The T-Rex 450 Pro V2 from Hell.... power loss issues Help me

[kodapa]

Ok where do I start... ahh the beginning. I got this heli used on craigslist. It was a steal of a deal so I thought. DX7s, Align 450 Pro V2 3GX, with two batteries, really nice strong training gear, and a nice case. All I needed to get started was a charger. So I was really excited and tried to hover it right away. I push up the throttle the brades start spinning, my heart starts racing, and finally the heli starts to lift, then pew (pretty close to the sound it made) both blades go in opposite directions one of them the exact direction my wife and children are standing watching. After a $150 visit to Graves RC in Orlando Florida it was setup and demoed for me so I knew it found fly. I hovered it around for a while then got brave one Saturday and started to fly it around. I do a beautiful banking turn and I hear the motor cut out and I have no control and it falls to the ground. It lands on the training gear and strips out the tail driving gear near the main gear. So all in all it the biggest damage was to my confidence.

I then go into troubleshooting mode and try testing things figuring out which batteries was in use when the power loss happened and etc. So I have swapped out the ESC with a Castle edge 50 (wayyyyy over kill I would not recommend this for a 450) and changed out the Gyro from the 3gx to a AR7200BX and now to an iKon (love this gyro... having trouble with the auto level feature).

So after adding the previously listed parts I start to get brave again. I fly the heli up high(still tail in the entire time) and get it 30 yards away from me maybe 30 feet in the air and I lose power again and on the way down I have no control. I'm thinking WTF why is this happening but again I was lucky it came down pretty level so nothing broke. I looked at the datalog from the ESC and found nothing suspicious. I was really hoping that there would be a smoking gun or a big red arrow saying THIS IS YOUR PROBLEM.

So what next? I don't want to blindly replace my motor but that is the last part that hasn't been swapped out in the heli. Is there ways I can test the motor before replacing it.

Could it be the radio system. The issues happened when I ran the 3gx and the iKon which both used the same single DSMX satellite receiver. Should I be running two DSMX recievers? Is there something I can do to test it?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kodapa

[chargh]

First off how far are you running your batteries down? It sounds like they are getting to low or that they are worn out. Can you download the esc graphs so that we can look at them? I'm sure that we can get this figured out!

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk

[000pitch]

Its not the radio system... If it were... you'd momentarily lose total control.. Not just lose motor power.

I would investigate further into the battery condition and the motor and connections. If the motor wires are pinched on the motor mount plate... these kinds of things. Itd' be most wise to buy new batteries. That never hurts as most people do not take proper care of LIPO batteries and they are quite delicate. The motors themselves can really take a beating and are quite durable... You can ruin a LIPO battery in one day.

Sounds like the ESC is going into protection mode and shutting down.
Protection mode is kind of an oxy moron in that case.. it may protect from a fire.. but it surely doesn't protect the helicopter per say lol.

Try to get some more data next time... is the ESC hot? Can you still move the servos? Can you post the data log?

[cafediablo_30]

I would check the esc setting first ,...set the cut off to insensitive,...

using castle escs, I've learned th hard way about checking this particular thing first, happened to my 550 twice before I got the proper input from helifreakers.

weak lipos would most likely reduce head speed but not completely cut off at least in my experience..

as for the sats,..wish I could help there, I use futaba so not familiar with spectrum.

good luck hunting down the problem,..

take care, stay safe.

[Boinker]

When running the 3GX they do recommend using 2 sats. you don't really have two but its cheap insurance. But you don't neccesarily need too with the smaller birds. 500 and over is where they Draw the line with DSMx.

Like everyone is mirroring power loss is what it sounds like. was anything in the pwoer chain hot when you came back down. Battery, esc, motor, wires etc.

[nameci]

Did you check your satellite after the crash? If it was blinking you had signal loss or brown out. I would strongly suggest checking the satellite cable and connector and replace it. Also as suggested above, two satellites are recommended. Also inspect all the ESC/Battery/Motor connectors for the cold solder.

Make sure your BEC is set up to 6V, you will need the Castle Link for changing the BEC voltage on Castle ESC.

For 3GX, you can use DSMX satellite if you have V4.0 software. Follow the V4.0 PC software instruction on how to bind it for DSMX.

[kodapa]

Sooooo it turns out it wasn't the heli at all. You know that one test that your supposed to do every once in a while ya know the signal test... I did a signal test and couldn't get more than 5 feet away from the model before I lost signal. I opened up my transmitter and I see the antenna wire dangling. I reconnect it and its working great.

[dogtooth]

Good news