Weather flying.

[supertrex2]

I saw some video of Nitro heli flying in the rain.

How about for our E helis? Can we fly them on the rain also? without damaging our Heli?

[H0ndaJunkie]

Come on Supe, you're kidding, right?!?

Please tell me you're kidding!

[supertrex2]

Nah for real. I saw Video of Curtis youngblood flying on hard rain.... So im just wondering if our electric can fly on , maybe Mild rain. But not the Trex600. maybe Trex450.

I bought a Trex450X on Garage Sale here... lol everything included for only $20.

[george7806]

Good deal on the $20 T-rex!!
I wouldn't think about flying an electric heli in the rain....unless you can make everything waterproof:-) Just imagine the water getting onto the battery connection shorting out everythink electrical on the heli...starting from the receiver all the way to the gyro...even though they probably have some kind of overload protection built in, I seriously doubt that they would have short circuit protection. So flying in rain is NOt a good idea.That's probably why they have the positive terminal on the receiver in the middle, so you can't have your polarity reversed.

[Rick Rotorhead]

Very low voltage electronics will often malfunction when wetted but be ok again when dried out (not guaranteed though) eg. mobile phones. However, once your talking Trex power pack voltage levels and high discharge capable cells things will probably get well and truely fried....... Just try shorting across a 12v car battery with some thick wire and see how hot that gets (ok don't, but I'll tell you its a nice orange glow). Anyhow, if you bird is airborne any sort of malfunction is gonna be expensive ain't it mate. If you must fly in the rain, like george says waterproof everything, every cable access hole and have the Rx, gyro and main batts plastic bagged and cable tied (not good for cooling though), and some grease around servo output shafts. If your positve that moisture can't get to the electics then your heli should be able to fly in rain - or under water maybe :lol: imagine that!!!! When finished you'd have to dry everything out thoroughly and re-oil metal to metal areas too. So, is it worth it? only you can tell - I might like to see it once.........

[king kong]

I'm not sure about heavy rain, but i think that a light rain would be ok, considering that the battery and connectors are concealed inside the canopy. I have had it start to rain while flying my nitro, and i just flew out the end of the tank. I think you'd be ok, i'd just keep it in the car when you're not flying.

[stevehonn]

I'm more concerned about the damage to my transmitter when flying in rain, I'm sure the LCD screen and pots wouldn't like being damp. I've seen a Swift fly a full 3D competition slot in rain, a helper held an umbrella over the pilot, not the heli :D

[H0ndaJunkie]

I'm sorry, but no matter how you look at it, water and electronics do not mix! :)

[supertrex2]

I'm more concerned about the damage to my transmitter when flying in rain, I'm sure the LCD screen and pots wouldn't like being damp. I've seen a Swift fly a full 3D competition slot in rain, a helper held an umbrella over the pilot, not the heli

Is this on the Actual Competition? The one that Swift Electric Won?

[rdlohr]

I'm sorry, but no matter how you look at it, water and electronics do not mix!

Agree!!!!!!

[stevehonn]

I'm more concerned about the damage to my transmitter when flying in rain, I'm sure the LCD screen and pots wouldn't like being damp. I've seen a Swift fly a full 3D competition slot in rain, a helper held an umbrella over the pilot, not the heli

Is this on the Actual Competition? The one that Swift Electric Won?

Yes, we spent most of the day waiting for the rain to slow down enough so the pilots could fly. Flying in the rain wasn't popular with the pilots but if they hadn't the whole day would have been washed out.

[Skiddz]

Very low voltage electronics will often malfunction when wetted but be ok again when dried out

Yep. Wife washed my 2-week old cell phone and after a month of drying out, it powered right up. Too bad she bought me an even better one to ease her guilt. hehe

As for flying in the rain, aside from the whole electronics + water = bad equation, the rotor blades will take a beating. Rain will take the paint off the leading edge of the blades on a full scale ship and possibly delaminate any anti-abrasion tape as well. I've seen rotorblades that have been pitted by flying in very heavy rain. Had I known of this when I started my helo training, I never would have agreed to solo in the rain. :)

[RiXst3r]

water only conducts voltage over ~40 or so... you can plunk a car battery into a pool, and it will do NOTHING...

[dodgey]

I got an esc very slightly wet ( a splash) in one of my RC trucks once. It died in an instant and was only good for the bin :-(

[H0ndaJunkie]

A lot of it has to do with the amount of electricity that is flowing through the device when it got wet.

I used to be a cell phone salesman for Sprint PCS. I've seen cell phones that were dropped in a toilet be perfectly ok after drying out, because they were switched off when they fell in.........I've also seen cell phones that were switched on, that had been dropped in rain puddles, beer glasses, you name it! The ones that were on were usually a gonner.

I'm pretty sure that the components in an electric heli, such as the ESC and motor, wouldn't take kindly to getting even slightly wet while running. If it's sitting in the rain, unplugged however.......after it dries, you'll be fine.

If you run it in the rain, and it fries, then it's a done deal. No amount of drying out will bring it back to life after the damage is done.

[Skiddz]

water only conducts voltage over ~40 or so... you can plunk a car battery into a pool, and it will do NOTHING...



Water is actually a pretty poor conductor of electricity. It's the stuff IN the water that makes it conductive - regardless of voltage.

[Crash Pro # 1]

What's Up Dude

[Wbird]

I would never fly my Rex's in the rain, however I have made several SPAD airplanes (coroplast/gutterpipe) and when the plane is all plastic they make great float planes. Servos hate water!!! Recievers are not fond of it either. I did come up with a fix for those who want to venture out in the wet stuff. I took my servos apart, and reciever, and packed them with dielectric tune up grease (for spark plugs and connectors in the auto parts store). Don't get too much on the gears or it will slow them down but smear a bit on the output shaft before you stuff it back in the hole and do a bead around the perimiter of the gear casing. Get as much grease on both sides of the servo circut board as possible so it oozes out when you screw down the bottom cover. Take your reciever apart and fill the casings and circuit board with grease so it oozes out when snapping the cover back on. Fill all extensions and servo connectors with grease and plug them back in. Remeber I did this with planes that the airframe cost me $20.00 and took me 5 hours to build from scratch. Servos were of the Good Quality $15.00 Hitec or JR variety. You won't see my $100.00 heli servos full of grease. Best thing with the planes was crashing them into the water and after recovering them and dumping the water out, refuel and fly again. Most people think you're nuts and expect a pile of glitching. Then you tell them the secret.

[whome64]

This is why I don't buy used equipment!

[Anubis328]

So what you guys are saying is, I should stop taking my 600 in the pool?

I wouldn't fly a nitro or an electric in the rain. Servos are not powered by the nitro motor. Also... Curtis Youngblood may not be as concerned as you are with the long term life of the chopper.

[PsychoPilot145]

So what you guys are saying is, I should stop taking my 600 in the pool?.

Well, here is what happens when you put a 450 in the pool. :shock:

enrrUVRqdRY (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enrrUVRqdRY)