<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt">My Titan SE Flamed out today just after I was completing my first circuit of the field and was headed down the runway. With no altitude and nowhere to go I was forced to stay straight and wound up in some tall grass at the end of the runway. Some damage to the jet occurred but it is very minor in the grand scheme of things. I was flying my Panther which has over 60 flights with all the original equipment still on board since new. I did have two mysterious flameouts with this jet early on in its career (around the 14th flight mark) but nothing since. After retrieving the jet I immediately plugged in the GSU....but it was blank!! No power whatso ever. I checked all connections and they were fine. Finally I switched off the Receiver and the transmitter and then turned everything back on. Now the GSU had power (and my pack was reading 7.9 volts) but the display was nothing but hieroglyphics. I again switched off the Transmitter and Receiver and then on again. This time everything appeared normal. I then started the turbine which was completely normal. During running however the GSU (I was in the run mode) stopped displaying the RPM and Temp for a slit second and instead displayed a message that I just could not read fast enough....something along the lines of "has stopped working". It was just as flash and then the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>appropriate RPM and Temp figures returned to the display. I could not get this weird message to reappear. </span></p>

I just wanted to say well done getting the aircraft down safely and relatively undamaged. I'll leave the diagnosis to the experts. Knowing Bob/the gang at Jetcat and going from my experience in the strange and supernatural in turbines, I'm sure you'll have a good idea by Monday morning and a fix or way around it shortly thereafter.

did you not check the last shut down status before starting it again? if so what did it have as last off condition?


the flash you saw on the GSU was the restoring of pump settings, it should of read something along the lines of 'Pump Parameter Stored'

Sorry to hear that Dom.

I had similar (the same problem - flameout and not able to talk to gsu afterwards at all )  trouble that has been "gone" since Bob updated things in the ECU and turbine board  such that I get a "ready #" instead of "ready !" on my gsu. If you have the "!" send it to him for the update. I have not had another problem and pray that it is not coming back..

Dave

<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt">I tried to check the last off condition right after picking up the jet but it was blank....no power....dead. Not until I switched my TX and RX on and off twice did I get anything. By then that data was lost. I just started my P-70 in the drive way after getting it back from its 25 hour maintenance. I had to learn RC and during the initial run the GSU displayed a message about storing some info. But in the case of the Titan SE it was a differnt message. I definitely read the words "Stopped Working".<o></o></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><o><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></o></p>

</p>

I lost Bob's e-mail address during a computer swap.
I thought it was:
[email protected]

But that is not working. The e-mail was returned to me.
Anyone have his e-mail address?

No, the last off condition is stored regardless, the data from the previous flight would have been stored for everything else but last off would have still given you what caused the flame out.

for example, if your batt dropped out, all data would be from the previous successful run but last off would be 'Power Fail'

I'll PM it to you.........wouldnt' wanna add it here without his consent.

Thanks!!

Dom,

Just to clarify what I wrote - ESD was thought to be at fault for my Titan SE and the reason the GSU was not able to talk to the ECU until I cycled the pwoer to it...sounds like what you had?. The updates On the turbine board and ECU are supposedly able to reboot or something so fast that it doesn't cause a flameout if there is ESD. At least that is my understanding.

Dave

Hi Dave.
What is an ESD?

electro static discharge, where you'd of had a Watchdog on last off condition.

During those two previous flameouts thatI mentioned happened around flight #14 I was given Powerfail messages. Bob thought it could have been ESD. He had me run the aux cable from the ECU to the RX even though I am running a single channel setup. I have used that ever since for all my setups as a precaution. I have heard about the watchdog message but never have seen it.</p>

Sorry Dom,
Looks like that was answered already. I never got any watchdog and also don't know if my Titan SE had that stuff installed when I had the problem. I just know I got a wierd string of characters on the GSU and nothing would happen until I turned off and back on.
I also don't honestly know if Jetcat was able to find more data indicating a clear ESD/watchdog when they played around with it - fortunately it is working well know with the updates....
Dave

i get the hieroglyphics on the GSU sometimes but i just unplug the GSU and plug it back in and all's well, never had to cycle the power to the receiver or the ECU.

I had the blank screen flameout on a P120SE. Bob W. believed it was static discharge. Prior to that I also had watchdog and powerfail flameouts. I sent in my ECU for the "#" update nearly a year ago and no flameouts since. FWIW.

Hi dom

Glad you made the trip back with minor damage.

I had a flame out in a P60Se due to a chip in the I/O board that was bad. The chip was hot and when I pluged the GSU I could only read the hearoglyphs. I replaced the board and i give it a spray of electric isolator. I later found that It might be due to a splii of quero into the board.

I also have a P160SE and it is working fine, but I read so much about ESD that I am planning to wire all metalic parts together. I also use a very low refuel rate.

Nevertheless you comment regarding the aux cable is new to me. I use a single channel set-up and I really would like to know why and how the connection between the aux channel in the ECU and RX can help the ESD issue.

Good luck with rebuild

Nuno

Hi Nuno.
My original flameouts were with a powerfail message. Bob Wilcox take on the Aux cable was to provide redundant signal to the rx incase it was a case of the rx not getting the voltage reading from the ECU. He did believe that SD could be the real factor but no one knows for sure.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="3">Ok here is the scoop.
I spoke to Bob Wilcox today and gave him the account of my flameout. He said that I was a victim of Static Discharge. Bob stated that when static is discharged into the ECU then it will shut down and cause a flameout on all turbines. If static discharges into the turbine itself then it may or may not shut down the turbine. It all depends on whether you have a processor in the turbine. For example my Titan has no processor and will not fall victim to a direct static discharge. My Titan SE on the other hand has a processor. When the static hits it causes the processor to reboot. In that time the ECU can no longer see RPM and Temp readings so it shuts down the turbine. There is a software and board upgrade that will fix this issue. After the upgrade, if static hits then the turbine will immediately switch to an analog signal and send the ECU the RPM and Temp readings. In a spilt second and at the same time the processor will reboot and resume digital transmission. All this is transparent to the ECU so the turbine will not flameout. You can tell if you have the upgraded software by looking at the ready message. Ready! is the old software while Ready# is the updated version. My two P-160SX turbines already have the new software so the Titan SE was the only turbine in my fleet to suffer this condition. I already sent the ECU and board to Bob for the updates. Dave was right with his diagnosis.<o></o></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-family: Arial"><o><font size="3"></font></o></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><o><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></o></p>

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What great service from JetCat. I sent the ECU and board out on Tuesday and had it back on Saturday. I just logged 4 flights on the Panther without any problem. I hope the # update was the answer.

Ithink this "static discharge" phenomena seems to be mostly only with JetCat engines. Ihave had 7 Jet Central engines with the old and new style Gaspar ECUs and have never had a static discharge shut down. Heck...the only flame out Ihave ever had was because of a bad UAT. On my Lightning, the fuel jug will build up so much static on it sometimes it makes the hair on my arm stand up...but then the turbine (Rhino) starts right up and performs flawlessly. I've had two different Rhinos in the Lightning and have never had any problems with static shutdowns.

Beave

Yes, and what a memorable flame out it was.

Jed

I had this problem before with 2 different Jetcats, and JC in Germany told me this is a SOFTWARE problem with a certain V5.00 version (cant remember which letter after the 5.00) and that a software update will cure this. all of these turbines were software updated (no hardware) and no problems since.

im willing to bet yours is V5.00 ?

whats the cost to to have an upgrade to the # ????????i have a 6.0 ecu