[nappy99]

I have this Rx in 50cc Sbach, with four antennas. I always check before each flight that each antenna is "bound" (solid lite)...noted yesterday that one light was "off" on one antenna, I then saw that the wire was broken at the plug. I still had 3 antennas, and it was a nice day (famous last words), so I did range check, and it seemed OK. So I proceeded to fly. In a long vertical up line, I noticed the plane acted different, as I came into the down line, proceeded to pull out and the elevator was very sensitive. I let sticks to neutral, and noted the plane would dive, managed to land OK, and then noticed the elevator was about 10 degrees down (at neutral), and the RX lites were flashing. This would indicate a "brown out"...but the batteries had ample power remaining. So I turned everything off, and on, and all was OK, elevator centered properly again (no adjustments to TX).

My question...what the heck happened??? The 9100 manual says each time you add an antenna; you need to "re-bind" (to see the antenna)....so does that happen in reverse? It was bound with 4 antenna's, but flying with only 3? I also noticed on 2nd range check (after flight failure), the range was much less (barely 30 paces), whereas with 4 antenna's I can get 120 paces.

I replaced the broken antenna wire, rebound, and its back to 120 paces for range check OK, and all working well.

Any help/experiences would me much appreciated !

[marcham]

Was the wire between the main and satellite receiver damaged in any way? Do you disconnect them often from the satellite or main receiver?

Spektrum released some satellite receiver cables that use a servo type connector in the middle for the daily connect/disconnect, because the tiny white connector is relatively fragile (not designed for daily use).

[moo]

The wire that goes to the satellite receiver was broken at the plug, you saw it and flew anyways?
Perhaps this broken wire shorted the signals coming form the other receivers.

[nappy99]

Originally Posted by marcham

Was the wire between the main and satellite receiver damaged in any way?

yes, one wire was "broken" where it plugged into the antenna (the orange wire was broken), see photo

[marcham]

That would do it! The system is designed to accomodate signal fades from the various receivers, not physical faults. If you had disconnected the bad cable from the main receiver you probably would not of had any issues.

[nappy99]

Originally Posted by moo

The wire that goes to the satellite receiver was broken at the plug, you saw it and flew anyways?
Perhaps this broken wire shorted the signals coming form the other receivers.

That did cross my mind (after the fact)...I was going into an inverted flat spin when this happened, maybe the wire touched or shorted ? It was late in the day, nice and sunny and enough sunlight for another flight..that is when this stuff always happans

[nappy99]

Originally Posted by marcham

That would do it! The system is designed to accomodate signal fades from the various receivers, not physical faults. If you had disconnected the bad cable from the main receiver you probably would not of had any issues.

thanks...I didn't know that, now I do... and thankfully it didn't cost me an airplane to learn the lesson LOL

[RAMJET]

in the future strap the wire down with velcro to stop it from floping around at the connection(prevent breakage) .if it was the primary satilite for sure it would cause a problem like that ,you were taking a real chance flying like that anyway with a broken wire ,a open wire becomes a antenna who knows what that could do .take it as a lesson learned and thank your lucky stars LOL.Roger

[bartman]

I went out with my 50size chopper yesterday and it would not initialize when rx turned on.Correct model memory etc. I then noticed that the led on the remote antenna (AR7000) was dim. I wiggled the harness at the white plug. The servos jumped into place ready to go. It seems to be a bad plug or connection on remote antenna board. What is interesting is the AR700 wont initialize without the remote antenna but will continue to work if unplugged after fire up.This would explain a few small glitches I noticed lately. Looks like a good idea to wiggle test all harnesses and watch the leds. I will send it into horizen.

[moo]

why are you guys calling them remote antennas?
plus I doubt that any satellite receiver is weighed more highly than others
i.e. there is no 'primary' receiver, only best signal