Weird 6EXA issue

[Jason Jones]

Hi all, after an extended break away from RC planes i'm finally getting back into the hobby!

I've recently built a Ultrafly Outrage 3d kit that I've had laying around for years! Maiden flight Sunday was surprisingly a great success!

Need to join a club in the Bristol area now, i can feel myself getting bitten by the bug!

So apologies for the essay...

Annoyingly my Futaba 6EXA transmitter has developed a weird fault. Since it has been unused for so long I bought a new NiMh pack for it. Sunday evening i thought it would be a good idea to cycle it as i only gave it a couple of hours before the flight and didn't want it to form a memory.

So I left the transmitter on for about 4 hours (pack must have been pretty well charged!) the low voltage alarm wasn't even going but cant have been far off.

I then proceeded to charge the battery overnight (probably 10 hours max) with the standard Futaba charger that came with the transmitter.

Now when i turn the transmitter on, I am greeted with a continuous beeping. The display cycles through the model number from 6 to 1 whilst continuously flashing 'UP' in the bottom RH corner.

I've done this plenty of times over the years and has never been an issue before!

I have tried removing the battery, charging it a bit more. Checking the battery voltage (seems OK) but still the fault remains.

Has anyone else seen this fault?

Maybe its new transmitter time, i heard 35mhz is old hat now anyway

[simon barr]

Sounds like you may have a sticky trim button... Mine used to do something similar occasionally because the throttle trim button would stick in the "down" position.

May well be wrong, but worth a try.

Edited By simon barr on 25/10/2018 12:48:12

[Dave Hess]

I'd bet too that it's a stuck button. Hammer them all on and off to get the contacts contacting. see if that works..

[Jason Jones]

Thanks for the reply's guys.

Have just been out and done as you both suggested but unfortunately still playing up.

On the plus side i have just won an ebay auction for a replacement transmitter so fingers crossed this one wont go wrong too.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Replacement sounds good to me, worst thing going, is having doubt in your radio.

[MaL]

Although perhaps ebay is not the best place to buy a replacement transmitter........;

[cymaz]

You could send it off to Model Radio Workshop. Top bloke.

[onetenor]

Opn it up and clean the contacts and replace the spring if you can and clean any crud off the edges of the buttons and holes then lubricate with a small smear of oil around th edges.

[Allan Bennett]

Rather than WD40 I've used switch cleaner aerosol in the past, to cure an intermittently-functioning trim button on my Futaba trannie. I didn't even open up the case, just squirted around the button from the outside.

[Piers Bowlan]

Jason, when you say you have checked the battery voltage, 'seems OK', what exactly is it? the instructions say that if the Tx battery voltage drops below 8.5 V the battery voltage will flash and a continuous beeping will sound. Perhaps there is a bad connection (corrosion) with the connections to the charger and your new battery is not charging properly? Where was your old radio stored, hopefully not in a loft or garage?

[Jason Jones]

Fairly confident it isn't the trim switches. I haven't had it apart but have given them all a good excercise! They were all functioning correctly last week. The issue has started since the overnight charge.

I checked the battery voltage with a DVM, it was bout 10.4V so definately not a low battery issue.

I think the battery was on about 9.9V when i bought it. A couple hours charging pre flight bought it upto about 10.2V.

The issue i'm having is not the standard low battery alarm. As soon as you turn the TX on it beeps constantly. UP flashes in the bottom RH corner and it counts down from 6 to 1 where the model number is displayed before settling on 1.

It's all a bit odd!