Blinking Satellites

[NovaCX12]

Hello,
I upgraded my Mini V-Bar 5.0 Express to 5.2 Express today. I rebinded my DX7 to 2 JR DSM2 Sats that I've had for over 1 yr and previously working. After binding w/ digital center, I re-power the system ( align 35 ESC and 3s charged pack) and the sats are solid but both blink slowly after the VBAR initializes and the servos jump. I power off and back on the DX7 and then the VBAR, same results numerous times. I'm out of ideas. I did change the satellite cables w/ 2 new ones I had sitting around.

[rcmarty]

Blinking means theres a power problem.

Try the same test with a receiver battery instead ( pull out esc lead for test )

You could also do a power up while connected to the computer and check for the min voltage in software.

Sadly the event log isn't available in express but only in pro

Martin

[NovaCX12]

I just plugged in the same ESC and 3S lipo to my 450 Pro with vbar and 1 sat, I could not replicate the same blinking satellite(s). Voltage in the vbar software showed 6.0v Act and 5.6v Min each time. If it matters, the vbar with blinking sats issues have 3x DS610 and 1x BLS251. My 450 Pro has 3x DS92s and 1 x DS520.

[MrMel]

Slow blinking on Dsm2 you get if you cycle power on satellites (intentionally or not) without cycle power on radio.

[NovaCX12]

Originally Posted by NovaCX12

I power off and back on the DX7 and then the VBAR, same results numerous times.

I re-power the system and the sats are solid but both blink slowly after the VBAR initializes and the servos jump.

[MrMel]

Pm me your serialnumber

[Stuarty]

Hi guys any word on what this is?

[MrMel]

In his case a internal faulty regulator

[scoti333]

I've noticed this after flights every now and then.. But it's always just one of my satellites..

[MrMel]

Check the cable for that satellite.

Use hot glue or similar on the connectors.

[emilh]

Hi, it seems that I also have the blinkig issue. It is my fifth vBar.

It is a blue mini vBar. A new one that I bought during the Mikado winter sale.

The satellite blinks just after initialisation or starts blinking after moving the sticks. The blinking happens when there are at least two servos connected. The max current from the ESC when doing these pitch pomps was 1A. The ESC is a standard Align 35A ESC.

The heli did tons of flights with the same setup (ESC, servos, satellite) and another vBar.

So, it looks as if there is a power supply issue. See the movie below.

I tried the following and it seems that the vBar is faulty:
- install another vBar with the same servos, ESC, satellite
- supply power from another source.
- different servos
- different cable to the satellite
- different satellite

Do you have any idease before I send it back for repair?

[ame]http://youtu.be/16GCyjG_CF4[/ame]

[tshelby73]

Originally Posted by emilh

Hi, it seems that I also have the blinkig issue. It is my fifth vBar.

It is a blue mini vBar. A new one that I bought during the Mikado winter sale.

The satellite blinks just after initialisation or starts blinking after moving the sticks. The blinking happens when there are at least two servos connected. The max current from the ESC when doing these pitch pomps was 1A. The ESC is a standard Align 35A ESC.

The heli did tons of flights with the same setup (ESC, servos, satellite) and another vBar.

So, it looks as if there is a power supply issue. See the movie below.

I tried the following and it seems that the vBar is faulty:
- install another vBar with the same servos, ESC, satellite
- supply power from another source.
- different servos
- different cable to the satellite
- different satellite

Do you have any idease before I send it back for repair?

http://youtu.be/16GCyjG_CF4

Have you tried a different Vbar. If it's fine with the other one then I would say it's the Vbar.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Mentalic]

Originally Posted by emilh

Hi, it seems that I also have the blinkig issue. It is my fifth vBar.

It is a blue mini vBar. A new one that I bought during the Mikado winter sale.

The satellite blinks just after initialisation or starts blinking after moving the sticks. The blinking happens when there are at least two servos connected. The max current from the ESC when doing these pitch pomps was 1A. The ESC is a standard Align 35A ESC.

The heli did tons of flights with the same setup (ESC, servos, satellite) and another vBar.

So, it looks as if there is a power supply issue. See the movie below.

I tried the following and it seems that the vBar is faulty:
- install another vBar with the same servos, ESC, satellite
- supply power from another source.
- different servos
- different cable to the satellite
- different satellite

Do you have any idease before I send it back for repair?

http://youtu.be/16GCyjG_CF4

So are you saying it worked with a different Vbar? Was it a full size Vbar or mini? What does the Vbar log say? Post the log.

[emilh]

It was a big silver vBar.
I don't have access to the log because I am using the Express firmware.

[Mentalic]

Originally Posted by emilh

It was a big silver vBar.
I don't have access to the log because I am using the Express firmware.

Big Vbar is less susceptible to power spikes/dips because according to Mikado it has some small capacitor on the power buss thats not on the MiniVbar. Some servos can cause the problem other times a poor BEC.
You can read about it here: http://www.vstabi.info/en/node/1327

Way to test it is to add a capacitor to the power buss. Seen the capacitor work to correct this sort of thing and its worth testing. I've used 6800mf 16v capacitors.

[emilh]

Thank you for suggestions.

Information: the servos are KST DS115MG. However the blinking also happened when I replaced them with one Align DS410 and one DS610 servo (both servos pugged in at the same time).

In order to investigate the issue I did the following things:
1. Tests with another mini vBar
2. Tests with three Align DS415 servos
3. Tests with a capacitor and KST servos
4. Firmware upload to version 5.3 PRO

A picture - for the record - is attached below. The whole story seems a bit ridiculous to me and does not have a happy ending :-)

1. Tests with another mini vBar
It was a black mini vBar - no blinking issues at all. Even when the 'pitch pomp' was set to 100.
This qualifies the blue mini vBar for repair in my opinion.

2. Tests with three Align DS415 servos
So again the faulty blue mini vBar with express version (pitch pomp: 0). And three DS415 servos - no blinking issues noticed.
Conclusions:
a. Align DS415 servos draw less current than KST servos (abvious beceause KST servos have better parameters). And the vBar seems to be OK, however the black version works better - because it handles KST servos as well.
b. Two Align DS415 servos draw less current than one Align DS610 servo.

3. Tests with a capacitor and KST servos
See the capacitor in the picture. So in order to use my KST servos I decided to use the capacitor. Quite big it is - but - it really worked! No issues observed. I agreed mentally (unwillingly) to have the capacitor installed on the model. But I wanted to make sure that it will also work with the pitch pomp set to 100 (as Mikado rekomends to check), so - go to point 4.

4. Firmware upload to version 5.3 PRO
To activate the pitch pomp and the vBar log I purchased the PRO version. But during the firmware upload to the device (very close to the end) - the vBar switched off suddenly and my computer displayed something like 'The device in not operational. The operation can not be completed'.
Since that the vBar does not work at all, the computer software does not see it.

So I don't have any option rather than send it back for repair. The conclusion that the blue version is worse that the black version - point 2 above - may not be true, because during the whole time there was something wrong with it.

[Mentalic]

Originally Posted by emilh

Thank you for suggestions.


4. Firmware upload to version 5.3 PRO



4. Firmware upload to version 5.3 PRO
To activate the pitch pomp and the vBar log I purchased the PRO version. But during the firmware upload to the device (very close to the end) - the vBar switched off suddenly and my computer displayed something like 'The device in not operational. The operation can not be completed'.
Since that the vBar does not work at all, the computer software does not see it.

So I don't have any option rather than send it back for repair. The conclusion that the blue version is worse that the black version - point 2 above - may not be true, because during the whole time there was something wrong with it.

You can try the Vbar upgrade recovery file to recover from failed upgrade attempt. Its located at the bottom of this page link and you need to be logged in to download the file.
http://www.vstabi.info/de/node/112

[crf69]

my experience was BAD with spektrum and vbar.

i went futaba and no more issues whatsoever.


im not raggin on spektrum im just ragging on spektrum in conjunction with vbar.



Sent from my Samsung S4 using Tapatalk 4 because Tapatalk2 just vanished........

[saeed09]

Originally Posted by crf69

my experience was BAD with spektrum and vbar.

i went futaba and no more issues whatsoever.


im not raggin on spektrum im just ragging on spektrum in conjunction with vbar.



Sent from my Samsung S4 using Tapatalk 4 because Tapatalk2 just vanished........

+1

Saeed

[emilh]

Originally Posted by Mentalic

You can try the Vbar upgrade recovery file to recover from failed upgrade attempt. Its located at the bottom of this page link and you need to be logged in to download the file.
http://www.vstabi.info/de/node/112

Thank you for the hint. I managed to recover and upgrade to the PRO version. With the 100 pitch pomp, and the capacitor, I did not observe any power spikes/dips; with my KST micro servos installed.

The vBar log - when the capacitor was unplugged - is attached below. Yeah, the voltage drops below 3,3V.


I will write about it to Mikado because - the black mini vBar does not require any capacitor. And I suspect that other mini blue vBars neither:

Originally Posted by emilh

1. Tests with another mini vBar
It was a black mini vBar - no blinking issues at all. Even when the 'pitch pomp' was set to 100.
This qualifies the blue mini vBar for repair in my opinion.

But first I will do two more tests:
1. This mini blue vBar with full size HV servos (and 2 cell Li-Po)
2. This mini blue vBar with full size LV servos (and the standard Align BEC)