To Thro Hold or not Thro Hold ?

solentlife · Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 6:13 pm Post subject: To Thro Hold or not Thro Hold ?

Normally - I don't trust switches - so I usually pull 2 of the 3 motor power leads .........

This time I didn't and very nearly ruined my New Year.

I've been waiting for new blades for my 450 for ages and finally rec'd them. In the eagerness to fit and sort - I ignored my usual practice and went for quick option .... Thro Hold switch.

So balance (OK - I was too quick and had to redo correctly !). But radio was not working correctly - the Idle-Up and Normal curves didn't switch on / off - I only had Idle Up on both ...

So I thought - let's see if radio is faulty on my 'test memory' slot ... and switched model memory on the Tx ...........

Immediate ful throttle on heli as Thro Hold switch was de-activated with that slot ... Heli with pitch gauge still on one blade shot across room - hit TV ... careered off and back across room shedding pitch gauge like a missile ... and embedded itself into the xmas tree.

Luckily the tree stopped the blades and I was able to unplug the lipo ... and stop the motor.

That return across room missed me by a few cms ..... the pitch gauge must have flown by my head by a few cms judging by final location ...

Damage :

Broken sheered Jesus and lower main gear bolts
Teeth missing from main gear
Flybar bent
Main shaft bent
Both tail rotors sheered of at bolts
Servo gear stripped

3 xmas tree balls
3 feet xmas tree streamer

My pride !

But I thank the stars that my dogs or wife were not hit or myself ... A lesson to me to go back to my usual practice of removing motor power leads .....

450 is now back in full service again and the problem was due to me not setting Thro Hold switch properly ... it disengaged the swap over from Normal to Idle-up ... (I like to have normal mode set as -2 up to +10..+12 degrees pitch).

pjdog · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:08 am Post subject:

solentlife:

I'm with you on this issue, Unplug the motor leads. That does cause another problem. I've damaged the solder joints doing that but that's better than getting hit or doing damage to someone else.

Glad you, the wife and dogs didn't get hurt.

happy New year.

jack

tombo242 · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:25 am Post subject:

Another solution is a Radio Battery plugged into the Rx 'Bat' socket and no flight battery. The Esc cannot arm but you don't have to get to, and separate the motor leads.

Tom.

solentlife · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 2:34 am Post subject:

tombo242 · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:53 am Post subject:

Sounds good solentlife, always best not to make things more difficult than they already are. My philosophy exactly.

Tom.

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:11 am Post subject:

Glad to hear that nobody got hurt. I had a Blade CP Pro go full throttle & neg pitch while I was holding it while making a link adjustment Shocked

I'll never do that again!
On my Rex 450's & 500 I have short servo extensions pluged into the Rx batt slot and the female end stuck to the frame at an easy to get to spot so using a Rx battery is easy to do.

tombo242 · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:41 pm Post subject:

That's a great idea Dumb Thumbs - thanks for posting it.

Tom.

Trouble · Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:12 am Post subject:

Wow Solent, that was a actually a scary tale there, I can just see it, and glad that didnt happen to me, though lord knows why not...I did have mine take off on its own and fly into a tree 60-70 ft up about a neighborhood block away... Rolling Eyes

Hey DT!!!

Hey, I love that idea bud, I am definitley writing that one down for future use,.... in fact I am gonna do it asap for my 450, my RX is a pain to get at, the plugs are facing up and I have to carefully remove it from the frame everytime I want to do soemthing, was thinkin 'bout getting the AR6100E RX cuz the plugs face directly out the back, which is perfect, but can save a few bucks using your method!!
Ps: Hope all is going well with you and yours this new year! Cool

solentlife · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:56 pm Post subject:

The servo lead extension is a good idea ... will look at it .. I have a bag full of extension leads ...

Well I can report that 450 has suffered no ill effects after such incident - replaced the bits and she's all fine.

I find it amazing what energy is going through these machines and that they stay together to be honest. Have a crash and they shrug it off ... wish my 55 yr old body could say the same !! Laughing