techrtr

Alright, last weekend I was flying my DF and lost power at about 70 feet and slammed into the ground. I flew it again yesterday and it did the same thing. I was flying really slow with just over 1/2 throttle at about 40 feet. Once again, it lost power and crashed. No damage so I put another battery in and flew again. I got a couple of power drops that lasted a half second or so and then the rotors started up again. Finally, I lost power again and broke one of the arms when it hit.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of periodic power loss? I'm tying to figure out if it's radio interference, a bad capacitor on a motor, or something wrong with the board. I want to eliminate the easy stuff before I send the board back to Spectrolusions.

flyingdutchie

I can recommend reheating/soldering all the connections where the 3 boards are attached to eachother.
Works for me every time.I experienced this issue a few times,after crashes and sometimes i think the soldering cracks due to exessive vibration.A steady hand and a rather fine soldering iron should do the trick.Good luck.

TheHindmost

This problem has been reported my many people here...Searching this forum for "power loss" should bring up lots of potentially useful threads.

Besides resoldering the board connectors, also be sure to check the power connector itself. At least one person here has had a bad power connector...

Will

techrtr

Gives me a couple of things to have a look at. I'm a bit leary of trying to re-solder any of the connections on the board though. Afraid I might fry some delicate component.

flyingdutchie

Yeah I know what you mean..I made a custom "tip" for the iron to reach the difficult spots almost as sleek as a needle.

Fesfly

This has happened to me a few times. My issues were related to the capacitors making contact with the motor housing. It seemed to happen when the DF motors get warm and expand a bit making the contact intermittent. I sheilded all the capacitor so that they can not make contact and haven't had this issue since.

techrtr

Hmmm, I'll check that out too. Might have to do a better job of isolating them.

SAVS

Yep' sent it in to DFI and 4 weeks later got it back with the same power loss! Sorry "DFI" that is the story. I will get to figuring it out as soon as I get tired of the EZ.

techrtr

Well, I repaired the DF last night so I'll fly it this weekend to see if the power loss continues. I'll fly at different fields than my regular spot to see if maybe I'm getting some radio interference.

Strange that DFI wasn't able to diagnose and repair your problem SAVS.

SAVS

That's just it, they did and it cost me a new board...$$

I had also sent in the TX and Batts so they would have the whole system just in case it was something beside the SAVS. I had flown in 3 separate locations and it happened in all 3 so it is not interference.

techrtr

They should just send you a new DF.

SAVS

I don't expect that, but I do expect it to hover, up, down, around, land (softly), and generally be easier to deal with. I want a tool not a second job.

techrtr

Flew again today. Noticed that I was getting momentary power loss near the end of the flights. I'm starting to wonder if there is a problem with the batteries. I'm sure I'm hitting 200 cycles on each of them and flight times have really dropped off. I think I read somewhere that when batteries are approaching the end of the life they can have power drops. One of the things I don't like about the stock DF batteries is they don't have a plug for a balancer. They have that built in circuitry but I've heard it's pretty hokey.

laceycopter

If you are still using 1300's buy some of the Thunder Power 2000 or 2100's they have balance plugs .....lots more power and 18 min flights.
Happy Flyin,
Lacey

SAVS

There are several Thunder Power 2000/2100's, can I get a part # ?...Denny

techrtr

I have to get some 2100's for my T-Rex anyway so I'll be upgrading soon. I think any 2100 mAh battery is fine as long as it's 11.1V. For example, RCToys has the Thunder Power Pro Lite SKU: TP-2100-3SPL which I guess would be fine. $69.95 US seems like a pretty good price too.

laceycopter

From Rc Toys 2000Mah TP-2000-3SPL, 2070Mah TP-2070-3SX, 2100Mah TP-2100-3SPL any of these work well I like the 2100's
Happy Flyin,
Lacey

SAVS

I just ordered a couple, thanks!