Okay, so I did my bro-in-law a favor and picked up a T-Rex XL for him at a deal. Didn't like the links between the servos and the swashplate so I modified the stock plasctic XL frame with some Mini-Titan servo mounts to get direct servo to swash controls, heli flew absolutely awesome (was very happy). Then I wanted to hook him up some more and put a nice fiberglass canopy on ... but wait, the canopy would not fit over the servo mounts, but that's okay as I already purchased and partially assembled a T-Rex S Aluminum frame. So I install all components to the new frame and get it all setup.

Flying it yesterday for him to see (calm wind day, 33 degrees, with snow on the ground) and I started getting this embarassaing glitches with the heli ... it would lose altitude, and sound like the motor was slowing down, tail would shoot in one direction slightly, wth!?!?! I was able to fly it but the glitch would come back once in a while and I would just bring it tail back to me and gain some more altitude. One time it was so bad that I dipped the skids into the snow in the front yard.

What could cause this glitching? It has an Align RCE-BL25G ESC, Align 420LF Motor, Generic 11.1v 2100mah 15c lipo, Futaba 6exhp TX and RX, Telebee gyro, TowerPro SG90 servos all the way around. The rx is mounted in the rear of the frame on the bottom plactic plate, and I have the antenna wrapped around the left skid, and then down through the tube hanging out of the back, the esc is mounted at the front on the bottom plate with the batter on the diagonal tray above the ESC.

Prior to going to the aluminum frame, the electrics setup was the same in the plastic frame and I never saw a glitch. Help please!

Pic attached from flying yesterday (pic was taken by my wife from inside);

Hmm,

I would check the obvious things...if you haven't already. Make sure the crystal didn't come loose. Make sure the antenna wire or esc/servo wires aren't up against the frame. Also, do you have a ferrite ring on the wires to your esc?

That does suck, but nothing to be embarassed about!

Skarn

Thanks Skarn, I will double-check the things you mentioned and am glad you did ... sometimes I overlook the easy/more obvious things thinking it's something more involved than it is.

No, I do not have a ferrite ring ... what is it and should I get one?

Is it the same as this? http://www.align.com.tw/shop/product...oducts_id=1240

I had the same **** going on with mine. I built the 450 SA ARF kit and used the 401 gyro. it would hold fairly steady then the tail would start to wander and not hold. towards the middle of thebattery pack it got worse. I would correct the tail sway and 30 seconds later it was wagging like a dogs tail. I always noticed that when i connected the battery pack and the ESC beeped that the rudder servo would "twitch" with each beep. the swash servos didnt move. I finally figured out that the ESC was just too close to the gyro. I had the gyro mounted on the back bottom plate. I had the ESC pushed forward but it was still too close. I ended up moving the ESC forward almost directly under the motor and made sure the motor leads werent close the the gyro. BOOM!! problem solved. it holds like a rock and holds better in the hover.

Hope that helps.

it was the motor leads that did it, not any of the input power wires.

Ahhh motor lead wires, those are the one's coming out of the motor ... right?

If so, those go under the bottom plate and then connect to the ESC under the front bottom plate. I will try and re-arrange the wires to see if that helps, along with moving the receiver antenna off of the skid (on the same side as the motor wires). Or vice versa, move the motor wires to the other skid and see if it helps.

You have the wires wrapped around the plastic part of the skids or the actuall metal skid itself? Make sure the antenna wires arent overlapping each other either

The antenna wire goes under the bottom frame plate, to the front plastic skid support on the left side of the heli (looking from above driver's side), then goes over and back to the rear plastic skid support, then under to the front skid support and then down the antenna tube and hangs out from there, about as far back as the horizontal fin on the tail boom.

I will try and re-route the antenna wire another way, any suggestions?

on my BH450se with the stock TX/RX i was getting horrible gltches installed the ferrite ring and it was no better.

i just rerouted the antenna wire by wrapping it around the skids like how it comes from mike no plastic tube nothing and the glitches have gone for now lol

i think its just getting lucky moving things around changing the way your picking up the rf noise and trying to eliminate any excess in your case the frame is either focusing and or magnifying the issue. ferrite rings only work so so but its worth a try ESC motor wire routing id move it all slightly you should get it.

Thanks all, I found another thread talking about ferrite rings and took apart a monitor cable today to get one so I will try it as well as re-routing wires and see if I can eliminate the glitching and I will post back my findings.

Thanks again!

Another suggestion is to get one of those micro, base-mount antenna's.

I put one on last week and LOVE it. No more long-ass antenna wire to wrap around things!

Skarn

I thought about a Dean's micro antenna, but I'm not sure how those connect to the receiver?

And after another glance at his heli (in my truck) I think the esc to motor wires were touching the receiver antenna wire, because when mounting his canopy it pushes the motor/esc wires up against the same left side of the skid support where I ran the antenna wire. I should be able to move the esc motor wire connection to the other side and will test again when it's back to above freezing and winds below 10mph.

Back above freezing? Holy cow i love Arizona. It 50 here today and thats cold. It did rain all day yesterday but tomorrow is suppossed to be 60. Just thought i'd share the good weather.

Thanks for rubbing it in condair, supposed to hit 38 today but with gusty winds, tomorrow 48 but with rain and winds, 25 for wednesday with snow and then just around 32 the rest of the week and weekend, which is when I will fly when/if the winds are below 10mph.

I cannot wait for Sping to come again!

Arizona is nice, wife and I drove out there for a week in Sedona, saw the Grand Canyon as well, really nice trip

It sucks living in Michigan being an rc heli pilot, one day could be 40 and good to fly next day -5 degrees and a foot of snow on the ground

They are actually very easy to connect. You cut the existing antenna wire and leave about 4-8 inches. then you strip off a small section of insulation and simply solder it into the antenna....very easy and I live mine.

Skarn

I may end up getting one for myself, will practice soldering two wires together as I haven't done any of that yet, just the dean's battery connectors.

I'll move those esc motor wires and see how things are for his heli then, I'll bet that's the issue at hand ... once I do that, then I will test and report back.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help guys!

Amen, brother! [:@]

I couldnt help rubbing it in. But wait till summer and i wish i was somewhere else. So hot i doubt the heli will lift off.

I am grounded anyway waiting on the LHS to get 3 Futaba 9650 servos for the swash on the 500 i am building and its too windy to fly the 450.

agreed, I put one on my XL and it got rid of the interference I was getting with it. The micro-whip antenna. Does it twitch when its sitting on the ground with 0 headspeed?

T/A Guy, no it does not twitch on the ground.

hmm, when does it seem to twitch the most? I'm assuming all the servos move smoothly in all directions? What type of receiver are you using..?

spektrum, spektrum, spektrum, need I say more. Tried everything on my SE , ring, grounding boom to frame, Deans antenna, Moving electronics around. NOTHING WORKED! Until I bought a DX-7 radio system. Now I can fly with confidince. I don't worry about when I'm gonna get a glitch. Doesn't happen. Some say that they have success with regular PPM or PCM gear. Maybe so but I pulled my hair out trying to fix mine. Just my opinion. Hated to see my 9C go, but now I don't miss it at all.

Agreed. Just got my DX7 working with my v2 and it flies absolutly amazing! It seems like an entirely different world flying with it. If money's not too big of an issue, this is definatly an idea. But if not, ya gotta go with what you can.

I hope to find out tomorrow (or the weekend at latest) whether or not the issue has been resolved by moving the esc to motor wires over to the other side of the heli frame, attached to the skid support on the right side.

I am confident this will resolve the issue, since the glitching occurred this past weekend, and I noticed that once I mount the canopy it pushes the esc motor wires up along the left side front skid support, practically touching the receiver antenna.

A new TX/RX system is out of the question, as this was a heli I built with my dime for my brother-in-law and he hasn't yet paid me for the heli ... let alone even tried to fly it yet. He had a FP heli and once I upgraded to a CP, then to a T-Rex, I had to build one for him as well. Besides, I have the exact same radio system in my Rex and have no glicth issues what-so-ever, only difference is mine has a CF frame.

what can happen if the receiver wire is touching the frame? can that cause glitching?