Hey there kids. Well here we are again. I'm afraid it has happened again. Although this time it was not pilot error this time it was a bona fide brown out.

Today I put my lovely Kyosho ME109 in the air and she was flying beautifuly albeit a little underpowered. She was running 6 servos so I used a fully charged life battery to power the Spektrum AR6200 receiver. It was great until I took her high, rolled her onto her back and dove whilst levelling out. It was all going so well and she was almost level when I noticed no response from any of the controls. I thought she was level enough to maybe hopefuly skid across the runnway but alas she was in many peices. It certainly didn' t look like a plane any more.

As I walked the walk of shame I tried moving the sticks and low and behold life returned. Earlier the range check went well so I was not worried. My Spektrum DX8 is like new. I learned how to bind ages ago. I've been so cautious lately that I'm beside myself. How did it go wrong?????

I truely feel this is not my fault but that of the manufacturers. Has anyone ever won a dispute on a faulty product? Kind of bummed out.

On a brighter note though. I went on to have 3 more flights with my starmax f18 which were fun, exciting stress free flights. It uses an Orange receiver and I gotta tell you... I trust it more than I trust the name brand at the moment.

Thanks for listening guys.

I've read that more than 3 servos on 3s without a seperate BEC will cause the brownout, but I'm not speaking from first hand experience. Crashing aint no fun and that I do know first hand.

OP mentioned using a seperate LIFE battery for the RX so I doubt the BEC or too many servos were the issue.

Would help to know if there was RX flashing going on when the plane was recovered.

hey guys.

The receiver wasn't flashing that I had noticed. As I recall it was on. It certainly wasn't flashing when I started out. I've had that happen before.

Have you tested that life battery under load (the same load that 6 servos plus receiver would draw) to see if it maintains it's voltage under load?

A 6.6fv LiFe shouldn't EVER sag below brownout voltage even on Spektrum recievers. Even if the LiFe flat dead, it should've sagged to maybe 4.5v... I think a less-than-perfect battery's at fault.

Originally Posted by dedStik

OP mentioned using a seperate LIFE battery for the RX so I doubt the BEC or too many servos were the issue.

Would help to know if there was RX flashing going on when the plane was recovered.

Right you are, I read it as "life" as in a fresh battery.

Just this morning I gained personal experience with a BEC that decides it needs to shutdown and stop supplying power to Rx and servos - Smash.

These are some things to think of for sure but. The battery is still full of charge and I haven't done anything new since the crash. It's a 1700 mah life battery too. So I dunno. I'm sending the receiver back to Horizon as we speak. At the moment I just don't know.

Thanks for the help guys.

Just a guess, but was the elevator horn on the underside ?

If so when/if she is repaired, try holding full up elevator and gently press down on the elevators trailing edge.

Sometimes manufacturers do not brace a push rod or snake enough to stop it flexing and allowing the elevator to move down under higher speeds.

A 'pull' is always better than a 'push' with a control, they just look prettier if stuck out the way on the underside, but they must not flex, or .........

I had a AcroMaster that suddenly insisted on pulling straight up when I hit the throttle! It also started hating right hand turns and stalled at a good rate of speed from a good height into the ground!
I replaced it with a FunCub It also Pulled Up with throttle and on the first flight spiraled into the ground in a Right Turn!!!!!

I was Unable to duplicate the issue on the ground, and it was Not a Range Issue.

The Castle Creations 50 Amp ESC was old tired and became faulty!
When I replaced it.... I now have complete control!

Is your AR6200 a true Spektrum Rx? I bought a couple and have had brown outs. Fortunately the one in my EF 58" Extra was intermittent and kept coming back quick enough to recover from a high wide turn. They are now in the bin. Don't believe that they were original kit and the internet and some shops I hear are full of fake 6200s. I now pay the full price from an authorised Spektrum dealer.

I moved my DX-7 to my park flying planes. I put 3 planes in that I couldn't explain why. All were glow planes with 6 volt, high MaH ratind receiver packs. They also had been recently cycled. Lost a Great Lakes Bipe, a Mud Duck Sport, and a Fokker DR-I triplane. The Fokker will get replaced, but it won't see 2.4 gigahertz.
The Mud Duck went free flight seconds after take off. I had just given it a touch of rudder or it would have flown straight away. It made a circle that must have been close to half a mile in diameter. The wind finally lifted one wing and it went in on a knife edge. It was in the air close to three minutes and I never got any control back at all. Couldn't even shut down the throttle.
I have flown 2.4 with orange receivers and Lazer Toyz, 6 channel receivers and haven't had any problems with them, but those are mostly small planes and park flyers.
Bought a bunch of 72 Megahertz receivers and I'll be flying them with the planes that I value. Hard to give something up when it works.

Dave

Will the Castle Creations CapPack prevent Brown-Outs?????

I don't think this was a brownout - with a LiFe pack of that size you should have had gobs of power. I worry about your "underpowered" comment and wonder if that was not helping. An inverted maneuver to boot.

Having a hard time with your brownout analysis. I think something else is amiss here.

Mike

Originally Posted by andrew26842

Will the Castle Creations CapPack prevent Brown-Outs?????

No, the capPack reduces voltage spikes between the battery and the ESC.

What you want is this: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...Protector.html