Spektrum Brown-outs Anyone?

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
Hi all,
Well; it's windier than good ole Maxine over here, but I'm still fly'n!
My 450 is dialed in great so I can fly in the wind with a bit more confidence now.
However,,,(oh boy, here it comes),, a couple of days ago I noticed the LED on the AR8000's satellite receiver would start blinking and indicating a brown out event has occurred.. At the time I didn't notice that only the satellite receiver was blinking, not the main receiver.

The aircraft continues to fly perfect,, (well, as perfect as I can make it) Sooooo,,,,,, I whip up a test harness and plug it into channel 8 in my receiver. I also want to note that the lypos I'm running are those el cheapo ching chong china jobs. How cheapo you ask? Well I got 43 flights on'um and they started to puff at flight #5;,, el cheapo ching chong china babee!! (HK Zippy POS's ha!)

Anyway I need to find out why the satellite receiver is browning out. I figure its time for a power check. First thing I do is power up and load the swash and tail servo. Telemetry indicates the voltage is 5.6/5.5 with a lypo at 3.77 volts per cell . Nope no brown outs occur..

Ok time to double check the telemetries voltage reading with a multi-meter. I have no Idea if I could believe it because I've never worked with telemetry before. Heck, I've haven't worked with any of this stuff before some years ago.

The picture below clearly shows the telemetry reading is dead balls on! Ok, now I know, it's time to move forward. I check the two harness plugs that connect the satellite receiver to the main receiver. BOOM!! The plug that goes into the satellite receiver is hanging halfway out. When I touched the wires, the receiver went black. AH HAAAAA!!! There's the problem right there! I must not have plugged it back in all the way last time I was in that area working on the gyro harness; DOH!!

One thing I noticed was that after the satellite receiver failed completely, the main receiver was still on and functioning fine. Then I just plug back in the satellite receiver and she resets without further problems...
Today I went back out in the wind and flew four packs. No more brown outs my friends! I can only imagine what would've happened if the power failed to the main receiver. Maybe I should create a loud beeper that I could trigger with channel eight, if the chopper goes down in that jungle behind the house here...

What do you guys think?
Is there anything else I should know about this AR8000 receiver?
The manuals aren't so complete sometimes. That's why I'll be posting up soon and asking how to setup some of the other telemetry features like the RPM and altitude sensors.
Thanks and see you on the flight line...
 

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Geena

Staff member
When I was flying Spektrum, I had constant issues with the satellite wires failing. I started using JR satellite wires, because they are much thicker and a little less prone to breaking. When running two satellites , make sure you mount one with the antennas vertical, and one with the antennas horizontal... and never mount them inside the frames. Mounting them inside carbon frames can cause signal shadowing, and could result in signal interference.

They already make lost model locators, and they are inexpensive.

Matek Systems 5V Lost Model Beeper For PWM receivers and flight controllers (1pc)
 

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
Hi Geena! Good to hear from you again...
JR satellite wires "A"... I will defiantly will be checking into that and the locator beacon for sure. I've had hellish visions of my baby going down back in the jungle and the rain is coming and it's get'n dark; oh jeezo man!
Thanks for tips!
 

Geena

Staff member
You`re welcome. Also, if on the horrible chance it does go down in that tall brush...take your transmitter out with you..and leave it turned on. If the electronics are still on, you can stir the sticks and possibly hear the servos moving. Which could help you find it. I have used that trick a few times myself, and it works most of the time.
 

Rob Lancaster

Active Member
You`re welcome. Also, if on the horrible chance it does go down in that tall brush...take your transmitter out with you..and leave it turned on. If the electronics are still on, you can stir the sticks and possibly hear the servos moving. Which could help you find it. I have used that trick a few times myself, and it works most of the time.

Stirring the sticks ahh. Another good idea for sure.
Hey now that I know what to look for, I'm finding several of those beepers. Some even have signal loss warning too. Hummmm,, which should I choose. At 2 / 5 bucks, I'm not sure if my multi-hundred dollar investment is worth the those big bucks.. HA! :biggrin-new:

Oh before I forget; what is a PWM receiver? Is my DX8 0ne of those??
Thanks again!
 
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