Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
10-26-2009, 03:56 PM
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Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
I got very lucky this past weekend when my receiver decided to break down on the ground rather than in the air. The rx would link and then unlink when I turned it on, not unbind but glitch as if were like it was losing signal. Basically you could move the ailerons and they would move correctly but then lock up in the last position then you would regain control of them (glitching whatever you want to call it). So the I looked at the receiver and found that the top case was falling off so I took the receiver out (btw I had try'ed to rebind the radio to the receiver only with the same results. When I was looking closer at the board of the receiver I saw that one of the antenna's was barley hanging on and what looked like it had short circuited, I will include some pics but just to let people know that I would not use this receiver in another giant scale airplane. Some history of the receiver; It was in a smaller glow plane, and than much later on the road transfered into my 50cc Aeroworks Extra 300. The receiver was mounted to a smart fly power system sport plus, and was also the original receiver that I received with my spektrum DX7 which was bought in June, 2008. On all my other planes I have a spektrum 6200 but those are only within the .60-1.20 size, from now on I will run the spektrum 9000 to hopefully see that its better.
10-26-2009, 05:06 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
<rant on>
Can we stop with creating a new thread every time someone has a problem with a Spektrum receiver? There are already a bunch of 'em. If you have to post, why can't you post to one of those? What if every time someone has a flight with no problems, they post that experience? Sheesh!
<rant off>
Regards
Michael
Can we stop with creating a new thread every time someone has a problem with a Spektrum receiver? There are already a bunch of 'em. If you have to post, why can't you post to one of those? What if every time someone has a flight with no problems, they post that experience? Sheesh!
<rant off>
Regards
Michael
10-26-2009, 05:15 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
Don't flame me buddy I'm trying to point out the flaw in the design of this recevier and that it hasn't just happened to me and most of the other threads are more personal than mine like hanger 9 extra with spektrum glitched! The whole point of a forum is to post your responses but if a certain thread has no way of pertaining to what you want to post then you make a new one.
10-26-2009, 05:23 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
ORIGINAL: leepord geko
I got very lucky this past weekend when my receiver decided to break down on the ground rather than in the air. The rx would link and then unlink when I turned it on, not unbind but glitch as if were like it was losing signal. Basically you could move the ailerons and they would move correctly but then lock up in the last position then you would regain control of them (glitching whatever you want to call it). So the I looked at the receiver and found that the top case was falling off so I took the receiver out (btw I had try'ed to rebind the radio to the receiver only with the same results. When I was looking closer at the board of the receiver I saw that one of the antenna's was barley hanging on and what looked like it had short circuited, I will include some pics but just to let people know that I would not use this receiver in another giant scale airplane. Some history of the receiver; It was in a smaller glow plane, and than much later on the road transfered into my 50cc Aeroworks Extra 300. The receiver was mounted to a smart fly power system sport plus, and was also the original receiver that I received with my spektrum DX7 which was bought in June, 2008. On all my other planes I have a spektrum 6200 but those are only within the .60-1.20 size, from now on I will run the spektrum 9000 to hopefully see that its better.
I got very lucky this past weekend when my receiver decided to break down on the ground rather than in the air. The rx would link and then unlink when I turned it on, not unbind but glitch as if were like it was losing signal. Basically you could move the ailerons and they would move correctly but then lock up in the last position then you would regain control of them (glitching whatever you want to call it). So the I looked at the receiver and found that the top case was falling off so I took the receiver out (btw I had try'ed to rebind the radio to the receiver only with the same results. When I was looking closer at the board of the receiver I saw that one of the antenna's was barley hanging on and what looked like it had short circuited, I will include some pics but just to let people know that I would not use this receiver in another giant scale airplane. Some history of the receiver; It was in a smaller glow plane, and than much later on the road transfered into my 50cc Aeroworks Extra 300. The receiver was mounted to a smart fly power system sport plus, and was also the original receiver that I received with my spektrum DX7 which was bought in June, 2008. On all my other planes I have a spektrum 6200 but those are only within the .60-1.20 size, from now on I will run the spektrum 9000 to hopefully see that its better.
Keep creating threads that talk about product flaws and issues as many as necessary!
We invest a lot of money in this hobby; we deserve to know what is going on with this product and any other product.
We (consumers) seem to be the quality control inspectors.
This type of heads-up messages will help us to make decisions when buying RC stuff.
10-26-2009, 05:38 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
That can happen with any receiver. It's not specific just to the Spektrums. I used to change my antenna wires on my 72's every two years due to strain at the RX case. It's one item moving where it is attached to a stationary item.
The design is not flawed. These will separate far less than the 72's, especially if the 72 had an exterior antenna where you could grab it when you picked the plane up, like when it comes out behind the cockpit and runs to the tail, a very popular configuration.
Good tip with the tape, and thanks for the Factory Product update. I can't seem to find any other product updates on the 7100.
I'm thinking Shoe Goo.....?
Always wanted to figure out a way to keep those antenna wires sticking straight out, anyway. This could be it.
I have a ton of them and have never had a single issue. I will check mine out, though, and set them up to prevent this.
Couldn't hurt!
Jimbo
Coming toward you, rightside-up or upside-down, the low wing gets the stick. That's the LAW, and it never changes, EVER.
The design is not flawed. These will separate far less than the 72's, especially if the 72 had an exterior antenna where you could grab it when you picked the plane up, like when it comes out behind the cockpit and runs to the tail, a very popular configuration.
Good tip with the tape, and thanks for the Factory Product update. I can't seem to find any other product updates on the 7100.
I'm thinking Shoe Goo.....?
Always wanted to figure out a way to keep those antenna wires sticking straight out, anyway. This could be it.
I have a ton of them and have never had a single issue. I will check mine out, though, and set them up to prevent this.
Couldn't hurt!
Jimbo
Coming toward you, rightside-up or upside-down, the low wing gets the stick. That's the LAW, and it never changes, EVER.
10-26-2009, 05:52 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
You took the words right out of my mouth this isn't saying don't buy the receiver it just says beware that the antenna's are a poor design on this model and that you should do something to fix that problem promptly, also I wouldn't use this receiver in a any giant scale application.
10-26-2009, 08:23 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
I would like to suggest to everyone what may or may not be obvious; that the spectrum antennas vibrate like little tuning forks in certain circumstances. That combined with handling stresses can and does cause the wire strands to eventually break which leads to shorts or intermittent contact at best. My fix, after an inspection to insure it’s not already damaged, is to simply tape them with a small strip of duct tape across the receiver. You don’t need much. About ¼” is fine and I pinch the tape around the wire just enough to prevent it from sticking to the aircraft. I don’t tape them down to the structure as I want the wire and receiver to move as a unit. The tape simply reinforces the wire and prevents it from vibrating independently from the receiver. Works for me.
Dennis K in NH
Dennis K in NH
10-26-2009, 10:24 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
This is the first I've heard of this on the AR7000s. I have at least 10 of these in .60 to 1.20-size aircraft and 50-size helis with no problems. I have to admit that I use AR9100s in all my giant-scale planes though.
There is a similar Spektrum service bulletin on the AR7100R receivers. They recommended using hot glue or Shoe Goo to basically provide strain relief for wires. The same fix might be applicable here.
AR7100 and AR7100R Bulletin
[link=http://www.spektrumrc.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1811]http://www.spektrumrc.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1811[/link]
There is a similar Spektrum service bulletin on the AR7100R receivers. They recommended using hot glue or Shoe Goo to basically provide strain relief for wires. The same fix might be applicable here.
AR7100 and AR7100R Bulletin
[link=http://www.spektrumrc.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1811]http://www.spektrumrc.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1811[/link]
10-26-2009, 11:07 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
I cut my tape width about ¼”. I don’t like the glue fix because it still allows the antenna to vibrate. Sorry for the sloppy tape job but it really isn’t at all critical.
Dennis K in NH
Dennis K in NH
11-07-2009, 08:39 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
Hey I have crashed a Yak and an Extra 260 because of Spektrum reciever battery pack failure. One of the cells went dead during flight with no warning and no simptons before hand. These batteries were less than 4 mths old. Beware of Spektrum reciever battery packs!
11-07-2009, 10:01 PM
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RE: Spektrum AR7000 Beware!
Well I have determined that its not the receiver, well the (ar7000 was the problem at first), and but rather the radio, considering I had a new ar9000 receiver in the plane and it locked up in flight after 4 sucsessfull flights here's the video and the crash [link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGOETNdHSZ8[/link]
