Clement7

Hey guys! I think I found out what's causing the sudden loss of power some of your are experiencing inflight (I'm not sure if someone posted this solution already, I have no time to check the other posts).. And for those of you who have not experienced this yet, please do check this part of your SAVS' circuit board (please see attached picture).

Several hard landings or crashes may have caused this part to break and lose it's connection... it won't be obvious at first glance until you move the perpendicular circuit board a bit and see the gap on the terminals. Using a soldering gun solved the problem. The part to check is the one connecting the horizontal circuit board to the vertical circuit board TO THE LEFT of the ARM BUTTON. After soldering this, my SAVS flew perfectly without fear of crashing due to sudden loss of power.

Enjoy and cheers!

Clement7

roxyboby

Thanks for that valuable pointer Clement7. Will have to check mine and see if everything is o.k. I have a question for u though. Some posts ago u had mentioned about a battery pack which seemd to have a problem regarding it's discharge rate. Can u please tell me which kind of battery pack it was and it's manufacturing date. I am just hoping it's not the same date as mine. I had purchased 4 packs from draganfly early this year.

Clement7

Hi roxyboby! Yes, I mentioned that in one of my posts a very very long time ago. What I did is marked the problematic batteries erratic 1 erratic 2... but now it seems that the problem with the batteries vanished when I started flying with Ti disabled.. if you noticed that your motors dont run smoothly with some batteries (Thunder Power), try switching the Ti OFF and try hovering your SAVS/DF..

Sky High

Well, my original board has finally had enough and cannot be trusted for flight without a look from Mike at Spectro. The missing insulation you can see in the yellow box on the same component you are talking about happened to me last year. But DFI said that shouldn't affect anything and apparently it didn't because I flew fine with it like that for a long time. If you zoom into my image, you can see that my solder joints are solid so I think this board's issues are in the gyros because it quivers when it hovers now. I did notice a white powdery substance on one of the nine elbow joints on the opposite front side of the vertical board and simply brushed it away. Do you think that could have bridged two of those connections and shorted something out? I hope that your fix IS the fix for your issue. Only time and more flights will tell.

Clement7

Hi Sky! Seems like you've been doing a lot of extreme flying with your SAVs.. have you tried hovering with the Ti off and see if it would still quiver?.. could be just the battery.. I can only speak with authority for problems that I have experienced and fixed first hand.. yes, you're right that the DF/SAVS will fly even with the solder joints loose.. mine did, for quite some time.. even with the joints detached.. till I encountered the sudden loss of power.. so I soldered and fixed it.. now after 8 flights my DF is still up and flying.. I replaced the motors as well with new ones of the same type when I noticed I had to compensate and add more power (trim) to the front motor to keep it levelled.. (Mabuchis)

Sky High

Oh no! That board didn't come from the SAVS. It was my original board from 14 months ago and it has definitely seen some combat! I wouldn't dare fly the SAVS like I have flown the UFO. Like YvesOttawa said, fly it like you stole it, and I did and still do! [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3680056/tm.htm]This[/link] is what that poor little flight board has been through. []


The only time I remember saying something like that was on the day that [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3675858]this[/link] happened. The solder joints where the battery connects became loose and you'll see what happened next, and again ........and again. [:@]

Clement7

oh, wow! [X(]

Sky High

Clement7, why are you using a 20A fuse?

Clement7

Am I using the wrong fuse? [X(]

It's been like that ever since I got my SAVS... and the spare fuse is also 20A..

By the way (BTW), Sky, can you do me a favor please? Can you take a picture of your SAVS transmitter with the camera wire connected and another picture of the camera wire connector.. My wires broke off and couldn't figure out the right order from left to right.. BWAHAHA

Thanks Sky!

laceycopter

Clement,
My SAVS has a 20A fuse in it and the spare is also a 20A

draganfly.com

My Feedback: (40)

A 15A fuse is best in an SAVS. A 20A will work, too, but 15A is a slightly better match.

Adam Glatt
Draganfly Innovations

Sky High

Mine came with a 15A fuse for use with the higher performance motors. I'm not using those motors right now so I changed it back to a 10A fuse for use with the standard motors.

yvesOttawa

How did you like (or dislike) the new higher performing motors Sky? My stock motors are due to be replaced and just wondering if I should get the HiPerf ones.

TheHindmost

Hi Adam,

So nice to see someone from DFI is monitoring/posting to this board!

Question: I have a DF V TI with the CMOS camera, upgraded with the frame kit, etc. My fuses are 10 amps. Is that a little undersized? I'm only asking because I imagine a catastrophic event like a stuck motor will blow a 15 amp fuse just about as fast as a 10 amp fuse and I'd hate to have the DF go down because the fuse blew under "normal" operations, especially if things like lighting kits are added. So if a 15 amp fuse is considered just as "safe," I'd rather be using it.

(So far, the only time I've blown a fuse has been in a stuck-rotor situation, usually when teaching a friend to fly and they crash in a bush and forget to make sure the throttle's off when they do!)

Will

Sky High

You can see info about that [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4790307/tm.htm]here[/link].

draganfly.com

My Feedback: (40)

Hello (again?) Will. We've found that the high performance motors can blow a 10A fuse. We've also found that the new (black) rotors can blow a 10A fuse with the standard motors. This has only happened during extreme flight, like a death dive, but that's the worst time for the fuse to blow. So, if you are using the new rotors or the new motors, we do recommend the 15A fuse.

-Adam

TheHindmost

Thanks! And yep, Adam, I'm pretty sure we've communicated with each other before, but I thought it was directly (when I bought my DF last March), not on these boards...My piloting skills with TI enabled are now at the point that I don't have to call you guys every day asking where my replacement parts are.

I'm using the new rotors (love 'em) and am thinking about the high performance motors, so I think I'll go to 15A fuse right away. I've done a few "death dives" (man, that's fun!), and haven't blown the fuse, but also haven't needed full throttle to recover (so I guess I haven't done a real death dive yet ).

Will

Sky High

Well, that's good to finally know! All this time while using a 10A fuse using the standard motors, the new rotors AND the video board. [X(] []

draganfly.com

My Feedback: (40)

Heh, you two haven't seen a real death dive until you see Zenon bounce one off the pavement without breaking it. Full throttle recovery at the bottom of the death dive, of course.

TheHindmost

My best death dive ended in a dead hover at a little over 5', about a foot and a half from my nose. That one may have been a full throttle recovery, or very close. I dropped it from 30 to 35 feet. Even though that's what I intended to do, more or less, it was still more luck than skill.

As for bouncing them off the pavement, I think I'll leave that to the experts (and the folks with the best access to replacement parts )...

Will