FlySky FS-T6 connection issues

[kdobson83]

Hi guys, i need some help. I am fairly new to the hobby, flying my second plain, Ft Trainer. My first was the FT Flyer and i had no problems. Flew like a dream and got a lot of experience. My second plane, the FT trainer flew just fine too until here lately. I was flying in the park and my transmitter i'm assuming would just brown out for a couple seconds causing me to lose control of my plane. The motor was still working but it any input i gave it to steer wouldn't work for a couple seconds then it as quick as it happend control came back and if i was high enough i had control again. After a couple brown outs i ended up crashing it into my wife's car. Epic crash if only i had it on camera, shhh, don't tell her though, she still doesn't know. Repaired the damage and went to fly again today. Same issue... Would fly just fine for a minute or two and then it would lose connection again for a second or two, just enough to make me wonder. After crash number two i started to get irritated. So this is were i need the help of YOU! Does anyone else fly with FlySky FS-T6? If so, do you have the same issues? Keep in mind that to fix the problem i can not just go out and spend $200 on a nice dx6 or anything, tis why i am flying the cheap FlySky in the first place. OH, and I tried to maiden my 3rd plane, the FT F22 the other night as well. Its horribly under powered as it was using the same motor i had on my FT Flyer, the equivalent of FT's B pack so i didn't fly it but for maybe 30 seconds as i didn't want it to crash and burn. During that short flight i experienced the same issue. So that's two different planes with two different RX's.

Now, I have done a little research and found that the wifi on my phone in my pocket could be causing interference, every minute or so searching for a wifi signal causing my TX to lose connection with my plane. Before i fix my plane for the 2nd time and try again WITHOUT my phone, has anyone else experienced this? Could my stupid phone really cause THAT much interference? I also read that faulty ESC's or shotty bullet connectors could cause this issue too but i don't see this being the case as the interference only lasts 2-3 seconds and was almost like clock work.

Any help would be MUCH appreciated.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

Some thoughts...

1. Antenna placement. You should not point the end of the TX antenna at the model. It radiates from the side so should be perpendicular to the model. Vertical or horizontal is fine. Make sure you RX antenna is not shielded by the battery or a servo or other conductive material. If your RX has two antennas (don't think it does) they are usually arranged so they are at right angles to each other.

2. Range check. The old FlySkys don't really have a range check. On some there's a button but it doesn't seem to do anything. So...you need a helper to operate the TX from where you will stand while you walk the field with your model to see if it still responds. If you have poor range it can be due to a bad RX. The T6 RXs are quite cheap so getting a second to compare may be a good idea

3. The term "Brown out" refers to the RX temporarily not getting enough power. If your BEC is underrated for the number of servos you have the RX may not get enough power during some maneuvers and will reset or possibly go into fail safe or do something unpredictable. Most ESCs using for planes have a 2A BEC which is only really good enough to power for 2 or 3 servos. Servos draw a lot of power when they stall. This can happen if your control surface are too stiff or bind up when you flex the the wing or tailplane in a way it might get flexed in flight, it It is also possible you have a BEC that is not performing to spec. Again, they are quite cheap and they do burn out so having a second one is a good idea.

 

[kdobson83]

Some thoughts...

1. Antenna placement. You should not point the end of the TX antenna at the model. It radiates from the side so should be perpendicular to the model. Vertical or horizontal is fine. Make sure you RX antenna is not shielded by the battery or a servo or other conductive material. If your RX has two antennas (don't think it does) they are usually arranged so they are at right angles to each other.

2. Range check. The old FlySkys don't really have a range check. On some there's a button but it doesn't seem to do anything. So...you need a helper to operate the TX from where you will stand while you walk the field with your model to see if it still responds. If you have poor range it can be due to a bad RX. The T6 RXs are quite cheap so getting a second to compare may be a good idea

3. The term "Brown out" refers to the RX temporarily not getting enough power. If your BEC is underrated for the number of servos you have the RX may not get enough power during some maneuvers and will reset or possibly go into fail safe or do something unpredictable. Most ESCs using for planes have a 2A BEC which is only really good enough to power for 2 or 3 servos. Servos draw a lot of power when they stall. This can happen if your control surface are too stiff or bind up when you flex the the wing or tailplane in a way it might get flexed in flight, it It is also possible you have a BEC that is not performing to spec. Again, they are quite cheap and they do burn out so having a second one is a good idea.

Well thanks for all the info. I am running 4 servos on a FT trainer with a 3s battery and Im pretty sure is a 12amp esc from hobby King. Being the noob I am I never even knew about the external bec. How is that even set up? I never had these issues until I put the sport wing on the trainer, which has two more servos on it. Do they make esc's with good bec's on them or are most of them garbage? Guess I will have to do a little research into it. Maybe some testing, try the non sport wing and see if I still have the same issue. Was hoping for an easy fix like turning my phone off... Lol I guess putting on an external bec or getting a better esc isn't too bad.
Thanks again for the info

 

[pressalltheknobs]

Well thanks for all the info. I am running 4 servos on a FT trainer with a 3s battery and Im pretty sure is a 12amp esc from hobby King. Being the noob I am I never even knew about the external bec. How is that even set up? I never had these issues until I put the sport wing on the trainer, which has two more servos on it. Do they make esc's with good bec's on them or are most of them garbage? Guess I will have to do a little research into it. Maybe some testing, try the non sport wing and see if I still have the same issue. Was hoping for an easy fix like turning my phone off... Lol I guess putting on an external bec or getting a better esc isn't too bad.
Thanks again for the info

Definitely sounds like an overloaded BEC. Your 12Amp ESC probably had a 2 amp or less linear BEC. 9g servo like the HXT900 have been measured to draw up to 750 mA each peak. Typically they draw less but 4 of those could draw 3AMP under some circumstances.

Note also that the higher voltage you run the ESC the lower the amps a linear BEC can provide. So it may be able to provide 2 AMPS with a 2S battery but only 1.5 amps with a 3S. The problem is that linear BECs work essential by dissipating voltage as heat and the more the voltage drop the more heat it has to dissipate. At some point it can't and ceases to work correctly.

External BECs are quite cheap. They are generally the switching kind which average the voltage but switching on and off and chopping up the voltage so the average voltage is less. They can be a bit noisy electrically so often then have a iron ring (aka torrid) around the power line to filter out the spikes.

Here's a selection

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__767__766__SBEC_UBEC_Regulator-SBEC_UBEC.html

probably the U5PRO is the sort of thing you want. You need a 5v BEC that can supply 3Amps or more and it can supply 5A.

Don't take any notice of the names. BEC, UBEC, SBEC all really mean, or can just mean it's a BEC and don't really tell you anything. The main thing is whether it is a linear or switching voltage regulator. Switching is generally better for higher amp applications and can handle higher voltages more reliably. Linear are cheap and are best for low amp applications or where you need cleaner power.

As to how you wire it, generally you plug the input side into the main battery. You may need to make an adapter. Then you plug the regulated side into power connectors of your RX. Either the BAT or any spare channel will do. +ve is generally the line of center pins. You possibly could power the BEC from the battery balance leads but if its a 5A and you are drawing anywhere close it's better to tap the main leads. The balance connector wires are not designed to carry much current.

IMPORTANT: If your ESC has a BEC you should remove the center wire (red) from its "servo" connector so the ESC BEC does not fight with the External BEC. The ESC wil get its power from the main battery as before

Servos will get their power from the RX as before except now it is provided by the External 5v BEC.

Note: For high powered servos or more servos you may need wire to the servo power wires differently but that's more advanced stuff.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

I've had similar issues with my FS-T6. I'd notice occasional momentary loss of "receiver lock" where I'd lose control and/or the motor would momentarily throttle down. There was no noticeable pattern to these events -- they would happen a few minutes into the flight, towards the end, and in between. And my ESCs are usually rated more than needed. Fortunately, most of these events were when the aircraft was high enough that there was plenty of time for the signal lock to come back without any issues.

Where I really felt the impact (pun intended) is when I built a Flite Test Dragonfly 'copter. I set the board's failsafe to chop the throttle if signal was lost. I had many successful flights until (while cruising around the local park) until the 'copter went into failsafe and fell from the sky. It was no more than a hundred feet away (or so) and flying on a fresh battery (only a few minutes in the air).

This video shows the event from the on-board camera. I was standing next to the pickup truck you'll see in the video.

The resulting crash busted up the Dragonfly pretty well -- 3 of 5 booms and the landing legs had to be replaced.

After this, I immediately upgraded to a FrSky Taranis X9D plus and haven't had any similar issues -- even at far longer ranges than I've ever flown before.

IMHO, the FlySky is an OK entry-level radio, but I wouldn't use it for anything critical -- especially a 'copter where the failsafe is (and should be) set to chop the throttle.

As an aside, this also why I always get nervous when I see videos of 'copters flying over crowds.... Even the best pilots and equipment can experience a failure.

 

[kdobson83]

Definitely sounds like an overloaded BEC. Your 12Amp ESC probably had a 2 amp or less linear BEC. 9g servo like the HXT900 have been measured to draw up to 750 mA each peak. Typically they draw less but 4 of those could draw 3AMP under some circumstances.

Note also that the higher voltage you run the ESC the lower the amps a linear BEC can provide. So it may be able to provide 2 AMPS with a 2S battery but only 1.5 amps with a 3S. The problem is that linear BECs work essential by dissipating voltage as heat and the more the voltage drop the more heat it has to dissipate. At some point it can't and ceases to work correctly.

External BECs are quite cheap. They are generally the switching kind which average the voltage but switching on and off and chopping up the voltage so the average voltage is less. They can be a bit noisy electrically so often then have a iron ring (aka torrid) around the power line to filter out the spikes.

Here's a selection

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__767__766__SBEC_UBEC_Regulator-SBEC_UBEC.html

probably the U5PRO is the sort of thing you want. You need a 5v BEC that can supply 3Amps or more and it can supply 5A.

Don't take any notice of the names. BEC, UBEC, SBEC all really mean, or can just mean it's a BEC and don't really tell you anything. The main thing is whether it is a linear or switching voltage regulator. Switching is generally better for higher amp applications and can handle higher voltages more reliably. Linear are cheap and are best for low amp applications or where you need cleaner power.

As to how you wire it, generally you plug the input side into the main battery. You may need to make an adapter. Then you plug the regulated side into power connectors of your RX. Either the BAT or any spare channel will do. +ve is generally the line of center pins. You possibly could power the BEC from the battery balance leads but if its a 5A and you are drawing anywhere close it's better to tap the main leads. The balance connector wires are not designed to carry much current.

IMPORTANT: If your ESC has a BEC you should remove the center wire (red) from its "servo" connector so the ESC BEC does not fight with the External BEC. The ESC wil get its power from the main battery as before

Servos will get their power from the RX as before except now it is provided by the External 5v BEC.

Note: For high powered servos or more servos you may need wire to the servo power wires differently but that's more advanced stuff.

Thank you for all the info. Thanks to you, I did a little digging and found that my tiny 12a hobby King ESC has a tiny 1a BEC on it. So half what 99% of the others out there have... So, ordered the 20amp ESC from the FliteTest store. Hopefully in a few days when it gets here I'll be in the air again.
Thank you thank you thank you!