Locking out on Trex

[r2160]

Hi all

Have a problem. My trex keeps locking out. I have tried the following:

Futaba 113 FM 6ch receiver, R149DP receiver
Align 25A speedie, CC 35 speedie
FP 1800 lipo, Polyquest 1800 Lipo

I keep getting the machine locking out or glitching (depending on receiver)

I even pulled the motor out and had just the receiver, lipo, motor, speedie and it still locks out or glitches.

What am I missing? I have even tried it on my 450th and a 3200kv motor I borrowed of a mate (the 3200 doesnt glitch in his machine).

Any ideas?

Thanks
Glenn

[aysbirg]

My mates t-rex does exactly the same thing and he can not cure it either.Ihope this makes you feel better as a trouble shared is a trouble halved :arggg:

[Coolice]

Hey,

I'm having similar issues helping buddies setup their Rex's. Basically the stage we are at now they fly ok sometimes and then all of a sudden the motor drops out and down comes Rex'y.

What we have been told and have made these changes to their machines, is that the integral BEC in the ESC's isn't capable of running all the servo's and gyro and this can casue it to over heat and hence shutdown. Reading the ESC's instructions normally only says the BEC is capable of running 2~3 servos, not 5 if you count in the gyro.
So to get over this we have fitted a seperate BEC unit T'd off the power wires, then removed the red wire from the ESC's lead into the receiver so that the external BEC powers the system. This works quite well and doesn't add to much extra weight and so works out ok.
They have also switched to the CC35's as they are far superior to the Align rubbish that gets shipped with the kits. Shame but I feel they don't provide a good package out of the box.

Another thing and this could be your problems, you need to disable the current limiting within the ESC as this will shut down the motor if the current draw exceeds what is deemed reasonable. In a plane this isn't a problem, but in a heli.... ooops.
Drawback to this is that there is no protection for the ESC if you are drawing to many amps from your setup, hence you will need to make sure your gearing is right for the flying your doing.

Also, set the BEC cutoff in the ESC to well below what is recommened for your LiPo pack. Again this little add-on monitors the pack voltage and shuts down the motor before you run the risk of discharging the LiPo below a safe voltage of 3 volts per cell. Unfortunately in a heli if the motor stops at the wrong moment it comes down hard.
This can happen within a flight should the pilot load up the head and the pack voltage drops momentarily, the ESC thinks it needs to shut down the motor to save the pack even though it's most probably still ok.

Instead for the LiPo safety & reliability side, we have fitted an external LiPo saver that lights up at 9volts, signalling us to land and we'd rather have the decision to shut the motor down in our hands than the ESC's.
We then set the cutoff voltage to the lowest setting possible so it is not likely to cut the motor out.

Another important item is a ferrite ring fitted to the ESC -> Rx. lead that stops any interference getting into the flight gear from the ESC.
As there is large currents flowing through the speed controller it is all to easy for the power to make extra interference which then gets passed on to the Rx. via the connection to it.

As I said we're still chasing a problem ourselves in both machines, but the above makes a lot of difference and may fix all your issues.
On one the motor keeps cutting out, but there is still full control over the rest of the machine :arggg:
.

[Gary JP4]

What ever happened guys? I have the same problem. Can we revive this thread?

[Coolice]

Hey,

My friends problems seemed to centre around the external BEC's we fitted, once we'd removed them & gone back to using the Castle Creations 35 internal BEC the problems disappeared.

An important factor with electric models is the component placement, keep everything as far away from each other as possible, especially anything that deals with high voltages.
My fellow flier had a major problem with his Swift leading up to Clubman 3D, after a little tinkering about I realised it was the battery wires/terminals being to close to the gyro/tail servo which we're causing the glitching & hence lockouts.

Also for you Carbon model owners, make sure the boom/tail gear box/main frames are all grounded together to help dissipate any static charge build up.

Another option, if your still having problems is to update your firmware within the Castle Creation controllers to V1.23b or higher. We have been using 1.23b up till now, I say we as I am suing it in the ESC of my Swift to.

Recently Castle have released another firmware on their web site that is supposed to be even better for us heli guys.I am yet to upload it to my Swift for actual tests in my own model, but I have heard it's great.
.

[bmlasater]

fwiw...Look at my posts on RR under drdot...Thes intermittent incidents are interference, sure solution is the Spektrum radio...3 rexes, 6months, no glitches or problems...All Align esc and motors...

John.