she's a keeper

Mtthwacrss

My Feedback: (1)

Received my new Rx on Friday. It is a new Ar500. They said they found nothing wrong with mine but sent me a new one anyway. Now all I need to do is get a new battery and get to work rebuilding the Alpha. More later.

outdoorhunting

Uh,let me try to understand. There was nothing wrong with the unit,but - they sent you a new replacement anyway?????? Something tells me, -maybe it's just me, but, maybe there was " nothing wrong THAT they wanted to admitt !!!! That way they probably won't get hasseled about replacing a plane ??? Maybe I'm too suspicous!!!

Adui

Actually I flew mine with three servo's on the original 4 cell for some time. It was when i went to dual Aileron servo's I switched up to 5 cell batteries. I simply feel with all the so called failures that turn out to be battery brown outs a 5 cell is a small price to pay to know you have plenty of voltage so long as you arent trying to fly a dead pack.

tonyg11780

I have been flying my DX5 for about a year and a half, with no loss of signal ever...I have never used the old 72mhz system, and dont care too...for obvious reasons.

Its fun walking right past the impound to go fly whenever I get ready too...

Hehe...

TonyG