Ron Stahl

My Feedback: (12)

It looks like I got scr**ed again by my Ram500 today. Just after takeoff with my new Reaction54 on its 7th flight my engine made a strange noise and then was very quiet with a lot of flames out the back in flight. I called for a Emergency landing and the Reaction was like a big glider but on fire;I dove the plane to put out the fire and then I had to throw the flaps out to slow her down once I made the field. The Reaction54 is a great flying plane and strong, I rolled off the end of the runway into the high grass and got not a scratch on the plane. The engine is another story I am sure the Carlos can fix it but I am so angry about it right now that I will most likely pull it out and sell it for a parts motor and put in a Jetcat P-70 since I have one. That Ram500 has been one money pit since I got it and right now it has cost $500 / flight with it having 2 starters burned up, a ECU go up in smoke and now the engine is locked up after a total of 6 flights for less than an hours runtime since new and I am sure the bearings are gone and who knows what else inside. I don't know whose more upset me or my wife, I understand that these planes really are expensive toys that can go away at anytime but she sees it as a $3,000.00 POS that she spent her hard earned money on and all I have now is a expensive desk model of what should be a engine. I can see why they are gone if this is what other Ram500 guys got as well.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

Was it one of the really early ones?

Ron Stahl

My Feedback: (12)

serial number 76

erbroens

Well, 500$ a flight is not so bad... saw cases of about 8.000$ for a flight of 5 seconds and even 6.000$ for not flying (turbine caught fire on ground and burned everything!).....


BR, Enrique

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

Sorry to hear that Ron. Did the in-air pyrotechnics do any airframe damage?

Ron Stahl

My Feedback: (12)

Thanks for asking Mark. No damage to the plane other than a broken nose gear former from the runoff into the high grass. I can see why the Ram boys ran out of money fixing these while they were under warranty I have spent more money on this POS than I care to think about. If I fix it I will never fly it again but would make someone a great deal just to get the repair monies out of it . If anyone wanted one right now $1K would take it and you fix it.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

I hear you. Sometimes you have to cut your losses. You never know, the next guy might have better luck with that engine, but I understand the loss of confidence for you just makes it a no longer viable. Get rid of it.
I know the earlier 500s had all the problems, I had a later one that was a-ok. I don't think they are all bad. But with so many alternatives out there, I could understand people steering clear of the type altogether.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

Funny, though, how everybody raved about RAM right up until the day they closed their doors, and then the day after, said "well, I knew there were problems..."

john agnew

ET

Wren turbines have just kindly repaired my 500 which for some reason had lost the bearing pre-load. On test it was running very hot at max power (750oC) they changed the tailpipe for a Wren one off the 54 mk 3 and the temp was reduced by 100oC.Saved me from sending it all the way to Carlos in the 'States which is a big hassle with customs etc.

Mine has about 30 flights on it to date and getting rid of the autostart unit and ECU was the best move I made. I even managed to sell the redundant parts for more than the conversion cost me!

John

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Well, not quite everybody ... I had good experiences with my RAM for the first couple of dozen (?) or so flights, then started having problems (both with the engine, and with the attitude of the company after Rei left).

When I reported my issues here on RCU though, I got keelhauled for daring to say anything other than high praise about RAM. Funny thing though, was that while a number of the loyal RAM customers & supporters were getting all p'd off at me for "bashing" RAM, a well known RAM rep told me that in his opinion my posts were calmly professional, factual, and non-bashing. LOL ! Dontcha just love the dichotomy ?

BTW, I think that much of the early raving about RAM (which actually helped convince me to buy the 500 in the first place) was due to the way that RAM went overboard on customer service initially, taking care of customers no matter what, handing out free replacement parts at meets when somebody broke an engine, etc., etc. In effect they were "buying loyalty" in order to establish themselves as a (or the?) premier miniature turbine provider of the day. In some ways that seems pretty smart & slick advertising ; in other ways maybe its not a sound business plan for the long haul... freebies, deep discounts etc get you noticed and get some market penetration, but they don't build up the bank reserve such that you have the ability to withstand the problems that will inevitably pop up at some point in the business' life.

The same kind of issues & concerns exist today IMO - I know of at least one brand that is selling a lot of turbines to the public at heavily discounted / dealer cost in order to get more market penetration. For their sake, and the sake of their customers, I hope they're smarter than the last lot to try this approach.

Gordon

[Edit: typo]

sidgates

My Feedback: (2)

My RAM 500 (SN 113)experiences! When first received new the engine would not run at my location (Denver,CO) First the EGT sensor was bad. Replaced by RAM but still wouldn't run at full power. It was next repaired for $300.00 plus. Now it runs but flames out if full throttle is commanded rapidly. The ECU mid curve has been slowed done by programing and it still flames out at about 80K RPM ever time. I can nurse it to full throttle using the data terminal.

It was recently flown 12 flights very successfully in the Dallas, Tx. area. Next I tried it in Denver and still can not get it to full throttle without a flame out with rapid throttle stick movement.

Carlos says he can make it run at my density altitude for repair cost of $600.00 plus which includes a new starter. Can anyone answer the following questions.

1. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD TROUBLE WITH THE RAM 500 AT HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDES?

2. IF SO, WHAT ARE THE HARDWARE FIXES FOR THIS PROBLEM?

john agnew

Sid Gates

I am sory I have no experience of running my Ram 500 at your density altitude. The problem must lie with the ECU. I did convert my Ram 500 to manual start using a Wren ECO ECU and also replaced the thermocouple and rpm sensor( remember the Ram 500 is an original Wren design made by Ram under license). The cost of all this was ÂŁ120 (about $200).

It also had the advantage of saving nearly 2lbs in weight ( the main reason for doing this) as you remove the starter assembly and use a wand starter with only a small 5 cell battery for the pump. The ECU runs off the rx batt.

Since doing this the Ram has run perfectly with first time starts every time. It was a pain in the a** with the auto start and also burnt out starter motors.

I would think the weight loss would also be helpfull at your altitude.

Wren Turbines may be able to advise you on the density altitude question, they are very approachable.

The thread for the conversion is "Ram500 revitalised".

Hope this helps you.

John

erbroens

Hi Sdgates, I had trouble with the ram 500 here , (3.000 feet above sea level). and this details
helped to make the turbine quite flyable before I sent it to Carlos to upgrade it.

- rised the idle RPM to 65K
- lowered the starting ramp pulse , making the engine get its time to start up.
- added a slight throttle delay at the TX.
- never slammed the throttle to 100% from idle. first I give about 3 clicks, waited about 2 seconds and then quite slowly bring it to full.

I also took off the fuel solenoid and always used a 100% charged battery for every run .

BR, Enrique

Brian B

My Feedback: (5)

Sorry to hear about the problems with the 500. Surely a bad example of the breed. On the other hand, I have two of them that work just fine. Who knows why? I just got lucky, maybe, but I really like my little engines.

rjpmodel

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Sid. As I have told you in our personel emails, the throttle curves can be slowed down for your engine which seems to be more sensitive to normal run up times especially at your altitude. I just responded to Brian (your son) and suggested that one of you call me about changing the throttle settings. Bob.

sidgates

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks for your suggestions concerning my RAM 500 problem.

John Agnew
I had seen you post before about converting to manual start. The weight savings would be good but I don't see how you lost 2 lbs. My gas bottle is 1 3/8oz and the starter with mt case and cable is 2 1/2oz. My pack is 1900ma and weighs 12 oz. I figures if I went to Lipo pack I could save 10oz. The pack saving plus the other items totals about 14 oz.

john agnew

Sidgates

My Ram 500 ready to install as supplied weighes 4 lbs 8oz lbs. As converted it weighs 2 lbs 12 oz. Are you sure you have weighed everything that comes off for the conversion? Remember you have to loose the ECU and all the heavy graupner connectors.

John

sidgates

My Feedback: (2)

More RAM 500 questions:

John Agnew
Does the 5 cell pack power the glow plug on your conversion? My son has the same problems with his RAM 500 concerning density altitude and he has been in contact with WREN. They will guarantee that their engine will run at our altitude or money back.
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BR, Enrique

After the upgrade by Carlos, does your engine now spool up in a reasonable time? What parts did Carlos replace? What settings do you now run?



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Additional comments:

Bob Price has modified my ECU throttle curve and now waiting for test runs. My starter is now acting up (mechanical problem) and will have to repair it to find out the results. I have inspected the motor brushes and they are in good shape. I burned up two starter motors before Bob upgraded my ECU to soft start.

I now have about 16 flights on this engine (all in Texas) so I guess that figures out to about $142.62 per flight.

john agnew

Sidgates

The five cell battery only powers the fuel pump. The ECU draws its power from the Rx battery. You use an external 2 volt battery to power the glow plug and remove this once the turbine has started. Ditto the starter battery.

John

erbroens

Hi Sidgates, the main upgrade in my Ram done by Carlos was changing the ECU. Now it has the latest firmware version that resolves the start motor burning problem. the first versions burned them at a alarming rate, because they didn´t "ramped" the voltage when turning the turbine. Changing the ECU resolved the problem of the burned transistor of the fuel solenoid too.
He also changed the start motor, and made some mods on the combustion chamber. The main problem in my turbine was that if I spooled it too fast, it looses rpm and fire erupts from it, like if it was flooded.... now the problem seems to be resolved. The spool up time now is not very bad, (about 6 or 7 seconds) but you can easily overcome it with some especific flying technique... (many bent gears until learned, LOL)

about the settings I still use 60 Krpm for idle and a little throttle delay on the TX..added some expo too for having 50% power at 50% stick.


Best Regards, Enrique