Hello All,

Has anyone who "signed up" for returns via email received any type of confirmation?

I was hoping for some reply to verify receipt or maybe I missed a small reply box when I actually hit "send".

RWW

nothing at all yet!
jerry

Anybody heard anything...now?

We're supposed to stop flying while we wait?

RWW

I haven't heard anything since submitting the online form a couple weeks ago.

I have flown it a few times, they can't expect me not to fly, this hobby is like an addiction...

Ya , unfortunately its like most companies , they got your money so they dont care to much. You ask about buying a heli and they reply almost instantly. Now when you have a problem with their product they wont get the resources together to make sure you are taken car of as quickly as they took the money. Bad business if you ask me but its not uncommon .

My return box just came in the mail yesterday. It is a small cardboard box with bubble wrap and an instruction sheet. Inside the box there is also the pre-paid postage label. We called heli-max the same day we got the recall notice from tower, which was quite a while ago now. Now we will see how long it takes to get the replacements.

They should send a replacement battery with the box. Seems like it would save a step.

They probably think that if they sent the batteries first we would try to keep all of the batteries. This way we have to send ours in and then we get new ones and they get as many of them back as possible, which is good for them ,if in fact the old ones are deffective and dangerous

OK,
I got my box today to send my 3 batts. back.

I guess it was about 3 weeks since I submitted my request by email.

I put black tape on one of the batts. to "improve" its appearance while in the heli without the canopy. When I removed the tape today, all the label info went with it. I hope this is not a problem for them since they seem very specific about only replacing the specific part # which is now gone. (It does look a little like the e-fly 910 mah LiPo.)

I'll wait until Monday or so to send them in and get one last weekend of flying. With my luck the weather will likely be perfect while I'm Batt.-less and thus grounded!

Good luck and flying to all.

RWW

I got my box on Friday, I sent 4 batteries out yesterday. Lets see how fast the turn around will be considering that it took nearly 3 weeks to get the box to return the batteries.

I still have my B400, and as soon as im done building it my T Rex 600 (Still in the box since I bought it this weekend) to mess around with. But I will miss flying the Axe around the yard and terrorizing the neighbors cats with it.

Here is to hoping that they come back sooner than later.

I mailed my 4 batteries in about a week ago. I checked the status, and it shows "shipment pending". Has anyone actually received their replacement batteries yet?

J.R.

I spoke to Rich at the Helimax tech support yesterday and he said they did not know when the new batteries will be in. ugh ugh

Yeah,

I thought about customer support having issues at first with sending out the replacements. I'm sure they'll get a rush and be unable to keep up initially. I'm going to wait for a month or so before sending mine to let them get through the peak returns. I never had any issues with mine (yet) or read where anyone has had any probs. with these specific batts. So why not cautiously continue to use them in the meanwhile?

Thanks for the updates all.

RWW (OP)

Anyone here have any problems with their Li-po battery? I've never heard of a member here having a problem, either with the 910 Mah or any other battery.

I had 4 batteries (now at Helimax) and both my son and I have Axe CPs. Never had any problems with the batteries, though one of the balancers fried when my son plugged the battery in to it. Helimax replaced the balancer.

J.R.

I think its a bit ridiculous that they are asking for the batteries back waste no haste and yet they have nothing to send us in return. I understand that they want to limit their liability to any lawsuits but the way they are handling this situation is dissuading me from ever buying a heli-max product again.

They should have had ample supplies of the new packs before taking in peoples recall packs. This is bad business and totally unprofessional in my opinion. Maybe they will give us something for the time lost/inconvenience while they sit on our batteries and make us wait for new ones to roll in. I highly doubt it but one can dream.

I called Helimax yesterday to see if they had any word on when the replacement batteries might be in. They told me they thought they might come in next week but it should be no more than 2-3 weeks. Argh!

J.R.

My new battery arrived today, along with a Lipo Protection module (LPM).

Cool! How does it work?

Still no new batteries from Helimax, status is still pending. Several weeks ago I bought a Mega Power 11.1V, 1350 mAH LIPO from HeliDirect. It is a little larger and heavier than the stock battery, but it fits and works.

J.R.

Sorry to hear that "still pending" after two weeks johrich.

I am still using mine (3) and was about to sent them in this week but I think I'll wait abit more.

I don't have any problems so far and I'm not able to do much more than hover & SFF so I don't imagine I'm pushing them very hard anyway.

RWW

I got my battery today. I guess it took about 6 weeks. I was in no hurry for it. I have 4 batteries for the AXE and foam planes so I could do without it for a while. The replacement is a 910mah and not a 950. It is also a flat pack not a square pack.


Dru.

Well, I just checked the status of my battery return using the www.hobbyservices.com link and the customer and workorder number they provided me when they shipped the box to ship my old batteries. The status in "invoiced", which has been the status for about the last 10 days. HOWEVER, the actual status is shipped and delivered! In my mailbox today was a box from Great Planes and inside were my 4 new batteries and 2 lipo protection circuits, ( I have and AXE CP and so does my 13 year old son). I added the circuit to both helicopters, per the instructions. My AXE has the GY240 and ESC modification for the tail motor which made the installation of the additional lipo protection circuit a little more tricky, only because of the extra wiring and ESC that are in the same area, but after about 20 minutes, I had everything back together. My son's AXE was much cleaner to add the addional lipo protection circuitry and only took a few minutes. We had just enough time before the night fell (I live in Georgia), to fly both helicopters. I was able to charge all 4 new batteries (we have 2 chargers). The new battery fits a little differently, but is still easy to put in the battery tray. Both heli's seem to fly fine. We didn't run the batteries down enought to engage the LiPo protection circuitry which will detect a voltage drop in the battery and will actually begin reducing power to the motor.

So if you have not received your new batteries yet, keep looking, because they are shipping.

johrich

Hi,

OP here.

I'm still flying my 3 recalled batts. I might as well since I have had no issues with them and I am really getting better at TI hovering.
I may as well use them until they begin to really drop off or puff then return them for B'spankin new ones.
I'll probably buy some type of replacement first so I won't be completely grounded.

I'm still sorry to hear it is taking so many weeks for the exchange. I'm also sorry to hear they are only 910 mah. While 40 mah isn't much less, it is still less than I/we bought originally.

Thanks for the update(s).

RWW

My son and I flew again this morning, used all four batteries, all is well. One thing I will mention, if you have bought another battery that is not a direct replacement for the AXE battery, i.e. I was using a Mega Power 1350 mAh battery while I was waiting for the new AXE batteries, with the addition of the LIPO protection module, the battery connector is different. The original batteries used micro Deans connectors. With the new batteries and LPM, they have changed to a Deans Ultra Plug, so if you have a 3rd party battery, you will need to change the battery plug to a Deans Ultra female plug to use it with the Axe.



Johrich