Disturbing trouble at flying field

KKArioKA

Epoxi Flyer
This happened TODAY WHILE WE WERE FLYING !!


we had to land in a hurry; remove the rest of the cars that were parked close to that van and we used all the extinguisher from the cars; had to call the fire department !



Can you figure what happened ??

Spoiler!
 
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colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
WOW... Sad, yet people keep charging their batteries in their cars. So much for a couple of $$$'s worth of extension cord.
 

KKArioKA

Epoxi Flyer
Uh oh !! iminent crash ahead !!

Im using the same topic as the title seems appropriate;


I had a almost crash today with my easy glider !!!

In a hurry to fly it; i pushed the battery inside the compartment (very tight fit for the 2200 3S) i had to put an extra effort today - i thought it was because of the new velcro i installed .....

threw it vertically and it climbed as always !! like a space shuttle !! when i reached the desired height ..... WAIT A MINUTE, I HAVE NO CONTROL !!!! THE PLANE WAS FALLING DOWN doing all crazy manouvers, it speed up, slow down, spiralled nose first etc .... my friends had their hands on their heads anticipating the disaster.

Suddenly when i was 50m nose diving into the ground i regained control and was able to do a gentle turn and took it off of the steep dive and certain death of my glider .... leveled and landed the way it was pointing.

After some investigation; i found out the extra effort i made was the antena wire that stuck under the battery and i pushed till it ripped off ....

LUCKY ME I REGAINED CONTROL SO CLOSE TO THE GROUND; What a adrenaline rush !!! (will post pictures of the broken wire)

is there any method of soldering it and still trust the full range of the receiver ?? anyway im thinking of trashing it since its a 9 dollar HK receiver ..... (maybe use it on a shockflyer or R/C car, boat etc ...)
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
A similar thing happened to my Super Cub last week. The antenna had gotten wedged under a servo arm. I had it up in the air, and it just didn't feel right. I had control, but there seemed to be a slight pause in reaction time. As I was bringing it in, it winged over. I was able to right it momentarily before it happening again. It hit nose first, but a surprising small amount of damage was done. It did ruin my 2200 mah battery, though.
 

colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
Even if you fix the antenna, you shouldn't trust it again with your nicer planes. Once you re-solder an antenna wire it looses a bit of range.
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Even if you fix the antenna, you shouldn't trust it again with your nicer planes. Once you re-solder an antenna wire it looses a bit of range.

If the wire is pulled out at the receiver board end then I respectfully disagree. What is your reasoning for reduced range? Also it would be VERY easy to replace the stock antenna with a skew planar antenna for an even better setup with MORE range.

Thurmond
 
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colorex

Rotor Riot!
Mentor
If the wire is pulled out at the receiver board end then I respectfully disagree. What is your reasoning for reduced range? Also it would be VERY easy to replace the stock antenna with a skew planar antenna for an even better setup with MORE range.

Thurmond

I have seen other receivers with a re-soldered antenna that are reduced in range and reliability... I'm not saying it can't be done, just that you shouldn't trust an expensive plane to the fixed Rx.
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Thinking along those lines, do we trust an "expensive" plane to a $9 receiver at all?:confused:

Thurmond
 

KKArioKA

Epoxi Flyer
Thinking along those lines, do we trust an "expensive" plane to a $9 receiver at all?:confused:

Thurmond

LoL ! you got me ! but at least i have them exaustively tested before doing it; i have like 8 HK receivers and never had a loss of signal ...

on the case here; the antena wire broke at mid :mad: ; the guys at the club says its coaxial and im not sure if i can solder it properly ... ill reassign it to my SailBoat project hehe
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Hey, I fly on the Turnigy $9 receivers as well. I have a Futaba Radio in addition to my Turnigy but only one Futaba Receiver. The others for the Futaba are , Orange, FrSky and a Corona (All FASST compatible) Which together just about equal the One Futaba receiver in price.
Show me a pic of where the wire broke. It is not difficult to make an entire new antenna from a piece of coax if necessary. An old wireless router can provide the necessary components usually.

Thurmond
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
Mentor
LoL ! you got me ! but at least i have them exaustively tested before doing it; i have like 8 HK receivers and never had a loss of signal ...

on the case here; the antena wire broke at mid :mad: ; the guys at the club says its coaxial and im not sure if i can solder it properly ... ill reassign it to my SailBoat project hehe

You can attach the broken bit of the antenna to the receiver board. With the 9x receivers, you have a long section of coax and only a short active end. If you solder the shield and core to the appropriate points on the receiver board it'll be fine. I've done it with a few of my receivers and haven't had any issues or reduction in range. I try them out on my crappy planes first of course... Not because I don't trust the antenna, but because I don't trust my soldering :)

Short antennas, like you find on Spektrum gear, are active along their length, so if you break them they're stuffed because the antenna length is out of step with the radio wave.
 

KKArioKA

Epoxi Flyer
receiver broken antena.jpg

you can see the broken antenna from the HK and a completed severed from the 9X receiver.

can i get the 2 repaired ? if not i would gladly use the 9X "spare" antenna to fix the HK.

a lil bit confused on what to do ..... also that wire is very thin ... didnt had a closer look yet; maybe today after work.

suggestions ??
 

lobstermash

Propaganda machine
Mentor
They can both be repaired without any loss in range or reliability. You'll need a sharp tip on your iron, and to work quickly.

If you open the 6ch rx, you'll see how the shielding of the coax is soldered to a separate pad to the core. You need to expose enough of the shielding to bunch it up and solder it on to the outer pad, while core is soldered to the little pad further in.

If you look closely, like with all coax, there's an insulating layer between the core and the shield. You have to work fast with your iron so you don't burn this off, and also so you don't stuff the board of the rx. If you've got the equipment and fine motor skills to solder it up, give it a shot as you have nothing to lose.
 

Nonamerc

Arman
Re-solder it put some CA/glue on it and do some range check. Als wiggle the antenna wire arround a couple times while moving your controll surfaces so you can see if it loses signal or not. I personally would not trust this but for a few weeks it should be ok!
 

KKArioKA

Epoxi Flyer
thx for the tips !

@colorex and tritium

I dont have a expensive plane YET ! but nevertheless i dont like the idea of loosing ANYTHING !! HA HA HA
 

Tritium

Amateur Extra Class K5TWM
Looks like I got back to the party late. Just to reinforce what has already been said. No problem, completely repairable in this case. ;)

Thurmond
 

KKArioKA

Epoxi Flyer
Got home and attacked the receivers, with the tips i got from you guys was easy to solder the wire ends.

receivers fixed.jpg

now i need to do some field test ....

again, thank you guys (lobstermash) for the tip on soldering the coaxial wire.
 
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