dditch66

I have an electric heli and sometimes when I"m done flying, I notice the receiver Light is flashing. Like one flash per second.
I'm not sure but it may happen when I plug in the battery, then find some reason to unplug it and then plug it back up and fly.

What does a slow flashing light mean? I don't have the bind plug in there and nothing else is plugged into the battery slot.

EpoweredRc

I am guessing you have version 1.6 and if you shut off power to the rx and reconect while the transmitter is on its going to flash to tell you they was power loss. if your flying then land and see it flashing they was power loss during flight but I dought that happened with a heli and its still flyable.


not sure about a slow flashing.

rcers

If it is the new version - v1.6 it means you had a low power event and that you have issues!

What version is it?

fr4nk1yn

I was discussing this with somebody last week. For the most part my RXs is inside the plane but on a profile I noticed led is constantly flashing from the moment I connect it.

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dditch66

It's a 1.6.
I quite often will cycle power to it after I had first connected it up. I do this when I've bumped the heli and want to let the gyro stabilize again. The Gyro has a startup sequence where you need to let it sit still after applying power. Sometimes I bump it and to be sure, unplug the power and then plug it back in. I will begin to make sure the light is SOLID before I take off and then keep an eye on it.



Thx

rcers

I suspect your BEC is not up to task.........

Lieutenant Loughead

What electric heli do you have? Is the ESC / motor / battery / BEC stock, or did you change something out?

dditch66

I'm covered there.
I just installed a 10A Castle Creations BEC to resolve an issue where the servos would surge.

dditch66

Esky Belt CP.
Added the Spektrum DX7 w/ AR6100
Noticed 2-3 surges of the heli pitching right or left during hover.
Happened on the first 4 packs I ran after adding the AR6100.
Have run 3 packs since adding the BEC and all is good.
I"m thinking it's when I bump the heli and I unplug then plug the power back in. I'm going to be more wary of that now.

TDisaster

Your fine, its the receiver's way of saying it had to reconnect. You said that you will cycle power (connect, disconnect, then re-connect the battery), and that's what makes the light flash. The new AR6100's are made to reboot after power is lost, as soon as power is regained. I've plugged in a battery flown, landed, put in a new battery (within about 5-10 seconds) and the light will flash as soon as I plugged it in. Believe me its not your heli doing this, its completely fine and normal. The flashing is nothing more than the receiver telling you that you lost power (unplugged the battery) and regained it (plugged it back in).
No worries,
Mike

EDIT: Hey I have the same setup in my Belt-CP (but with a Spektrum Module on my 8103). Did you change the ESC yet? If not that could be your problem with the surges, the stock ESC is HORRID!

dditch66

I just noticed this on another forum:

"The flashing lights are telling you that you had a power failure.

If you turned off the reciever and didn't turn the transmitter off, the reciever thinks it had a power failure and flashes the lights and connects instantly, its because it sees its transmitters guid on the last two channels it used.

Turn off the transmitter while you're changing batteries and it will be fine. If its solid when you go flying, but blinking when it comes back, thats when you have a problem.

"

BIG4D

Great thread. I don't find anywhere in the instructions that I got with my 6100 that explain the different flashing.

Here is another problem.

I am trying to retrofit a THawk with the AR6100 receiver. I plug in the binding plug, plug in the power and rebind the receiver to the transmitter. Manually arm the ESC and the motor runs just like it should.
But, when I plug in ANY servo, the receiver starts to blink and nothing works. I tried a servo from my Typhoon 2 and same results.
The receiver works fine in the Typhoon, everything works fine.
When it starts blinking the blinking is fast 4-5 blinks per second, not the slow blink like loss of power.
Any ideas on this?

kyleservicetech

That's it, you've got it. The guys at Spektrum programmed their receiver to flash its LED's when the receiver voltage drops below safe values while the transmitter is still on. That includes powering down the receiver while changing batteries in your heli.

smokejohnson

I haven't experienced that yet. Last week I could not get the receiver to power up with out a servo connected. At first I was flipping out thinking my Rx was toast. I kept playing with it and finally figured it out.

Maybe have everything plugged in and then rebind it... or have you tried that already?

dditch66

That's how it blinks when ready to bind. Did you unplug the binding plug?
After I bind, I power down and pull the binding plug.
Is ANYTHING plugged into the BAT connection when this happens?

BIG4D

dditch66,
Thanks for the reply. Sorry, I didn't include that. After the flashing stops (with nothing but the ESC plugged in) I remove the battery, then remove the binging plug. Then plug the battery back in. The led is off at this point, and the ESc and motor operate as designed. But, when I plug in one of the servos, the led starts flashing rapidly again and nothing works.
Does this help?

kyleservicetech

Grasping at straws here, what is your receiver battery voltage when you plug in the servo? And, I'm assuming your transmitter is turned on?

Note that the newer software in the Spektrum receivers will cause the LED to flash if the receiver is turned off, then back on while the transmitter stays on. (That's a warning your battery voltage dropped to low)

BIG4D

Receiver voltage is 8 volts, steady. Yes the transmitter is turned on. I talked to Horizon today about it. They suggested plugging in a battery pack with double A's to test the receiver. If that works, they suspect that the ESC is "noisy" and casing interference, coming through the power cord from the ESC. They suggested replacing the ESC with a newer one.
The recommended the ELFA105.
They told me that they had never heard of this problem before.
I went out to www.readytoflyfun.com and they do have an updated ESC for this plane, one that specificly states that it is compatable with JR radios.

I am thinking that the problem is a compatability issue between the reciever and the ESC.

smokejohnson

That is why I said my receiver never powered up...the LED never came on. I never did check the throttle because I just assumed there was no power to the receiver.

Once I had at least one servo plugged in everything powered up like it should (LED was on) and everything worked as it should.

kyleservicetech

I've been using the CC switching BEC, and have checked it on my oscilloscope. They are VERY noisy, but the Spektrum DX7 receivers I have are completely unaffected by it.

You note that your receiver voltage is 8 volts? I'm assuming that that is the voltage to your ESC, and the ESC is providing some 5 Volts DC to your radio?

(The common servos we use are not to be used at 8 volts DC)