Power Supply's Electronics Gone Wild

[D.O.G.]

Hey all. I've been going nuts trying to figure out why my quad does this. When I'm inside the house my quad binds and ready to fly. When I go outside and arm the quad nothing happens. The TX and Sat RX is still solid orange. I go back into the house and try out the quad and she acts fine and ready to fly. I go back outside and nothing. So I go back in the house and get the quad ready fly again. This time I'll turn the TX on, plug the quad in and she ready to fly again. This time I leave everything connected in the house so all I have to do is arm the quad when I get outside. Sometimes it wont arm and sometimes it does. I've checked all soldered joints, tested all esc and motors and shoot I've even tried different Firmware. When it does decide to work, this what happens Even after all that twitching the TX and Sat. RX still bind and orange light still solid. I'm lost .

 

[RandyDSok]

A couple of possible causes... all are RF interference related...

Transformers, oil field equipment... maybe an electric AC unit. Basically any large electrical devices/equipment or high power electric lines.

 

[Tony]

After it does what you show in the video, are the lights on the satellites flashing?

 

[D.O.G.]

Hey guys, NO... the lights on my sat. RX stay solid Tony. Even sometimes the quad re connects it self again but the sat.RX still stays solid. It's got me scratching my head. Look at this next video. Quad fly well and after that I went to put my goggles on and armed the quad, nothing. Bring it back in the house and works fine. I thought maybe one of my neighbor has a jammer but they can't afford to pay attention no less spend about $500.00 on a jammer just for me... no less them selves Lol.

 

[Tony]

without replacing individual components one at a time to narrow it down, I'm not sure what could be causing this issue. But I'm wondering if you have a transformer on one of those pole's that is causing some EMI causing this issue.

 

[Admiral]

Hi D.O.G. are the sats DSM2 or DSMX ? only the DSM2 will flash after signal loss.
The inside outside thing certainly look like a signal interference, if you do have a DSM2 sat try a DSMX one as they are more resistant to interference.
Do you fly any other models in that area?

 

[D.O.G.]

Hey there Admiral. I have been flying in this area since we bought our house 5 yrs ago. This problem recently just started about 2 weeks ago. I haven't had any problems with my 3 helis or my 2 quads. The quads are on DSMX/2048 from day one. Someone mention it might be a battery issue. I really don't think is that since I tried different batteries just for shit and giggles. I'm just going to keep trying different suggestion. I'm just running out of guesses.

 

[Admiral]

In that case I think I would be heading down the substitution path, I don't what else you can do, I would start with the Receiver then move on to the FC I can't imagine that is an ESC or motor. Although having said that I had a similar problem years ago with the tail motor on a Blade 120SR, drove me mad for weeks, wouldn't initialize or shut down mid flight and drop out of the sky.

 

[D.O.G.]

Well i did try different RX Keith but it doesn't mean that the Sat RX I have aren't going bad. They are pretty old and I do fly alot so maybe there on the way out. I did order the FC of ebay because the other places where sold out or wanted to much money for a FC at the time being. I haven't had good luck with ebay lately. I ordered new surveillance camera from ebay that didn't work. I sent them back but while waiting for everything to get worked out, I went ahead and ordered another 4 pack of cameras from ebay again and the same thing happens. The cameras didn't work. So I'm wondering if the FC that I ordered from ebay are bad too. I just received 2 FC not from ebay this time. I'm getting ready to order 2 spektrum Sat. RX, NOT from ebay and hope that might solve the problem. Next I guess I'm going to order new motors and esc and PDB too. Basically start over again . Not a happy camper.

 

[murankar]

Once you get it working I would do a rang test and see if that shows any results. My guess is someone in your area is flooding you with either a lot of rf or EMI. My not be your neighbors. Also take your equipment down the road and see if you still have issues. Do the entire start up procedure away from your home.

 

[Eggy 71]

My opinion is there is one component with an issue. There is a transformer on the pole behind but the EMF EMI in the yard is going to be less than anywhere in the house that has any lights or appliances on. If it is EMI it's coming from something else but it would need to be fairly close. Try it on the other side of the house to rule it out to confirm. Is there any other big changes from inside to outside? Temperature / humidity etc. I think some electrical component is on its last legs a little condensation it enough to do something.

 

[D.O.G.]

Once you get it working I would do a rang test and see if that shows any results. My guess is someone in your area is flooding you with either a lot of rf or EMI. My not be your neighbors. Also take your equipment down the road and see if you still have issues. Do the entire start up procedure away from your home.

I have to go to Lowes tomorrow and I do have the quad ready to fly again. I'll take her for a ride with me and try different areas out.

 

[D.O.G.]

My opinion is there is one component with an issue. There is a transformer on the pole behind but the EMF EMI in the yard is going to be less than anywhere in the house that has any lights or appliances on. If it is EMI it's coming from something else but it would need to be fairly close. Try it on the other side of the house to rule it out to confirm. Is there any other big changes from inside to outside? Temperature / humidity etc. I think some electrical component is on its last legs a little condensation it enough to do something.

Thanks Eggy 71 for your opinion. That sounds more like it. I have tried front,back and both sides of the house. The temp. down here has been a steady 93 degrees a couple of degrees eitherway but the humidity has been terrible. I also like to fly close to the ground so i do have a few close encounter of the wet ground kind from time to time lol. I do use my home compressor to blow off any dirt, moisture or debris collected by the quad.

 

[murankar]

Using an air compressor can sleep disaster for electronics. Normal air compressors are.not fitted with anti electrostatic discharge equipment. Plus the higher pressur air could pass through the circuitry and damage it.

With being high humidity esd is not going to be bad but still possible. If you need to use the air then the nozzle should be grounded and line pressure should be dropped to what a can of compressed air can do.

Another thing do you have a moisture issue with your compressor? If so spend the 10 or so bucks at harbour freight and get a moisture collector. Or just keep your tank open and drained between uses.

 

[Admiral]

Hi D.O.G. just had a chuckle to my self, you have asked for help and received three different options, all of them plausible, I'm not sure if we have helped or confused you, when you get it worked out please keep us in the loop.

 

[D.O.G.]

Yes Admiral. I got a chuckle my self but it's options I didn't know about if I didn't asked. Help or confuse me ...I don't know. All I know that I have a few process of elimination that I can try to see if it works or not. It's something dumb but it's got me chasing my tail Lol. I will post up what happens today. It's just funny how all of the sudden this situation occur. It's just the wonderful world of electronics and I'm not giving up til I find out the problem so If anyone else has this dilemma, maybe theses option can help anyone else out .

 

[RandyDSok]

I find that life seldom presents us with just one possible cause of a symptom or problem... at least this issue doesn't appear to be intermittent as well.

 

[D.O.G.]

Here's a new twist. I got the quad flying and after a few batteries the quad was doing well til it decided to act up again. This time when I put the quad back on betaflight, everything seem fine til I got to the receiver tab. This was showing on screen in spektrum RX tab and I can't get it to do nothing but this now I'm soooo confused!

 

[D.O.G.]

UPDATE: I got my quad finally going. A combination of 2 things that I found that cause the problems. One was the RX antenna wire where it connects to the connector was nicked. Second Spektrum TX won't connect til it's good and ready, what I've heard. Anyway all is good but I have to learn how to keep the quad out of the kiddies pool Lol.

 

[murankar]

Hopefully that's the solution. Good luck and keep flying .

For the connectors; if you use a little bit glue where the wires go into the connector, you can add strain relief.