Problems!! 14MZ 2.4 R6014FS

[bgold]

I know heat is the enemy of electronics. Should the fusalages have a few holes in the first former as well as holes in the tail to allow for air movement and cooling of the inside and electronics. Does anyone think this would be detrimental.

[crhammond]

	Quote: Originally Posted by bgold
	I know heat is the enemy of electronics. Should the fusalages have a few holes in the first former as well as holes in the tail to allow for air movement and cooling of the inside and electronics. Does anyone think this would be detrimental.

Yes you bet they should be vented. And so far unless I missed something - the lockouts are on the ground. When I flew my Python the temp ont he Rx's was significantly lower after landing which I attribute to good air flow. BUT if it is 100f+ outside that may not be enough.

I too would like to see some Spektrum/JR stuff heat tested. I don't have any of it so I can't test it...

[emessys]

A short, philosophical interjection.

Human progress (?) is dependent on those who are willing to be on the cutting edge. My hat is off to you.

But whereas being first up the ladder from the trench may lead to Fame and Glory, its not so good an idea if your goal is to lead a long, peaceful life and die of old age.

So if you want to be on the leading edge, you have got to be prepared to pay a price, and cant complain if things don't go as hoped.

Forty years of experience in the electronics business have taught me that it is always the customer who discovers the problems with the shiney new toys.

It isnt that the manufacturers are incompetent, duplicitous or venal.....they are just trying to get a product to market in a limited time frame where they dont want to be blindsided by their competitors. Thats business. There isnt the time, money or people to check every possible contingency.

The final product testing is done by the purchaser.

So it is entirely up to the end user to decide if they want to be the guinea pig for any new product, and whether they can afford the potential downside. Caveat emptor.

So again, my hat is off to those in the forefront, but blowing your stack is not seemly.

[AEROCOLOR]

Emessys comment should end this discussion unless someone can provide a solution or test results. Period. We are all experimenting with new technology every day of our lives. Please stop the negative comments and bickering. It causes me shame to be associated with the hobby and what brand wars do to people. Grow up guys!
Bill

[Judge]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BR289
	The possiblity of there being a bad run does change things a bit...I can see that happening. The bottom line is that people have had similar experiences and that warrants an investigation through Futaba in my opinion. I guess I am hoping they isolate the problem to a bad batch of chips rather than having every receiver recalled or something.

I hope that they can actually duplicate this on their bench. If not, then it REALLY get messy.!!

[grayuk]

Looking at all the info, it does seem that the FASST 2.4rx failure is the issue.
So, as has been said, where do we go from here?
I agree, the next step is to see if this is just a Futaba FASST problem or generic to all 2.4 systems.

We may be surprised!

If it is not then the Futaba engineers will have to pinpoint the failing device, unless one of us has the facilities to use localised cooling on a failed rx.
You can buy cans of ‘freezer’ which is used in electronic fault finding for just this type of problem.

Raise the temperature till the failure occurs, then selectively cool individual chips until the offending part is found.

One guy who may have the equipment to do this is a German guy called Julez.
He has done a lot of extensive FASST testing and has access to some great equipment.

I have emailed him and asked him to pop over to this thread, he may be able to help us take this further while we wait for Futaba to resolve it.

Paul

[Mithrandir]

We have environmental test chambers where I work... maybe I will test my Rx... maybe I will take it up to 50,000 feet too??? And down to 3000 feet below sea level???

I can also do a Hydrachloric acid atmosphere like venus..... any other testing????


(Relax.. I am kidding)

[lazun]

I don't know about this. Putting a heat gun to your RX cannot be good. I know everyone is trying to warm them up, but a nice summer day will be enough.

[Julez]

Hi Paul!
My idea is the following: As the 2.4 recievers need more electrical power, the linear regulator will produce more waste heat. This heat will be carried away by radiation and convection. If the ambient temperature and IR radiation level rises, the temperature of the regulator will rise as well. There always needs to be a temperature difference to achieve a flow of thermal energy. When the ambient temperature rises above a certain level, the temperatue of the regulator will rise to a level where it will fail.
When I test the BEC of new ESCs, I pull so much current that the ESC regulators become very hot and will fail at a point. Then I reduce the current, until they will not fail anymore. Now I know the BEC current the ESC is capable of.
If I heated the ESC, it would be able to deliver less current.
The same happens, in my opinion, to the regulator of the Fasst RX.
To test this, one could check if the RX can work in higher ambient temperatures if one lowers its supply voltage. Less supply voltage, less waste heat. One could try with 3V, for example. Then with 6V, then with 9V.
Everyone knows that high cell counts on an ESC make the BEC overload earlier.
One could also solder some cables on the regulator output and test the voltage. If it goes down, as the temperature overshoots a critical level, we know the regulator failed.
Another problem could be the CPU of the reciever. It converts electrical power into heat, as well. So the failure will be roughly for the same reasons the regulator would fail. But in this case, it would not depend on the supply voltage that much, as it recieves regulated voltage, anyway.

I'm just new to this thread, so I apologize if some of my ideas have been mentioned before, and are therefore irrelevant.

Cheers,

Julez

[grayuk]

Thanks for the input Julez.
Have you seen any failure like this in Germany?
Paul

[dbrford]

I just performed the heat test, using a heat gun (very carefully). Mine failed at 171F, this reading was taken at the side of the receiver right near the Easy Link text. I also noticed that this portion of the receiver is the spot that gets the warmest sitting idle, I read 85 F after sitting for 10 minutes. No load, no servos regulated 5.98 volts.

[grayuk]

Julez
When the regulator cuts out, it must be a thermal overload protection system on it, could it 'click' as it switches off? I ask this because some people have reported hearing the 'click' on failure and a 'click' when it recovers.

Paul