I just pooped my pants

[powertrip]

or, "how my 450l and DX6 conspired to end my life"...

So, I'm diligently working away on my setup and I'm watching a fassbinder video, when a sexy British voice says, repeatedly, "WARNING, TRANSMITTER BATTERY LOW".

Here's the lesson I learned today...

DO NOT TURN THE TRANSMITTER OFF.

Dear mother of God, my Dominator went ballistic on my dining room counter. FULL f'ing throttle. Totally forgot I had the batt in and the ESC was armed. Had I not taken the blades off, I would be posting this from the hospital with the (maybe) one good eye I would have been left with.

That won't happen again. I got very lucky tonight.

[al93535]

Glad you had the blades off! Just a moments lapse of thought and that's all it takes.

Time to set the failsafe.

[Skidpad]

Originally Posted by al93535

Glad
Time to set the failsafe.

Exactly this.

Glad you escaped injury; be careful!

[powertrip]

Which is strange, because I selected failsafe when I bound the two together, and followed the instructions. Not sure what happened, but I'll be sure to double check the failsafe from now on.

[jmtyndall]

Spektrum failsafes are set during the bind.

Either bind with throttle hold on, or with a flat 0 throttle curve. I'm slightly in awe people don't check this stuff. I test every helicopter after a bind. No blades, battery lightly plugged in(so i can unplug easily if need be) then turn the tx off. Everything should immediately center and throttle to 0%

[Skidpad]

Originally Posted by jmtyndall

Spektrum failsafes are set during the bind.

Either bind with throttle hold on, or with a flat 0 throttle curve. I'm slightly in awe people don't check this stuff. I test every helicopter after a bind. No blades, battery lightly plugged in(so i can unplug easily if need be) then turn the tx off. Everything should immediately center and throttle to 0%

I agree, and do the same test(s)... Especially when I work on other people's helis; I'm always amazed at how many people don't check this stuff. No offense to the OP of course, as I feel it's simply an education thing and people not knowing how to check it, or why they should check it.

[jmtyndall]

Originally Posted by Skidpad

I agree, and do the same test(s)... Especially when I work on other people's helis; I'm always amazed at how many people don't check this stuff. No offense to the OP of course, as I feel it's simply an education thing and people not knowing how to check it, or why they should check it.

I agree. Maybe I came off offensive? Didn't mean it that way, but most people aren't taught to setup failsafes, so they just don't

[al93535]

There's alot to learn remember and setup. I never knew to set up my auto bailout until a crash taught me different haha. Live and learn and hopefully the lesson wasn't too bad.

Maybe this is why it's good to hang out with someone who's been in the hobby a while.

[Skidpad]

Originally Posted by al93535

Maybe this is why it's good to hang out with someone who's been in the hobby a while.

Or post here on HF so we can all learn from our own - and others - mistakes

[Martinshelis]

Failsafe is a must have.I set mine for zero pitch and throttle hold.

[slamdance]

Dude. Most of us pretty much learn the hard way. Failsafe? WTF is that? I just want to go fly, right? Yup,...until one day we accidentally shut off the tx before the heli. Kaboom.

That's why it's always better to start off with a small heli than a large. Forget about getting bigger heli just cause it "flys stable". When we are beginners it's a long way from building and programming right...to finally getting the heli into the air.

Also, "our" attitude with any first heli should always be that this is going to be a beater. It's gotta crash and be fixable to work "function" like brand new. Stick with name brand kits and components from the get go. .

[powertrip]

No offense taken. It was a noob move, and I learned a very valuable lesson. I had selected "bind with failsafe" when I bound them, and my TH was on with the throttle at zero. Not sure how the hell it happened, but it didn't get the failsafe. Totally my fault for not double checking.

I can take the ridicule for doing a douche noob move... it sure beats the hell out of being blind for the rest of my life. The rotor head was exactly at my eye level, and my head was inside where the rotor disc was.

I derp'd. There won't be a second occurrence, I promise.

[jmtyndall]

Sometimes you may have to bind, calibrate throttle endpoints on the esc, then rebind to really get zero throttle. I've had one time where a heli spooled up on a failsafe check, and when I was adjusting endpoints "low throttle" on the esc was lower than default in the radio( like 110ish)