Hacker 77 flame-out!

[TomC]

A very excting day at today's monthly Queensland heli flying meeting!

With my new Neu motor (1521/1.5)and new Hacker 77 esc, 50T gear, and about 1800 rpm nominal headspeed, I started to through my Ion around a bit today, gentle loops, rolls and flips. The first flight was great, the Ion performed all these with a lot of grace and stability (esp. compared to my little Trex!). When I landed all temps were normal (135 deg F motor, 110 deg F esc, and 105 deg F battery).

The second flight was similar, but about 5 minutes into it, after a gentle back flip, I noticed a trail of black smoke coming out of the heli! I managed to Auto it in fine and when I got up to it the Hacker 77 esc was burning brightly, on the motor lead side. The Esc flame then managed to start burning my rear landing gear. Once nylon starts on fire, look out, since it does not go out very easily.

Fortunately my PC fans were still working and were blowing the flame rearward, away from the batteries. A guy at the field and I managed to get the canopy off quickly and remove the batteries. The rear left landing gear was still burning and dripping littls fire balls. I picked it up and ran to a guys truck, found a bottle of sports drink, and put the fire out. Meanwhile, the other guy managed to stomp out all the little grass fires that the burning/melting landing grear was causing.

The only damage to the heli is a burnt out rear landing gear and a fire damaged boom support link. The Hacker 77 esc looks like it's been in a pizza oven for an hour. The motor leads were melted but this seems to have stopped before it got to the motor thanks to the 4mm bullet connectors.

Thank goodness that the battery packs did not start burning. I've seen a few small packs flame out and it's a pretty impressive hot white flame pirotechnic display. I'd hate to think what those 2x5S2P 7400 Flightpower packs would look like!

I'll send the esc (charred remains) back to Hacker but I'm sure that they will tell me that I've done something wrong. like they told me with my first stock Hacker motor flame out!

I'm starting to get a bit pissed off with electrics but will try to hang in there. I'm sure I did not manage to convert many nitro heli boys today!

Cheers,

Tom C

[PDC]

My second Hacker lighter went up in flames under similar conditions recently.

[mhale71]

time to switch escs now maybe? :shock: :shock:

im scared now - oh well , 12s and hv125 here i come baby!

--mike

[ChrisS]

Can you tell me what your radio settings are? Especially the throttle curves.

Thanks

Chris

[TomC]

Chris,

I use a shallow V-curve; 100-93-90-93-100 and Pitch is +/- 9.5 deg. I had used an onboard Wattsup meter recently and was pulling 30 amps average and 60 amps max in a fast climbout.

Regards,

Tom C

[TomC]

G'day guys,

Just a quick note about my Ion-x Speed Controller Flame-out. Seems like the only heli damage is a rear strut and left rear boom support link. The Hacker/Jeti 77-heli esc is toast and I'll probably have to wait a while to see if Hacker will replace this (probably not).

Thankfully, the Australian Xcell dealers Jeff and Glenn at Rotormotions got me the heli parts asap, like in 2 days, and have also sold me a new speed controller (at a very good price) so I should have my Ion-x up and running again this weekend. It sure is great to have good local service like that.

Anyway, this time, before I start throwing the Ion around in 3D I'll put a Wattsup meter onboard and check current draws a bit more carefully.

Cheers,

Tom C

[WillJames]

With that setup you should be OK, we have been flying it with the 77-0 for months.

Glad to hear you got it sorted.

[TomC]

Thanks Will,

One other question, do you use a UBEC or not? I forgot to mention that while I was rebuilding things I plugged in a battery pack to checkout the servo travel and held one servo a bit to check for possible current overload. The Koolflight 45V UBEC started to sizzle and then failed. Lucky this did not happen in the air! I think I'll go back to onboard RX batteries till I sort this out.

Cheers,

Tom C

[WillJames]

Bobby and I both use onboard LiPo's and Duralite Regulators. Unfortunately DL does not make a small LiPo just for the Ion and other electrics, but Tanic used to make 2s2p tiny I think 1660, what I am flying and lately we got some TP 2s1p 1320's that work great as well.

I have nothing against UBECs I just prefer a separate power source and I feel very confident in my setup, working great for almost a year.

[TomC]

Thanks Will,

After this, I'm starting to think that small lipos and a regulator might be worth trying. How many flights do you get with these lipos? I imagine 2-3 flight?

Cheers,

Tom C

[WillJames]

More like 6 or 8+, basically as many as I want to. I check between flights with the Duralite Voltage checker and have never reached 6.9 the no-fly voltage.

[TomC]

Sorry Will, one more ?,

Which Duralite regulators are you using? Thanks.

Cheers,

Tom C

[WillJames]

I run the 5.3 with HD failsafe switch, although I have sent a few back to have the voltage adjusted to 5.6 when they were checked out after dumb thumbs, not sure if this is one of them or not honestly. I will look hopefully today when I fly and tell you the voltage for 100%.

[TomC]

In the meantime am I ok to use 1100 mah JR (Sanyo) RX nicads for 2-3 flights between re-charges?

Thanks,

Tom C

[WillJames]

5.3 volts. Works great, I had my personally most satisfying flight today that I have ever had with my Ion. Put 3000mah back int eh packs, and had the time of my life. The Ion-X is the best flying heli I have ever had, and I LOVE it! Thank you MA!