Gyro + SBUS System Compatibility- What's Everyone Using
 

Just thought I'd touch base and find out everyone's experience's, good and bad with SBUS power systems and gyros. My jets are decked out with twin receivers running through an IGYRO SRS and into the Robbe/Emcotec 2018 power unit.
Recently I was taxiing my F16 back to the pits and lost signal in both receivers. If it happened 30 seconds earlier I would have lost the plane.
Turned out the gyro was faulty. Because both receivers were running through the gyro, the signal failed to pass through the gyro causing a total lock out.
The cause was corrosion on the circuit board of the gyro. No reason why though.
Its pretty scary as I had 30 trouble free flights before the failure.
Ive thought about running only one receiver through the gyro, but if the receiver signal switches, one minute your flying with a gyro and one minute without. I also experimented with two gyros on board, one for each receiver. I set up both gyros identical with the same gains. I activated the system then pulled out the active receiver to promote the switch to receiver 2. All worked well but there was a 0.5 second delay where no control was possible. Not acceptable.
My question- does anyone know of an SBUS power system where you can have a gyro failure and maintain receiver signal?
Thanks in advance
Levi

I am not sure but maybe using the Royale SRS will be different? Since the gyro is integrated into the same system maybe the output is handled differently.

Well that is a concern. An iGyro SRS going bad due to corrosion. Has Powerbox commented as to what caused the corrosion? Manufacturing problem, etc?

There are many of these units in use (including the ones I own) and I hoping this is a bizarre occurrence.

Nick

Corrosion? How would your I gyro get corrosion?

Glad your plane is OK. Did you take the unit apart to see the corrosion?

Wow .. scary stuff! I have one plane set up with a 2018, 2X7008 RX and no gyros, and one with 2x7008s into an iGyro feeding, then going to both inputs of a 2018 just like yours. I felt it was a pretty good redundant setup. Hmm...

Any factors on your iGyro that might have accelerated corrosion? Did it spend a lot of time near salt water? Sit in a damp basement for a long time? Being in the electronics business, I know that corrosion problems are quite common if the electronic assembly is not done to a high standard. I have always seen the Powerbox guys as a class act in both HW and SW but perhaps they did not anticipate these issues .. as suggested by the prior posts, is there some hint of why that could be discovered?

Dave

That was going to be my next question Michel. Will be good to find that out.

Dave you are correct. Powerbox are a class act and in no way was this thread aimed at them. I still have confidence in their products and they handled my situation very professionally.
I sent the gyro back to Powerbox and they found the corrosion. They couldn't offer a cause or a prevention. All they could say was it wasn't from fuel as there was no oily residue. My situation was very bad luck and a one off so I don't think anyone needs to worry about Powerbox products.
My basement is completely dry and I'm very fussy about how I look after my planes. However I do live 400 metres from the beach. Could this have caused corrosion in a sealed unit? Maybe.
I just thought I'd ask the original question regardless of brands as this episode got me thinking, and worried.

Agreed, no bad intent on PB .. they have great products and offer really good support too. But 400m from the beach is interesting and I suspect does have some significant relevance here ..

Good to bring stuff like this up so we can all learn from one another!

Dave

That for sure Dave. It's all about learning and making things reliable and safe.

Levi, I have a bunch of the 2018's. With the gyro, do you have to assign specific channels in it for it to get to work with sbus? Love the 2018, haven't played with an igyro yet. I have a few of the royal SRS units , but not the stand alone I gyro.. Love a tutorial ;-)

Sure thing Mike. At the moment you would have your two recievers plugged into the two RX ports on the 2018. The IGYRO SRS goes between the recievers and the 2018.
The recievers plug into the right side of the gyro, exit the left side then into the RX ports on the 2018 as normal. So you should only have two leads entering and exiting the gyro always, apart from the gps sensor if you have it. The gyro reciever setting needs to be set to 'Digital Out' from memory. Asign two channels to your TX, one on a three position switch, the other a slider or knob.
Now the 2018 should be picking up the reciever signal through the gyro, you can do the set up assistant in the gyro. As its a digital signal that needs to be picked up, the set up assistant will ask you to move the switch so it can pick up that channel, then it will ask you to move the gain slider to pick that up, and so on.
I always prefer to do the test fly assistant on the ground and set all the gains to 30% to start with, then get your spotter to turn on the gyro during your flight. If there is a problem then they can turn it off quick. If more gain is required, adjust it on the ground then repeat.
I find the method of tuning the gyro gain in the air to be crazy. They tell you to increase the gain until the plane starts to destroy itself, then back it off a little.
Ive had great success with my system but that's only my opinion mate. Do what suits you.

thanks! Didn't realize it was that straightforward. I'll have to try it.