Rx won't stay bound

[Old Blue]

I just replaced the rx in my honey bee with a new one from GlobalMart. After I installed it I bound it using the procedure outlined here by Oliverdots, then set the gain and pro pots using the excellent info provided by Vietlama. I thought it was all good, new batteries in the tx, and a fresh charge in the lipo. After some hovering I take it up for a spin and it's doing just fine then it suddenly lost all power and hit the ground like a rock from about twenty foot up. Not much damage done, but when I pick it up I notice the light that should be steady green on the rx was flashing green/red as if it needed to be bound. I went ahead and bound it again hoping for the best but after a few minutes of flight the same thing happened again. Did I get a bad rx?

Blue

[dvdouden]

Did you get just the RX or the entire 4-in-1? And what setup are you using? The problem you describe sounds like either a bad 3-in-1 board or overheating. Check if there's any servo binding or if any of the servos are bad. Do some bench testing by giving lots of cyclic input. Disconnect any accessories like cameras, if you have any.
If you manage to reproduce the problem, feel if the 4-in-1 gets hot.

Either way, your RX is probably fine.

[Viet-Lama]

My HoneyBee would on occasion freak out and loose all signal so it would drop.
After a re-bind it would bee ok for a flight or two then again loose signal with flashing LED on RX just like yours. Had a spare TX and bound it and it never happened again.

I also had a similar experience with my Esky Lama and it turned out to bee the RX not the TX. I wish there was a way to say for sure which is bad so you dont go buying spares for nothing.

Check what DVD said and then bind again....report back

[Steemo]

Yeah, sound like the 3 in 1 is overheating and cutting power to the bec and so in turn the rx, is the bind light(the orange one) still on when you have this problem and the indicator led flashes red ends green?
In addition to DVD'S suggestion, maybe check your gear mesh. If its too tight that can overheat the 3 in 1.

[Old Blue]

Thanks for the replies fellas. I will try it again and check for servo binding to see what it does and if the 4 in 1 gets hot. Here is what I'm working with: New 4 in 1 from E-Sky, Superblades ez's and a direct drive tail. No other mods or a camera. One thing though, the reason I replaced the original 4 in 1 to begin with was because it failed in a puff of smoke. The difference being it never lost connection with the tx, just the part that controlled the main motor went out. Could it be that the main motor is bad or going bad? Any way to check this motor with an ohm meter?

Blue

[dvdouden]

No way to check that, or not that I now of without fancy equipment. But like Steemo said, make sure the main motor pinion isn't too tight against the main gear. This will cause unnecessary load, strain and wear on the motor and possibly burn out your speed controller. There should be a tiny gap between the pinion and the gear (tenths of a millimeter).

[Luke Warmwater]

I had exactly the same with a brand new Esky 3 in 1 when I added a Spektrum Rx. It turns out, it was the Esky 3 in 1, faulty from new. I'm afraid it is a bit too common that these things are faulty out of the factory!

[Steemo]

Originally Posted by Luke Warmwater

I had exactly the same with a brand new Esky 3 in 1 when I added a Spektrum Rx. It turns out, it was the Esky 3 in 1, faulty from new. I'm afraid it is a bit too common that these things are faulty out of the factory!

X2
I've also had a new 3 in 1 faulty from the start.


Blue can you check the 3in1 indicator led and rx bind led when you have this problem again. This could go a long way to figuring out if its the fault of the 3in1 or the rx

[Old Blue]

Ok I checked the motor pinion to main gear clearance and its not too tight as I can rotate the main gear just a tad before the pinion moves, and the servos are not in a bind either. I went ahead and bound the 4in 1 to the tx again to see what it would do and like before, all seemed well at first.....then it dropped to the ground, this time doing the chicken dance even though I had the cut throttle. I did'nt have it running long enough for anything to heat up. Picked it up and once again the led that should be steady green like it was when I took off was flashing green/red. Also, the orange light on the other side was off. Crap. I should've known for $21.93 with free shipping it was too good of a deal. I bet they have a warehouse full of these crap 4 in 1's ready to ship.

Blue

[Steemo]

Originally Posted by Old Blue

Ok I checked the motor pinion to main gear clearance and its not too tight as I can rotate the main gear just a tad before the pinion moves, and the servos are not in a bind either. I went ahead and bound the 4in 1 to the tx again to see what it would do and like before, all seemed well at first.....then it dropped to the ground, this time doing the chicken dance even though I had the cut throttle. I did'nt have it running long enough for anything to heat up. Picked it up and once again the led that should be steady green like it was when I took off was flashing green/red. Also, the orange light on the other side was off. Crap. I should've known for $21.93 with free shipping it was too good of a deal. I bet they have a warehouse full of these crap 4 in 1's ready to ship.

Blue

That's almost certainly an issue with power supply to the Rx side of your 4in1.It could be a loose connection on the Rx or a bad BEC on the 3in1. There's a possibility your old 4in1's Rx is OK, try swapping them out (really easy to do) and see if that works. If not either the 3in1 is not delivering power to the rx correctly (likely) or 3in1 is fine and both Rx's are bad (lessl likely).
In the case of a bad 3in1, get a CP3 3in1 and do one of the hacks outlined here. It will be cheaper than another 4in1 and will also I'm lead to believe it's ESC has a higher amp rating than the stock Bee's 3in1.

[dvdouden]

Did you feel the 4-in-1 case to check for heat? Anyway, I've has similar issues in the past. Fixed it by drilling lots of holes in the case (remove the electronics before you do) and putting in a CP3 3-in-1. This does mean upgrading to a CP3 main motor since it comes with a different motor plug, and different blades because of the higher headspeed, but I haven't had any problems since.

I'm not sure if the cp3 electronics is any better though, they seem to be using the same components, but it's just got much better ventilation...

[Viet-Lama]

Originally Posted by Old Blue

I went ahead and bound the 4in 1 to the tx again to see what it would do and like before, all seemed well at first.....then it dropped to the ground, this time doing the chicken dance even though I had the cut throttle.

Guess what just happened to me! Was flying my ESky Lama (outside thank goodness) and the servos locked up and she went down in forward motion. Hit the concrete and did the funky chicken with throttle locked about 50%-60% !
Throttle wouldnt stop and it took me about 20 seconds before I could safely grab the tail. LED was blinking.
Re binded and worked for the rest of the lipo. Cant trust this damn thing in the house ever again. ESky electronics blow chunks

[Steemo]

Originally Posted by Viet-Lama

ESky electronics blow chunks

+1

Just got my bee working with BL MM and full separates but i'll post the results elsewhere.

[Viet-Lama]

Originally Posted by Steemo

+1

.

Good one Steemo

BTW, I cant wait for Halloween to bee over so you can remove that avatar. Its kinda creepin me out

[Steemo]

Originally Posted by Viet-Lama

Good one Steemo

BTW, I cant wait for Halloween to bee over so you can remove that avatar. Its kinda creepin me out

What make you think I'm getting rid of it after Halloween?

[Viet-Lama]

DOH!

[Old Blue]

Originally Posted by Steemo

That's almost certainly an issue with power supply to the Rx side of your 4in1.It could be a loose connection on the Rx or a bad BEC on the 3in1. There's a possibility your old 4in1's Rx is OK, try swapping them out (really easy to do) and see if that works. .

I did just that and it works just fine now! Thanks for all the replies everyone. The Bee flies again.

Blue

[dvdouden]

You're welcome Old Blue! Good to hear it's flying again
I wish Esky did some proper R&D and QA on their electronics, not many people around here who have never had problems with them...

[Steemo]

Originally Posted by Old Blue

I did just that and it works just fine now! Thanks for all the replies everyone. The Bee flies again.

Blue

That's great that you didn't have to go buy anything else to get the bee in the air!
although it is shameful that esky allowed a 4in1(that I think are overpriced) leave their factory with a bum Rx

Happy flying.