Smoked AR400???

[Vwheels65]

So I recently purchased a Bonsai from HK. The suggested motor was out of stock and because I live within driving distance to the USA warehouse, I wanted to get everything from there. I think I got a suitable set up;
TURNIGY Plush 12amp (2A BEC) BESC
C1826 Micro brushless Outrunner 2400kv
Turnigy nano-tech 460mah 2S 25~40C
5x3 props
Turnigy 1440A Servos
AR400 Spektrum Rx

So I initially bound the receiver to my DX7, no problem. Then once I programed the model, I rebound the AR400, then did a quick test with all the components to make sure they all worked. Once I installed all the hardware and charged the battery, I plugged everything and turned it on. The LED on the receiver was blinking slowly, the ESC did its little beeping on energizing, then it started to beep like there was an issue. I checked the throttle stick position (it was down), and I tried the pitch/roll stick and nothing moved. When I unplugged the battery I looked up what the beeping from the ESC meant and it was "throttle signal abnormal". So I checked all the connections and did not see anything wrong. When I plugged in the battery again I noticed that the LED on the RX started bright then dimmed (not good, right). so I unplugged everything and tried the setup in a cheap old receiver that I had and everything works.

So does this mean I just smoked my new AR400?? How could I have done that? I checked the voltage out of the BEC and it was right at 5v so I am confused.

Thanks for the help

J

 

[earthsciteach]

First, in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a Spektrum guy. But, I have never heard of an RX being fried. ESC or motor? Yep, been there and cooked more than one of each.
Forgive me if this is a silly question, but are all of the leads that are plugged into the rx oriented in the correct direction?

 

[Vwheels65]

I am fairly certain that they were all oriented correctly, but I am use to the futaba connectors that have the tab so there might be a chance that the ESC was reversed. I was careful to check that as I plugged everything in. After I unplugged everything to check the ESC on a different Rx, I put everything back in the AR400 making sure the leads were in the right way, but by that point, it was probably to late.

 

[xuzme720]

Reversing the leads won't fry the Rx. Since the signal wire and the power wire are on the outside of the plug, reversing the lead only gives you no power to the buss in the Rx. So if you had power at the Rx, you had it wired/plugged in right. It seems like Spektrum might have a bad batch of these. Wasn't there another thread with the same issue?

As for troubleshooting this one, I would use (if you have one) a standalone 5v source like a Nicad Rx pack or another ESC just to see if the Rx will power up. If it does, then you can start adding the servos. The bonsai only has 2 servo's so I doubt you were browning it out but isolating factors will help in troubleshooting.

 

[Vwheels65]

So the nice folks at my local Hobby Town USA were nice enough to exchange the AR400. But now I am nervous about connecting the esc to the Rx. I connected the battery to the esc and measured the voltages out of the 3 leads. Across the red/black I get 5v, black/white 3v, red/white 1.68v. Like I said, I am new to this so is this normal or could my ESC and the BEC be fouled up?

 

[Craftydan]

Vw,

the red is power (usually +5v) Black is ground (0v) and white is a pulsed signal line, but the pulses should originate from the RX, so it should either be close to ground or floating (randomly drifting in voltage).

3v seems high for an unconnected input, but that all depends on how the input electronics in the ESC are set up . . . it's probably OK . . .

Doesn't sound like you did anything to foul *any* of the electronics permanently, and nothing sounds undeniably broken, so I'd think it's pretty safe, but it's your call.

 

[Vwheels65]

Crafty,
I agree with you how it depends on how the ESC is set-up (pull-up or pull-down or something like that), but it is the "probably" part that has me worried. It got replaced once, I'm not sure the shop would replace it again. But, the wing will not fly without an Rx so I will pull the trigger and let ya know.

thanks all for the responses.

 

[Vwheels65]

welp, looks like I did it again. I tried the servos on a separate power supply and it was fine. When I plugged in the bec from the ESC, the servos worked fine. When I armed the motor and added a bit of throttle (with a prop) it died. So there must be something wrong with the ESC, but it is new so it came that way. I guess I get to learn a few things the hard way.

 

[xuzme720]

Do you have another ESC to compare voltages to? Don't check white to red or yellow to red if on a JR color wire. Those are both providing a voltage and shouldn't need to be connected for testing. It shouldn't hurt anything by doing that since a bind plug connects the two, but since that is on the Rx buss, it might not pertain to the ESC. I've never tested the signal wire voltage off the ESC, I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to check it before...

 

[Vwheels65]

unfortunately this is my only brushless ESC. this, I hope, is just some bad luck and I got a bum ESC, cause this is a terrible start into bigger planes. I am heading to the USA HK warehouse tomorrow to see what they say.

 

[Alex Stockl]

same thing

Hi there
I have had the same thing but the my AR400 works on other esc's so its not the rx but I have connected other receivers to the esc and it works so the esc is also fine!
I dont know what to do pls Help!!