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First taste of the sky


toto
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Hi Leccy,

 

As you say ..... at least some flying achieved. I've been needing that.

 

Grumpy,

 

I'll spend some time on this and post up a blow by blow investigation giving folks the chance for comment. I could also include any step forward with the change from my Spektrum AR 620 receiver to one of my newly delivered Orange units. 

 

I have reached the end of my supply of Overland ESC's and shall be moving onto to Hobby King units. But ..... one step at a time .... I will repost up my set up as It is and take it f4om there before changing anything out. 

 

I may make a start on this tonight or failing that ....... tomorrow.

 

My policy of having a second model at the ready paid off otherwise it would have been another short day.

 

Onwards and upwards....

 

Toto

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1 hour ago, toto said:

Well ...... flying was achieved today ..... albeit a bit of a  ixed bag of experiences.

 

First up .... The Domino ..... up she went ... reasonable flight and down she came ..... about 7 / 8  minutes. Had a coffee break had a chat with another prospective new member who showed up as planned. 

 

Time to put another battery in the Domino ..... dead as a dodo. Tried another battery .....exact same. Unplugged the battery and plugged a NICD battery into the receiver ....... everything works 

 

Looks like yet enother duff Overlander ESC. That will be Number 4 .... or is it 5. Can't remember. 

 

So ... I will do a bit more experimenting later on just to confirm what I think.

 

Anyway....... all was not lost as I had the FMS Super Cub with me and it was gagging to have its maiden. Spent some time checking all the settings that had been done by myself in the two transmitters ( buddy system) all is well.

 

I let my mentor take off and check the trims .... then I get on the sticks myself. What a great flying  odel considering we had 10mph crosswinds. I felt it was much easier to fly than the Domino although it maybe better until I get another couple of flights under my belt before confirming that.

 

The newbie prospective member was all at short notice so there was not anything ready to give him a first flight experience so the Cub stepped in and he left pleased as punch having had a little taster of what may come should he decide to commit. ..... I get the impression that he will.

 

So .... I maybe in the shed tonight changing out yet another crappy  Overlander ESC or possibly assembling my Xfly Twin Otter. We'll see.

 

 More later.

 

Toto

Excellent Toto.   Well done on a successful maiden flight of the Super Cub.  That's a possitive step in the right direction and will help aid your confidence to future flights.  Always a good feeling Toto when a plane makes it into the air for the first time and flys well and lands well.  Good on you and keep up the good fight and just think of the weather improving as the year goes on and all the many more trips you will make to the flying field for many more successful and enjoyable flying experiences.  

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I'm by no means an electric flight enthusiast much preferring the sound of a well-tuned i/c engine but I have built several electric powered models and never had an ESC fail on me. If four out of six of your speed controllers have failed, I'd get on to the supplier and ask for replacements. Trades Descriptions Act etc. I am assuming of course, that these speed controllers are rated as being suitable for the amount of current which your motor/propeller/LiPo combination is capable of drawing.

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I'd be a little careful before flinging legal language around. 

 

Did the ESCs need any mod before use, eg soldering on a connector?

 

Did they genuinely fail or were they broken, eg by connection with a faulty motor. Or through a faulty power path that put voltage spikes into components that could not handle them? Have they been subjected to damage from a faulty soldering iron that has caused the failure under stress of real use?

 

I'd identify the common factor first. 

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15 hours ago, toto said:

Hi Leccy,

 

As you say ..... at least some flying achieved. I've been needing that.

 

Grumpy,

 

I'll spend some time on this and post up a blow by blow investigation giving folks the chance for comment. I could also include any step forward with the change from my Spektrum AR 620 receiver to one of my newly delivered Orange units. 

 

I have reached the end of my supply of Overland ESC's and shall be moving onto to Hobby King units. But ..... one step at a time .... I will repost up my set up as It is and take it f4om there before changing anything out. 

 

I may make a start on this tonight or failing that ....... tomorrow.

 

My policy of having a second model at the ready paid off otherwise it would have been another short day.

 

Onwards and upwards....

 

Toto

You cant be the only one to have this problem if its a faulty batch.

Phone the shop and send them all back for repair/replacement/refund, after all you are their best customer.

Dont take any more apart to investigate faults let the shop do that, if it turns out its not a fault and something you've done at least you'll find out and be able to move on.

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I'll call Kings Lynne models as that is where I bought them all.

 

They should be able to check back their records ( if they have the will ). I have not kept the receipts but as I expect to get nothing, I don't suppose I have anything to lose other than the cost of a jiffy bag and postage.

 

Cheers

 

Toto

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Kings Lynn Models are excellent and will help you all they can. As regards switching ESC brands, I'd strongly recommend HobbyWing (Can't speak for HobbyKIng although at one point some of their range were re-badged HobbyWIng). I've used them (HW) almost exclusively for many years  and never had an an issue. It's noticeable that some of the higher end  ARTFs, e.g. FreeWing EDFs, now use HobbyWing ESCs without feeling the need to re-badge them.

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I'll phone Steve at King's Lynne and see what he recommends. 

 

I'll hang fire from doing any more with the model until I have had the conversation with him rather than wasting any more ESC's or attempting to change the set up. I can use the Super Cub as my replacement trainer for now until I have some answers.

 

I have plenty other projects I can be getting on with for now.

 

Toto

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On 16/02/2024 at 18:39, toto said:

Hi Aidan,

 

Glad to hear all went well. The model looks very crisp with nice clean lines. What is the wingspan on this ? I'm guessing about 1.5 to 1.6m. The colour scheme is very rich and attractive and also very unfussy which is good.

 

A outlet of my unmaidened models have flaps so it will be good to get an opportunity to experiment with that which might not be too far away.

 

Looking forward to the video's ...... popcorn and beer at the ready.

 

Cheers

 

Toto

 

 

Maiden flight Toto of the Avistar.  

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Thank you kind Sir,

 

A great flight. the take off was very nice, not too aggressive as it just effortlessly took to the skies. It seemed to be a strong flier, not sure how much throttle you were giving it but it seemed to be very authoritive in the air and not looking for more gun.

The landing I'm assuming was flaps aided as no sooner was it on the ground but you had it to a halt. great stuff. 

 

Seeing it up close at the end of your video just confirmed even more what a great looker it is. As I said before .... very attractive livery without being over fussy.

 

Again .... thanks for sharing another fantastic video and pass on the thanks to the camera crew.

 

cheers

 

toto

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Thats good Aidan.

 

Good to know that there is plenty more in it if you want it. I'd say that your speed was just pretty much bang on without making the flight to stressful.

 

great job good Sir.

 

toto

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Toto, have all your Overlander ESC failures been on the same model, if so it could be some component (e.g. servo) is causing the BEC to be overloaded and it eventually fails, we had this on one model (although the ESCs didn't actually fail they just stopped working while they were overloaded).

 

It turned out we had a servo that was drawing excessive current and causing the ESC BEC to cut out. The servo worked fine then the receiver was powered by a separate Rx battery, changed it out for another servo and the model was fine with the original ESC.

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Toto - you can put your wattsmeter in series between your battery and ESC,  then work the servos one at a time and see if any of them are making an excessive current draw above the base level of just the radio working with the servos not doing anything. Make a note of the current drawn for each servo and see if there are any outstanding anomalies. Easier still if you have access to a DC clamp meter as you can zero it out for the base level and any additional current draw is even more noticeable.

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Thanks Leccy,

 

I'll move onto that tomorrow night. I'll need to commit another working ESC to the model in order to test through it.  I've been doing a basic set up on the twin Otter tonight and so far all has gone well.

 

I'll need to take it apart in order to get space to work on the Domino again. I'll give Steve at Kings Lynne a call as well.

 

Thanks for the info. a handy thing to be able to do.

 

cheers

 

toto

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Hi toto, have you tried one of the esc's that is not working in another model or set up. Just an outside chance it may work in another setting.  I had one that I thought was u/s as it cut out on the model.  I tried it in another and it was OK. Never found out why, thought it may have overloaded then cooled down it was  a few days later when I tried it as I was about to bin it.

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I am a bit surprised at your initial impressions of Overlander ESCs and number of them that don't seem to work, Toto.  I speak as I find and the ESC gear and lipos from Overlander have been bullet proof and proved faultless. (albeit more expensive than some). Given the poor strike rate, the ESCs should go back to the retailer to check and testing. Hopefully you can resolve things to your satisfaction. However, I always go back to basics and check and check again when installing ESCs and soldering is involved,  also check the correct power packs are applied. I mainly use HobbyWing ESCs now and they seem to be top notch in my experience (not cheap though) .

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I've spoken with Jack of Kings Lynne Models earlier today and he as asked me to email him the information of the basic set up I am running. ....ESC, Motor, Battery, servos ... etc etc.

 

He seems very surprise that 4 ESC's would give in like this and thinks it is related to another part of the setup which when thinking more about it , I tend to think there could be more mileage in that school of thought. 

 

He states that there has been no issues with the Overlander ESC's that he is aware of but will try to help to look into it.

 

I'll get the info requested and email it over to him. In addition, I think I have to scour the model looking for bad ( high resistance ) connections or anything else that could potential contribute towards the issue.

 

I'll therefor keep the Domino grounded until I get to the bottom of it.

 

I'll keep everyone posted on any progress.

 

Toto 

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