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Post by cubster on Aug 21, 2011 16:19:36 GMT 1
And the part that has me scratching my head is It was almost exactly the same way both times. Multiple flights ( I do aerial photography with them )
Everything checks fine, take off nice climb, then nothing, no control hard bank left and nose dive straight into the ground from 100'+, probably closer to 150'.
The second time I picked the plane up, took the camera off and figured what the heck and launched her up again and no trouble, even finished the shoot and did 1 more.
I have a lot of Aerial shoots lined up so I bought a Multiplex Fun Cub in hopes its a better built plane and dual receivered. It should get me returned to position about 4 times faster aerobatically and the flaps should improve more pictures to choose from instead of burning up pictures trying to " get back"
I would still be using the Super Cub, but the same incident twice now has me worried Im going to bury the plane into a customers house or worse yet a child. The cameras at $300 are a concern as well. Anyone else have this trouble or did I buy the only 2 Super Cubs around that lose control and Bury without any control?
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mybad
Flight lieutenant
Posts: 45
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Post by mybad on Aug 21, 2011 18:05:45 GMT 1
I think we need a little more information.
Is this your first time flying the Super Cubs?
What receiver/transmitter are you using? There is a known "problem" with the radio that comes with the 27 mhz version of the Super Cub LP RTF. If you point the long antenna directly at the plane, you can lose radio contact with it.
Do you have ACT turned on? Many people call this Automatic Crash Technology.
If you're a pro at flying these and never had trouble before, perhaps you were victim to some local radio interference of some sort?
Hope you get it figured out.
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Post by cubster on Aug 21, 2011 19:35:04 GMT 1
I think we need a little more information. Is this your first time flying the Super Cubs? What receiver/transmitter are you using? There is a known "problem" with the radio that comes with the 27 mhz version of the Super Cub LP RTF. If you point the long antenna directly at the plane, you can lose radio contact with it. Do you have ACT turned on? Many people call this Automatic Crash Technology. If you're a pro at flying these and never had trouble before, perhaps you were victim to some local radio interference of some sort? Hope you get it figured out. Actually I just looked and the ACT was on and it is the $199 just heave it in the air RTR, the other one was the older model that was $159-$179 model? It makes sense it was the ACT because it did the same exact thing twice. It baffled me because it was such a super flyer for so many flights even after the crash I did 2 more Aerial shots right after |
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mybad
Flight lieutenant
Posts: 45
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Post by mybad on Aug 21, 2011 23:36:29 GMT 1
That ACT is more trouble than its worth.
The upper sensor looks for light, the lower sensor looks for dark.
Get light in the lower sensor (sunset, bank or climb, light ground, water, snow) or get dark in upper sensor (dark low cloud) and the plane thinks its in a dive or upside down! In fact, the instruction manual even states that the sensors can be fooled ESPECIALLY WHEN FLYING IN VERY BRIGHT SUNLIGHT!!!
So, it DISABLES input from your TX, idles down the engine and gives a little up-elevator. Again, it DISABLES input from your TX ... until you relax and release the right stick!
Also, it does state not to use ACT below 200 feet.
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Post by flydiver on Aug 22, 2011 0:00:42 GMT 1
Several points of interest.
1. That behavior is not ACT. ACT is garbage but it shouldn't do that. That was either a complete loss of signal, maybe shadowing the antenna on a 2.4 system which is a known problem.
2. You could have gotten the ESC hot and got a thermal shutdown. The ESC is the Achilles heel of the Cub system-it's kind of rotten.
3. Or you got a brown out, another weakness of the Spektrum system.
BEWARE_DANGER: Going to the Fun Cub with 6 channels is almost a guaranteed path to BROWN OUT and crashing that system. You need to put a aftermarket BEC in it.
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Post by cubster on Aug 22, 2011 2:15:10 GMT 1
Several points of interest. 1. That behavior is not ACT. ACT is garbage but it shouldn't do that. That was either a complete loss of signal, maybe shadowing the antenna on a 2.4 system which is a known problem. 2. You could have gotten the ESC hot and got a thermal shutdown. The ESC is the Achilles heel of the Cub system-it's kind of rotten. 3. Or you got a brown out, another weakness of the Spektrum system. BEWARE_DANGER: Going to the Fun Cub with 6 channels is almost a guaranteed path to BROWN OUT and crashing that system. You need to put a aftermarket BEC in it. Actually it makes perfect sense it was the ACT now that I recollect it was 7AM and the sun had just began to rise and we live where it really hilly and I was turning away from the sun slightly when it occurred. Basically it was shaded on top and bright underneath comparably and continued to be so throught the crash. My problem in not reading the instructions comes from all the effortless flights I've made with no issues with the older Cub thatI got complacent with the new one. A little electrical tape around the cowl and some CA glue on a float connection and she's back in business. Now you have me really nervous about my Fun Cub and its electronics, Im already battling the transmitter a little in trying to get 100% Flap off the gear stick because one servo will only travel 75% of the other one and I cant figure out why. I flew it today and it seemed legit enough but there were moments I was thinking " I didnt do that, why did that happen?" only to have what seemed like smooth control again for a minute. It was a little breezy but from what i've read the Fun Cub is stable in fairly substantial winds. Any links and suggestions on how to hookup or disable the BEC that Im using. I bought the suggested Motor and Speed controller that comes separately but suggested for the Fun Cub. I don't want to crash this plane and spend another 6 hours building a new one |
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Post by flydiver on Aug 22, 2011 2:26:39 GMT 1
Why do you need flaps, other than it's 'cool' to have? For that plane it's mostly a redundancy and extra complication.
The BEC portion provides your power for servos. Most 'average' BEC will handle 3, max 4 servos. That's what the Castle is good for. It has a 3A linear BEC.
Some with 3A switchmode BEC can handle 6 'decent' servos but not cheap HXT 900's.
So a LOT of it depends SPECIALLY WHAT you are using.
The devil is in the details in electronics. You don't know what you are doing > it WILL bite you eventually.
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Post by cubster on Aug 22, 2011 3:52:40 GMT 1
Why do you need flaps, other than it's 'cool' to have? For that plane it's mostly a redundancy and extra complication. The BEC portion provides your power for servos. Most 'average' BEC will handle 3, max 4 servos. That's what the Castle is good for. It has a 3A linear BEC. Some with 3A switchmode BEC can handle 6 'decent' servos but not cheap HXT 900's. So a LOT of it depends SPECIALLY WHAT you are using. The devil is in the details in electronics. You don't know what you are doing > it WILL bite you eventually. Well considering what I use this for, Im never sure what to expect for a runway, most of the time there is no runway or anything but Farm fields ( for some reason I get a lot of calls to go photograph peoples fields and vineyards. So while the Flaps may look cool, I dont notice, what I do notice is it takes off in about 1.5' with full flaps as compared to about 20' without. When you're toting around a $300 camera on a $300 plane, flaps are like a brake that works extremely well in landing in tight areas. Its not even close in respects to take-off, landing and slowing the plane to get the majority of the pictures I need if Im in a wind of any kind. Infact, the Flaps and landing gear was the primary thing this plane had to offer while searching feverously on the ole interwebs reading and watching videos of the performance this plane offered and mostly at full flaps. If I was flying/shooting in areas with runways minus telephone poles, 150' Fir trees, mountains and all the other obstacles I have to deal with I probably wouldn't care about the flaps. This plane is 2 different planes with and without flaps, with them I can land slower than a SuperCub. |
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Post by flydiver on Aug 22, 2011 4:05:11 GMT 1
OK, completely satisfactory answer. I have limited personal experience with flaps. I have flown a Fun Cub and it took off so well and landed so easily I couldn't see where flaps could be necessary. I tend to simplify rather than complicate my setups.
You might want to take a look at the other issues I brought up though. Those, I do have some knowledge. If you have decent servos you should be good. You seem to be putting good equipment in if you are willing to buy the recommend ($$) power pack.
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Post by cubster on Aug 22, 2011 4:40:42 GMT 1
OK, completely satisfactory answer. I have limited personal experience with flaps. I have flown a Fun Cub and it took off so well and landed so easily I couldn't see where flaps could be necessary. I tend to simplify rather than complicate my setups. You might want to take a look at the other issues I brought up though. Those, I do have some knowledge. If you have decent servos you should be good. You seem to be putting good equipment in if you are willing to buy the recommend ($$) power pack. Im actually really concerned about the Spektrum 6xi, Im now reading post after post about them being junk and its not a question of if a plane is going to crash, but when, when using the 6xi. I was told this was the best and was obviously mislead by the RC shop. Im hoping they take it back but then I don't know whats the best at this point. It seems every time I buy something its the greatest thing ever until I get it home and have an issue then start searching that issue on google to find 3 million horror stories. Yeah the flaps on this thing seems like someone grabbed the plane and holds it perfectly level to the point the ailerons don't even knock it out. Its just that huge on my build but I only have a battery through it and the flaps made for a lot less heart racing on the maiden voyage |
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Post by flydiver on Aug 22, 2011 5:17:37 GMT 1
I don't have one (I'm still good old 72MHz) but a mess of my buddies do. There have been a few problems but considering the hoards of them sold I don't think they are junk. Horizon has been good about dealing with all the problems. That makes some folks quite satisfied and others that just got a 'new and best' pretty annoyed when their new toy is recalled and out of commission for weeks.
It works fine, but you did not buy top of the line. The DX6i is kind of like the bottom end of the next big step up. It is a BASIC, 6-channel computer TX. Most people will be completely satisfied with it. If you have more advanced needs or soon own a bunch of planes you will soon become frustrated with it. It won't do tricky stuff witouth some mind-boggling mixing beyond most people. Never any trouble selling one though. There is a HUGE demand.
The problems with SPEKTRUM (RX shadowing and brown out primarily) are well know and can be dealt with but you have to learn about the issues and the fixes. Unfortunately most people learn these things the hard way. Most new fliers learn everything the hard way.
Folks that buy into Spektrum thinking that will fix ALL their Cub (name the plane) problems and then cheapening out on everything else and not doing their homework can get unpleasant surprises.
Cautionary note - unless you have a good LHS, and there are some good ones, don't necessarily expect the info you get there to be terribly useful. Verify everything until your sources are proven to be correct. Of 4 in my area, 1 is quite good (long drive though), 1 OK, 1 poor, and the reports for the last are so lousy I haven't even gone there.
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Post by cubster on Aug 23, 2011 2:37:38 GMT 1
Well I probably fixed some issues by getting a stand alone receiver battery, cutting my red lead from the speed controller and swapping my servo on the flaps around and adding a Y harness to free up another servo spot and be able to mix in elevator with my flaps
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