Radian Glider crash

Ilyushin76

I was out flying the my radian glider this morning and after about 10 mins it stopped responding to my inputs :eek: and crashed about 60 metres away.When I found it the motor was turning and it was in pieces.I brought it home and checked the electronics and found everything working except the motor which was still turning before I plugged out the battery.
Does anybody know what could have caused it to stop responding to my transmitter and crash?

civdef

What sort of radio system are you using?

Ilyushin76

civdef wrote: »

What sort of radio system are you using?

Hi,I am using an spektrum ar500 receiver and a spektrum dx6i transmitter.I have being flying the radian nearly a year and this is the first time I lost a signal with it.

Kashkai

Gutted for you Eoghan.

There are a couple of things to check here:

1. Did you notice if the receiver still had a solid orange light on it to show that there was no loss of signal? A flashing light indicates signal loss.

2. Has the plane had another earlier crash? The receiver might have been damaged? The small circuits inside have little solder joints and a slight crack in one badly soldered joint would disrupt the correct control inputs.

3. The esc might be faulty.

4. Did you make any changes to the DX6i's programming lately? You might have trimmed the throttle too high which is why it was still running.

5. Outside interference by electricty wires/mobile phones masts.

6. When you originally bound the Rad to your tx, what "failsafe position" did you programme for the throttle? If there was a loss of signal, the standard failsafe settings are neutral rudder/elevator/ailerons and zero throttle. You might have bound the Rad to your transmitter with the throttle/throttle trim too high which is why the motor was still running when you found her (and if there was a loss of signal - see 1 above).

Process of elimination might resolve this for you but just as likely, you'll never know why. Goes with the hobby I'm afraid as we've all had unexplained crashes.

Glue her back together with some epoxy or gorilla glue. Then see if you can bind her to the tx (throttle at zero and control surfaces at neutral). Then try some full motor runs for a few minutes (to see if the esc overheats and "brown outs"). Put the plane on the ground and do a long range check, at least 30 paces but go as far as you can before she stops responding. If all ok, get her back in the air to get your confidence back. Best of luck.

David

Ilyushin76

Thanks for the very informative post David .

I think the light was flashing when I found it but I am not 100 % sure .I crashed the plane when I tried to fly it when I first bought it (pics) but that was last year and have being flying since without any major crashes.

I got the motor going and and done a range check today and all the electronics are going perfectly.I hadn't done any changes to the settings on the dx6i prior to flying and was flying Friday without any trouble albeit in a different location.

I was looking on different rc forums and seen people talk about interference from electricity lines mentioned as-well and there was a few around where I lost control of it so that might have being to cause and I was flying quiet low near them.All controls where in there neutral positions when I binded it but the the motor was still turning when I found it.I will test out the esc and see how it goes.

Unfortunately they electronic parts where all I could salvage from the plane with one wing snapped and the tail section ripped off and fuselage broke in numerous places.I ordered a pnp version online but I am not sure if I should use the ar500 again in it or get another one ?Do you fly yours much ?

ps the Trojan is still patrolling the skies

civdef

On the plane itself, it's amazing what can be repaired with hotglue or gorilla glue and some boiling water to straighten out squished foam. I completely trashed my first foam plane, a piper cub, had it flying a few weeks later with the above methods.

Kashkai

civdef wrote: »

On the plane itself, it's amazing what can be repaired with hotglue or gorilla glue and some boiling water to straighten out squished foam. I completely trashed my first foam plane, a piper cub, had it flying a few weeks later with the above methods.

Agree completely with this advice. I crashed my Radian two years ago and it was a bad crash, full throttle into the ground. Silly noob mistake trying to do a loop too low. However I put the mashed up bits of broken foam in boiling water and they straightened themselves out. I glued them back together again using long cocktail sticks through the foam as reinforcement. Worked a treat.

As fir the ar500, I had one of them in my Rad initially but I lost control of her at one point and she flew away on me but I found her after some searching. Now I can't say for sure whether it was a tx or rx fault but I put an AR6200 rx in her then and had no further issues.

Glad to hear the Trojan is still zipping about. I bought a micro Sukhoi XP aerobatic plane and it's a blast to fly.

Ilyushin76

Thanks for the advice.I started putting it back together today and its coming out alright.If it flies ok I will get a few sets of lights for it and fly it at night.

Ilyushin76

I was looking on hobbyking for a receiver for it and found these does anybody use these and are they any good ?

Kashkai

Hi

I use one of those type of rxs in half of my planes, although I use the the cheaper 6 channel one here:
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__11965__OrangeRx_R610_Spektrum_DSM2_6Ch_2_4Ghz_Receiver_w_Sat_Port_.html
but I always use the satellite rx with it as well here:
http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__13418__OrangeRx_R100_Satellite_Receiver.html

This gives a dual path rx which is similar to what Spektrum use in their high end rxs.

To sum up, these "Orange" rxs as they're commonly known work well and you won't have any issues with them, at least no more issues than you'd have with a spektrum rx (and I have had issues with them, i.e. the ar500 with planes going out of control). Plus they are a fraction of the price of spektrum rxs. Buy a few to make it worthwhile but get the satellite rxs as well.

Ilyushin76

Thanks David,the satellite rx is back ordered, anywhere else I could get one?
Would it be ok to use them on there own till I get the satellite rx ?I am getting a few sets of lights for the radian tonight on hobbyking so will get them aswell .Did you ever fly the radian at night or put lights on any of your models ?

Bruthal

I was going to put one of them hobbyking receivers in the FPV radian, not controlling anything, but in view of the flight camera, to test how good they are, bound to the same flight Tx probably.

I used one of them receivers in the childs ride-on-tractor project i did a year and half ago. Worked perfect in that.

The ar7000 i have had control at 4.5km in a test before. The ar500 would not be anywhere near as good. It would still be receiving a signal the same as the ar7000, but would have far too many dropouts much nearer.

Never had a problem with an ar500 myself in normal flying so far though.

I wouldnt use the ar500 in the nitro mustang i have though.

Ilyushin76

Thats a fair distance,was it straight up or where you flying it away from you?I never at a problem before my crash with it either so I hope it was interference that caused it to crash and not a failure of the receiver as I put in my new radian.Have you done any more night flights with the radian?

Bruthal

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

Thats a fair distance,was it straight up or where you flying it away from you?I never at a problem before my crash with it either so I hope it was interference that caused it to crash and not a failure of the receiver as I put in my new radian.Have you done any more night flights with the radian?

It was 4.5km distance in a flight. I think i have one out to 3.1km in a youtube video.

No more night flights done since. Id need more lights for complete darkness.

Did you get a receiver operated switch? You could just wire the led`s to a manual on/off swtch, so they are on all the time in flight for flying in the dark. Very handy to be able to switch on and off with the radio though.

Ilyushin76

No going to order one tonight.I am going to get this one and a white,red and blue led strip and maybe a strobe for the tail.I was looking at this video on youtube on how to connect the leds to the switch and was wondering what leads he uses(about 3.40 mark in video)to connect the leds to the switch, do you have any idea ? Do you use the hobbyking leds on your plane ?

Bruthal

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

No going to order one tonight.I am going to get this one and a white,red and blue led strip and maybe a strobe for the tail.I was looking at this video on youtube on how to connect the leds to the switch and was wondering what leads he uses(about 3.40 mark in video)to connect the leds to the switch, do you have any idea ? Do you use the hobbyking leds on your plane ?

I make up most of my own leads. I often had to solder up leads while out in the middle of nowhere, flying when doing video stuff.

That receiver operated switch comes with the plug in 2 wire leads. A 3 wire servo lead would also do, just using 2 of the wires. You will likely have to solder these to the led strips yourself. Solder and heat shrink is what i do for such situations.

Bruthal

Ilyushin76 wrote: »

Do you use the hobbyking leds on your plane ?

Just noticed this says LEDs:D, i was replying on last post like it said leads.

I only have a single set of strip led`s. Another fella gave them to me to try out.