Trevor Heley

AdrianSorry to hear of your crash. What does " another flyer had a similar problem earlier in the day" mean? Trevor

Dear all who posted. Just to let you know what has happened. After various discussions with Ripmax they agreed  to replace my Futaba 6EX-2.4 Tx and Rx. They provided an "uprated" model a  Futaba 7C-2.4. I received the replacement in December 2008. I have had limited flying since then. I hope the coming season will be trouble free?  

After some time Ripmax did respond and then were very helpful. They exchanged the 2nd Futaba 6Ex 2.4Ghz  for the next one up the the Futaba range. Trevor

Is it possible to win? hope so

Thanks for your responses. Eric - I have not had 2 duff Tx 's. The first one was returned due to the Futaba replacement policy due to the 2.4 GHz coding issue. All the problems have been with the second unit. I don't think charging of the Rx battery is a problem.  I have an onboard voltage monitor which gives "expected" results full perfect to poor as the battery discharges. I did a full range check without problem. On the second incident the plane was next to the TX? The aerial is set up as the Futaba instruction at 90 degrees and away from metal. Timbo - The Rx battery pack is the one that came with the Futaba package which included TX, Rx, servos and battery back in January this year. [9 months old?] Rob - I agree loss of signal should failsafe the throttle,  but why would the ailerons servo go full travel aswell? On the second incident why would the throttle and aiIerons servos be "locked up" where the rudder and elevator  servos operated as normal? I am using the full Futaba parts that came as a package. The Futaba S3003 servos are supported on the gummets. On the second incident the engine had not been started. I have suggested to the supplier that the Rx may be the problem and maybe it should be replaced? Ernie - I can never get through to the right people at Ripmax  and nobody rings back or answers my E-mails or letter. I suppose I have given up too quickly - I will ring them again in the morning.

About cross-posting. I tried the postings seperate. On this forum - what experiences have others had with Ripmax? On the radio forum - have anybody else had similar equipment problems? Sorry for any confusion. I will know better for future.

I am a little disapointed by Ripmax in their lack of resonse to phone calls, E-mails and letters. They have replaced my original Futaba 6Ex 2.4 Ghz Tx via the replacement programme. They have also supplied me with a another Tx replacement due to a operation problem. After the second replacement their responses have dried up!.  Anybody got any other positive or negative things to say about Ripmax?

As anybody had a similar problem? I had my original 6Ex 2.4 GHz Tx replaced by Ripmax in the replacement programme. I was flying on the 18th Sept. when the following happened. Through the previous night  I fully charged my Tx and Rx batteries. I was in my 3rd flight of the day [2 x 10 mins + 6 mins] when the engine cut out and the plane banked and crashed into the ground.. I have an onboard Rx voltage meter and prior to take off was in the 5good indicator position [positions are 1low, 2 low, low, 4good, 5good, 6perfect and 7perfect] - Major damage -wing replacement , fuselage and stabilizer repair. On 20th Sept. I was fyling again to test out after my repairs. Again I had fully charged my Tx and Rx batteries through the night before. I completed one flight - 10 minutes. On preparing for the second a worrying thing happened! On switching on the Rx both the throttle and aileron servos went fully anticlockwise. [both are set to normal {not reversed} on the Tx]. I experimented with switching on / off both the Tx&Rx. I also manually adjusted the position of all servos and on Rx switch on the rudder and elevator reset to neutral and the throttle and aileron servos went fully anticlockwise. I fly Mode 1. Movement of the left hand stick produced expected movement and the right had stick [throttle and aileron] no response. The on board voltage meter was reading 6perfect. I packed up and went home. At home I could not reproduce the condition. I checked over a 5 day period as I let the ran the batteries down without being able to reproduce the condition. Ripmax supplied with a second replacement Tx. I have only made 1 flight since then. On taking off to undertake a trimming flight prior to my A test  the plane  rolled and looped and destroyed itself. I am a "leaner" so this crash may have been my fault but I cannot rule out it may have been due to a Tx / Rx problem? I am worried about using the Tx / Rx again due to the ongoing crash costs and of course possible safety issues. I am disappointed with Ripmax non-response to E-mails, letter and phone calls but that is another matter.  Anybody had a similar problem? 

I have changed mine. The sping is a hard part. I found looping a piece of cotton around the outer spring end made things easy. Just pull on the cotton to release the spring end. On reconnection use the cotton again to pull the spring end over the pin.

Yes, yes & yes

Looks good awaiting flight info.

Im init to winit

Chris I have obtained a number of  ESC's which came with a EDF which I planned to use on a model. I was unsure they had BEC. Thanks for your note on how to check!  [ now it seems pretty obvious?]

Chris - thanks for your post. The servos are OK. I have had a number of flights since the crash after replacing the RX from another model and using another TX. I did not try a low power range check. I will rig up for a test but I am not optimistic. On the 2nd problem occasion the model and the TX were within 0.5m.

Eric Thanks for your post. Yes the  " Futaba 6EX 2.4GHz" transmitter has been exchanged. As I said, the second problem at the field but back at home, without touching anything, it had dissapeared? At home I was hoping to undertake a step by step investigation. What I can't understand, if it was a loose wire' or similar,  why did it affect 2 servos?On loss of power I would expect the throttle to go fail safe [anticlockwise] on the servo but why did the aileron servo go full anti-clockwise aswell?I have tried operating between the TX and RX as the RX battery has been running down - still operated as expected. I have sent a E-mail to Ripmax, giving all details, asking for their advice / action.  Will keep you posted.

The original article from Model Flight found by Kevin is not just about temperature. I have had a problem with my unit. I was flying on 18th Sept when the following happened. Through the previous night I had fully charged my RX & TX. I was in my 3rd fight of the day 2 x 10 mins + say 6 mins when the engine cut out and the plane banked and crashed into the ground. I have a onboard RX voltage meter and prior to take off was in the 5good indicator position [positions are 1Low, 2Low, 3Low, 4good, 5good, 6perfect & 7perfect]. Major damage - wing replacement, fuselage  and stabiliser repair. On 20th Sept I was flying again to test out after rebuild. Again I fully charged  the RX&TX through the night. I completed one flight - 10 minutes. On preparing for the second a worrying thing happened. On switching on the RX both the throttle and aileron servos went fully anticlockwise. [The are both set to normal {not reversed} on the TX]. I experimented with switching on/off both the RX&TX. I also manually adjusting the positions of all servos and on RX switch on the rudder and elevator reset to neutral position and the aileron and throttle went to the fully anti-clockwise position! The RX voltage meter was reading 6Perfect. Movement of the right hand stick produced no reaction whereas operating the left hand stick gave expected servo movements for both rudder and elevator. I packed up and went home. On testing at home I switched on the TX and then the RX - they worked correctly. I will let both batteries discharge some and try again! I think it is the same intermittent problem that occurred on both the 18th and the 20th. I fly Mode 1 so both the throttle and the ailerons are on the same stick - maybe there is a problem with the stick connections somehow?? My problems were not due to temperature. Anybody got any ideas?

I hope it is my turn to win????

Michael Its a few weeks since you last posted! Is the model complete? I have just started in the hobby - since Jan this year. Learning on an Arising star 4 stroke and a E-pioneer electric prop. Now looking for a project for the winter months. I fancy building from scratch a EDF jet. Where did you get your information / plans from to start your build? Any other info would be helpfull. regards