Ian Skeldon 1 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Hi, I use (among other equipment) a Futaba 6ex, or did until the weekend just gone. I had a couple of helis set up to use the 6ex. At about 3 minutes into flight 2 with my raptor my engine suddenly seemed to peak out and the heli blipped upwards, then the engine cut and the heli started to drop. My attempted auto wasn't very good at all but luckily all I suffered was a damaged undercarriage. After a swap out of UC it was at about 1 minute into flight 3 when the same thing happened, again not a great auto and landing but no damage done this time. Not happy to fly again until I was convinced I knew what was happening I went back to one of the tables my club has in the pits area. After lots of prodding around and wire pulling the fault looked like it wasn't going to be found, then just as I was going to stop testing and get a second heli out I saw the throttle swing to full and the pitch also go to fully positive (as you would expect if full throttle had been applied) . Further soak testing saw this happen several times. Swapping out receivers saw the same thing happen. Further routing around found that the transmitter was putting in this unwanted input and has no been assigned to the bin. I don't think there was anything I could have done to prevent this from happening, I always treat my equipment well and it would seem to be a fault at discrete circuit level so even if I had taken the back off and checked wires etc, I wouldn't have seen anything to indicate a problem. Final note, at least I was happy that the autos were rubbish because of the transmitter fault and not my finger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I would have thought it worth contacting Futaba about this although it's probably not worth paying them to repair it. If they dont hear of a fault they cannot correct it in future It might be something they know about. However I use a 6 EX as do many other club members and I have never heard of any similar fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Skeldon 1 Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 Hi KC, I take your point but I think this may be just a one off fault. Having dealt with Futaba in the past I decided to save myself a repeat of that experience. I agree that there are very many of these radio sets in use and all working very well, as indeed mine has done for some 13-14 months. I think the most likely cause would be that the pot on the throttle has possibly got a broken or damaged track. If I was convinced that this was the case I would have tried to sauce a replacement pot, the problem is that it would take more time and effort than the price of this set is worth to prove the point of failure and rectify it. As it is, I will just use my Hitec radio instead. Just thought I would post this so that anyone experiencing the odd glitch on the same channel of their futaba 6ex might check the TX out thoroughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverB Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 Hi Ian, A fellow flyer in our club in Sweden had a somewhat similar problem with his 6ex (intermittent function/limited range on the elevetor channel). It turned out to be oxidation on the potentiometers in the radio. Might be worth checking out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Skeldon 1 Posted November 26, 2011 Author Share Posted November 26, 2011 Thanks SilverB. As I value my aircraft and safety quite highly I have transferred most across onto my Hitec radio now, but I will investigate further at a later date. Thanks, Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliff dellow Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Interestingly enough I had a problem on my Futaba 6EXP where at idle the throttle servo starts to glitch, only way then to throttle back is engine cut. Took it to ripmax who changed the pot, now the same issue at full throttle. Interestingly enough someone had the same problem with their 6EX as they asked for help on BMFA. Don't really want to spend the £45 getting changed and would appreciate if somebody could tell me the details of the potentiometer and where I can buy it. Un soldering and then resoldering 3 pins is not an issue for me when it probably cost a couple of quid for the part. So any help in identifying the part would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Skeldon 1 Posted April 30, 2012 Author Share Posted April 30, 2012 Hi Cliff, I guess your right about finding a pot of the same values being the way to repair this fault but I don't know where you would get one from. I gave my radio to a fellow club member who was told about the fault and was keeping it for spares should his TX develop any faults. A few weeks ago we actually had some decent weather and my friend was flying along with other club members when his aircraft suddenly began to behave in an odd way. Turned out to be exactly the same problem on the same channel (throttle). The last I heard was that he, and several other club members have ditched their futabas and bought hitec radios. Good luck with the search for the part you need but I would also check the whole of that part of the circuit as it seems odd that it happens on the same pot of other flyers radios as well. Happy landings, Ian Edited By Ian Skeldon 1 on 30/04/2012 15:50:38 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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