Loswave

So, I've had this little helicopter since like 3 days after they came out, and I counted myself lucky to have scored one, but to tell you the truth I've spent very little time with it, although it's far more stable than a cp, in fact, it flies a lot more like a trex. In any case the reason for not flying it for more than a grand total of maybe 20 minutes since buying it is largly due to the fact that it can only stay airborne for about 30 seconds, to maybe a minute tops. When I first got it I attributed to a faulty battery... Then I pretty much never did anything about it. Furthermore, I nfound that honestly the battery didn't seem to be dying... In any case, after a 6 month hiatus from anything R/C I just took everything out today to asses how everything had faired in my apparent absence. I found my LST with a stripped slipper clutch nut, the trex with a stripped servo and a gear mesh too tight, and a CP with a loose skid. Finally I came to the little guy. I figured I'd give it another try because I no longer thought it was the battery, Sure enough same **** different day. It flys for a bit then dies. At this point, I want to get to the bottom of this, I'm no rookie pilot or repair guy, and I'm not used to having trouble shooting anything anymore... at the risk of sounding arrogant, I've learned more than is healthy about this hobby in virtually every area (although I be a lot of us feel that way after years at it). So, moving right along, I've been at this long enough to know, that if you can't figure it out quickly you ought to ask around, it may not always be obvious to you, but to someone out there it usually is. So anyways, let's move over to the evidence... as it were:

The thing flies for max 45 sec at a time,
Upon sitting for a few seconds, perhaps five to 10, it is ready for a 15 to 30 sec jaunt into the sky,
The oddest thing I've noticed is while holding it down to check blade tracking it occasionally seems, to pitch way up all of the sudden, and bog the motor down,
I checked motor temp upon one of my landings, and it seemed a little too hot, when touched on the sticker portion of the motor, maybe around 140 to 150?
The blades are broken AGAIN!
The spindle is straight,
the main shaft is straight.

I'm not convinced that the abrupt pitch change problem is linked with the apparent loss of power because it used to do it more pronounced before when it had a bent spindle, from the factory, which has since been replaced. I suppose at this point I'm thinking faulty motor /overheating motor, or faulty electronics... which would suck because I do beleive it only had a 90 day warranty. If it EVER flied right out of the box I suppose I wouldn't be quite as irritated. I should have taken care of it back when I got it...

Anyways, I suppose I'll throw in a bit of humor for a good laugh. I was flying the CP because it was the only helicopter airworthy, and found that flying R/C helis is like ridding a bike so I flew for quite some time, and then noticed that the landing skid was coming loose, so I promptly made a really sweet landing, which can be tough with a cp at times because of their inherent instability. And landed it nice and crooked because one skid had come almost all the way out. I should have realize that landing on a 25 degree tilt was a good way to end the day, and that to continue flying knowing you have a loose skid is stupid. But instead I picked it up, jambed the skid back in place and took it back up... It was fun, for a bit until the skid flew off into the street... So I hovered it in front of me trying to figure out how to get it down without trashing it... I realized landing it on the ground was a no-no, because I've got cf blades, and I'd rather not replace the head, I didn't know what to do, so I continued hovering it until I knew that the motor was starting to strain because it was beginning to overheat... so I came to the decision that I was going to try and snatch it out of the air (DON'T TRY THIS, IT'S A STUPID THING TO DO, UNLESS YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU"RE DOING, EVEN THEN, NOT SMART) I wouldn't have been that nervous about it because I could have grabbed the skids, no problem... but that wasn't really an option because it could easily twist around and whack you if you grab it by the one remaining skid... I knew grabbing for the cowl would be stupid cause I had a friend to it, and the main gear bit him, he had a pretty bad gash from it sucking his skin between the main gear and the motor, and it screwed up most of the head from the abrupt stop. So I found myself with one option. Grab for the boom... Not my first choice as you'll notice your hand needs to come mighty close to the blades, and even if it wouldn't be that painful (I don't really have any idea how painful that would, be although I'm sure someone out there's been clobbered by cf blades spinning 3000 rpms), I know it'd mess up the heli. So anyways, I get it in hovering nice and close to my face, get it as steady as a cp can be (which isn't very), then I gut the throttle with one hand a plucked it out of the air with the other, blades still spinning... and my only thought was, why the HELL didn't I have someone get that on tape!

Anyways, thanks for any and all help in advance!

redvtr1000

I am thinking you will probably catch some heat on here for that story. If you aren't comfortable troubleshooting and repairing you really ought to seek out some help.

What is more worrying is your disregard for personal safety over a set of CF blades. Your heli can be replaced without too much work, but you only have one set of eyes. Hovering the heli "really close to your face" and snatching it out of the air is so dangerous, sharing stories of this nature and treating your heli like a toy is a recipe for disaster.

You don't want to bring a bunch of negative light to the sport by taking your eye out, killing someone or just getting a nasty cut. I play paintball now and again, its the same thing there. Most people are safety conscious and play accordingly but you always get the idiot that doesn't use a barrel plug or the occasional kids playing in a backyard without masks where one of them ends up losing an eye. Next thing you know, they are on the news talking about how unsafe the sport is.

Really, you should have dug that heli into the ground and gotten that on video and explained why it crashed and how your safety is more important. You should have learned that by seeing your friend stick his hands in a main gear.

Tsk Tsk

Not to be condescending but honestly....that space between your ears is filled with a brain, engage it!

I don't know whats going on with your heli on the other note, does the main motor stop running completely after 45 seconds? Might want to contact the manufacturer regardless of warranty, you might get some troubleshooting help out of them.

FMB42

I agree with redvtr1000 in that you should contact the manufacturer. That said, I'd start by checking the battery voltage after charging it as per the manual. The measured voltage should be a bit higher then the battery voltage rating. If not, check the voltage output of the charger which should equal the output ratings stated on the unit. Check this voltage again after letting it sit for a day or two. The voltage should be very close (within 0.5V or so) to the original voltage measurement. If not, you may have a bad battery.

The next step would be to check the system current draw which should roughly equal the continuous amp rating of the motor (check the web if the manual doesn't state this figure). I would guess that your heli might draw about 12 amps or so (max). You can also try noting the voltage before and after you test fly your heli. 15 seconds of flight should not drain the battery by more then 0.25 of a volt or so IMO. Otherwise suspect a bad main motor.

Another thing to look out for is a bad tail motor. You may want to try a bench test run with the tail motor disconnected.

We assume that you, of course, have checked for any lose connections and that the main gear/ pinion lash is set correctly.

You probably already know the above suggestions but I thought I'd mention them anyway.

Good luck and good flying!

The Hedgehog

I have the same exact helicopter and the same exact problem. Venom sent me a new motor they thought the other one was toast but the SAME thing is happening. Let me know if you figure anything out.

Loswave

redvtr1000, I also play paintball, often we use barrel socks, have a chrono of our own, and have very strict safety rules. I always think before I act. I also beleive that you gave that story a cursory read at best, if you'd read it in it's entirety you'd note my obvious warnings as to the stupidity of that particular act. I would never hover it close to my face were it not in control and further more, we're not talking inches, we're still talking a few feet away. Furthermore, I know that getting whacked by those blades would suck, but I highly doubt, they would do any more than give you a black and blue. Please read the entire story before you get it in your head to "chastise" someone for something you feel is dangerous. Another note to add, as far as the negative aspect to the hobby goes, if I were to ram that copter into my eye, I am not looking to shift the blame which is what you suggest. I'm one of those people who if they make a mistake, they own up to it. If someone said hey, that's really unsafe, look at that injury you got, my response would be that it's not unsafe at all, I was doing something stupid. One last thing because I don't intend to argue with you, just to let you know, that I knew full well what I was doing and was personally in no danger, but I also clearly tell people not to try it, because it's a jackass thing to do.

Anyways, moving away from the story who's sole intent was a vague amusement. I was trying to explain earlier that typically, I'm an ace at trouble shooting and repairing, which is why I've been confused by this issue, and not being able to correct it and move on. Additional info:
The motor keeps running just fine upon landing. It just can't stay airborne.
The battery appears to be hardly drained, and the charged voltage is fine.

I suppose the only things I can think of off the top of my head are the ESC overheating,
or perhaps loose linkages on the head.

The Hedgehog

Yes, I was also thinking overheating, mine seems to be quite hot. I can set it down for 5 seconds and get another 20 seconds of flight before it will not leave the ground.

I got a replacement battery from Venom, didn't change a thing. The only thing left to change is the ESC, which I suspect will fix the problem. All the sysmptoms which you explain my model is suffering form as well.

Loswave

I suppose I'll give venom a call on monday and see what they say... At worst, I'm an electrical/computer engineer, so I'll just add or replace the mosfet which is causeing the problem, because I don't have 60 bucks to spend on a part that came faulty from the factory... In any case, unless anyone has any other ideas, that's the only one that really makes much sense to me.

RC Reaper

i have a venom 3d micro and it dont want to fly. Ive adjusted the pitch starting out at 0 . the fly bar is level with the heli and servos are 90 degree. the heli looks set good . the radio is adjusted v2 nob is about 10 oclock position and the v1 is at 0 top dead center. the batery is putting out about 13v and the motors seem fine. dont know where im going wrong . it doesnt want to lift off very good. It wants to but after reving up it seems to bog down right at lift off. any ideas.

redvtr1000

Loswave,

I read your entire story, start to finish. I was floored by the whole thing. The lack of respect you show for your machines and the fact that almost none of them work properly pretty much summed up the type of flier you are for me, even though you claim to have been at it for a while. If that were the case, I would think that you would be aware of the dangers involved with plucking your heli from the air by its tail boom.

You are very very wrong in thinking that all you might suffer is a "black and blue," I truly hope you catch one of these exercises in stupidity on tape because I love watching youtube videos. Hell, when you lose an eye and have to have 50 stitches on your face from carbon slicing through it like a knife to hot butter, you might change your thinking.

I don't mind reading these stories but you aren't helping the hobby in any way with them. The large portion of those folks involved with rc realize the dangers, and we wouldn't chance the same actions that you did for any heli. I don't care if it had diamond crusted one off custom carbon blades and a state of the art blingtanium head, losing your eyesight is no joke. I know that you threw up your little safety message about how stupid it was and how in control you were, but last time I checked even the pros can make mistakes.

Good luck with your fleet, and I sincerely hope that you never have to see what a set of cf blades can actually do to you. In the mean time, search around for rc heli injuries so you can correct your wayward thinking. If you can find a photo where someone got hit by a heli with blades spinning at 2k rpm or more and walked away with a small black and blue send it to me, all I could find were nasty gashes that required surgery/stitches or worse.

Loswave

Wow, there is so much wrong with what you just said there I don't even know where to start. I'm sure getting hit by a Raptor 90 would be rather unpleasant if not fatal, but the fact is I actually have seen somebody get hit by a Blade CP with cf blades. Not on youtube either, real life. You also said something about "knowing exactly what kind of fyier" I am. Pretty bold assumption there. How much do you know about me, nothing, yea thought so. Also, as far as losing an eye goes, seeing as though the blades spin clockwise when viewing from above, and i hovered into my right side, that would make it impossible for the blade to hit my eye. You also say something about none of my machines working properly, I don't remember saying that all the machines listed there are all I have. I didn't mention any of my working vehicles, which make the vast majority. As far as the respect I show my machines, you couldn't be more wrong. You'd be hard pressed to find someone more anal about their stuff. You should really try not to be so quick to judge, you have to realize that if you weren't there, no matter how well I told the story, you don't know the facts

In any case, that whole argument is from 6 months ago, and came up again only because RC Reaper is having a similar issue with his heli, and the point of this forum has nothing to do with arguing about catching a heli by the tail boom, it's about helping people out.

Unfortunately I haven't tacked down the problem yet because all of my R/C fleet, as it were, has been eagerly awaiting this spring which is still on the way here in central new york. It's actually 34 degrees out as I write this...

I'll take it out, within the next couple of days and get back to you, hopefully we can figure out what it is, because it seems to be pretty universal with these things.

redvtr1000, if you choose to respond, please respond only in regards to the subject of the thread, I have no interest in arguing with someone that I'll probably never meet over something from 6 months ago, instead let's use the forums as they're intended and see if we can help everyone who has the issue described in this thread.

RC Reaper

returning to my problem any help will be awsome. and thanks for the reminder of whats important on these forums loswave i appriciate any ideas.