Low Power?

[robnewman]

Hi all...

I guess a load of us got this cool heli for xmas...

Unfortunately, I'm not off to a "flying" start (I know... bad pun... sorry! :rolleyes: ).

I started her up out of the box as the instructions said, but I was only able to hover a few inches above the ground at maximum throttle! The heli just simply did not want to climb any higher.

After a couple of charges, I can now get airborne for about 10 seconds before being "groundborne" again which is hardly enough time to test out the other controls. Indeed if I try to go forwards or backwards, I get no response even though the tail rotor spins. My guess is that there is insufficient power...

Is this effect somthing that will improve as the battery charges or is somthing wrong?

Hope you can help... my appologies if I'm being a bit impatient!

[Kwok_Yu]

I am starting to form a theory on these 10sec flight problem. Is you TX battery new? If you let it rest, will it fly for another 10 seconds? Or is there no response at all? If you shut it off and back on, is it then able to fly for 10 seconds again. Also where did you buy your BR?

[robnewman]

Hi... Thanks for getting back... My BR was brand new and bought from www.firebox.com in the UK.

The battery in the TX was brand new too and I bought the best I could find (energiser).

If I turn the heli off and try a few minutes later I get another short burst of flight but even less time "in the air".

I have now charged the BR at least 10 times so I guess this will now be the norm.

I'm guessing this means the BR is faulty?

[Kwok_Yu]

Yes, I think its faulty. Best to send it back for another one.

[Josh_high_flyer]

yeah - sue every1 involved in giving you this falty br

[Josh_high_flyer]

for lots of money

[robnewman]

I would josh... but I'm a really just a big pushover!

(Besides... I just want another one so I can finally get flying!)

[Tres Wright]

Rob, sorry to hear of the prob's! It's possible you got a first gen version, they have poor batteries. Is yours black with a ratcheted throttle on the transmitter? If so, either you need to try and get your hands on a later version or swap to a 340 Kokam cell if you have basic soldering skills. The battery switch will get you 8+ minutes continuous flight.

If you do not have a first gen, are you at a high altitude? If you are, try twisting some more pitch into the rotor blades.

Good luck!

[nuke8856]

First thing is to be sure the connection sequence is followed. Trans switch off, chopper switch off, plug into the wall and last connection is chopper to trans. Make sure you are getting long led blinks ( 2 seconds or so ) followed by short led off ( I second ). Mine didn't.
I have a " blue" one. From what I hear it is the newer version. Out of the box the duration was incredible. I had one "good" charge after that with good flight time ( long enough to beat the crap out of the rotors $20 to replace is kinda steep guys). The next time I tried to charge it I didn't get the correct led blink. I let it on anyway and got maybe 25% flight time ( best guess ). The next charge connect the led was doing the same thing until I turned the chopper over. Then the led sequence changed indicating low battery charging and ended with the led out as is indicated for a full charge. Flight time was great. After that charge I didn't get another good charge for about 5 tries and figured the battery was shot or something in the charge circuit was bad. I removed the shell of the chopper and connected the charger to check the voltage at the battery. When I pulled on the plastic cover on the battery circuit board to get to the battery leads the charger went into charge mode. I have replicated the situation three times now with the same result. My guess is a bad solder spot on the board on mine.

[robnewman]

Thanks for all the advice guys...

My BR is black, but the throttle isn't rathcheted... I figure this means I have a 2nd gen model?

As for the charging, I noticed that I always had the shorth LED flash followed by the long pause... the only time I had the full charging sequence was when I deliberatley ran the rotors while the BR was grounded. They rotors ran for a good 5 minutes when on the ground (in other words slowed down), which I why I couldn't understand why I was getting such short flying times.

I'm sending my current BR back to the seller and having them replace it for me. Hopefully the new one will be better. I have to admit I envy you guys for being able to fly yours!!! :)

On a seperate note, I noticed somthing else about when I hover in one spot... I hear that the BR has a very stable hover (all the videos I've seen seem to prove this) but mine would hover and start gyrating. these gyrations got worse and worse until the heli was throwing itself around an ever increasing circle! Oh well... I hope this is fixed with the new one too!

[jtyson]

Make shure the rotor hubs are well lubricated. If they sre binding at all it can cause the circular wobble. Mine did this, it was like the BR was hanging from a string from the ceiling and swinging in a circle. After I lubricated the rotor hubs the problem went away.

[Steve Shepard]

I've said it before and I'll say it again and again, etc. If it Moves Lubricate It!!!! When the BR is right out of the box, it is as dry as a bone in the Sahara.Use white lithium grease on the gears and Lockease(R) graphited lock fluid on the rotor shafts and gear shafts. Remember the rotor shaft runs all the way through the frame top to bottom . Don't get carried away and bathe the whole copter. Less friction will extend the life of all the moving parts, and will also make the motors and battery last longer since they don't have to overcome frictional losses. AMEN !

[frosthesnowman]

Argh, the string from the ceiling happens to me alot as well, I partially corrected it by weighting the top rotor tips, but lubricating makes more sense. Now I just have to find some lubricant. Would also explain my short flight times.

[Tres Wright]

==these gyrations got worse and worse until the heli was throwing itself around an ever increasing circle!==

In your first post, you said you can't get it to fly more than a few inches above the ground. If this is the case, you are not getting out of "ground effect". Ground effect is a cushion near the ground that is extremely turbulent due to the rotors pushing air down while the floor tries to reflect it back up. The longer you fly in GE, the worse the ride gets. This is perfectly normal, the solution is to get out of it and fly a minimum of 2' off the floor. Of course you can't because of your power problem! Hopefully your new one will fly much better.

[robnewman]

Hi all...

Well, the day has finally arrived!

My nice shiny new BR has arrived and lo and behold... it works great, straight out of the box!

Thanks for all the past advice guys!

Now that I'm satisfied that my new one works, I think I'll be trying my hand at a few of these mods...