[JSUTHERLAND8]

In the Spring after a long dry Winter plastic, rubber and glue can all dry out shrink, and crack. Fuel lines can get soft or hard and cause lots of problems.
Batteries should be cyceled and tested for mAh capacity or at least top voltage under load for a normal on time. I find snugging all the screws is also a good idea, and do not forget the one on the end of the fuel tank.
I was lucky too, only did a short flight (5 min), on the P-51. Only had to clean 6 oz of fuel out of the front of the plane and 1 turn on the tank screw to stop the leak. Lucky, battery was ok, and RX was still dry.
Ready for the air again with over 250 flights. only one crash last year, and back in the air the next day, with only some glue and covering on the body to fix it up.

[strikemaster]

RE checking the Rx battery levels. There used to be (back in the days ...read 1980s and 1990s) a battery level checker that would put display the voltage as a lit LED in a range from green (good) through yellow (be bl**dy careful) to red (go home).

Of course, these were designed for NiCds. Today, lots of people are using LiPos and other batteries, including with or without BECs.

Any similar battery checkers today that can handle a variety of battery types, cell counts and voltages?

[sibola]

Originally Posted by strikemaster

RE checking the Rx battery levels. There used to be (back in the days ...read 1980s and 1990s) a battery level checker that would put display the voltage as a lit LED in a range from green (good) through yellow (be bl**dy careful) to red (go home).

Of course, these were designed for NiCds. Today, lots of people are using LiPos and other batteries, including with or without BECs.

Any similar battery checkers today that can handle a variety of battery types, cell counts and voltages?

Jeff at Thunder sells one. Its called Cellmetre 7. I have two of them work good, everything from nicads to lipos.

Hope this link works for you http://www.thunderboltrc.com/index.p...n_page=product

[Arn]

Originally Posted by strikemaster

RE checking the Rx battery levels. There used to be (back in the days ...read 1980s and 1990s) a battery level checker that would put display the voltage as a lit LED in a range from green (good) through yellow (be bl**dy careful) to red (go home).

Of course, these were designed for NiCds. Today, lots of people are using LiPos and other batteries, including with or without BECs.

Any similar battery checkers today that can handle a variety of battery types, cell counts and voltages?

If I have it correct they were generically called ESV's - Expanded Scale Voltmeters's. I still have 2 "V-300"'s from Expert Electronics. 10 leds showing 100 to 10% switchable 5.1-4.3V for 4 cell / 6.4-5.4 for 5 cell packs with a 300ma load.

[hitechflyer]

Found this disaster waiting to happen, I always use blue lock tight on servo screws and red on motor mounts

[hitechflyer]

Got the wrong pic on previous post, it shows the new motor mount, here is the old one with approx 400 flights

[bbbair]

WOW!!

Now THAT was a good thing to find!

Thanks for sharing.

[strikemaster]

Agree totally with Rob on this. This should be swapped out immediately and the manufacturer informed of the issue. Looks to be a materials problem (void in the metal?, or insufficient designed-in strength? or worse yet, inadequate alloy -- something cheap)

[hitechflyer]

Originally Posted by strikemaster

Agree totally with Rob on this. This should be swapped out immediately and the manufacturer informed of the issue. Looks to be a materials problem (void in the metal?, or insufficient designed-in strength? or worse yet, inadequate alloy -- something cheap)

This was a home made motor mount, like the thread says it pays to check, more so when your plane lasts more than 400 flights.

[Max]

Originally Posted by Arn

All good subject matter ..... I'll just add this ..... check your Tx/Rx battery ..... most Tx's these days display voltage so that is an easy one ..... for Rx's ..... use a voltmeter that actually puts a load on the pack ..... 300Ma min ..... and check before each flight ..... it just takes a few seconds to do ..... it may save you some grief .....

Excellent point. For the airborne battery, I prefer an on-board LED meter that is permanently mounted to the aircraft. You can see the voltage while the aircraft is powered up. It even shows a drop, if any, when you move the servos. What I find really useful is that you can check before and after each flight. At the end of a flight, the battery voltage is a little lower and can warn you that you are done for the day (or its time for a field-charge)