Thank you DX6i for teaching me to do a full preflight, EVERY flight

[Foamboy]

I got my 600/700 stretch super dialed in in the backyard this morning, blade tracking perfect with the new blades, almost hands off hover stability. I finally headed up to the local private airport (which is closed on Saturdays) to truly test out the 700 stretch with some real flying! Plugged it in, all seemed well. Servos were alive and going in the right direction gyro had initialized, it was go time! I started to spool up, the normal spool up vibes were shaking it, but i figured i would let it sit at mid stick for a few seconds to let the blades straighten out. I started to push a little farther, and INSTANTLY the thing tipped over (high speed tip) and carbon chunks were a flyin! Hit the throttle hold and managed to stand it back up, just chipping the blade tips severely, and breaking a swash linkage. I could not tell what had happened, it flew great just an hour before, but now I noticed that my collective, was only moving the pitch servo, not my ele or ail (but I still could do aile and ele by themselves no problem)... So I thought, hmm, maybe I accidentally changed the swash mix or something. I went into my menu, and decided to check the swash mix first. When I entered the SM set up, i got the "Inhibit" message, but it wouldn't even let me change it. When trying to scroll to it to activate it, the cursor would stay on "list" in the top right corner, not even letting me set up a swash mix
Then I thought, "Oh no, i changed the model to airplane in the set up list somehow by mistake... Nope. Still heli." So basically, I am unable to enter my swash mix setup. This makes me not trust my TX for pylon racing tomorrow (I really wouldn't want to have a failure and hit someone,) and my brand new blades are straight trashed.
I will call Horizon when they open, and see if they will do anything, but I doubt i will get any compensation for my blades. And yes, my DX6i was of the recalled batch, however I sent it in and got the new firmware and new gimbals put on.

[Wildcards]

Thats why I always check that all my servos are operating properly before clicking off throttle hold.

[755 robert]

That really stinks,but it is a reminder to us all to ALWAYS do a pre flight check...May be Horizon will send you a new radio next time..

[Slyster]

I can't quite decipher what actually happened.. and whose fault it was.. but ALWAYS wiggle the sticks for a quickie preflight.

[PTcaflyer]

...Me too...I always do the swash wiggle and sometimes, will hold at the limits to see if it has any twitch or Buzz...
PT

[Mixmaster Pilot]

So I'm gathering your heli is a flybar heli, and the DX6i reset some of your settings, one of which is resetting the swash to INH mode? Because otherwise if you run a FBL setup, you want the swash to be in INH mode.

Yeah that sucks if so, I had my dx6i reset itself before, so I upgraded the TX when I got my 700 for safety reasons. Not to be harsh, but you should have caught this in a pre-flight check, although I can understand your excitement to get flying and thinking nothing should have changed from an hour before.

[bravedave]

Love my Dx6i, use it on all my aircraft. Never a problem. Dont trust spektrum rx's though. I had a ar6200e brown out on me totalling my aircraft. Use Hobbyking orange rx's with sat rx on everything i own. 100 % reliable for me.

[CeeveeSiN]

hated the Dx6i felt and acted like a toy.. would never trust it on large aircraft above a 500..

upgraded to DX7 loved that radio.. and then to my current X9303 2.4 love the JR radios.
sure wish the new ones were backward compatible.. I'd buy one in 2 secs..

as for the "Futaba comment" just got back from an 100 pilot fun fly.. less than 10 were Futaba... and most were JR or DX8.

[Mixmaster Pilot]

Originally Posted by CeeveeSiN

as for the "Futaba comment" just got back from an 100 pilot fun fly.. less than 10 were Futaba... and most were JR or DX8.

So 90 people where using the wrong radio then.....

In saying that, I do like where JR are headed now.

[ARM_Coder]

Originally Posted by CeeveeSiN

hated the Dx6i felt and acted like a toy.. would never trust it on large aircraft above a 500..

upgraded to DX7 loved that radio.. and then to my current X9303 2.4 love the JR radios.
sure wish the new ones were backward compatible.. I'd buy one in 2 secs..

as for the "Futaba comment" just got back from an 100 pilot fun fly.. less than 10 were Futaba... and most were JR or DX8.

After Spektrum released the DX7s, they could phase out the DX6i, or at last give it a hefty revamp.

I' ve switched from the DX6i to the DX7s, it was like night and day. I don't miss the former in any way.

Salute!

Sent from my GT-I9000B using Tapatalk 2

[ahahn]

I wonder if the OP "glitch" is related to the way the DX6i holds the batteries. They rely on the "springy" contacts for the 4 cells (8 contacts in all). If any one has a slight problem, it could cause a glitch.

Might be better to convert to a 4cell pack with tack welded contacts--like a normal receiver pack in this case).

[jlharv]

so what did Spektrum (Horizon) say when you called them?

[ghost2212]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElyKO...U6pTe-w2wSM%3D

[ARM_Coder]

Originally Posted by ahahn

I wonder if the OP "glitch" is related to the way the DX6i holds the batteries. They rely on the "springy" contacts for the 4 cells (8 contacts in all). If any one has a slight problem, it could cause a glitch.

Might be better to convert to a 4cell pack with tack welded contacts--like a normal receiver pack in this case).

This was one great concern for me, I've had incidents with the radio shutting down due to poor contact with the batteries - fortunately during simulator sessions, not actual flying.

I've got more and more scared about this problem, imagine a Trex 500 being wrecked because a loose spring in the radio... Never happened to me, but I started to feel far safer after switching to the DX7s...

HH could definitely update the DX6i, it's lagging behind the other radios big time. They used the DX8's platform to make the DX7s, why not extend this to a newer 6 channel radio?

Cheers!

[Mojappa]

Title should say "Thanks Dx6i, for teaching me the hard way why a thorough preflight check of all controls is important"

Also, if I had the money to get a 700 I wouldn't be using a Dx6i on it. I started with one but like was said in an earlier post when I switched to the Dx7 it was a night and day difference. Now the Dx6 is my sim Tx and that's all.

[Foamboy]

Trust me, the $500 i spent setting up my 700 (the stretched 600 is the more then I have spent on anything else RC. AS for my DX6i, I got it used for $40. I realize that having a nicer radio might eliminate these problems, but for now, that is not an option for me... I just can't front the couple hundred+ dollars. As for HH, "Hmm thats strange, I wouldn't worry about it, sometimes that just happens. If it happens again then call us back and send it in..."

[xspare]

Originally Posted by Mojappa

Title should say "Thanks Dx6i, for teaching me the hard way why a thorough preflight check of all controls is important"

Also, if I had the money to get a 700 I wouldn't be using a Dx6i on it. I started with one but like was said in an earlier post when I switched to the Dx7 it was a night and day difference. Now the Dx6 is my sim Tx and that's all.

I think your proposed title is a bit much. Even a preflight can't deal with the in-flight failures I've experienced with the two DX6i(s) that I've had. One was so lame as to blow smoke while in Phoenix sim and the other flipped out in real life. When I say flip out, I mean the heli literally performed an uncommanded half flip while I was bringing it in for a landing. I've relegated it to BNF (Bounce 'n Fly) models like the mSR and mCP X.

I'd love to have a Blade 300x but I'll be damned if I'd bind it to a Spektrum TX, and I can't justify a 9503 for a fix of BNF crack.