Lama 3 4-in-1 glitches

[DumbDawg]

I was doing some kitchen flying the other day and the dumg bird decided to commit suicide by veering suddenly into a cabinet door. Stupid bird. Anyway its been acting kinda strange lately. The tail has been twitching about every minute or so. When it decided to kill itself I had it sideways to me and I could see the gyro light. It went red just before it did its thing. It was only about 3 - 4 feet away from me too.

So anyone else have this prob and whats the solution? Other than not buying esky products.

[mnwizard]

You have florecent lights in the kitchen?

They can leak RF and mess stuff up. Microwave ovens too.

It's not a common problem with Esky.

Do you have the problem flying in any oter locations?

[wibble]

Gotta tell you that I have a Belt CP, an HBFP and a Lama Comanche ........... and I think the stock electronics are fantastic. Never had a problem with them.

[another_finn]

RF noise is always a prime suspect - how have you routed your antenna? It couldn't be broken inside, could it? Oh, and did you point the transmitter antenna directly at the helicopter? There's a small dead zone radiating in a cone from the antenna tip, so it could just be a weak signal.

It could be as simple as a motor on its way out - the red light thing might mean one of them is suddenly pulling more amps, and the tail swing could be a momentary failure. That's the way my stock motors started to go.

[DumbDawg]

hhmmm... wonder whats causing this then. The lights are not tubes and no lights were even on. As for the microwave.... it wasn't on either.

So for some reason known only to the heli maybe, it lost contact with the tx or something similar. Thats why the red lite I would suppose.

So the twitching is normal too... I'm thinking not as I've seen others vid's and such and never seen anything twitching like mine. Its not a wag but a sudden tail movement to the right then it corrects and comes back straight. Batteries in the TX are all pretty fresh too so I know it can't be that.

Still puzzled.

[another_finn]

No, the twitching is definitely not normal for a Lama - and did you mean there was also swashplate motion involved, not just the unexpected tail swing sending you to an unscheduled rendezvous with the furniture? That would definitely make it sound like RF interference.

If it's just the tail, there are a couple more potential causes to check - first, it's not unheard of for the potentiometers inside the transmitter to get dirty enough to malfunction, or even work themselves loose inside the Tx. However, you say the tail corrected itself after the swing, and it would definitely not do that if it was caused by phantom control input. So I'm thinking more along the lines of binding somewhere. Even a bad bearing could cause momentary binding, sending the tail off course - and if it's short enough, the gyro would still try correct for the motion. Are both rotors turning freely and without noticeable roughness?

[DumbDawg]

Well everything seems to be turning freely enough, no noticeable binding anywhere and no scuff marks. I still think its acting funny because why would the light go from a strong green to a red then all heli breaks loose???

I'm going to replace the plastic stuff with cnc when it gets here but that will likely NOT fix the problem with the 4-in-1. I hate to buy another controller but in the end may have to. The swash plate looks good too and it doesn't look like its coming apart.

How can I test the 4-in-1 or is this a fly until its a for sure its toast thing?

[mnwizard]

I'd try flying it in another location before replacing the 4 in 1.

Also make sure the antenna in the Tx is screwed in tightly.

There can be a twitching in the tail if the GAIN setting on the 4 in 1 is off a little, but it would be constant, not just once in while.

Usually, the 4 in 1 either works, or it doesn't.

[DumbDawg]

Thx... but when you plug in the heli to the batterie the red light comes on, changes to a blinking green then goes solid green.

The red tells me that mainly circuitry is coming alive, tx connection being made etc.

The blinking green is the gyro coming alive.

Now if the bird is flying around and that light turns red that tells me that the heli has either lost TX communication or something similar. The antennae seems to be ok, tight and not loose. I'll try flying it in the living room which has a nice soft rug, soft furniture and fewer other hard heli magnets about... lol

[DumbDawg]

Bought some cnc stuff for the lama but changed it back to the plastic because you get what you pay for. Bought a 'cheaper' set of cnc and it was crap. Came from HK but was probably the knock off of knock offs from china.

Still experiencing the hiccups regardless of the room I fly in and bats all fully charged. Had some trouble with the bottom most main gear but that is sorted out and everything appears to spin freely with no noticable binding.

Tail wants to turn to the right, nose left and I have it almost trimmed out to the max on the TX. Before I go turning the gain and proportionals all out of whack till the heli has no hope of ever flying again, I thought I'd ask.

Can anyone give me a heads up on how I should go about adjusting these pots and when I turn the pot what will happen. I have the swash adjusted so that I have foreward and sideways drifting almost solved. For that the higher you fly the more stable it it... lower means you have to always adjust... ground effect.

Anyway I'd appreciate a few pointers.

thx

[mnwizard]

The Proportion controls the speed of the motors in relation to each other.

Turning it one way will cause the Lama to rotate one way, turning it the other way will cause the Lama to rotate in the other direction.

You can get pretty close by watching the motors start to spin. They should start to rotate at the same time. If one or the other starts first, it will cause the Lama to rotate opposite of the direction that the blades are spinning.

It doesn't take very much movement of the pot. Unplug the battery, make a small correction, plug the battery back in (make sure the Tx is on when plugging in the battery) and test it.

Once the Proportion is adjusted correctly, watch the tail when it's in a hover. Be sure you're up at least 3 feet so you're out of ground effect. If the tail is hunting, that is, moving back and forth about an inch or 2 at a time, turn the Gain down ( - ) a tiny bit. (The Gain controls the sensitivity of the gyro on the 4 in 1) If the tail stops hunting but vibrates, you went a little too far so turn the Gain just a touch the other direction.

Again, unplug and replug the 4 in 1 after every adjustment.

When the swash plate, Proportion and Gain are set the Lama will be very stable in a hover as long as you're out of ground effect.

[DumbDawg]

I thank you kindly... This helps hugely. I'll keep playing with it now a little more intelligently, if thats possible with me but worth the try.

I would have liked to get a heli made on a tuesday or wed but didn't. Bright side... I am learning tons tearing these heli's apart.

Thx again bro

[mprasm]

Hey DumbDawg,

We seem to be sharing something somewhat in common.
Full description in the link under this sentence.

http://www.heliguy.com/Forum/viewtopic,p,170138.html#170138

[DumbDawg]

Did you get ur problem sorted out???