I just got this helicopter for Christmas. I want to learn how to fly well so I can do some aerial photography. I've flow it a few times but had a crash on the last flight. It fell from about 100 ft after the battery died (I know, rookie mistake). Luckily if feel in some soft brush and appears perfectly fine. Charged the battery and tried to fly again and nothing happened. I took the cover off and again everthing was in place and the connections looked good. I know it is getting a signal from the transmitter. When I turn the transmitter on it keeps making a clicking noise about every five seconds. The manual says it checks the gyro when the transmitter is powered on and I think that is what the clicking noise is (it's more like a motor noise than a clicking noise). So my guess is that it's the gyro that is preventing it to start because it keeps trying to check itself but fails. Any ideas?

I have a Double Horse (Shaung Ma) 4-channel single propeller helicopter, model 9116.

Thanks for the help.
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sounds like a servo with stripped gearsw. move the control sticks in each direction, listening for the noise to increase. Also, never fly more than 4 or 5 minutes at a time. If you let the battery run down completely, it is probably dead.

Thanks olefart, I'll install a new servo and give it a shot. I moved the control stick in all directions and nothing happened. No movement or even a noise. Just a blinking light on the control board. It does blink faster when I move the control sticks but that's about it.

Are you getting the "ok" beep tone after you plug the battery in. If you aren't, then your battery may be dead. Have you checked the battery to make sure it is charged? Just because the charger says it is charged doesn't mean it really is. Check the main leads with a meter. If it is a 3 cell lipo, you need to have at least 10 volts to be able to power up the bird, and that's still almost dead, fully charged will be 12.5 to 13 volts.

If the battery is fine and you are still not getting the "ok" beep after plugging in the battery, then the next thing to rule out is a stuck or broken servo. Disconnect the swash plate linkages and the tail rotor linkage and see if they move freely, also try moving the servo arms gently in each direction.

If one of the servos is jammed, forcing it to move by hand might finish off the gear in that servo, but you were going to have to fix it anyway.

Another thing to check is the main rotor gear, make sure the rotor blades spin freely and there are no missing teeth on the main gears or the motor pinion.

If all of these checks turn out ok, the next suspects are the gyro, esc, and rx. Check back with us here after you have checked all of the above and I or some one here will help you diagnose further.


By the way, where in TN are you?<br type="_moz" />

Before you install a new servo, try to re-bind the heli. Refer to the manual for the proper procedure. If it doesn't respond to any input, it sounds like that may be your problem. Good Luck!

Great info. Thanks. I'll do all you described and get back with you. It seems that the battery may be having trouble. When I try to charge it, the indicator light blinks, indicating that the charge is starting. It's supposed to stop blinking and remain green when the battery is fully charged, but instead it completely goes blank. So that's definitely a good place to start.

Hugger, I live in the Chattanooga area.

Ok, I'm on the other end of the state, too far to come help in person I'm afraid.<div style="padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">
Sounds like you ran the battery down too far. I'm assuming it is a lipo. Most chargers have built in safety programming, if the pack is at or less than 3 volts per cell, the charger will not attempt to charge them because there is a danger of overheating. You can sometimes get around this if your charger is also capable of charging Nicad or Nimh packs. You can set the charger for Nimh and charge the pack just long enough to get each cell above 3 volts. But you do not want to leave the pack on to fully charge with out setting the charger back to Lipo. Things can go BOOM if you forget this.

If your charger does not have a Nimh or Nicad setting, there is another way to rescue the pack. I'll help with that latter if it becomes necessary.

You could also have knocked a wire loose in the crash, You need to check your main leads and see what voltage you have, If you are getting 8 to 9 volts, then all the cells are probably ok, but just got run down a little low. But if your reading on the main leads is less than 8 volts, then you need to check each cell individually to see where we are, this is done by checking each pair of pins on the balance plug. If you have a three cell pack, the balance plug has four wires. They are usually Red, Blue, Yellow, and Black, in that order. Black and Yellow are one cell, with Yellow being positive (+) and Black is negative (-), Blue and Yellow are the center cell, with Blue being positve and Yellow is negative, Red and Blue are the last cell, with Red being positive and Blue being negative. Check each of these cells in this manner and write down the voltage readings.
If you have a loose wire, you will get no reading on one cell.

Most of the time what I find is the center cell gets pulled lower than the other two, as long as you are reading one volt or more on each cell, there is a chance of saving it.</div>

<span class="Apple-style-span">I checked the voltage on the battery. It reads 3.7 after leaving it on the charger all day. The battery pack is a 7.4V Li-ion. Looks like I will have to get a new one. The charger is very basic and I don't see anyway to change the settings. Since I'm probably going to have to get a new battery, should I upgrade to a higher voltage or will it cause a problem with the other compontents? Can I get</span><span class="Apple-style-span">longer flight times with a better battery pack? Or should I stick with what it came with?</span>

You will get longer flight times if you go with a higher mah pack. But you need to make sure it will fit in the space you have. You probably need to get one identical to what you had and then experiment with other packs to see what works the best. Hobbycity.com is the best place to buy Lipos and chargers. I have a $20 Turnigy Accucell lthat works great, and they have 2 cell lipo charger/balancers for less than $10. Just make sure double sure you check the dimensions so you don't get a battery that won't fit. Also pay attention to the C rating and Burst C rating.

If the pack you had is a 30C and you buy a 20C, you probably wont be happy with the performance. With out going into a drawn out lipo lesson. the mah rating determines how long you will be able to fly, the C and Burst rating affects how quickly the pack can deliver its power. This can affect top speed, acceleration, or the amount of power that can briefly be supplied for lift, torque, etc. You probably don't want to fly for twice the amount of time with only half the power, or fly for half the time with twice the power, so this becomes important.

You said it was a 7.4 volt pack, which means it is 2 cells in series, and I'm guessing you probably had a 1000mah pack with a 20C burst rating and 15C contiunous.
To order one like I just mentioned, it would be described as a 2C2S 1000mah, 15C. 20C burst. The "2C" refers to two cells, the '2S" means the two cells are wired in series (If it said 2P, that would mean two cells in paralell and would only be 3.2 volts). The burst rating is sometimes listed with the dimensions and some times is included at the end of the main description.

Changed the battery and had a successful flight this morning. I obviously have a lot to learn about the bird and how to control it, but it's a lot of fun and I enjoy it. Thanks for all the help. I'm grateful it was only a battery after that long drop.

Glad you got it going! Thanks for coming back and letting us know!

I am very new to the helicopter world. Bought a 9116. Thought would be best choice for now. Charged plane battery. Read control book and installed batteries. When I turn on controller I get the beep and red light ,, when I turn on copter the flashing lights come on and I see one controller move slightly. Then nothing. Can't get anything else to happen. Tryed to charge battery again next day. Charged for about 5 min then finished. Still same results. I need some help.

I have a computer FMS simulator. I love to play with it when I have spare time and cannot play with my Double Horse 9116. I am very new to the Heli world. I use the simulator to help me get accustiomed to the use of the sticks. However.. The up and down movement on the Simulator and Heli are opposite each other. I need to know which one is correct. Then I can attempt to find out if I can change the incorrect one to proper setting. I plan on continuing my Heli found love. Please can someone tell me which way should the heli go if I pull back on the stick.??? Is this a normal for all Heli's?  Is there anyway to prolong the flight time? I check severl new batteries. Some like mine say 600 mAh and some are higher. Can a higher mAh work to increase flight time, and would it cause problems?

nice to read you got it working