Ok... What happened?

Matthew Sanders

Elite member
I got the Spitfire Speed build kit yesterday. I built it yesterday. Today I installed the electronics. I decided to do a motor run up test, basically I hold my plane down while I go full throttle and see how long the battery lasts. I was 1 minute 45 seconds into the test (with the battery I have, I only expect 3) when it just died. Everything. No magic smoke. Nothing. Pulled my power pod out. ESC was warm. Same with the motor and battery. I go put my battery on the charger, and guess what? Half charge. Huh, weird! Wait there's more. I take my little 30 dollar Spektrum reciever out. For some reason, ithad trouble binding this morning. Like when I push the bind button, the light doesn't flash. I tried it again. Nothing. So I put in my Flysky reciever. Do a full up test. It went the full 3:30. No problem. So did I break my new Spektrum reciever or did it bind wrong, or did my ESC overheat and shut down, putting everything in failsafe? I'm not planning to maiden soon so there's no rush. I'd just like to know the plane works. Thanks!
 

Captain Jay

Elite member
I got the Spitfire Speed build kit yesterday. I built it yesterday. Today I installed the electronics. I decided to do a motor run up test, basically I hold my plane down while I go full throttle and see how long the battery lasts. I was 1 minute 45 seconds into the test (with the battery I have, I only expect 3) when it just died. Everything. No magic smoke. Nothing. Pulled my power pod out. ESC was warm. Same with the motor and battery. I go put my battery on the charger, and guess what? Half charge. Huh, weird! Wait there's more. I take my little 30 dollar Spektrum reciever out. For some reason, ithad trouble binding this morning. Like when I push the bind button, the light doesn't flash. I tried it again. Nothing. So I put in my Flysky reciever. Do a full up test. It went the full 3:30. No problem. So did I break my new Spektrum reciever or did it bind wrong, or did my ESC overheat and shut down, putting everything in failsafe? I'm not planning to maiden soon so there's no rush. I'd just like to know the plane works. Thanks!
It's possible you have an issue with the spectrum receiver. A guy at my club had a issue with his spectrum receiver and crashed his plane. Sent the receiver to spectrum for them to test it out and it had an issue. They sent him a new one free if charge. How old is it? And would you want to send it to them for testing. I'm just guessing here....
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
I’d recommend sending the new Spektrum receiver to them. They have pretty good customer service, so they should be able to make it right with you. Enjoy your spitfire - it’s one of my favorite planes!
 

Captain Jay

Elite member
ESCs shut down when a lipo cell hits <> 3.2V. Lipos should NEVER be discharged to half charge. It ruins them and turns them into a fire hazard.

When you say, 'half charge' what do you mean exactly?

https://www.cnydrones.org/lipo-batteries-and-safety-for-beginners/
That is a good point... with what I know, the top charge is 4.20V and the lowest you should run to is 3.75V. Storage state is 3.80 V. You should always set your batteries to storage state when not using them. Also store them in a staff bag.
Cheers
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
That is a good point... with what I know, the top charge is 4.20V and the lowest you should run to is 3.75V. Storage state is 3.80 V. You should always set your batteries to storage state when not using them. Also store them in a staff bag.
Cheers

All of this depends on the cell count. At this point I have no idea how many cells OP is running. :)

My real concern right now, if the lipo was truly at half charge, you may have a fire hazard in your home that needs to be dealt with. IMO that is step one. Nothing else is gonna matter if you have a lipo fire in your home.

Fires are rare and I do not wish to be alarmist. But the danger is real and that comment 'half charge' indicates a potential for a hazardous situation and I have no idea how much experience OP has with lipos.

I suggest that first we deal with safety. Then we test the spektrum rx with a confirmed, fully charged lipo.
 
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Matthew Sanders

Elite member
Yeah, I was being unsafe. It's a 3s 850 mah (wrong battery for the Spitfire to begin with) and half charge meant my lipo charger has different light signals. Solid Green- fully charged. Blinking green- 75-99 percent charge. Blinking yellow- 74-50 %. NOTE: When I checked the battery in the charger it was here. Blinking Red- 49-25% I have never seen that! Solid Red: 24-0! Fire Hazard! I should probably get a voltage checker. I charged it to around storage state, and I have a metal trash can as my "battery bunker" when they're charging and not in use. No fire happened! Yeah, I'll probably send the reciever back unless anyone here knows what is wrong
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
3s 850 will work fine.

Did you use two different lipos to test two different receivers?

If so, fully charge a lipo, and test the Spektrum receiver. :)
 

Merv

Site Moderator
Staff member
How old was the battery?
After batteries get some age on them, 3 years or so, they lose capacity. I think more accurately they lose their C rating. My older batteries will preform adequately in a low draw application. Put them under a high draw and they will go flat far too soon. Give them a few minutes to rest and check the voltage, they will have plenty of voltage. Older batteries just can't supply the amps they once could. I think they call this voltage sag.
 

Matthew Sanders

Elite member
I got this battery in March, I must say the DIY plane I bought it for didn't do so hot. I mean it crashed. Like 15 times. On takeoff. Yeah, it's been jostled around a bit. I only used this battery. I charged it up and tested it again with my flysky FS-i6 Tx/ RX. It worked for the predicted 3 minutes. At 60% throttle I got 3 minutes of simulated Flite time as this was a static test and discharged to where my charger light was blinking yellow
 

Captain Jay

Elite member
Yeah, I was being unsafe. It's a 3s 850 mah (wrong battery for the Spitfire to begin with) and half charge meant my lipo charger has different light signals. Solid Green- fully charged. Blinking green- 75-99 percent charge. Blinking yellow- 74-50 %. NOTE: When I checked the battery in the charger it was here. Blinking Red- 49-25% I have never seen that! Solid Red: 24-0! Fire Hazard! I should probably get a voltage checker. I charged it to around storage state, and I have a metal trash can as my "battery bunker" when they're charging and not in use. No fire happened! Yeah, I'll probably send the reciever back unless anyone here knows what is wrong
Glad you figured out what you were doing. I use a kind of expensive charging unit and it tells me everything. A "Venom Duo Charge" it was around 200 bucks. The investment is worth it. It's important to know what the batteries needs are and how to safety store them...
Cheers
 

Matthew Sanders

Elite member
Thanks for everything guys! Now back to the issue with the reciever. I've got a good li-po battery, so why is the reciever being such a pain? It bound to my DX-6e Tx, but stopped functioning in the middle of my throttle test. I guess my speculation got people a little worried, and myself too when I learned ESCs only go if a battery is doing bad stuff. That was only speculation. It seems everything went into failsafe, because whenever I do a throttle test, I wiggle the controls around to simulate actual flight, and I believe I was in the middle of a simulated roll when everything went quiet. My servos went to neutral. My motor stopped. I've never had experience with my plane going into failsafe so I'm just guessing. Thanks for all the help and in advance for any help you can give based on my description.
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
At this point, I am reading that you have re-tested the Spektrum receiver with a full lipo and the entire kit and kaboodle shut down, mid test.

Is that correct?

If so, after the shutdown, how many volts are still left in the lipo? If you are under <> 9.7V in a 3S lipo, I would expect the ESC to shut down to prevent damage to the battery.

If you are still above 10V after the test, the receiver is the next best bet.

What is the C rating on your lipo?

@Captain Jay makes a great point. Your radio and charger impact every model you own. You want a good balance charger. It really does make a difference.
 

Matthew Sanders

Elite member
At this point, I am reading that you have re-tested the Spektrum receiver with a full lipo and the entire kit and kaboodle shut down, mid test.

Is that correct?

If so, after the shutdown, how many volts are still left in the lipo? If you are under <> 9.7V in a 3S lipo, I would expect the ESC to shut down to prevent damage to the battery.

If you are still above 10V after the test, the receiver is the next best bet.

What is the C rating on your lipo?

@Captain Jay makes a great point. Your radio and charger impact every model you own. You want a good balance charger. It really does make a difference.

No, that was yesterdays test. It was the same one that I spoke about on the first post in this thread. Since then, I have not been able to get the spektrum RX to light up orange. I need to get a voltage checker, I have an Electron $30 Li-po charger. That uses the light system I talked about up-thread. It was in the yellow meaning I'm pretty sure I used just over 50% I would guess about 60-70%. I did a very similar test an hour later- only difference was a Flysky RX vs the new spektrum RX, which had trouble binding to my TX. It worked perfectly! It worked the whole 3 minutes with no problem. That's why I think its a Reciever issue and not a battery issue, though I need to be more cautious in the future.
 
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Matthew Sanders

Elite member
I think I solved the problem. Included with my order was the FT mini mustang. The reason I've wanted this cheap Spektrum reciever was because I wanted a cheap reciever that I could leave in a swappable plane (such as the Spitfire) and not need to use it for another project. My mini mustang is still in its unbuilt stage, but I tested the new reciever with the smaller Emax 1806 (I got one of the last A twin packs that had these, not the more expensive Radial) and it worked. I tested it, and it works fine. So, I guess I'll use the FlySky for the spitfire and I'll use the Spektrum for the mini mustang, and I'll be good!