ION crashed

[WayneR]

My gorgeous Ion locked out in a stall turn. It is Kit time only 3 frame parts are salvageable the motor ring the rear aluminum chanel and one bearing block support plate. UGLY, what a helpless feeling. Chris if you read this, is the 124-2 kit available and do any of your dealers have one?

[cdrking]

Man what a bummer. How did the batteries come out? Hope you get another going in time for the Fun Fly.

Jeff

[WayneR]

Batteries check OK but the forward cells are deformed( impact damage). They will have to go back to TP for salvage.

[cdrking]

Salvaged, hmmm. What can they salvage after the pack gets smacked? Can individual cells be salvaged, if so I didn't know that. I guess that will save some money. I'm really interested in the Ion but it seems the crash costs are pretty high if you trash the batts.

Will you keep us posted on the total crash cost? I am really curious to see how much it will cost to repair this machine.

Again bummer about the crash. I almost stuffed my Fury a couple of weeks ago. That would have really sucked as I am trying to save it for the Freestyle 3D school and FF.

Jeff

[Waller]

Hey Jeff,

Yes, individual cells can be replaced to render the pack good as new.

[WayneR]

I probably need 4 cells replaced in each pack. I should mention these were not the MA style packs they were from my Joker. So they hung out further forward then would the MA packs leaving the front of the pack more vulnerable in a crash. Repair SB about 20% of a new pack cost plus materials and labor so maybe $100 for each pack, just guessing.

[ChrisS]

Sorry to read that Wayne

I think if you need just heli parts and not a motor/control, I can get you back flying quickly. Call tomorrow and let me know what all you need. If it helps any, mine went down this weekend too... and I was'nt even flying it. Oh well, not his fault.

Chris

[WayneR]

Thanks, I will call as soon as I get in cell range. I am still at the scene of the crime (The Ocean).

[fitenfyr]

Wayne,
That sucks!
What caused the lockout?

One other phobia I have about the electrics is just that RF noise causing lockout.
We used to run capacitors and such on the 1/10th buggies to keep the glitching down, but it didn't stop all of it.
One internally damaged wire and it would be on... :roll:

[WayneR]

I am at a loss for an answer, nothing obvious in the garbage sack I took to the dumpster. I had about 10 flawless flights on it, not a hint of anything going wrong.

One good thing is I have all the shafts, blades, bearings and so on ala my Fury. So all I need is a complete frame set and a few ION unique spacers.

[Russ McC]

I am at a loss for an answer

This sucks almost worse then the crash, not knowing why!

Chris what happened to yours?

[WayneR]

Thats for sure, I did a frequency scan and my channel was clear. There was a guy flying a fixed wing on the beach about 1/2 a mile away on channel 46. I did a re-scan when I got back to the Motor home and all was clear. I did find one thing that is possibly the culprit. The collar that holds the front tail rotor shaft up against the bearing was slid forward and loose.

[fitenfyr]

Too bad.
Hopefully the collar was the source.

Spooky stuff that PCM magic vodoo...:D :D

See you guys in a few weeks.

[Busta Rapta]

Sorry this happened to you.

For those of us considering one of these, could you post a complete "back in the air" total cost figure when you get it back in the air?

Thanks and again, my condolences.

[EricLarson]

Crash cost is very subjective. From what I have seen, the cost is pretty similar to nitro. I have seen nitro ships crashed (mine included) that everything was junk, Radio gear, motor, muffler... everything. So far I have seen a couple pretty hard crashes with electrics, and am pretty happy with how the batteries have held up. No nuclear explosion or anything, contrary to some popular belief :)

Eric

[ChrisS]

When I was developing the power train in the Ion, I at one time actually wrapped the aerial around the motor (Hacker of course) and could detect no reduction in range. DO NOT try that with one of the large outrunners.

I would bet Wayne has found his source of noise...in my experience, any time metal dances on metal, your gonna have problems.

My crash actually turned out to be pretty minimal. It pancaked into a sloppy wet field. Did'nt even break the blades or boom stuff.

--Wadded up the landing gear brackets
--Broke one strut
--Bent the flybar
--Vaporized the fan
--Drove the motor pinion up into the split gear lock
--All three CCPM servo gear trains
--A few rods
--Canopy
--A couple bearings
--And of course a couple really good dents in the batteries (nope, no
mushroom cloud)

All in all, one of the most minimal crashes I have ever had to rebuild. As always, the worst is the canopy, now I have to paint again. Lets hope they all fair this well.

Oh yeah, a good lesson learned. I had let someone else fly the heli as I usually do (this will not change). The gentleman flying had never flown electric before, he is an excellent pilot. There was a liquid powered heli right next to us completely masking any sound from the Ion.

I use Anderson connectors, have for 15 years, will change now to the Deans we put in the kits. We think one of the connectors came de-mated in flight. Some of my connectors are kinda ifie and a little loose. There was a pair of connectors parted at the crash site.

Anyway, the pilot was in the middle of a fairly radical pirouetting thing when he lost power. He did'nt know as there was no loss of smoke or noise. The blades just came to a stop and the heli fell about a hundred feet. The lesson? Use good connectors, like the Deans we put in the kit.

Chris

[WayneR]

Chris, have you used dented batteries? Mine are deformed from impact but recharged fine and are holding a charge. I was thinking of re-strapping them with strapping tape and new shrink wrap. At least until the new batteries arrive. I understand MA should receive them this week then out to the hobby shops.

[Tabbytabb]

Wayne, I know it is not an exact comparison, and some will disagree I am sure, but I use a pack that I have dented in a smaller helicopter.

I recharged it and it held charge so I went with it. I cycled it a few times on the bench and monitored it very closely and all looked well. Keep in mind this is with a micro heli so the potential for injury/damage is significantly lower.

On another crash I had a cell get punctured and didnt notice. It looked fine visually but was toast the next time I went to recharge.

Personally it would kinda scare me to send up a big money ION with somewhat questionable batteries.

Tabb

[Russ McC]

Chris, that don’t sound great but good it was not worse. Blame it on the Glow pilot next to you for creating an un-safe condition with all that noise :wink:

Been up late building Robs second Ion-X, kind of took it easy and only got it 70% done :)

[ChrisS]

Hi Russ, Wayne

The batteries that went down last weekend were REALLY deformed on the bottom side on an intersection of two paralleled blocks. They did'nt even get warm to the touch. I measured them with a voltmeter and they seemed O.K. But I guess I'm kinda leery of such things, so I just sent them in to TP. Might cost me some but the piece of mind is worth it...to me.

I too have used batteries in my smaller stuff that have gotten dropped or mis-handled, and they seem to do just fine. But like Tabb said, I just don't want to risk so much on a battery.

Chris

[WayneR]

Out of desperation we hovered the offending batteries in a friends Ion and all was well. So we recharged and that went well. Flew it hard for 10 minutes no issues recharged and still good.

I do intend to send them in when I get my hands on the real meal deal. Hopefully by the end of the week.

After seeing how they are assembled. I am thinking some added protection is in order. Maybe an additional carbon plate on the bottom and front. I would rather have some crash protection over the potential for a little more heat. These things already have plenty of strapping tape and cardboard holding in heat along with the shrink wrap.

Just to be safe we have been charging and transporting them in a fire safe. Lid open to charge.

[WayneR]

Talked to TP, batteries were shipping to MA this afternoon. :glasses: :

[WayneR]

Parts arrived so should be back in the air tomorrow. Thanks Chris!

Wayne

[B@@MER]

if only mine would show up soon i could join in on the fun

Kevin