Orange R610 V2 Range problem

[CAtotheRescue]

Hey all,
I'm a stone-cold newbie when it comes to RC flying, but I just finished my FT Simple Cub from scratch and took it for my first ever flight today! Very exciting, and had a couple of decent flights (for a beginner), but on the last flight the motor throttled down and I lost all control (as in no stick movements affected the plane) and the Cub crashed. The Rx was flashing red to indicate that signal had been lost.

Broke a prop, and had to do some minor repairs but I've learned a valuable lesson: RANGE TEST BEFORE FLYING NEXT TIME.

I put my Spektrum DX4E transmitter in range-test mode and I could only get to about 10m (30ft) before losing signal. Thinking it might be shadowed by the motor/battery/servos of whatever, I popped the Rx out of the airframe to try again with the same results. I could even walk to the other end of a room in my house and turn my back to the Rx and lost signal!? I know range testing cuts the power, but this seems crazy low-range? I dug out a Spektrum AR4000 that I used in a RC yacht and that seems much better (havent done proper range-test with the AR4000 yet though) and it used to work with my yacht till I could hardly see it.

The Rx is this one BTW https://hobbyking.com/en_us/dsm2-6ch-with-case-and-ce-fcc-rcm.html

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on? I certainly don't feel confident flying with that receiver again.

Aside from that, by brief flights with the Simple cub were awesome! Even managed a reasonable landing (with a gentle nose-over)!

Cheers
-Tony

 

[Piotrsko]

Take a picture of your plane, and another of the wire routings, post them and a bunch of the others here can give suggestions unless it is the receiver. I'm an oldie that really doesn't play with the new stuff because I don't really like it.

 

[Merv]

In test mode you should be getting 100’ not 30’. In my experience, antennas are the most likely cause of range issues. Either they are not installed correctly in the plane or they are damaged.

One thing to know is, the active element. It is the exposed wire at the end. This what you care about, it should be fairly straight. It needs to be a specific length and away from anything metal, carbon fiber or electronic (ESC & battery). Those items will block the signal. If you have a 90 degree bend in the middle of your active element, you will drastically cut your range. The black part (in this picture), you don't care about, can be any length, tie it in a knot, hide it in carbon fiber. It's just the antenna lead.

If you fray the shielding (the lead) you will allow unwanted rf signal in, which will kill your range. The antenna must be repaired or replaced. To repair, just cut off the frayed coax and solder the remaining coax back onto the Rx board. If you manage to cut off a portion of the active element, just peal back more of the lead. Its best to cut off a bit more of the lead than necessary, then trim the active element to length. Like they are doing in this picture.

 

[Hai-Lee]

Your range test failure could have many different causes.
As the range test is a measure of the Transmitter radiated power, the atmospheric losses, and the received signal strength the fault could be either in the transmitter or in the receiver.

If you have another receiver does it range test ok?

You could have a transmitter antenna lead disconnect inside your transmitter, or, (based upon your photograph), a faulty receiver. The receiver antennas appear to be attached and undamaged so I would think you need to borrow another receiver to do a comparative range test with, If it fails the range test with a known good receiver then the transmitter will need to be repaired. If it passes a comparative range test then the receiver is faulty.

Have fun!

 

[CAtotheRescue]

Thanks everyone for the useful replies, lost of stuff here I didn't know about. I've included a photo of the layout with the 'swappable power pod' removed. I guess one of the antennae is bent, I'm assuming that they have to be at 90 degrees to each other? I have a Spektrum Rx that I can try, but haven't had chance to try yet. However it wont lose signal indoors like the Orange will.

I've read online that a small number of people have had similar problems with old Orange Receivers when used with certain Spektrum transmitters. The R610 V2 seems to get great reviews otherwise.

Weather is set to turn grim for the next week so wont be able to fly, but hopefully I'll get time to range test it tomorrow.

Cheers all!

 

[CAtotheRescue]

Managed a few flights last night with a Spektrum Receiver, which passed the range test to about 35m. The Orange receiver still only range tested to ~10m, but as I've found on line there does seem to be some 'incompatibility' issues with my mix of transmitter and receiver. Either way, thanks again for the info guys! I'm hooked on this hobby now!