Servo failure? (Big Predator)

[hawkman]

Hi there, heres a brain teaser:

went to fly my big Predator today and the throttle servo keeps going to idle/cut off after 30 seconds...I tested it a few times....hovering and shut down....the problem showed itself while I was hovering close to myself....the throttle arm just moved and the heli would go into autorotation....of sorts...the were low level autos

the servo is a futaba 3003...its a cheapo servo....would this be the problem?

I have yet to find a spare servo to plug and try out....I was lucky because after a hovering session I usually blast around the sky....the ground I fly on is fine...but the surrounding area is not forgiving to autoing helicopters

Any ideas?

Rob

[BABY HUEY]

Hey Rob,
Sounds to me that your radio system might be going into failsafe mode or something, because if it was a servo problem don't they usually just die at whatever position they are at at the time? Failsafe shuts down the throttle and nothing else so maybe you have a reception problem?
I don't know any of this for sure but it seems possible.

Good luck with this problem,
Neil

[hawkman]

If in doubt read the book! I did this very thing and confronted a horrible truth....if the battery pack reaches 3.8 volt the failsafe cuts in...after a wiggle on the stick it rearms and goes back to normal....after 30 seconds the failsafe activates.

So....the battery indicator thinks its full....and its not.

Good job the failsafe works well eh....

I am going to get a new battery....I will recycle the present one...but the new battery will be Nimh.

An interesting item I am going to get is an onboard generator....if you are interested I will post the link....its a company based in the USA. This generator produces enough power for the heli to not need a battery....though its fitted in case of emergencys...like engine failure.

Rob

[BABY HUEY]

Rob,
The generator thing sounds great, ( wish I had thought of it ! ) It would be nice to not have to worry about charging the flight battery.
Hope it's not to expensive/ heavy but we'll see.

Later,
Neil

[3dee]

I had the same thing hapen to me with a raptor 90 i had just started doing some 3d when it started spinning after we checked out the crash damage all was fine i rebuit it and after only three flight it did it again. turned out to be the rx going in to failsafe, but i had not set up fs so it happened to have full left rudder and more than half throttle in. solution i went to lipos 7.2v and now have a 4340 amh 7.2 lipo and this will never failsafe. even after eight flights like today.

[hawkman]

Hi there, thats some backup what regulator are you using? Do you have a link or any other info? I am getting a LiPo charger for the MiniPred....I am aiming to get a TRex one day...so need this charger anyway.

So you connect the LiPo to the regulator and thats it? Sounds good.

I have reprogrammed my fast charger...put it up to 1 amp on the charge....and aim to discharge it more often....went flying this morning and had no problem....though the wind was getting very strong

Rob

[heidi-hi25]

Hi Rob,i have been using 11.1 volt lipo on my helicopters (gassers)using a 4.8volt lipo regulator and6.0 volt reg on another.Can fly all day and the voltspy does not move from top of scale or even blink.When i got home battery was fully charged in one hour on balance charger.Got my regs from J Perkins in UK.Cat price is £6.50 each.Using GV1 on my Robbe at reg voltage and same duration applys.The part numbers if you are interested are 5509886-4.8volt/550987/6 volt.You can fly and forget the battery but make sure reg has good airflow/heat sink.

[hawkman]

Thanks very much for the input there...no pun intended

I have been wondering about fitting a Lipo battery...might actually fit two with two regs and switches...a backup system if you will...I would prefer two power inputs to the RX either way...gassers are a large and powerful machine to go AWOL arent they.

I liked the conversion you did to the Robbe, I find projects like that very interesting.

Rob