Whilst setting up my pan/tilt servos the servos stopped working and the voltage on the centre pin of the pan/tilt output is 9.2v with no servo connected. The voltage collapses to 2v when a servo is plugged in.

It looks like a linear regulator provides the power and its input is 10.9v and output 9.2v off load.

As I bought the unit in March and have not used it in anger yet what do I do next?

regards Peter

ps I am in the UK and bought it from RC-Log who are at a bit of a loss as well.
Update - RC-log have agreed with my diagnosis and I am returning the unit to them for repair.

Hi Peter,

That is very strange. It sounds like the regulator has indeed failed. Your course of action is correct. Sorry about the issue.

Hi Peter,

I've spoken to RC-Log, and this is indeed a regulator failure. We're trying to determine why it might have failed. Can you let me know the max voltage applied to the input, and any other thing that might be unusual (for example, applying power to the servo output pins) etc. Note that we will be sending you the replacement unit regardless of why the regulator failed - we just want to understand if its anything that we could mention in the manual, or if the regulator just failed on its on.

Originally Posted by billpa

Hi Peter,

I've spoken to RC-Log, and this is indeed a regulator failure. We're trying to determine why it might have failed. Can you let me know the max voltage applied to the input, and any other thing that might be unusual (for example, applying power to the servo output pins) etc. Note that we will be sending you the replacement unit regardless of why the regulator failed - we just want to understand if its anything that we could mention in the manual, or if the regulator just failed on its on.

Hello Bill, thank you for the response.

The EE has only ever been operated from a recently charged 12v lead acid battery and last time I checked was about 12.5v. The same battery powers the two video receivers. The pan tilt servos are an S1251T GWS winch servo for pan and a Hyperion DS11AMB for tilt. The tilt servo has been programmed down to a slow speed and for 90degree travel.

A separate 3S battery powers the ESC, Motor, camera, video transmitter, v3Logger and OSDPro.

When the failure occurred the video RF link was not being used the OSDPro video out being directly connected to the EE.

There has definitely never been anything other than the two servos connected to the pan/tilt output and I have been very careful plugging them in to make sure they were the correct way around. I have been very careful to make sure both servos can move freely and not become stalled during setup.

There was no smell or magic smoke released on failure the pan servo just stopped turning.

My view is that it was 'infant mortality' of the regulator.

I look forward to receiving my replacement EE and want to thank you for the service you and RC-Log have provided which is exemplary.

regards Peter

Hi Bill,

I have the exact same problem and just opened a support ticket. Everything was testing fine in my living room over several days and of course when I get to the field the servos would not move with the exact same setup...no changes. Glad I realized it during my preflight check I forgot to mention in my support ticket I am using a 3S Lipo to power the Eagle Eyes.

Thanks,

Dennis

Oh no! That's a real mystery. We will want to get that in asap and try to figure out what happened. Just a couple of other questions for you:

a) how long is the wire from your 3s lipo to the EagleEyes?
b) what else is connected the 3s lipo (rx's, filters, other?)

Thanks

From the Deans connector on the Lipo there is probably about 10 inches of cable before it terminates with the barrel plug, which fits snugly FWIW. Before the 12V goes to the EE I have a splice that sends 12V to to a 5V UBEC that in turn powers my two 5V receivers. Everything worked perfectly for days of testing. The only thing that I can think of that was a little strange was that during my last calibration the night before, I changed the pan servo speed down to "1" so I could get more accurate degree settings when calibrating. What was strange was that after I finished calibrating and selected "Finish Pan Calibration" I went down to change the servo speed back up to the default "3" but it was already back at "3". Is that normal?

Originally Posted by Peter Seddon

The tilt servo has been programmed down to a slow speed and for 90degree travel.

Mine blew after setting my servo speed down to "1". Could that be the problem?

Originally Posted by billpa

Oh no! That's a real mystery. We will want to get that in asap and try to figure out what happened. Just a couple of other questions for you:

a) how long is the wire from your 3s lipo to the EagleEyes?
b) what else is connected the 3s lipo (rx's, filters, other?)

Thanks

Bill,

It appears we have the exact same issue, with similar symptoms. In our case we have both the 1.2Ghz video recievers also plugged into the same battery which is a 3S 5000Mah LiPo.

-Update, the issue seems to have sorted itself out. Seems the calibration function doesn't work unless the OSD has a GPS lock. Will monitor voltages on the servos make sure the voltage regulator problem doesn't occur.

Great news, and that's a huge relief. We've only had one or two of the above failures, and certainly hope that we have no others!