freeair

over the last 4 weeks i have seen 3 models lose r/c power and crash. these models were fitted with Spectrum 2.4 gig radio sets.
these models had there battery packs tested after the crashes just to make sure it wasn,t battery failures. i was considering the radio change to the 2.4 gig stuff but after many years of successfull 36 mhz flying i think i might waite another year so all this new stuff / problems gets sorted out. i know JR 2.4 gig is reliable but not Spectrum. what do you guys think ?

gcshawkey

Well personally I disagree. I think of the 2 x mainstream 2.4Ghz systems available, Spektrum has had less problems than Fuby.
Now I may be biased, due to the following.....
I have used Spektrum DX7 for 2 years on all my models - 17 currently "flying ready" including small all electric foamies, IC powered larger scale models, Slope soarers, and EDFs. I have had probably 250+ flights, with not 1 single issue - ever. I use a mixture of ESC BECs, UBECS, and DIGIswitches, some are 5V output, and some are 6V. I have also carried out extensive "real world" testing of the 3 receiver types I use, which are AR6000 / 6100E / 7000. These tests have proved that short term brown outs ( the most common type ) are virtually impossible to detect in the models behaviour - providing the receivers are all QC enabled...which all of mine are. The 6100E s perform particularly well, exceeding the range of any other so called park fly receiver I have ever used, they also operate down to 3.3V but of course, this is NOT recommended it was merely a bench test. Use a good quality supply of 6V where possible, one which is able to supply its juice when required ( EG: ensure sufficient capacity not just voltage! ) Install the system correctly, ensure the Tx aerial is orientated correctly to the models position..... and enjoy the wonder that is Spektrum RC.
NO... I dont have ANY association with HH or Spektrum at all.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Gotta agree. I run 5 planes on spektrum. Never had a brown out reset. On planes that I'm not sure about current capacity, I run a separate battery for the receiver. Only because I'm using pretty high current/high torque digital servos. I've lost planes using 72mhz too due to transmitter failure, receiver, and servo failure. When you've been flying for a long time murphy gets you from time to time.
Edwin

rmh

I think they are one and the same design-
There is a VERY good possibility that the occurrrances you mentioned have/had problems other than noted.

Mr. Mugen

I am with the OP on this one. I too have seen more crashes than I'd like due to radio problems with the spektrum line of radios. I saw 2 that were identical.....plane beeping in air then down she went. Turns out the radio/rx lost bind......huh? Another was with the cheesy dx6i. The operator is plenty experienced but we found that the slightest flexing of the radio case would cause resets.....I mean the slightest. We did a test with it and found if the right stick was pulled back all the way it would reset.....how the? Of course horizon wanted to replace it right away......if it was me I would tell them to keep it.....send me something reliable. I recently bought a new radio and spent quite a bit on it........tried and tested 72mhz. At our local field so many went 2.4 that our freq. board is wide open now. I guess once planes quit crashing and people stop making excuses for why then I will trust it with my toys.

rmh

Loosing bind in the air?
I don't think so -
loosing signal - yeh it is possible -tho typically due to incorrect rx application/installation - see far too many working setups to fault the system .
as for the DX61- bad transmitter - it can happen - even to $2000 tx - seen it -
once you have been in any business for a while - you see that mrechanical failures do happen to everybody sooner or later . Horizon wants to replace the TX?
what would YOU have them do ? All this chat about 2.4 - when the number of failures on 72 were actually higher - but some feel feel interference was "just part of the hobby".
Just my take on it

Mr. Mugen

Just my personal opinion of course....I would have horizon keep the tx. Where I am from glitches are almost non existent on 72mhz. At our 2 local clubs there have been 3 planes lost to 72mhz glitches in last 10 years.......3 on 2.4 in less than one year. I only call it like I see it. I don't make this stuff up. I actually have 4 2.4 radios. 3 are ground and one air. I only use the air tx on 2 planes so far. Need more time to be "sold" on it.

onewasp

I have been flying Spektrum since 2006, under all conditions and have had/seen zero problems. Obviously you and your buddies are doing something wrong/different.
These remarks are based upon first hand experience not reading and not that of others.

If you choose to bypass Spektrum it is your choice________but that is not your problem.
In my opinion it will be your loss.

We haven't even had a newbie crash a Spektrum yet. What are those odds?

I've been at this RC thing for a long time. My guess "It ain't the radio!"

jaka

Hi!
Probably brown out!
I got it with my DX-7 using ordinary GP NiMH "green cells" ( AAA size, 4,8V,1000mAh). Lost contact with my Q-500 racer this spring in May but luckily I was just cruising at high altitude, fooling around, when this happened. The model went into a spin from a height of 250-300m and I could do nothing about it! No stick movement seemed to help. Luckily I regained control at about 25m height (Phu!) and could land safely!
These GP "green cells" were fairly new and had been used for 2-3 months without problem and worked OK after the flight too.
The only possible thing I could figure out was that the battery could not deliver enough voltage so the Spektrum DX-7 radio re boothed .

I fixed this by changing the GP cells to GP "red" ones (AAA size, 4,8V, 850mAh) that could deliver more amp without having a voltage drop and to be extra certain that no voltage drop would occur I mounted a capacitor as a back up! And to this date this has worked perfectly.

freeair

a guy at the field yesterday had a brand new DX7 in a trainer model and all of a sudden it went off air, luckely the model was still on the ground. a few of the 2,4 gig experts had a close look and checked out everything including battery power under load and found nothing other than they thought the secound receiver unit was too close to the main rx. the radio set went back to the shop.

gcshawkey

So in 4 weeks, you have seen 4 "Spektrum problems" - Yet I have had no issues at all in over 100 weeks. Hmm.
I suspect thousands of others have been using the system in thousands of models worldwide also, and mostly without incident. We now have 9 Spektrum sets ( 6 DX7 and 3 DX6i ) in my small club and to date, not one problem, other than 1 incident which was user induced through poor installation. The way some "modellers" install and operate their radio gear beggars belief, and has always astounded me in almost 30 years involvement in this sport. There are even people still flying models with early generation receivers without QC enabled - despite the firmware upgrade being free and speedy. THis is simply laziness and irresponsible behaviour.
I would stake a very high bet on the problems being human related through poor disciplines or shoddy installations / weak batteries. I am not saying they haven't happened, but ya gotta admit.... you do seem to have observed everyone else's share of issues all in 4 weeks, - and all at one club too?

freeair

yes i do agree with your comments but this occurance within the last month or so has really turned me off the Spectrum brand of 2.4 gig radio units. i also have been in the r/c model industry for many years [ 40 ] of now where i started with single chanell [ os pixie] and [ os reed valve radio ] then can the new proportional radio sets on 29 mhz followed by 40 and 36 mhz sets, within the last 20 years i have used JR radios on the 36 mhz band both ppm and pcm and never had a problem other than a quick glitch here and there that wasn,t a worry. two of the club members that have lost models with this spectrum 2.4 have also been around for many years and the change from 36mhz to 2.4 gig has been dissasterous for them plus myself in the seeing of this happening. i am sure there are many other guys around that do have problems with these new 2.4 gig sets so i will stick with the good old pcm gear until all is sorted out, there is a definate radio problem with this particular radio in question. by the way i have not witnessed any JR or futaba 2.4 gig problems , only the other brand.

jcccc

I agree. I'm staying with 72. Very reliable, no gremlins. no mysterious malfunctions and now a growing number of guys on 2.4 leaves the 72 with more frequency pins to choose from.

And I gotta mention again the 72 frequency scanner built-in to my radio, compatible with all 72 Rx's and 99 model memory.

jcccc

jcccc

HA Ha Onewasp,

You make me laugh so much!!!

jcccc

onewasp

As usual____on the wrong page

rmh

Be careful what you say!!
I made a person feel bad and he held his breath and likely stomped his foot ,till the site monitor wisely deleted my comments.
Remember , facts have little to do with what is posted

jcccc

No problem here. Just having a good time. Onewasp and I have a good natured back and forth going here. All is good fun.

Dick- tell Libby to stop staring at me, her eyes follow my curser all over the screen!

LOL



jccc

nobodytwo

Carefully there gcshawkey. As long as users understand power issues involved, and use 6V packs, then the risk of receiver failure is not any worse that the "upgraded" version. I've got 15 of the "early generation" and still have never had a problem and have no intention of returning them for service!

Happy Landings!

bjor

I see your from Queensland - me too. How's this great weather?. I don't know where you fly, but at the club I'm at it's not unusual to see 1, sometimes 2 or 3 crashes every weekend. Sure, everybody has an opinion and everybody is an "expert". The pilot will generally always say - "don't know what happpened there - must of got hit by some kind of intererence". Most flyers at my club are still on 36meg and a fair proportion of the crashes are on the 36meg band, mind you we still have crashes on 2.4 as well. I guess what I'm saying is, I think the majority of the problems are interference, between the brain and thumbs but pride to admit this sometimes hurts more than the crash. Myself - I've gone through plenty of planes. I use 2.4G, and all my crash's have been mine. Apart from that, myself and most of the people I know that use 2.4 are very happy. I'm happy if you stay on 36meg, frees up the ten spaces allocated for 2.4

wedgewing

Anyone have any idea of what Rx were in the AC involved?

I am reading through the posts and cannot find anyone speaking about the known issue with the 1.1 and 1.2 firmware that have been fixed.

I lost my MUS twice to a 1.2 brown out. second time was my fault for believing it was something else. Unfortunately, there are a ton of pilots out there still flying flying AR6100 rx (I have 5 of them and "now" they are solid) without the updated firware. Horizon / Spektrum / reliable LHSs have notified all that updates are needed to prevent this. I sent mine in and have never had an issue since.

I think if you dig deeper (sometimes into the wreckage) it is not the "system" that should worry us, but the pilots we know and fly with that are tooling around on borrowed time by not doing the firmware update. If you know someone flying one of these ask them if they have because if they don't and loose a bird they will just post about how the Spektrum system blows.....

I was just trading posts with another flyer and he still had firmware 1.1 [X(]. you will be without your Rxs for a week or so by sending them in, gave me a chance to put mine back on 72mhz and crap my pants when I flew by "the zone of interference" and almost lost my plane. that was the reason I switched over to the 2.4 in the first place.

$0.02

gcshawkey

Yes I suppose thats a fair point - perhaps I was a bit strong, however I wouldn't totally agree that the risk is no worse - even a 6V pack could drop to critical level if the cells are not up to delivery requirement, ( and of course some really small lightweight models will probably utilize inbuilt ESC BECs and these are almost always only 5V output ) -and a brown out will then take a long time to recover - the recovery with QC is instantaneous....
but fairysnuff.....point taken. :-)

pilotpete2

Oh boy, some folks jes don't get it
Pete

wedgewing

[/quote]
Yes I suppose thats a fair point - perhaps I was a bit strong, however I wouldn't totally agree that the risk is no worse - even a 6V pack could drop to critical level if the cells are not up to delivery requirement, ( and of course some really small lightweight models will probably utilize inbuilt ESC BECs and these are almost always only 5V output ) -and a brown out will then take a long time to recover - the recovery with QC is instantaneous....
but fairysnuff.....point taken. :-)
[/quote]

Actually the point you bring up on the external BEC is also very sound. Sounds like you guys are flying stuff a little larger than my Parks or 3D AC. I always thought I was OK or safe with the internal BECs and along with ensuring I have the firmware updates, I have also taken the sound advice and added ParkBECs or SportBECs to my 3D aircraft even though I have the firmware updates on the AR6100s.

In the small pool I hang with more often at the bottom of the sticks and monocote left after the crash is a V1.2 on the Rx

Hopefully firmware updates and education on when BECs should run external will lead to more of us having success with this new technology

rmh

Just as many do not take their automobiles in for "safety recalls "-
Some feel "If'n it ain't broked , don't fix it", also applies to their radio equipment.
The quick link -is a MUST-in my book-even if there has never been a problem.
Why?
a loose connection -and given the mish mash of connectors and adapters and aftermarket stuff available, this is very probable (beyond "possible") occurrance.
The battery thing- will always be withus as some modelers simply will not research what constitutes a proper battery for their use.
"why should they?" They never had to- before-2.4
That approach sems fairly common.
Oh well
This comment may hurt someones feeling because they see themselves in it
Solch ist das leben.

pilotpete2

Dick, As to the importance of quick connect.
Ist ein kein brainer
Pete