What crashed my eRaptor 60

[scary]

The Heli:
originally a Raptor 60 nitro
Converted to electric with Hacker 16s and 11s LIPO
36mHz PCM Rx
Built soley for Aerial Photography (AP)
Mounted 2.4ghz video transmitter for camera and Askman camera mount
Flew well with no interference at all

The Newer Mods:
Installation of Spartan RC AP2000i stabilisation system
Installation of carbon fibre frame
Installation of 72mHz Rx for operation of camera mount (independent Lipo battery for operation with UBEC)
Installation of Zlog Alitmeter

Setting the story:
Weather - magnificent, clear skies and 5 knots winds
The Pilot - newbie (good at hovering and basic flight) but I know the sticks and I knew when something was up
The location - at a school getting some interference - very minor and quick throttle lock. Returned to same location to see servos slightly glitching and doing what they want.
Went to a new location (nice big, empty oval).

The problems:
Small servo glitch (discovered the AP2000i was activate! deerrrrr so i turned it off)
Servo glitch disappeared so I continued to hover and manouveur. Still something strange, Elevator and Aileron sometimes having no input, so id have to ditch the heli from only a metre.
Checked and rechecked links and trim. Extended the servos arms a little to have a bit more response.
Returned back to a hover and then no response! OMG heli takes off, over trees behind line of sight. I run after it, only to hope it ditches before it reaches a very major road. It ditched 5 metres, and i mean 5 metres at most, from this major road! I couldnt believe my luck, but all wasnt done with yet. I ran over to turn the motor off and who was sitting there, COPS! they had pulled someone over and were writing them a ticket. You should have seen the looks I was getting.
Gathered everything and got out of there quick smart.

I am more disappointed becuase I had no control of the heli at all. I wouldnt have minded as much if I crashed it into the ground due to pilot error, but this certainly wasnt the case.

Now to rebuild or buy new. But before that, I need to find out what crashed my heli! :(

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

[stevehonn]

I had huge problems with interference on my E550. I started with a brand new JR PCM receiver and had a full lockout on the third flight causing extensive damage. For the rebuild I used another brand new JR PCM receiver and crystal plus changed from using a switching regulator off the main battery to using an Align linear regulator with a 2 cell lipo pack. I ground range checked and it was perfect, 3 minutes into the next flight I had a momentary lockout so pulled it back in for a landing and had the same happen 10ft in front of me! When I got it back to the pits I pulled the motor pinion out of mesh and ground range checked it with the motor running, I couldn't simulate the problem, everything was perfect :(

At this point I switched to 2.4ghz and never had a problem again but it does look like the actual cause was static build up on the tail belt as this was the only thing I didn't address and there have been quite a few reports of problems due to static. I dressed my belt with silicone oil plus you can buy anti-static sprays which help. I have seen people run an earth wire from the boom to the motor case but the best solution for me was 2.4ghz.

[Wheelhaus]

I've been having some troubles lately that I believe are due to static buildup and arcing between components. I think it killed my CC85HV and is also causing my Logictech 6100T gyro to lock up and stop responding.

I've grounded the boom to both frame plates, motor plate, and main battery neg. Before doing this I could spool the head with no blades and feel little tingles of static electricity jumping between my hand and the main plug, frame, and balance taps. After grounding everything, it has completely disappeared. I think the static was arcing to the tail servo lead, causing it to stop responding.

If that doesn't fix it, I will try using some silicone lube on the belt. I really don't want silicone lube on the belt, but if it fixes it, great.

I am using 2.4ghz.
Steve, you're probably still having static buildup but it's not affecting the Rx signal, if that was your sole problem then you found your fix. However, with my 2.4ghz, the static was entering the system not through radio interference, but directly through the leads from the Rx. I never had a glitch or radio hit of any sort, just the tail would stop responding entirely.

[scary]

Cheers for the responses guys.
My raptor doesnt have a belt, it is shaft driven, so i dont think it could have caused this lockout. Im still completely unsure what cuased this, but I simply have suspicions that I grouped too many wires together, through the addition of the AP2000i.

Ive made the move to a Hurricane 550 now. My raptor was too far gone :( I nailed my Olympus camera to the pavement, but surprisingly, the askman camera mount simply popped apart and can easily be glued back together.

I have lost a lot of confidence, but i guess i will just have to jump back on the bike. I am also seriously looking at a 2.4gHz option, such as a Xtremelink or Sprectum dx9.

Cheers again

[kgfly]

Sorry about the crash.

Missing info for the diagnosis:

a) How was the Rx being powered ?
b) How did the batteries/ESC/BEC checkout post crash ?
c) Were the servos responding to your Tx post crash ?
d) How was your failsafe programmed ?

It sound as if either you did not have a PCM failsafe/lockout or else you did not program the failsafe properly (ie to cut the throttle). I hope you had the failsafe programmed to cut the motor and hence since you describe the incident as the heli essentially flying away out of control from a stable hover, it was not a result of radio interference leading to a lockout. However it could still have been a shootdown scenario. Sounds as if you were in a suburban area. Is it possible that someone within 1km of your location fired up their R/C toy on your channel and this took over your heli ?

I would highly recommend changing to 2.4Ghz to eliminate the risk of shootdown and reduce the risk of RF glitches. However you will probably have to change your video downlink to 900MHz as it turns out that most of the 2.4GHz downlinks are terrible band hogs and cannot coexist with 2.4Ghz R/C.