I bought a Smart Fly EQ 10 at the 2013 Joe Nall. I recently installed it in a 3DHS Extra 330SC. I have an Aurora 9 with a HiTec 9-Channel receiver mounted to the EQ 10. I have two Hitec HS7955 servos ganged on channel 4 for the rudder. I used the Horizon Hobbies Amp/voltage meter to aid in the programming of my Smart Fly, sync'ing the center point and full left and right positions in my 3D rate. I centered the first rudder servo using the transmitter's sub-trim. Then I sync'ed the second rudder servo using the Smart Fly programming method. Once I get the center, extreme left and right position down below 0.01 amps, I cycle the servos numerous times and the center is off above 0.4 amps, as well as extreme left and right. When I flew this new aircraft last weekend, I noticed that my rudder was off a couple of sub-trim points. As I was flying it, I noticed that my rudder was off. It ended up to be off 35 to 40 degrees! It changed in flight. I did notice that these servos jitter when on the ground, though I attributed that to the transmitter being so close to the receiver. I have seen this before with HiTec servos with & without a Smart Fly. When I brought the aircraft in with the rudder being off 35 - 40 degrees, I removed one rudder servo from the Smart Fly without any change. I then connected that servo and removed the other - no change. I replaced the 9-channel receiver last night with another and went back through the Smart-Fly programming without any different result. This Smart-Fly has been exposed to a hard hit in its life.
Anything that you suggest to check or test? Or should it be shipped back to be checked out and potential repairs?
Thanks!
Kevin

Send it in. They will take care of it. Bob Ritchey is an upstanding individual.

Never reinstall crashed or "hard Hit" equipment back into a plane untill its been checked out and given a clean bill of health,,,, you were lucky on this one!

Set your sub trim to zero and adjust both servos withe the EQ10.
Rutnbuc

I'm sending it into Bob today

Hello Kevin,
This is almost impossible to happen. Are you absolutely positive the function was on zero (0) when you were flying? The way the software works the trim is not even setable to be off by 35-40 degrees. I really do not know where to start with this. It could be anything and I am not sure where to start. I can change the microprocessor out and see if that changes things but I cannot guarantee anything. If it was the Eq10 then this kind of issue is almost impossible to track down on the bench. I wish I had better news for you but I will check the unit when I get it but not sure I wil find anything wrong and the best I could do is take a shot in the dark.

Originally Posted by Kevins_RC

I bought a Smart Fly EQ 10 at the 2013 Joe Nall. I recently installed it in a 3DHS Extra 330SC. I have an Aurora 9 with a HiTec 9-Channel receiver mounted to the EQ 10. I have two Hitec HS7955 servos ganged on channel 4 for the rudder. I used the Horizon Hobbies Amp/voltage meter to aid in the programming of my Smart Fly, sync'ing the center point and full left and right positions in my 3D rate. I centered the first rudder servo using the transmitter's sub-trim. Then I sync'ed the second rudder servo using the Smart Fly programming method. Once I get the center, extreme left and right position down below 0.01 amps, I cycle the servos numerous times and the center is off above 0.4 amps, as well as extreme left and right. When I flew this new aircraft last weekend, I noticed that my rudder was off a couple of sub-trim points. As I was flying it, I noticed that my rudder was off. It ended up to be off 35 to 40 degrees! It changed in flight. I did notice that these servos jitter when on the ground, though I attributed that to the transmitter being so close to the receiver. I have seen this before with HiTec servos with & without a Smart Fly. When I brought the aircraft in with the rudder being off 35 - 40 degrees, I removed one rudder servo from the Smart Fly without any change. I then connected that servo and removed the other - no change. I replaced the 9-channel receiver last night with another and went back through the Smart-Fly programming without any different result. This Smart-Fly has been exposed to a hard hit in its life.
Anything that you suggest to check or test? Or should it be shipped back to be checked out and potential repairs?
Thanks!
Kevin

I have sent it out.
All I can ask is that you check whatever you can on the bench. I set it up that you should receive an email notifying you that it was sent out with a USPS tracking number. Do what you can with it.
Let me know if you find anything. I included my contact information in the note with the Smart-Fly.
Thanks for your response and honesty!
Kevin

Hi, OK will check it out and let you know and we can discuss options.

Originally Posted by Kevins_RC

I have sent it out.
All I can ask is that you check whatever you can on the bench. I set it up that you should receive an email notifying you that it was sent out with a USPS tracking number. Do what you can with it.
Let me know if you find anything. I included my contact information in the note with the Smart-Fly.
Thanks for your response and honesty!
Kevin

Hi Kevin,
Got the unit and I just plugged it into my 9303 to see what would happen on channel 4. I did notice that the unit was in program mode when I got it (channel 4, function 2 selected). The servo on channel 4 was centered. It moved normally.

I did have some followup questions. First, did you try another transmitter on this plane? If not have you tried the transmitter you were using when this happened on another plane. I am asking this because its not unheard of for a transmitter to have a problem and honestly this sounds more like a transmitter problem with a loose pot or something than a receiver/Eq10 issue but I am just trying to explore possibilities. I also notices that the connectors on this unit were tight in my receiver. Are you positive that channel 4 was all the way in the receiver port. Again, just looking at options. I will test this more Monday. I just wanted to continue this thread for other people's reference. Will email you direct too.

Bob,
I have tested a couple of different receivers with this Smart-Fly and executed the programming of the ganged servos on channel 4 since the original incidence. Programming the centering and full left and right with an amp meter inline. Then I would cycle the rudder numerous times, the rudder would no longer center (off several sub-trim points), the amperage was too high (~1 amp) in the center and full left and right. Everything seemed to change after cycling the rudder numerous times. I could replicate the problem using two other receivers, so I would guess that I got the Smart-Fly plug seated properly at least once :-). Sorry - I must have left the Smart-Fly in program mode after the last receiver I tested.
For my own benefit - are you saying that the Smart-Fly will change if one leaves it in program mode? Is this a possibility? I realize that this is not a good practice, and I would have thought that It would not change unless something hit the Increase/decrease buttons - true? This unit was not in program mode when I had the original problem.
I did check the servo connections when I brought the aircraft in at the Smart-Fly. I removed one servo plug from Channel 4 in the Smart-Fly, without change, then plugged it back in and unplugged the other, without change. Something should have changed when I removed one, or when I plugged it back in.
I did not check the aircraft with a different transmitter, but I have flown two other aircraft using this transmitter without any issues since this incidence. I flew all day yesterday using this transmitter without any problems what-so-ever.
I am an Engineer for over 35 years. Not know why something does not work drives me crazy. I have to figure out what is causing the issue.
Kevin

Not sure if this picture will help, but I thought that I would post it. I don't have anything closer up

First of all - I have to say, Bob Ritchey is a GREAT guy!!!
Bob has gone WAY out of his way to help me out. I sent my Smartfly back to him. He tested it over and over again. We communicated numerous times back and forth via email and this posting. He called me and we discussed the issues in detail and even got into the detailed design of the Smartfly. After going through all of this, I have discovered that I have servo problems. I never would have imagined that I would have a problem with two servos at the same time on the same control surface, but I do. I swapped out the servos and my problem has gone away, or at least I cannot replicate the problem where I could before.
Thanks Bob for your patience and helping me to figure out the true problem with my aircraft!
Needless to say, I would HIGHLY recommend Bob Ritchey and Smartfly! You can't ask for better customer service!!!

I knew he would fix you up. Kudos to Bob. Again!

Is this phenomena is common to Hitec servos ? Cause I had the same issue using Hitec servo as well with EQ 10. When I changed servos to a different brand it stopped.

Shouldn't be, I have lots of people using an Eq10 with Hitec servos and no problem. No reason they should be any different than any other servo as long as you do not use Servo Priority Mode (off by default) during set. Using this could damage the gears as Hitecs do not freewheel when the signal is stopped but power is still supplied. They lock up. I have always thought this was a strange decision on Hitec's part.

Originally Posted by TazmanianDevil

Is this phenomena is common to Hitec servos ? Cause I had the same issue using Hitec servo as well with EQ 10. When I changed servos to a different brand it stopped.