Originally Posted by Terry Rigden

Scott nice video , loved the eagles. Shows the improvement in the mk 2 camera. BTW whats the altimeter ?

Terry

Eagle tree altimeter- great price - accurate- cheap and easy
http://www.rctoys.com/rc-toys-and-pa...A-LOGGERS.html

Originally Posted by Colonel Blink

I don't think my fading eyes would even see my model at 1500ft+... Are you sure you zeroed it before take off?

Doesn't need zero'd- records highest height and displays it until powered down- the shows it again when power reapplied- then it zeros again- runs on baremetric pressure-

Oh yes- we have been to 2900 feet with our radians- at that height the 2 meter wingspan is a teeny weeny t in the sky - and we each have an altimeter and they are in pretty close agreement

Originally Posted by Colonel Blink

I don't think my fading eyes would even see my model at 1500ft+... Are you sure you zeroed it before take off?

CB do you have an altimeter? if not I suspect you are flying higher than you think.
Scott and I fly quite a bit and we seem to underestimate our height often.

Regarding the hk wing cam version 2 I would say it is better than my gopro 960.
regarding the key cams I use them for balance dead weight as they are unreliable as far as recording goes and last at most if they decide to work 10 min tops.

I hope you have better luck with your #18.

Originally Posted by scottdearinger

please forgive off topic video- but I wanted to show my friends here the test of the HK wingcam ll 1080p camera- $92 and gopro quality... Also scott and Bob fly with Bald Eagles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af1ph321ec8

Wow. Very nice video and pretty cool getting the Bald Eagles in on it. Great job guys.

Originally Posted by travellinjack

Rick and flypoppa,

Thanks for the advice. I did notice that my rudder servo was a little loose, and I adjusted the linkage a bit; it seems to travel more freely now. I suspect that this was the cause of the burnout of this servo. I still think that it wasn't binding enough to warrant failure, but I am glad that I was able to free up the linkage a bit.


I picked up a new hs-81 from my LHS and flew my EZ today.

I do think I will pick up this servo tester though:

http://www.amazon.com/Hangar-Digital.../dp/B0006OBNZQ

I think this seems like a very handy tool, and would have probably diagnosed the binding problem. Has anyone used one of these before?

thanks-
Alan

Originally Posted by travellinjack

Hello all,

So I got about 15 hoursof flying time on my recently built easystar, and today the rudder servo failed . Luckily, I got the plane down without any damage, but I don't know why the servo failed.

plane specs:
stock 400 brushed motor
greatplanes electrify C-25 ESC
2cell 2450 mah lipo 30C
servos Hitec HS-81

The servo is basically frozen, and does not move at all or react in any manner when the control stick is moved.

I opened the servo casing, and noticed a strong 'electrical' smell (not necessarily burnt but 'electrical smell '(sorry, I don't know how to explain this odor) from the servo. The internal wires seem to be connected and not damaged.

I have not had any rough landings or crashes to date(not including todays fail), so the servos have not been abused from crashes.

I am not happy with the control rods for both the rudder and elevator on this plane, as I feel the design puts more stress on the servos than is necessary. (ie the foam itself being the hinge) But I showed my plane to other pilots at the field today and they felt that the rudder did not seem to bind enough to cause problems with the servo.

BTW, the servo does not appear to be stripped, as other pilots have advised me that the plastic geared hs-81 has that problem sometimes

These are cheap servos (costing $13-18) and I don't mind replacing it, but I really don't want a servo to fail again. I got lucky today that the plane was not lost or damaged badly . I need to find out why the servo failed.

I bought the servos and esc from rcplanet.com


My questions are:
1. Has anyone had a HS-81 servo fail like this (only 15-20 hours of use)?
2. Can the ESC be at fault here? It is a quality ESC, but who knows?
3. Any thoughts on why it failed?
4. Should I consider other servos for this plane?

BTW, my plane flies beautifully. I got the CG per manual just right, and have been hunting thermals for the last few weeks. The plane has enough power with this stock motor, and I've been getting 45min-60min flying time on my battery pack (lots of time with the motor shut off). Prior to todays mishap, I have been very, very happy with my EZ(1).

thanks in advance for any advice you can offer on my servo problem

Update: Yesterday my elevator servo on my EZ failed on me. Luckily, I was able to bring her in without damage. So I probably have another 15 hours on my EZ, and I had my 2nd original servo fail on me yesterday. Same problem as before, strong electrical smell coming from servo.

Actually, after i recovered the EZ, when I turned off the battery/rx/tx, and then turned them on again, the servo started smoking! I quickly removed power....

I checked my esc voltage output and it was fine (around 5v steady). I must have gotten a pair of bad servos when I first built the plane in october.

Scott - Eagle video is very cool! I've tried chasing ravens, but never gotten close enough to make them look good in the video. A couple of times the ravens have chased me - I'm thinking about a rear-facing camera.

Casey-S - If you're piecing together an ES1, Tower Hobbies says they'll have the fuselage this month. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=MPUA1303&P=Z

Originally Posted by travellinjack

... I must have gotten a pair of bad servos when I first built the plane in october.

Before gluing my servos in place, I connect them (one at a time) to a servo tester, set it in "auto-sweep" mode, and then listen closely to the servo. Bring it all the way up to your ear and try loading/restricting the movement with your fingers. I discard any servo with a suspicious sound.

I normally buy 5 servos if I need 4, then I have one extra in case of "failed QA test" or if it needs replacement later in life.

I know that this procedure typically doesn't catch faulty electronics, but it's so easy to do that it would silly not to.

Originally Posted by mutski

Casey-S - If you're piecing together an ES1, Tower Hobbies says they'll have the fuselage this month. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=MPUA1303&P=Z

Thanks- Eckace almost always uses a rear facing cam- sometimes 2. we had 5 cams aloft for this video- I had 2 wingcams facing forward and out to each side at about 25 degrees, Bob Had 2 facing the rear ,one on each wing- also pointed out to right and left a bit- he also had 1 #16 key cam on the tail facing forward, But as usual the thing shut off right after launch- it is damn near new and almost never records- I don't know how you guys use them- they suck for us,,,,

Originally Posted by scottdearinger

.... he also had 1 #16 key cam on the tail facing forward, But as usual the thing shut off right after launch- it is damn near new and almost never records- I don't know how you guys use them- they suck for us,,,,

Mine (3 different #16) also give up the ghost after a few minutes in the cold. I think that the size of the camera and battery doesn't provide for any meaningful thermal capacity. In the summertime, I get up to 45 minutes of recording, but this time of year, I need to keep the #16 in my inner pocket till just before launch, and then quickly mount it and fly. This way I get from 4-10 minutes of recording.

OK guys. Here is the test flight of my NEW #18 keyfob. Mounted on one of my EZ*s. There is a bit of "vibration wobble", but I can live with that.
I am satisfied with the quality of the video. Well it was better than the HK wingcam that I had.

#18 fob flight test (3 min 19 sec)

Nice far better than my keyfob camera which I think is a model 8. Looks like you have a nice flying site too.

Terry

Originally Posted by Flypoppa

OK guys. Here is the test flight of my NEW #18 keyfob. Mounted on one of my EZ*s. There is a bit of "vibration wobble", but I can live with that.
I am satisfied with the quality of the video. Well it was better than the HK wingcam that I had.
http://youtu.be/7322VVB1xWA

Flypoppa glad you found a decent recorder.
The video looks good but those houses look very old with all that ceramic on the roof.
I'm also happy that you have had better luck with the fob cams than Scott or myself have had as we tried with a #11,#16b,#16d and #3 and were frustrated with them. Looks like our new cam is the v2 hk but I think Scott is looking at the new Gopro to see how well that preforms as its lighter and smaller than the older versions.

It is the luck of the draw with these cameras. I have at last got a good one.
I did have problems with it at first as I was using a class 10 card, and it did not like it. I now have a class 4 that is the recommended one to use.
The Gopro is the bees knees as they say. You see them being used in so many applications on TV programs these days.
The cost is what puts me off. As I would not want to lose it or damage it in a bad landing, and there have been a few incidents of this happening.
I am happy enough with what I already have, and compared to a Gopro they are almost as good picture quality as some tests that have been done show.

Originally Posted by Flypoppa

It is the luck of the draw with these cameras. I have at last got a good one.
I did have problems with it at first as I was using a class 10 card, and it did not like it. I now have a class 4 that is the recommended one to use.
.

That's interesting I thought the higher the class the better, well you have saved me shelling out for a class 10 in an attempt to stop my keyfob cam dropping so many frames.

Terry

Originally Posted by Terry Rigden

That's interesting I thought the higher the class the better, well you have saved me shelling out for a class 10 in an attempt to stop my keyfob cam dropping so many frames.

Terry

Terry you might want to look at Tom franks post on the key fobs as some sd cards aren't compatible with them.