Post by WearTheFoxHat on Oct 8, 2007 20:28:27 GMT 1
After charging my newly purchased lipo (4th flight), I decided to try a 20min flight last night in calm conditions. Everything started off well. The new power source gave me enough power to take-off and cruise comfortably at about 30% power. As I was cruising at about 100ft, I decided to ease the throttle to about 75% and climb a little higher, so I did this for about 5 seconds. As I was backing off to return to the 30% range, the cub went full throttle and I had no control over the speed! 
I still had rudder and elevator but no throttle. After multiple thought processes ran through my cranium, I realized that the ESC had gone berserk and that I'm pretty much in for a long full-throttle flight. After about 1-2 minutes of overhead aerial donuts the throttle went completely dead. I was able glide around and land smoothly. After taking the Cub to the "operating table" and removing the ESC/receiver, I discovered that a 3-pin piece on the circuit board became so hot it came off. It also melted into the base of the jumper wires and also melted the plastic base for the X-port. (see pics below) I'm not sure what caused this issue. I checked the lipo's voltage and it was OK, so maybe it was a freak thing.
Thankfully the bird was able be saved and my new $75.00 battery is still good-as-gold. And luckily I have new Futaba gear on the way, so I won't be grounded for long!
I still had rudder and elevator but no throttle. After multiple thought processes ran through my cranium, I realized that the ESC had gone berserk and that I'm pretty much in for a long full-throttle flight. After about 1-2 minutes of overhead aerial donuts the throttle went completely dead. I was able glide around and land smoothly. After taking the Cub to the "operating table" and removing the ESC/receiver, I discovered that a 3-pin piece on the circuit board became so hot it came off. It also melted into the base of the jumper wires and also melted the plastic base for the X-port. (see pics below) I'm not sure what caused this issue. I checked the lipo's voltage and it was OK, so maybe it was a freak thing.Thankfully the bird was able be saved and my new $75.00 battery is still good-as-gold. And luckily I have new Futaba gear on the way, so I won't be grounded for long!