boosted180

My Feedback: (8)

i've had my optic 6 with spectra module for the past year running on channels 12 and 15 (depending on which plane i'm flying). it's been fine until about 1 week ago.

the first sign of problems is when my fliton quiet storm started glitching real bad during one flight (never done that before). in the next few days, it would glitch REAL BAD on the ground as soon as i plugged in the battery (for the plane). it would then stop and it flew fine (still glitching a bit in the air). then 2 days ago, it glitched (twiching on all channels) again after turning on but then after it stopped, no control at all! like my tx was not even on! it was weird. i turned everything off and on again and it was ok.

then yesterday, disaster. i was flying my edge 540t (over $600 plane/ engine/ equipment). in the air it just went crazy for a split second and then no control! it was a total loss and i was not even able to recover the plane b/c it crashed in an area we call "the jungle" and i couldnt get to it.

my buddy offered for me to use his frequency checker to see if i could find anything weird with the radio. well guess what? apparently my radio transmits on BOTH channels 12 AND 13 when set to 12!!!! and the really weird thing is taht it only does this when the antenna is extended. when it's collapsed, it transmits on 12 as it should. but as soon as i extend the antenna, the channle 13 light on the frequency checker would come on! i tested my radio in another plane and this is what happend. i turn on the radio, then the rx on the plane. everything's ok. as soon as i extend the antenna, the control surfaces would go crazy. then after a few seconds just lock up. i repeated this many times and it does the exact same thing!!!! and it doesnt do it on other channels. only on 12!

needless to say, i'm pissed. i'm sending it in to hitec but i'm thinking never to use hitec again. i cannot take any other chances. i've once had a hitec hs 81 servo just lock up on me which resulted in a crash. i'm not sure if their quality is just not good or i'm just the unluckiest guy in r/c........

jlingrel

If you are using the freq checker that Tower sells, take the antenna off of it before you check anything. I have found with the antenna on, it is easily swamped and will show all sorts of strange freqs. With the antenna off, it seems to work OK out to about 150 feet and so far, it has showed accurately what channels were in use at our field.

John

XJet

There are only two kinds of fliers -- those who have lost planes to equipment failure and those who will lose planes to equipment failure.

No manufacturer makes 100% perfect equipment so changing from Hitec to some other brand wont necessarily guarantee that you won't experience similar problems at some other time in the future.

jlingrel os right when he suggests that the frequency checker is being swamped by your transmitter.

Send the stuff back to Hitec and they'll check it over, repairing or replacing as necessary.

I think you have to accept some of the blame yourself though for continuing to fly even when it was obvious that something was wrong.

boosted180

My Feedback: (8)

yes i know i should not of flown but i dont think i ever would have found out what was wrong. i had no idea that such a problem can exist..... a radio transmitting on 2 frequncies at once! when it was glitching at first i though it was just the "typical" glitching that you experience once in a while espcially in electrics with single converison receivers. (although my edge had a hitec electon 6 dual conversion).

well anyway, i'm over it. i was just searching the forums and there's a few others who've had problems with hitec servos also. i've had a few incidents of bad hitec servos. one of them just spontaneously changed the center position after a few flights (no crash though). and the other one just started twicthing real bad and then lock up at the end point position. luckily it was on the ground when this happened. there's a long thread about this exact thing happening to someone else who posted on this forum.

but i agree that there are no companies that can absolutely guarantee that 100% of their products are 100% good. in the end i guess it was just my bad luck. if they send me a new transmitter and module, i'll probably use it, but i think i'll go with jr or futaba servos from now on (at least on my bigger expensive planes). i'll continue using hitec servos on my park flyers b/c they're a great value and it's not a big deal if they do fail (which so far have been good).

mglavin

My Feedback: (31)

It's plausible there is an intermittent problem with your Spectra TX module, thus the occasional mode of no apparent control. The tattle-tales you describe should alarm a prudent modeler and cause and affect the fleet to be grounded until such time the radio gear is checked out by a Technician...

Analog servos do NOT typically simply lock-up or hard over to extreme travel end-points without some sort of induced stress or gear-train failure IMO, digitals are another quandary. The Hitec HS-81 is a good servo, but like all things electro-mechanical it suffers a failure rate same as others. Typically mini-micro servos are used well beyond there design parameters simply because the can generate torque values similar to standard sized servos which are certainly more robust. Hitec mini-micro servos are as good as or better than any others with a HUGE market share far exceeding that of all others combined... As noted all OEM's have their share of problems and or failures, market share is directly proportionate to reported failure rates.

Arguably Hitec's premium Digital servos, i.e., HS-5900 series or more specifically the 5945 and 5955 are as good as it gets for larger models. The unparalleled advantages of programmable digital servos together with Hitec's proprietary gear-train is second to none and the latest addition of the Titanium gear-trains has simply proven to be bullet proof with nary any signs of wear thousands of flights later...

boosted180

My Feedback: (8)

michael, have you seen this type of problem before? i'm just amazed that such a thing can even happen. it's scary b/c it's not something that you can prevent (like crashes due to dead batteries, or control linkages coming undone, etc.). like i said, the radio's worked fine for almost a year and then all of a sudden this problem came out of nowhere.

i've asked hitec to send me a new radio and module instead of repairing the old one but i guess that's their call.

my question is this: if it were you, would you just buy another radio or would you trust that the one they repaired is good (and will stay that way)?

i'm considering just forking out more money to get something new if hitec doesnt replace mine for me. should i go with another "synthesized module" type of radio or woudl it be safer just to get the "traditional" ones with just one channel?

brian

ira d

I have two hitec spectra modules one in a optic 6, at one time I had a prisim 7 with one
for at least six years never had a problem with any of them.

since I have all hitec transmitters I watch these forums closely for a heads up on any
problems that may be brewing but so far my radios have worked well.

mglavin

My Feedback: (31)

Brian,

If Hitec Service can identify the problem and repair same I would have NO problem with using the TX and or module. Electronic-mechanical devices are prone to failure, stuff happens; sometimes the user is to be blame other times components fail. I simply don't fly if I believe there is any problem, that said learn from your model and or equipments normal behavior and not.

We have had a few complaints from others of late that have experienced intermittent TX/Module problems with the Optic; I have no specific knowledge if these problems are one and the same leading one to conclude there is a known issue at this time. We are looking very closely for common denominators. Send your gear down for the free inspection and more likely than not Hitec Service will repair the problem(s) free of charge with complete disclosure including returning the damaged components for your inspection.

adec4

a friend of mine was flying today with his optic 6 hitec radio and it started to glitch aswell ,,even with the aerial out doing a range check the plane went nuts , the plane didnt want to respond as it should have ,,
we changed the crystals to another channell and also changed the battery pack but nothing helped ,even looking at the linkages to make sure there were no metal to metal contact , the only thing that we could have put it down to was that the ground was a bit wet
but i've never heard of it happening before
fortunatley the plane was brought down safely
does anyone have any sudjestions please ???

mglavin

My Feedback: (31)

First off I'd identify if the model is experiencing interference verses a TX problem... Is it possible to use another TX to eliminate this variable? Short of another TX try using a different TX module, are you using a Spectra TX module or a fixed channel unit?

Does the model range check with the engine not running?

Gas or Glow fuel engine?

What RX is being used?

Can we assume the model has had successful flights previously and this is new problem?

049flyer

My Feedback: (18)

You experienced serious glitching over several flights and still continued to fly this radio, incredible!

The radio system was giving you PLENTY of warning of impending doom which you chose to ignore.

Yet you blame the equipment?

Thank god no one was injured.

Perhaps those who assume that todays equipment will perform flawlessly every flight will understand just how close we are to disaster.

A range check should be performed before the first flight every day. No pass, no fly! If you experience degraded performance at any time, pack it up and send it in.

Why chance a crash or injuring someone?

boosted180

My Feedback: (8)

i just called hitec today to check the status of my radio. they didnt tell me what the problem was but just said that it's "been fixed" and i should be getting i back by the end of the week. i hope they include a report or something. i'm really curious as to what the problem was. it was the most bizzare scarry thing i've ever experienced. i'm just glad i wasnt flying something really big like a 30% or 40% aircraft. can you imagine something like that just suddenly deciding not to respond?!

adec4, you should do some trouble shooting to isolate it to at least a transmitter problem or a receiver problem. throw a different receiver in there and see what happens. or try using anotehr transmitter with that receiver. that will at least tell you if it's a tx or rx problem. or is it possible that it was just an interferrence problem? once in a while some idiot at the field will turn on his tx without first checking the board to see if anyone's on his channel.

brian

boosted180

My Feedback: (8)

update:

last week hitec sent me a new transmitter with new spectra module.

their report for the transmitter read: "no problems found"

for the spectra module they only wrote: "intermittent problem".

i was hoping for something a bit more specific (i.e. what exactly was the "problem" and what could have caused it).
but i guess i'm glad i got a new radio. if they'd just repaired the old one, i probably wouldnt have used it.

after all this, i'm thinking about just going back to a standard radio with a fixed frequency for my next big plane.....

adec4

we did try diferant rx's 3 in fact all of differant brands..we even used a JR 66 tx with the same rx's ,, the radio doesnt have the module ,it has the just the crystal type tx

since my last questions about the problem we think that the problem has been solved we hope

we did find that the slot for the rx crystal was ok BUT when the ????head put the crystal in he didnt have it pushed in all the way
unknown to me or that he didnt have the rx crystal cover in the reciever ,, so we think it was the vibration playing havock with the signal ,,

well the plane is still one piece and hasnt had any problems since

thanks for the advise guys

chelilim

I recently picked up an optic 6 remote and am having problems with the tx talking to the reciever m(4in1 of cp2). It has a single channel module in it, and the crystal that came with it was on channel 25 at 72.290 mhz. I tried to replace it with the crystal that I had in the stock tx (channel 51, 72.810 mhz), but all i get are glitches in the system. long story short, could this be an issue with the channels.

BMonee

Man, that is a shame. I had the exact same thing happen to me....twice. It gets a little twitchy, then a lot twitchy, and it dies completely. I, too, have lost several hundred dollars of equipment due to this Optic 6 going completely dead while a plane was in the air. I have sent it in to the manufacturer twice already, and it's only about 3 months old.

The Optic 6 is a poor quality, unreliable product. If you want a TX that goes dead while you have a plane in the air, this is probably the radio for you. If you want reliability and at least a small amount of quality, steer clear of this radio like the plague.

BMonee

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

Interesting. I have used my Optic 6 since it was brand new on all 87 flights of my 33% Balsa USA Ercoupe.

I have flown it at Top Gun two years in a row and at the AMA NATS, plus numerous local flying events.

Absolutely ZERO problems.

Most, if not all flights were done with the Spectra module.