Parkzone F4U-1A Corsair

[ninjasword71]

Well sold my SC plus a DX5 controller. Instantly bought a PZ F4U-1A Corsair with a new DX6i. Maiden attempt was a learning curve to say the least. This machine looks nice and easy to assemble but NOT a 3 ch. My old SC took off, had fun and landed easy every time "almost". Took off, up about 5 ft and nose dived. Bent the plastic prop a little but little enough for vibration. Broke both the fancy wheel retract looking plastic things clean off. Well it won't fly until I get a new prop and till I get my new DX6i sorted out. The SC was sooo easy compared to this. I'm actually looking for a trainer on next flight. $450 later I could have changed the SC to ailerons, retracts, a 480 park, all electronics and flaps X2. Well now I gotta get this going properly. I'm not a novice and feel so frustrated. I did buy a nerd strap for the DX6i if that's any constellation. The 2200 lipo doesn't seem to fully charge in the car either. Sigh

[robert]

Ouch. I'm sorry that went that way for you. I was considering the same model... i think I'll hold off a few more months. keep posting your progress with that one and good luck.

[ninjasword71]

Well, replaced the prop and took it out again. This time was much better but only 5 min in, the motor was sputtering so I landed immediately. The dc charger that came with the kit never showed the battery as solid green even after a few hrs of charging. I brought the battery and charger back to the hobby shop to get them tested. They used a ac adapter to charge it up and claimed it needed balancing and was fully charged. I tried it out right away and seemed to work. Happy as a lark, I took it back to the proving grounds for another go. 40 sec in, the motor lost power again and there was no place to land without power and ate a tree. Now I am upset. $440 spent and a plane that already needs repair. Good thing it was mostly the wing that took the hit but still. I tested the esc and came back at 2 ohms then the battery itself and came back at 6 volts. I bought the ac adapter to ensure a quick proper charge but still didn't work. I think it's a bad battery. Let's see what Parkzone says. I quite frankly want a new plane for sure. I really enjoyed the 5 min I had with her. It felt worlds better than the SC in the air. Nice, heavy, solid, very responsive and fast. Today is calm and I can't fly.

[flydiver]

ESC are almost impossible to test without lab equipment and some specialized knowledge. The easiest/best test is to replace with a KNOWN good one. An ohm test is worthless.
A bad ESC won't hurt a motor.
A BAD MOTOR WITH A SHORT WILL BURN OUT AN ESC!
Make ANY motor+ESC test brief. A good motor+ESC should run properly and immediately. A stuttering/jerking motor generally indicates a bad connection, bad lead, bad solder joint and is a SHORT CONDITION! If you persist in making a SHORTED MOTOR try to run you burn up the ESC. Now you have 2 problems. As you would guess, now troubleshooting is 4x as hard.

I suspect in the crash you didn't cut the throttle immediately > a STOPPED MOTOR WITH THROTTLE ON IS ALSO A DEAD SHORT > that can fry the ESC quickly. This happens all the time to newbies in the panic of an incident. The Cub is particularly susceptible to this.
You may have a 'partial' fry, enough to get going but not sustain flight as the ESC warms up.
Try a new ESC....carefully.

That said a 3S battery should read 12.6v FRESH charge, and should NEVER get below 9.0v, preferably never below 10.0v. If that 6v reading was accurate that battery is garbage. Check it again, carefully. It should not be able to get THAT low in that short of time unless it has serious problems. Frankly, I suspect you are not checking it right.

Suggestion - It's more expensive but always have more than 1 plane in your hanger. Being 'plane-less' isn't painless.
The stock PZ chargers are pretty low rent. Consider getting a better one at some point. For now you NEED to VALIDATE yours is working right. An AC adapter won't make the charger work any better AS LONG AS IT'S FEEDING THE CHARGER ENOUGH AMPS. PZ chargers are notorious for not being able to balance well and taking forever to finish.

[ninjasword71]

Contacted Parkzone and they are sending out a new battery and wing. They were great to deal with. With many many painless and great landings with the SC, I know very well to cut power right away, even if it looks like a problem is imminent. The battery last tested on an AC charger was 8V. I really hope it was just a dud battery as I need to get back out ASAP.