Hey everyone! I'm having two issues in ground testing my new 50cc Pitts M12S. It's overkill I know, but since I do a bit of demo flying and am concerned with crowd safety, I chose this system (in violation of the KISS principle?):

Aurora 9 xmitter/Optima 9 receiver
Smart-Fly PS Sport Plus with optical ignition cutoff
2600 maH Li ion x2 for receiver/servos and a single 2600 maH Li ion for ignition (separately regulated to 5V.)

First, in mounting the PSSP in the airframe with foam and zip ties, I fortunately happened to have the receiver on after adjusting the throttle servo arm throw. I noticed the PSSP LEDs flickering and power loss to the receiver when I touched the regulator heat sink. Further investigation showed power loss from the regulator when gently lifting the 90 degree flange covering the regulator TO package. Apprently the reg takes its ground from the heat sink by means of a mechanical crimp of a tab on its top. No solder! Lifting the heat sink flange apparently deprives the reg of its ground and everything downstream dies. Some gentle tweaking of the flange angle got me a reliable ground connection. But should I have to do this with a product meant to increase reliability?

Second, while doing tethered engine run up and adjustments I repeatedly experienced failures of the ignition cutoff at a reproducible 6150 to 6200 RPM. The PSSP main board pilot LED for the optical transmitter would go out, as would the red cutoff LED on the optical receiver. Of course, the downstream regulator and ignition module were shut down when this happened. Close exam of the wires, leads, connectors, and main PSSP board revealed no problems. This was obviously a vibration-related problem, since manually dampening the vibration on the PSSP board made the problem go away. Now what? More foam padding? Should solid state boards designed for a high vibration environment be having such issues even before the plane is ever airborne? I don't want to give Smart-Fly a bad rap here, but this is unacceptable for all the obvious reasons. Any suggestions anyone? Maybe KISS is the best solution after all.

KISS, it's the only way to go. and generally the safest to. im sure bob will help you out though.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. It's always the way I've done it since 1975, when I got into RC. Never had a systems failure because of the way the model was equipped. Yeah, I obsess a little in those bullet-proofing details. It pays off.

RRR

Call Bob at Smart-Fly, he is one of the best people in the industry to talk to. He will determine the issue and normally will take care of everything. SMART-FLY products are first class and provide a very good use for our RC needs. Here is the information you need:

Quest Engineering & Development, Inc.
Suite B-8
6125 South Ash Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85283

Ph: (480) 460-2652
Fax: (480) 460-2653

Originally Posted by toc pilot

Call Bob at Smart-Fly, he is one of the best people in the industry to talk to. He will determine the issue and normally will take care of everything. SMART-FLY products are first class and provide a very good use for our RC needs. Here is the information you need:

Quest Engineering & Development, Inc.
Suite B-8
6125 South Ash Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85283

Ph: (480) 460-2652
Fax: (480) 460-2653

+1

Originally Posted by evilmorg

Hey everyone! I'm having two issues in ground testing my new 50cc Pitts M12S. It's overkill I know, but since I do a bit of demo flying and am concerned with crowd safety, I chose this system (in violation of the KISS principle?):

Aurora 9 xmitter/Optima 9 receiver
Smart-Fly PS Sport Plus with optical ignition cutoff
2600 maH Li ion x2 for receiver/servos and a single 2600 maH Li ion for ignition (separately regulated to 5V.)

First, in mounting the PSSP in the airframe with foam and zip ties, I fortunately happened to have the receiver on after adjusting the throttle servo arm throw. I noticed the PSSP LEDs flickering and power loss to the receiver when I touched the regulator heat sink. Further investigation showed power loss from the regulator when gently lifting the 90 degree flange covering the regulator TO package. Apprently the reg takes its ground from the heat sink by means of a mechanical crimp of a tab on its top. No solder! Lifting the heat sink flange apparently deprives the reg of its ground and everything downstream dies. Some gentle tweaking of the flange angle got me a reliable ground connection. But should I have to do this with a product meant to increase reliability?

Second, while doing tethered engine run up and adjustments I repeatedly experienced failures of the ignition cutoff at a reproducible 6150 to 6200 RPM. The PSSP main board pilot LED for the optical transmitter would go out, as would the red cutoff LED on the optical receiver. Of course, the downstream regulator and ignition module were shut down when this happened. Close exam of the wires, leads, connectors, and main PSSP board revealed no problems. This was obviously a vibration-related problem, since manually dampening the vibration on the PSSP board made the problem go away. Now what? More foam padding? Should solid state boards designed for a high vibration environment be having such issues even before the plane is ever airborne? I don't want to give Smart-Fly a bad rap here, but this is unacceptable for all the obvious reasons. Any suggestions anyone? Maybe KISS is the best solution after all.

If I recall correctly there was an issue with the Hitec Aurora and Optima receivers while running a Smartfly Optical kill.

Turns out Hitec found that it wasnt the optical kill, but ignition interference. Have you updated your receiver??

See the below from the Hitec website:

August 20th, 2011
After extensive research and testing it has been determined that the unexplained lockouts, experienced by some users of the Optima receivers, were caused by RF interference generated by ignition modules used in gasoline engines and not the optical kill devices as original believed. As a result of this testing we have now released firmware version 2.01 that effectively eliminates this problem. While the majority of these issues were related to gasoline engines, Hitec strongly recommends that everyone update their Optima 7 and 9 channel receivers to firmware version 2.01 no matter what type of model you fly. Owners of Optima 6 receivers can have their receivers updated free of charge by the Hitec RCD USA service department. For more information on updating your receivers click HERE

Call us, (480) 460-2652.

Originally Posted by evilmorg

Hey everyone! I'm having two issues in ground testing my new 50cc Pitts M12S. It's overkill I know, but since I do a bit of demo flying and am concerned with crowd safety, I chose this system (in violation of the KISS principle?):

Aurora 9 xmitter/Optima 9 receiver
Smart-Fly PS Sport Plus with optical ignition cutoff
2600 maH Li ion x2 for receiver/servos and a single 2600 maH Li ion for ignition (separately regulated to 5V.)

First, in mounting the PSSP in the airframe with foam and zip ties, I fortunately happened to have the receiver on after adjusting the throttle servo arm throw. I noticed the PSSP LEDs flickering and power loss to the receiver when I touched the regulator heat sink. Further investigation showed power loss from the regulator when gently lifting the 90 degree flange covering the regulator TO package. Apprently the reg takes its ground from the heat sink by means of a mechanical crimp of a tab on its top. No solder! Lifting the heat sink flange apparently deprives the reg of its ground and everything downstream dies. Some gentle tweaking of the flange angle got me a reliable ground connection. But should I have to do this with a product meant to increase reliability?

Second, while doing tethered engine run up and adjustments I repeatedly experienced failures of the ignition cutoff at a reproducible 6150 to 6200 RPM. The PSSP main board pilot LED for the optical transmitter would go out, as would the red cutoff LED on the optical receiver. Of course, the downstream regulator and ignition module were shut down when this happened. Close exam of the wires, leads, connectors, and main PSSP board revealed no problems. This was obviously a vibration-related problem, since manually dampening the vibration on the PSSP board made the problem go away. Now what? More foam padding? Should solid state boards designed for a high vibration environment be having such issues even before the plane is ever airborne? I don't want to give Smart-Fly a bad rap here, but this is unacceptable for all the obvious reasons. Any suggestions anyone? Maybe KISS is the best solution after all.

Thanks everyone. I'll call Bob soonest.