14MZ receiver glitches?

[birdseye]

I experienced a bad radio glitch which downed my Bergen gasser. AND, the other day out at the flying field, another guy who was also flying the 14MZ was experiencing BAD glitching as well.

Has anyone else been having problems with their MZ?

I am wondering if maybe the 14ch rx may have vibration sensitivity issues.

Mike

[Russ McC]

Hi Mike,

As a Futaba rep I have access to all the reports from all the Futaba team and this is the first I have heard of any problems, this includes reports from some very good pilots flying 90 machines. I don’t know if any one has been running one in a gasser, this would be a good test for vibration sensitivity. Is your RX well isolated? What heli was your friend flying? I have only been flying both my G3 receivers in two Ions so I don’t have the vibration issues some might have but so far it has been flawless. If you have the RX properly isolated and are running the full antenna and don’t find any thing wrong with your model then you best send you’re set in for inspection, any thing is possible with new technology :dontknow

[d_wheel]

Could this be related to ignition noise from the engine? The reason I ask is because I was getting very short range and jittering servos in my eStik. After adding a filter between the receiver and speed control everything went to normal. I had been having absolutely no problems with a conventional (R148DP) receiver before swapping it out for the 14 channel synthesized unit.

Later;

D.W.

[birdseye]

Hey Russ,

The fellow that was also having problems was flying fixed wing. He had it installed in a high$ TOC type plane the first time he experienced it. He said everything was well, then all of a sudden, the ailerons just went crazy. He managed to get it to the ground without much damage. He then installed it into an Avistar to use as a test bed. First everything was well, then the same thing happened with the ailerons. He shut off the engine and control became normal again.

I had the rx very well padded with 1/2" foam rubber, with the antennae run down the tailboom support inside a plastic tube.

As far as ignition noise, tomorrow or the next day, I will be doing a ground run on the engine in close proximity to the receiver to see if this may be causing it. If not, it wouldn't be a bad idea to let Futaba check it out.

I do really love the radio itself though. The xmtr is awsome and there really is a difference with the 2048. You can assign and program everything on this thing!

Mike

[Russ McC]

Well Mike that all sounds bad, both your gasser and the large plank have ignition but the Avistar is glow right? If this is true then the ignition theory is out the window. Shutting the engine down and having it work says you have a problem with the receiver. All the FM/PCM Futaba receivers have ceramic filters in them, when these fail and they do, you get the very same result. I wonder if the G3 receivers still have these, if they do then the service center should be able to fix them with good results.

[birdseye]

Ahaaaaa!!!

I found what caused the glitch in my 14MZ. It turns out it has nothing at all to do with the receiver or transmitter. Today I was testing to see if maybe the rx was picking up interference from the engine ignition. Tests were negative while the engine was running. Then it happened. With the engine turned off, I was fiddling with the controls and saw the aileron servo make a rapid movement to the left, hang in this extreme position for a couple of seconds and then return completely to normal. What I found to be happening is that when the collective levers move, the aileron servo lead would flex, and apparently it has a broken wire at the flex point. I'm not sure why it behaves as it does, but I was able to duplicate this behavior many times when wiggling the servo lead at the flex point.

Looks like I owe the 14MZ an apology for all the harsh things I've been thinking about it. Lets hope replacing this faulty 9202 will completely solve the problem.

On the other fellow's problem, maybe the ceramic filter idea could be the cause. I will definetly keep yall informed if any new developments arise.

Thanks again,

Mike

[v22chap]

Mike
You also state that you have the antena run in a tube up the tail support ,, We have found that it is best to use a loaded antena on the gasser ,,,seems to do away with any other noise interferrence you might run into.Even though you found the suspect ,I would suggest a loaded antena and revolutions seem to be the best.

[manuelg]

Hi fellas,

I saw a Raptor 90 having glitches with a 14MZ. We found a problem in the main mast bearings that were emitting interference (we picked that up with an oscilloscope). We changed bearing and voila! no more problems.

:arggg: :hug: