Gale155

Hello. I recently puchased the standard Guanli Catalina (brushed motors), and have been leisurely putting it together - this is my first rc, and I want to be sure everything is right. I thought it would be a good idea to test the servos and motors before attaching the wing, so I turned on the tx, then plugged the charged battery into the plane. At first, the rudder and elevator servos worked fine, but the aileron servos would not move. I disconnected the battery and double-checked that I had the wires connected properly (they were correct). I tried it again, and this time got a loud buzzing noise from the aileron servos (stick was neutral). After a few seconds, the buzzing noise became more subdued, then stopped. At this point, the rudder and elevator servos started moving back and forth, and continued to do so as long as the battery was attached (rudder control stick was in neutral position, as were all trim switches). Moving the aileron stick resulted in a soft buzz from the appropriate servo, but the shafts did not move.

Any suggestions on what I can do to correct these problems would be appreciated. My Nitroplanes order # is yhst-17210252890263.

Thanks!

opjose

Your receiver may not be picking up the signal from the Transmitter.

Do yourself a favor and save the Catalina until you have more experience with RC flight.

Get something like this to start with: [link=http://www.nitroplanes.com/ezhael4chrtf.html]Click me![/link]

Find a local club and attend one of the meetings to find out about their airfield and training programs.

Do not try to fly the Catalina as your first plane. While it is a nice flyer, all planes need trimming out in flight, checking, and setup which novices do not understand.

Most novices have to contend with out of trim planes, that are not correctly set up ( by them ), on their first flight.

This guarantees a disaster, and the lifetime of their first planes are measured in under 20 seconds.

You'll find very experienced flyers at a club who can go over your plane, spot and correct any problems, take it up for you and trim it out, then help you through your first flights.

Clubs WANT you to succeed and not waste your money with crashes.

The AMA webs site has a "club locator" for you. Check it out.

Prop_Washer2

My Feedback: (26)

AMEN on this one, save it a get a trainer and 50 or more flights under your belt..!!!

Gale155

I appreciate the quick reply and the good advice, opjose. I've read through quite a few threads here, hoping to find a solution to my problems without starting a new discussion. I learned how you feel about noobs who view these model aircraft as "toys" - and you are absolutely right. When I read an old thread started by "Beforetime", a noob who got his A-10 six-inches above the ground before it crashed, I literally laughed till I cryed. Someone suggested that he upgrade to brushless motors, and he replied that the only "brush" he needed was to sweep up the debris! I thought you were going to really admonish him for being a nitwit, but you were actually pretty easy on him.

I'm a noob to rc, but I have a commercial pilots license, instrument rating, multi-engine rating, CFI and CFII. I've also got countless hours on various versions of Microsoft Flight Sims. I've also got a 4-acre back yard with a 3/4 acre pond, so I thought I'd at least have a fighting chance with a plane as slow and docile as the Catalina appears to be. My plan was to start off with hand launches and grass landings, then transitioning to the water. If I should crash and destroy a $69 model, I'm not going to view it as a disaster, nor am I going to give up on the sport. Having said all that, I agree that you're probably right, and I'm seriously considering something more noob-friendly to learn on.

In the meantime, I'm just interested in what I have to do to get my fresh-out-of-the-box Catalina working properly.

opjose

Most commercial and private pilots who get into RC, call RC a "humbling" experience.

Things tend to go fine as the plane moves away, but the second they turn the plane around reality sets in.

Back to the topic at hand.

I assume you purchased the 72mhz version, correct?

If so, remove the crystal from both the TX and RX ( don't confuse the two, and re-insert to assure a good electrical connection.

Then disconnect the ailerons and check the rudder and elevator servo.

You want to eliminate the possibility of a stalled or stripped servo. I received one plane where the rudder servo worked for a few minutes then seemed to have stripped because of a poor factory installation.

At worst try one servo at a time on it's respective channel to verify that the receiver is working and that the signals are getting to each channel.

Also try ARMing the ESC, by taking the throttle up ( restrain the plane! ) and back down, then set the trim on the throttle all the way down. This should arm the throttle if it does not come on armed.

Gale155

Thank you, sir...I'll give all that a try and see what happens. Yes, it is a 72mhz.

I know the reverse perspective is going to be tough. It's not quite the same, I'm sure, but I've spent a lot of time on MS flight sim with the view set the the outside and front, just to get the feel for it. I know I'll be mumbling to myself "right is still right...left is still left".

Gale155

Well, I checked both crystals and there seems to be good contact. I moved the TX about 10-feet away, partially extended the antenna and turned it on. I then connected the battery to the plane and got the same results:

1. Loud buzz (not grinding) from both aileron servos. Buzz becomes more subdued, then stops. During this time, both elevator and rudder servos work properly. Stick movement results in a soft buzz from the correct aileron servo, but the shafts do not move. I've checked for anything that could be binding or restricting them, and found nothing.

2. After about 10-seconds, the rudder and elevator servos start moving back and forth on their own (constantly and quickly), and moving the rudder and elevator controls on the TX has no effect on this.

3. I turned the TX off, but left the plane connected to its battery. Interestingly, the rudder and elevator servos continue to move, but at a much slower rate...perhaps every 15 to 20-seconds or so.

I've got the motors disconnected (haven't installed the props yet) till I get the problem figured out. During my initial test, both motors turned on and off randomly and erratically, and did not respond to the TX.

Sorry to be a pain, and thanks for your help.

opjose

Make sure your battery is fully charged.

Also try each channel separately as I indicated above.

Sometimes WiFi signals will also swamp the RX and cause what you are seeing.

I have several WiFi routers in my house and I often have to remember that with 72mHz I can see strange results because of this.

You may want to take the plane out to an area away from any WIFi and hook everything up.

Then do a range test with the plane on the ground.

Don't be tempted to fly it until everything looks good.

You can easily replace a bad receiver, etc... but as often said, planes don't fix themselves in the air!

Gale155

Will do. FYI, I don't have any WiFi routers in my house. There's a microwave and three wireless phones, but none were being used during any of my tests.

I don't think I'm going to be tempted to fly any time soon, cause everything is frozen solid around here.

Thanks again for your time...I really appreciate it.

Gale155

Well, I got one positive result today. I took everything down to the basement, and got exactly the same results as previously described. I disconnected the aileron servos where they attach to the "Y" extention wire, after which the rudder and elevator servos worked perfectly...no more wild back-and-forth movement on their own. I'm out of time now, but I'll fiddle with it some more late tonight.

Gale155

I like that plane, and I think I'll pick one up...thanks for the suggestion. However, I'm inclined to wait until the 4-channel version is back in stock, unless you think that's a bad idea for some reason.

Gale155

I now know that the elevator and rudder servos work fine (as long as the aileron servos aren't connected). As a test, I removed the elevator plug from the RX, and connected the aileron wires into that slot - thinking I would test the aileron servos using the elevator stick. The results were the same - loud buzz from the aileron servos, then soft, then stops, no movement, then the rudder servo goes crazy on its own. I didn't know if I should plug an aileron servo directly into the RX without the "y" extention wire or not, so I didn't do it.

Next, I plugged the elevator wires into the aileron slot in the RX. Using the aileron stick, the elevator servo worked perfectly. This seems to eliminate the RX or TX from being the problem. I'm starting to wonder if my problem is a bad aileron extention wire, since I can't imagine both aileron servos being defective. Is this common with the Catalina?

Thanks.

windmoore

It sounds like you had the airleron problem right out of the box - recheck to make sure the y connector for the airlerons is connected correctly - white to white along the entire run from sero on wing to y extension and then into rx It's very easy to mix/switch the wire.. Also did you try switching the servo rerverse switch. . P.s you can easily bye-pass the y extension lead because  you can plug the servos directly into the rx individually to test       without fear of damage .  Also make sure all servo reverse switches for all controls are correctly set as per booklet.  I have several of these catalinas and I can say that it is a very good plane and electronics are reliable.

Gale155

I think I've isolated the problem, Opjose. I removed both aileron servos (glad I only used a small amount of glue - noob lesson #1), and plugged each directly into the aileron channel in the RX. With each I got the same result...buzzing noise, and no movement of the shaft. Although I had already determined that the aileron channel and TX controls were working properly in a previous test, I plugged each aileron servo into the elevator slot, and using elevator stick got the same results.

So, through the luck of the draw, it appears that both aileron servos are bad - unless you've got another suggestion I can try. Do I PM John for replacements?

Thanks.

opjose

Yup PM John;

You may want to mention that all you need are a pair of 9g (or less ) aileron servos.

I believe the plane uses 9g aileron servos, but it may also use 7g servos... I don't remember offhand.

Good troubleshooting!

Gale155

Done...and thanks again for your help. I'll post a video here of my maiden flight, so that everyone here can have a good laugh. Per your suggestion, I am going to get a more noob-friendly plane to learn on before I fire-up the Catalina. You suggested the EZ Hawk, and I like that plane. However, it seems to me that I should wait for the Hawk Sky (the 4-channel version), which will be back in stock in 2-4 weeks, and is only 10-bucks more. The way I see it, I can ignore the rudder for the first several flights, but then I'll have it when I'm ready to graduate to that level. I value your opinion, so let me know if I'm missing something here.

Thanks again for your help. Hopefully this thread will be helpful to noobs will similar problems, thereby saving you some work.

Gale155

I hooked the motors back up this morning, and with the aileron servos disconnected they seem to work fine...unlike before, when they turned on and off erratically by themselves. Although I'm totally new to all of this, it seems to me that if you have a bad servo (two, in my case), it can cause everything else connected to the receiver to go crazy? If this is true, I can imagine some spectacular maneuvers should a servo fail while in the air - followed shortly by positive contact with the ground! Should this happen I don't know that the correct response would be, but I would be inclined to turn off the TX, and hope for the best.

I did have to turn on the reverse switch to get the proper throttle response. I don't know what's up with that, but I guess it's no big deal. I went through the ESC arming procedure as you described.

Thanks again for your help.

Gale155

I sent a PM to John on the 20th, but haven't heard from him yet...and yes, I know he's busy. I'm not in any hurry, since I'm not going to be flying the Catalina anytime soon. Based on your recommendation, you'll be happy to know that I just ordered this: http://www.nitroplanes.com/new4chdyhask.html , since it's now back in stock. Of course if I crash and burn on the maiden, I'm going to hold you personally and solely responsible.

opjose

It's CHINESE NEW YEAR...

I don't expect him back for another week or so.... heh.

Re: Plane

I think you'll like it.

It's a great way to get started, and holds interest.

The Motor ESC and battery can always be transferred to a profile foamy later too!

It uses pretty standard LiPo packs too, so batteries are easy to get.

Charge up the pack when you get it. Hook things up and perform a range check.

Remember that the ESC will need a "calibration move" to learn the throttle range.

On some this means powering up the TX with the throttle down, turning on the plane.

While holding the tail, run the throttle up ( nothing will seem to happen ) and hold until you get a beep.
Run the throttle back down and if you hear no more beeps, turn the throttle trim all the way down.

You should then hear a series of beeps ( normally three ) and the plane is then "armed".

Once you have the control surfaces all working, set the trims to center ( except the throttle ) and center the elevator and ailerons.

With the plane powered up, and while being careful not to nudge the throttle, adjust the linkages to make all of the control surfaces even with the respective wings.

The first time you fly, put the plane on the ground nose into the wind with you behind it.

Take off into the wind, let it climb, then adjust the control trims so the plane flies level at about 70-80% throttle.

Get used to thinking like you are "in" the plane as you move the sticks.

Use gentle pushes of the sticks and return to center. If the plane seems to turn the wrong way, don't panic. It tends to right itself given enough altitude and space, so you usually have plenty of time to react.

Just don't fly anywhere there are trees nearby, especially the first few times. Allow yourself a LOT of space.

If you think you have enough space, look for more!

After you are more proficient, you'll have a better feel for the space requirements.

The plane practically lands itself.

Just cut the throttle and hold a little bit of back pressure and it will glide down to a soft landing.

Gale155

Thanks for the great tutorial, opjose...that was kind of you. The problem with my yard is that I've got a ton of mature trees, with maybe an acre in the back that's pretty open. My next-door neighbor has sixteen-acres with very few trees, so that will be my training ground.

A week-long new years celebration? Hmmmm...maybe would could learn from the Chinese.

opjose

Some places close for several weeks it seems!

Yeah the first couple of times, find an area with ample space.

Once you get the plane trimmed out and are more comfortable with it, you'll be able to fly it in a more confined area.

Our club's field is boardered on all sides by trees, while there is plenty of space off the ends of the runways, there are trees within 200' of the runway all along it's length.

This scares pilots who arrive at our field from other more open areas. However new members who have come to us from other areas have remarked at how much better they have become as a result of this limitation.

More than one of my Nitroplanes Extra's have had run-ins with the surrounding foliage!

Gale155

John is back, and sent me a very nice PM stating that he will send me two new servos. I told him you were a big help, and a good guy.

BTW, if I get "stuck" in the top of one of our trees, I'll be in a whole bunch of trouble with the wife. There's a fishing lure stuck way up in a tree by the pond that we can't get out, and she's been bit...er, I mean complaining about it for 13-years.

foambreaker

One of the most useful hints I was given when I started out ( way back in November!) was ' when the plane is coming toward you move the stick towards the wing you want to raise 'That helps me a lot with the control reversal problem for newbies like us.

Gale155

That's a keeper, FB...I'll remember that, for certain. Thanks! We need to think of an acronym or word that will help noobs such as myself remember this good advice under stress. The first thing that comes to my mind is "stickup". Unless someone comes up with something better, I'll file that away with GUMP, neodd-sweven, and east is least - west is best (from my learning to fly full-sized planes days back in the early-70's). Thanks again.

Gale155

Replacement servos received...thanks John. And, they both function perfectly on the Catalina, so that was indeed the problem.