DX6i Throttle not responding with OrangeRX / Turnigy Plush 18A - Newbie

[Sirpennywise]

Good Morning!
This may be a long post, for those that like the cliff notes version:
I seem to have a throttle warning issue with my setup, beeps every 2 seconds...The throttle was working, motor throttled up and then back down but then I performed a few steps , I installed Servo's and troubleshot them, I deleted my profile <used for the Phoenix flight sim> and created a new one. I am not sure if the Receiver's Throttle channel stopped working or if its settings on my Transmitter, i spent hours last night listening to the beeps and troubleshooting <see below>.

Here's the longer story:
After spending lots of time on a Flight Sim, flying RTF quads and watching FliteTest videos on Youtube. I took the plunge and Scratch built my first RC, I chose the "Bloody Wonder". The build went easy enough, I followed the suggestions on the site, I purchased my items based on their suggested links and modified a little based on what was in stock at the time. I purchased the Transmitter about a month before hand and I have been using it to fly the Flight Sim on my PC to get the hang of it. I had no issues at all getting it up and running and taking to the skies.>

I followed the Electronics video on Flite test and was able to get the motor to spin in the beginning, then a response from each of the servo's. Somewhere between attaching the push rods and mounting the power pod my motor began to sing, sadly it was the very annoying tune of a beep every two seconds. Somewhere around there I deleted my current transmitter profile and made a new one... After much reading and research this appears to be a throttle signal issue.

I can plug the ESC cable into say, the elevator spot on the Receiver and it will make all the fancy beeps and then allow the motor to spin.. but if I move it back to the Throttle it stops responding and just beeps. All of the other channels seem to work fine. I have full control of the Servo's.

Troubleshooting:
I tried calibrating my Transmitter <held each of the trim buttons towards the middle and powered it on.> I then flipped the switches at the top while rotating my sticks around. This was able to get the controls closer to the middle in the monitor.
I also heard that it may be an issue with my Transmitter not fully reaching 0, I went through the steps to lower the Travel Adjustment to 125% and -100% when all the way down.
I set the sub trim, slowly lowering it into the negative...
I have not touched the throttle curve
I have not messed with the mix.

I guess the next question i should ask myself is... Do you think the Throttle channel on the Receiver went bad? How common of an issue is it for just one channel to go?

Parts list as this may help diagnose the problem.
DX6i
hexTronik 24gram Brushless Outrunner
TURNIGY Plush 18amp Speed Controller
Turnigy TG9e 9g / 1.5kg / 0.10sec Eco Micro Servo
OrangeRX RX3S 3-Axis Flight Stabilizer w/DSM2 Compatible 6CH 2.4Ghz Receiver

If you made it this far Thanks for taking the time to read all of that !

 

[Sirpennywise]

I was able to get the throttle to do something.

I switched the DX6i into Heli Mode and swapped the ESC plug into the AUX, now the throttle will spool up the motor.. but its reversed..Stick all the way at the top is off, and stick all the way down is full Throttle.

I reversed the throttle control in the Transmitter and it did not do anything. I will try to troubleshoot further later.

Any idea's on what may be causing this?

 

[Craftydan]

SPW,

Welcome to the forum!

It sounds like the throttle channel on the receiver is damaged -- moving to another channel and having it work is evidence of this.

Moving to Aux and mixing it over, however is a fairly good workaround . . . but there's a better way than playing with the heli mode:

- switch back to airplane mode
- in mix1, FLP>FLP -100,-100, switch On (this cancels any effect form the flaps switch)
- in mix2, TRO>FLP 100,100, switch On (maps the throttle stick out to the Flap channel)
- Test in the monitor screen -- if throttle and aux track each other, you're done. if they move opposite, go into the reverse page and reverse "FLAP"

. . . and if all that doesn't work, let us know what it's doing and we'll help you troubleshoot.

 

[Sirpennywise]

Thanks for the tip, ill try this now and let you know if it works!

It seems very strange that its all brand new out of the box, the throttle was working and then within just a few minutes of plugging everything in <although i made the profile change> It stopped responding entirely

 

[Sirpennywise]

This did indeed work, I can now use the AUX to control the throttle of the plane in actual plane mode instead of heli mode, Thanks for the great advice!

I may order another OrangeRX and return this one, sad that the throttle channel went bad so fast! This will at least let me play around with my new build.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Craftydan]

I expect that's an unfortunate side effect of lower Quality Control -- a higher infant mortality rate. The less you test, the more likely a weak but functional part will slip through.

On the whole OrangeRx gear is fairly reliable, but it's not perfect. I've yet to hit an instance of infant mortality on any of mine, but I wouldn't be surprised if I hit on one. It's debatable whether it's worth the cost of return shipment (and grief form HK's CS) to get the replacement, but if it's never flown you'd have a good case for it.

 

[Sirpennywise]

It seems to be working now on the AUX how it is, maybe I will toss it into the FT versa I am building and just leave it

I purchased a normal 6Ch OrangeRX from ebay just now, it should arrive in a few days. If everything goes well and I enjoy planes I will def spend cash for the better components.