DX8 owners thread...

[Steve Colman]

Do I have a problem with my DX8?

A brief history: Bought my DX8 a few months ago as an upgrade to a DX6i which had served me well for the last few years without a single problem.

Now, I have programmed all of my models into the DX8 and spent many hours setting them all up as beforehand. I also added one new model to the DX8.

I have now flown just about all the models and fine tuned them. Subsequently I've flown my favourites many times without problems, so far so good.

Until...........Maiden flight of new model, fitted with a new Spektum AR610 full range RX.

I did make things difficult for myself by having the CG too far aft but managed to get things under control and decided to land to reset the CG. Whilst lining up to come in the model flips onto its back on its own accord and does the death spiral into terra firma. Whilst this was happening I had no control of servos or motor....nada. Model a total write off along with lipo, motor + two servos. Post crash investigation leads to suspicion of Rx having a range problem.

In the meantime I continue to fly some of my other models with no problems.

Then, a few weeks ago I took out my beloved little Graupner UHU for a little relaxation. It has been fitted with an Orange Spektrum compatible Rx from the outset and has always behaved impeccably. First flight with DX8 resulted in loss of control almost immediately after launch and a crash landing. Model is damaged but repairable although I'm really miffed because the model is/was in perfect condition after many flights. Still not sure what the problem was although I put it down to my own stupidity.

In the meantime I continue to fly some of my other models with no problems.

Yesterday, a beautiful morning that was just perfect for a shake down flight of my little Dynam Spitfire. I meet up with a friend at the club and after a few ground handling checks the little Spit takes to the sky and boy does she look good and seems to fly much better than I remembered from before. The enjoyment of the flight was followed by one of the best landings I've done with any model in a while. Well, I was in heaven.

A while later and the Spit is off again, I'm having a ball and in what seems to be only a very short flight the Tx timer sounds. So gear down and a fly by confirms all is well so I go around and begin to make my final approach. Then, all of a sudden, I have no control of the aircraft and I watch with dread as my lovely little Spitfire crash lands about 100m out. Damage is not too serious luckily, the retracts still work as do the servos. ESC is fine, motor is good thanks to a nice soft, bendy prop adapter. Air-frame damage is minor and easily fixed.

My apologies for the somewhat long winded post but this is begining to bug me now.

I always take the upmost care when setting up my models and take some pride in trying to achieve a neat, well thought out and secure installation of all the components. As such I think I've benefited in that, in the last three to four years that I've got back into this hobby crashes have been very rare.

Now, in the last couple of months, I've had three unexplained instances of loss of control of three different aircraft resulting in crashes. Of the three models, two were fitted with original Spektrum RX's and the other with an Orange Rx, the common denominator being the DX8.

I'm at the point now where I'm very reluctant to fly any of my models using the DX8.

Do I return it under warranty to have it looked over/fixed or replaced?

Steve.

 

 

 

Edited By Steve Colman on 13/08/2014 22:30:27

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

I'd be sending it back Steve, if only for your peace of mind.

Phone them at HorizonhobbyUK and they will very likely do everything required for no cost to you except the postage to them.

They usually turn them around very quickly indeed too.

[Handyman]

Hi Steve. So sorry to hear about your series of mishaps. I had a similiar experience with my trusty DX7 some time ago, when I had a model go in for no apparent reason and then my other model using the same DX7 proceeded to fly away downwind, not responding to my control inputs for a good 30 secs. Was I sweating, you bet I was, but suddenly I regained control.

I immediately brought my plane back over the strip and dumped it into the long grass and stopped flying.

I sent it back to Horizon Hobby, who give an excellent after sales service, and in most cases do not charge if the gear is found to be faulty.

Send it back to them and let them check it out. I can recommend their service.

[Steve Colman]

I'm in the unfortunate process of preparing my DX8 to be sent to Horizon Hobby UK for service/repair.

I have a question.

Would it be prudent to jot down my model settings for each model? I'm assuming that the inspection/repair may result in the model memory being erased. It will be a pain with 15+ models in the memory but having spent ages setting up some models I'd rather have a back up plan just in case.

Steve.

Edited By Steve Colman on 19/09/2014 14:20:12

[Pete B]

No problem with that, Steve. Just go into the settings menu and select 'Export all models' or similar. That will put them on the SD card and you can copy them off to your PC.

Unless the problem is with the SD card, you don't need to send that off anyway​​.

Pete

[Steve Colman]

Brilliant Pete!

Thanks very much.

Steve.

[Masher]

Pete is correct, however, mine has just been back and HH did not reset anything. In fact they used the model settings to check my failsafe etc.

I had an incident which felt like a radio problem so I phoned HH and then sent it off. They were extremely efficient and checked my radio out (Tx & Rx). Although there was NFF (no fault found), they decided to replace my AR610 Rx anyway to provide peace of mind. They returned my kit very quickly and there was no charge. I have used the Tx since with confidence.

Spektrum haters will say "why replace a rx when it ain't broke,......." but as far as I am concerned, they listened to me, acted promptly and gave me peace of mind at zero cost. Result!

[Steve Colman]

Thanks Masher. I've saved the settings as Pete said and all is well.

I've had good dealings with HH in the past with a minor DX6i problem.

This time it's more serious having to send the Tx from Spain which will cost me dear. I'm hoping they will reimburse at least part of the postage cost otherwise I'm paying over the odds for a product that's still under warranty.

In the meantime I can get by with flying some of my models using the DX6i.

[Masher]

Steve - Hopefully HH will look after you. I had to fall back to my DX6i for a few days and it was amazing how 'odd' it felt. I've fiddled with the stick lengths and tensions on my DX8 and the DX6 now feels surprisingly alien - enough to unnerve me when flying.

[Steve Colman]

After what seems like an age I finally have my DX8 back in my mits.

Now, just as Masher recounts above, the DX6i has felt somewhat alien to me too and I am looking forward to the much better feel of the DX8 once more.

Firstly, I must say that I've had excellent contact via email with Glenn Donan of HH in Harlow UK throughout the process. However, I'm not overly happy with the final outcome.

Apparently, after soak testing the Tx for several days no fault was apparent with either the RF board, gimbals or any other aspect of the TX. However, for my peace of mind, they have replaced the RF board. So, in many ways great, but now I have to figure out what caused several models to crash among other things before I can have full confidence in it.

But, what really narks me is that I have paid an additional 40 euros in postage costs over and above the original purchase price for a product that's still under warranty. I have not been reimbursed this and haven't been offered anything else by HH in order to try and keep me a happy customer.

Rant over.

Steve.

[Steve Porter 1]

Evening all, I have a question regarding an early DX8 (2011 to be precise) i am trying to download the sailplane update but it says that i need to contact Horizon hobbies ? has anyone found this problem?

Sorry if this has been covered in another thread.

Steve

[john kennedy 4]

Hello. I see that spektrum gear is the most popular radio in the recent poll.

I bought my dx8 in about 2011 and is dsm2. Soon after dsmx came out.

Just wondering how many still use dsm2 ?

I have had odd glitches,including one resulting in a total write off. I don't know for sure what caused the write off

but I never feel at ease using the set.

Can it be converted? Will I be able to sleep at night if I do? Should I go Taranis?

Would like to hear from others with similar concerns .. John

[Baz Lewis]

The small Dsmx board in the back of the latest ones can be swapped over to the old ones I believe...I think Horizon Hobby were charging around the £60 for the upgrade..

[john kennedy 4]

Thanks Baz, Will enquire with Horizon. Suppose they will tell me my rxs will be no good then?

Starts to add up to a new set perhaps.

John

[Eric Strefford]

Posted by john kennedy 4 on 27/02/2017 16:29:06:

Hello. I see that spektrum gear is the most popular radio in the recent poll.

I bought my dx8 in about 2011 and is dsm2. Soon after dsmx came out.

Just wondering how many still use dsm2 ?

I have had odd glitches,including one resulting in a total write off. I don't know for sure what caused the write off

but I never feel at ease using the set.

Can it be converted? Will I be able to sleep at night if I do? Should I go Taranis?

Would like to hear from others with similar concerns .. John

John

I bought a DX8 when they first came out and as yours it was DSM2 only, however a few months later when updating the Airware all DX8 transmitters were capable of operating on both DSM2 and DSMX.

If you registered your transmitter and have kept the Airware up to date you should be ok.

The later DX8 version 2 which has the same Airware as the DX9 and DX18 and all the latest transmitters is DXMX only due to the change in radio regulations however your transmitter will have grandfather rights and able to operate either in some ways better than the later model.

Even if you have not registered your transmitter and updated your Airware it should not be a problem as I recently bought an early DX8 registered it and updated the firmware the updates are transmitter specific and the update will only work with the registered transmitter.

Hope this helps.

Erics

[Graeme Poke]

I bought my DX8 transmitter in July 2012. I haven't had any problems. I would like to change the transmitter battery which is currently an eneloop 4.8v NIMH. It doesn't seem to hold it's charge as in the past.

The Spectrum manual on page 7 says I can use either a 4 cell NIMH or a or a 2 cell LiPo. However I would like to use a LiFe 2 cell 6.6v. I have Skyrc D-100 smart charger. So charging should be ok.

Does anyone know if this is possible please?

[Paul C.]

Hi, my DX8 is about the same age as yours. I updated mine to a genuine Spektrum lipo within the first 6 months as I wanted the extra flight time, can get easily one month's worth of normal usage between changes and still going strong. What I like about this set up is that I can still use the standard charger , all I had to do was fit the battery and change to the lipo setting on the transmitter.

Paul.

[gangster]

Likewise I have one about the same age. I too have the Spektrum lipo. The DX8 is designed tocharge that battery from the standard charger. It really is fit and forget. I believe Overlander sell a suitable lipo. I can see no merit in trying to fit any other battery chemistry you really cannot get any better than the lipo type it was designed for

[Graeme Poke]

Thank you Paul and Gordon. I'll have another look at a liPo then.

I had read somewhere that LiFe were safer than LiPo's in that they can be charged in situ. LiPo's it suggested should be removed for charging although that wouldn't really be a problem. Thanks Graeme.

[Paul C.]

Hi Graeme, no need to remove the transmitter lipo when charging just use the standard charger and away you go mine was a genuine Spektrum lipo accessory and the manual specified using the standard charger so you should be fine. There is so much published about what to do and what not to do with lipo's it will make your head spin

Paul.

[Chris Walby]

My NIMH was looking a bit poorly, okay it was will past its best.

Popped into Inwood Models and they had a new battery pact and adaptor lead so now best of both worlds.

I can charge it in the TX or using a external charger via the servo style plug on the battery (keep the old one just in case in the TX case!)

Failing that I would just buy an OEM Spectrum part as the batteries seem to last a few years so you get your money's worth.

I guess if you are gliding/slope soring and need a TX that will be on for long periods (tens of minutes) then the lipo is better suited.

[gangster]

There is nothing written in the Spektrum book to suggest the lipo should be removed for charging. In fact quite the opposite it is designed to be charged in there. The TX has the circuitry to stop the charge when it’s done. It’s probably far safer to go with manufacturers recommendations than to think we know better. I love the longevity of that TX with its lipo

[Handyman]

Actually Gangster, you are not quite correct. The circuitry for controlling the charge going into the lipo is contained within the battery itself. I had a problem with the new lipo that I changed to and had to resort to opening the the battetry case. It turned out to be a dry joint, cured with a quick dab of the soldering iron. That is when I saw the small pc board within the battery case, which on investigation is the control board for the battery charging. Anthony.

[gangster]

Thanks for that clarification handyman. Just goes to remind us not to put any old lipo. I wonder if the overlander one has the circuitry in. I would not want to keep disconnecting a transmitter to connect to a charger