receivers and vibration - the cause!!!!

[adrian]

I often think of ways to safe guard my planes from crashing - not talking finger crashing as this i still do and will do for years to come - we fly 3d and the risks are high.
my point - i keep on seeing this issue of receiver failure or this receiver is crap or that receiver did this and i remember reading not to long ago how important it is for us to remember - VIBRATION - yah its probably the biggest cause of system failure in giant models - so I thought to maybe just remind everybody building new planes or looking at your winter project - remember to sponge up that damn receiver good and never tie wrap it so tight as to loose all the effect of the protection of the sponge - Sorry guys - thought its a good tip as we so many times forget to go back to basics.

[Judge]

An excellent reminder. My favorite is the common advice to tape your crystal in. Sorry, but if you need to do that you have BIGGER issues to deal with. A properly isolated RX will NEVER vibrate out a crystal. Period. The fact that it does happens proves that the installation is faulty.

When we were flying .40-sized glow we could not get enough foam around a RX. But I see RX's attached with Velcro to the floor of a 40% plane all the time.

My personal favorite was the installation I saw where a guy used a zip-tie to SNUGLY attach his RX to his wing tube with a tiny sliver of well compressed foam under it. But to his credit, he DID have the crystal taped in!!!

[XJet]

I'm also gobsmacked when I look at how some people virtually bolt their receivers to the airframe.

Even on a turbine or electric (where vibration levels are much lower) there's still the issue of the occasional knock, bang or hard landing. Unless you're prepared to throw that receiver away every time it *might* have been damaged by a bit of a spill then you've *got* to use some foam.

I pack my receivers so well that, despite numerous total-write-off crashes, I've never damaged a single one.

$1 worth of foam is good insurance against destroying a $100 receiver or a $2,000 airplane!

[lbkyak54]

I can second that, lost my favorite plane cause I did not tape in the crystal, It won't happen again, That's for sure!

[Biff]

Good post adrian. The devil's in the details!