My edge 540 flying great till Friday,first the throttle stuck,i choked it then dead sticked the plane without incident,then on the ground turns out chanel 3 on my reciever went bad,so i installed another reciever,with this one it range checked fine until the engine started then when i walked a good distance with the engine running controls started to fribulate.So i installed another reciever,it range checked fine,after flying it with no problems at low speeds,i cranked the throttle up to 3/4 and started to get hit again!luckily i got the plane down in one piece,it even rolled over on me during my landing aproach[&o]but im very fortunate its unharmed.I just cant figure out whats going on,the ignition is a good distance,im thinking about moving it even further away,what do you guys think,has anyone had this happen?im finding it hard to believe all these recievers were bad,they were not in wrecks,one is in a plane im building that ive never flown.I'm very confused and concerned,i love this plane,i dont want to lose her over something like this.I'd appreciate any help<OH,by the way,would the equalizer cause interferance?

Did you use the same crystal in each Rx, or did you change channels
at the Tx? If you used the same crystal in all 3 Rx's then I would check
again with a differnet crystal.

Another idea.... was the first Rx PCM and the other 2 FM ? If yes,
then maybe the PCM was masking the problem that you found
with the Fm's?

Just a couple of idea's

What engine are we dealing with? If the crystal isn't the culprit this can help to diagnose.


Check for broken insulation and shielding on the plug lead. Check the spark plug for a cracked porcelain. What were the battery voltages after the problem. Did you check the ignition switch for problems?

There really needs to be more info to support any theory. What engine, what brand ignition, where are the trottle and choke servos mounted, what voltage is getting to the RX, what brand of RX, are all extentions twisted or the flat kind like JR, What kind of linkage is being used for the throttle and choke, How is the antenna being run and is it close to servo leads, how much distance is there between the ignition and the RX and RX switchs, what are the servos being used and how many? The fact that the throttle channel on the first RX died makes me think that the RX may be getting too much voltage. If this is the case it could be getting hot and when certain electronic components get hot they reduce effiecency such as RF filters, capacitors. Please supply more info and we will see what we can all come up with.


Shawn

I'm running a da-50 with the ignition located directly behind the motor box,im going to move it up into the motor box,im thinking maybe its to close to the choke and throttle servo.I'm also ordering a new regulator,like you guys were saying it might be getting to many volts,also im using the smart fly eq,if its located to close to the reciever will it cause interfearance?Somebody at the field was saying he builds a box around his ignitions,does anybody here do that?I'm also going to buy another reciever,i dont want to take any chances.Thanks for all help and theories.

Heres how I mounted the DA Ignition and battery...No glitches. Check to make sure the wire braid is intact on the plug wire and doesent chafe on any sharp edges. If you used the anderson connecter on the ignition (RED AND BLACK plug) They sometimes brake the wire where the wire is atatched to the plug. Tie that plug down so it cant flop and vibrate, or better yet remove it entirly.

very nice,im going to move mine to the position yours is mounted.

I have an importand message for you. If the location of the ignition makes adifference in range checking then there is something else wrong and you need to find it and fix it.

I have had dozens of installations with all different orientations. I've had the throttle and/or choke servos as little as 3 inches from the ignition box. Never had a range or interference problem as long as everything was working properly.

Problems occurred when I had one of these problems;

ignition that had been in a crash

abraded shield on the plug wire allowing arcing from the center lead to the shield

receivers that had been through a few crashes

wrong crystal type (used a Hitec crystal in a Futaba PCM receiver)

extensions with bad connectors

bad servo feeding back interference

2 receivers interfering with each other

and a few others.

Each of these allowed the radio to work but not properly.

You need to find the underlying cause, reorienting the ignition is a bandaid when you need surgery.

TF

On the spark plug wire there is a very small area where the braiding around the wire is a little messed up,i can see the rubber wire,but there is nothing wrong with the actual rubber insulation on the spark plug wire,should i cover this with something?

Different receivers? Channel 3 only? I'd look closely at the sixth suggested problem in post #8.

No,the first reciever channel 3 stopped working.The other reciever would range check fine until the engine was running,then at a distance,servos went crazy.The third reciever range checked fine with the engine running,we taxied around a few times no trouble,i flew the plane at about half throttle for atleast five minutes with no problems,as soon as i cranked up the throttle,the plane started getting hit!luckily she was landed incident free.The plane is new and has never been any accident,two of the three recievers were brand new.

Also,i had atleast five flights with the first reciever,then the throttle stuck,i landed the plane,and the trottle worked fine,we could not figure it out,then we flew the plane a couple of more times incident free,then the throttle stopped again,this time it would not work at all after landing,we plugged other servos into channel three and none worked,but when plugging the throttle servo into other channels it worked fine.

Mike, in my post I asked some pretty specific questions. In order to be of any real help I need for you to answer the questions as accuratly as possible. Your post in reply to my questions dosn't help me to understand your setup well enough.


Shawn

Sorry,ill try to be more specifica-50,stock ignition(i moved it outside the motor box,on right side of cowl,i cant see it now to let ya know what kind it is,i know its not a CH?or CD cant remember the name.)the throttle and choke are mounted over top the gas tank but further forward,very close to the rear of the motor box,and centered up between the fuselage,as of now its getting 6.28 volts,we moved the antanna around,at first it was running out the bottom of the fuselage towards the tail gear,then we exited the side of the fuse,taping it under the stab,we even tried running it out on the wing to be sure.I know now its not good,but my push rods are metal,but ive never had problems in the past,and why after so many flights would that begin to cause problems,the ignition was very close to the reciever switch,although the reciever was placed in the rear compartment near my rudder servo,im running all hi tech servos,645's on ailerons and elevators,5745 1/4 scale digital on rudder,and two standard ball bearing futabas on choke and throttle,i just changed the throttle servo.I hope this helps a little more,was also wondering if the equalizer would cause problems if to close to the reciever,i moved it further away.Thanks.

Thats a da-50 and the recievers have all been futaba.

Da ignitions run pretty clean. They are manufactured in Australia exclusivly for DA. One thing you do have to remeber is that any peice of wire ( pushrod or electical ) can and does act as a sort of antenna. The first thing I would do is replace the throttle and choke pushrods. You can use carbon fiber tube with 4-40 ends with no ill effects. I would also twist the servo leads. This will help to isolate the leads from RF. The RX switch needs to be moved to at least 6" away from any part of the ignition. The reason that things can work well for a while and then start having isssues is that with time electronic components values will drift slightly. This means that something that was marginal at the beginning with a little time will certainly become a problem. Keep in mind that these suggestions are assuming that your ignition and the RX you are using have no issues themselves but are having compatability problems because of your installation.



Shawn

One more thing, don't run more than 5.5V into the ignition, You didn't say what batteries you were using. If Nicad or nickel metal use a 4 cell pack, if li-ion/poly with adjustable regulator set to 5.5V


Shawn

With your metal pushrods you need to have a nylon clevis insulating them from the engine. Otherwise they act as an antenna.

Beyond that it simply requires a methodical approac. Replace the receiver and retest by carefully range checking. If possible recheck using an FM receiver, PCM tends to mask problems.

TF

Very strange indeed! Did you plug the test servos directly into the receiver channel 3? I assume that there isn't an extension (possibly bad) that is always in the channel 3 path.

I never needed a extention on channel 3,im running NIMH sanyo 6v-1650mah.Ive never had problems before with this type of battery,is it possible for a battery to send to many volts then go back to working normal again?cause everytime i check them,its seems to me normal.

Yes,i plugged test servos directly into the #3channel.

Mike and Tom, it is my understanding that even with nylon clevisis a metal pushrod can act as a conduit and transmit RF to the throttle and coke servos leads thus directly into the RX. It is a low cost, minimal time investment to change out the pushrods to a non metal type.




Shawn

I have been using metal pushrods with nylon clevises for years without problems. The only way they can be a problem is if they are loose or rattling against some other piece of metal, but as far as interference being propagatated from the ignition it stops at the insulator.

TF

Maybe look into the transmitter/receiver battery failsafe function. You didn't mention your radio type; my 9C manual details this on page 43. Any momentary drop for any reason of the receiver voltage (3.8 Vdc for Futaba) will push and hold channel #3 to a predetermined level (default is idle).

Switches can be a source of big headaches I have found. You might try bypassing the switch and plugging the batteries directly inot their respective items, both reciever and ignition. After do this run the test again and see if everything is clean then plug them back inot the switch, one at a time, till the problem shows up again.

The single biggest culprit though is extensions, namely the plugs, as they can make intermittent contact while subjected to varying amounts of vibration. The weeding out process is the same as that described above, unplug everything and then test each thing one at a time till you find the offender.

I don't recall if you said you were using PCM or FM in this model. Regardless you need to be using an FM during the testing phase as the PCM will do it's job and show no signs of trouble, making it almost impossible to accurately determine the cause of the problem.