Troubleshooting

[chipset35]

On my E-Flite P47D Razor back which uses a 6 channel Spektrum Receiver, only the throttle, rudder, and elevators operate.
All of the wing related control surfaces no longer work, i.e. Landing Gear, Aileron's, and Flaps.
I checked all the connections and even unattached and reattached them.
Binded it all again, even removed and recreated the aircraft entry etc etc etc.
Same result.
My question is how do I know if it is a servo issue, ESC issue or Receiver issue?
It is interesting that only the "Wing" related controls are not working.
This aircraft crashed over the weekend and I had to repair the foam fuselage.
The wing was still attached, but the tail section and part of the rear fuselage broke off.
I repaired it all, and like I said the issue cited above still exists.
Any ideas?

[xviper]

You need to do other tests. Do you have a servo tester? Use one to try and drive each servo (not plugged into the RX). If it still doesn't work, disassemble the plane enough to get to the first servo plug (before any extensions) and test the servo directly. If it works, you've just narrowed it down to the extension area. Get a known working servo and plug it into the RX where each of the non-working control surfaces go. If it works, you've confirmed it's not the RX. If some of the control surfaces work and you say the throttle fires up the motor, then the ESC is likely not the problem. The ESC is powering the motor and the BEC in the ESC is powering the RX, so it's OK.

[chipset35]

You need to do other tests. Do you have a servo tester? Use one to try and drive each servo (not plugged into the RX). If it still doesn't work, disassemble the plane enough to get to the first servo plug (before any extensions) and test the servo directly. If it works, you've just narrowed it down to the extension area. Get a known working servo and plug it into the RX where each of the non-working control surfaces go. If it works, you've confirmed it's not the RX. If some of the control surfaces work and you say the throttle fires up the motor, then the ESC is likely not the problem. The ESC is powering the motor and the BEC in the ESC is powering the RX, so it's OK.

I went ahead and just finished trying what you recommended.
Here is what happened...
Before changing anything, I checked just to make sure everything was still as it was.
Unfortunately, "nothing works now at all".
Tried re-binding etc etc.
I switched the servo out on the aileron's and installed a new one I had as a spare and nothing.
Replaced the receiver with a spare 4-channel RX I had and IT WORKED!
I guess the old RX is bad since nothing will work in it anymore, as well as all the wing related servo's (Rudder and Flaps).
Not sure about the landing gear servo's, but I expect they are bad too now.
Is there a good upgrade brand/model of servo's you can recommend that's better than the one's that come stock with the E-Flite P47D Razorback 1.2m?
Is it common for servo's to strip or go bad after a crash?
I am guessing that they burn out if moved against resistance?

[bob_stan]

I would still follow xviper's advice and get a cheap servo tester and test all the servos directly. Of course it is possible that the crash did destroy a bunch of servos at once, but I think that is unlikely.

[chipset35]

I would still follow xviper's advice and get a cheap servo tester and test all the servos directly. Of course it is possible that the crash did destroy a bunch of servos at once, but I think that is unlikely.

It is even now more confusing...
I just removed all the electronics, and hooked up both the old and new servo's to a different RX.
The old and new aileron servo's which did not work on the old RX worked on the spare RX and ESC I had (both identical Spektrum 6 channel), but not the new retracts.
Every single "Y connector"did not work on the old RX or the spare; thus I had to plug the ailerons, flaps, and retracts in one at a time without the "Y Connectors" which are obviously bad.
When the plane crashed all those wires and connectors got "jerked" when the fuselage split in half.
Then I hooked everything back up to the old RX and ESC, and again everything worked except the new flap servos and old and new retracts.
As I was troubleshooting the flaps and retracts, somewhere along the way "everything" stopped working.
Rebind, rebind, delete model, recreate model etc etc.
When I hook up a spare 4-channel spectrum to the same ESC I hear what sounds like a morse code sound that never stops, but throttle, ailerons, elevators, and rudder work, but obviously cannot hook up the retracts or flaps as there are not enough channels.
I am beginning to think it is the ESC or a loose ESC connection, as I was always able to at least get rudder and elevators, then a brief improvement with ailerons, but never on channel 5 or 6 (flaps & gears).
I had to stop working on it as my head was spinning and I need a break.
Next step is to examine the ESC connections.

[xviper]

You should be able to isolate the ESC supplying power to the RX. If a Spektrum RX is working, you should see a light on inside of it. This does not eliminate the possibility that your RX was damaged in the crash. In your case, binding repeatedly, making a new model really does nothing. Get a new RX. You don't have to pay the high cost of Spektrum when a cheaper Lemon or Admiral will do just as well.
As for the servo tester, if you don't have one, you can still plug in things like flaps and retracts into say, your elevator port just to see if they work. Flaps will work proportionally as you move the stick and retracts should work if you hold the stick at the ends of their travel - one end will retract the gear and the other end will deploy it, in the middle nothing should happen. It's not rocket science here, just an understanding of how RXs and servos work.

[fhhuber]

You can make servos/retracts not work by plugging ONE in negative/signal reversed to a Y harness.
This makes BOTH (all in case of a 3 way Y for trike retracts) fail to work.
Nothing is damaged with + in center servo connections when you plug negative/signal reversed.

Easy error to make. so double check the color codes. on the wires vs how its plugged into the RX.

[chipset35]

Here is an update...
Noticed the original RX no longer binds, in fact it seemed to get worse over the past week during testing.
I took a perfectly new and unused RX and plugged in all the electronics from the aircraft, even removing them all from the aircraft.
Guess what? EVERYTHING worked, except one servo which is stripped.
Also, the little orange light on the Spectrum RX no longer lights up steady, although it would flash when ready for binding.
Thus, my conclusion is one bad servo and a RX.
Orange LED's work properly on the new RX.

[chipset35]

CONFUSED...
So, thinking based on a weeks worth of testing that I had a bad RX, one bad servo, and a bad "Y" harness, I went to get my other aircraft ready to fly while the glue dried on the P47D.
My ever faithful E-Flite F4F Wildcar just needed it's receiver back from the tests I used it on (P47D).
Hooked everything up and........same issues NOW as the P47D, except at least for now it binds, but then nothing.
Orange LED will flash during binding but then no steady orange afterwards.
All control surfaces dead as a door nail.
I would have thought well maybe the P47D's ESC was burning the RX's out?
Regardless, two RX's that have no steady orange LED now.
One no longer binds and the other binds but will not operate (no steady orange LED).
The history would be that eventually this 2nd RX goes completely dead too.

Thus, I think it's one of the following:
1) P47D's ESC is frying the RX's
2) Bad TX
3) Battery's too low to test the control surfaces etc.

When I test on non flying days I use battery's that are at their "storage" levels.
Has always worked fine doing this, but this past week I did a ton of testing so it's possible the battery might have drained too low.
Thus, I am charging the battery ATM to flight levels to see if it makes a difference.
If after a full charge, and it still does not work then I am thinking TX is bad and/or ESC is frying the RX's.?

So frustrated.

[xviper]

I think we've arrived at a point where a few more details are needed, PLUS, you really need to get yourself a servo tester and a battery tester. "Guessing" what level of charge is in a LiPo is not a good way to continue in this hobby.
Next, you need to tell us details about very common things like .................................. What size and type of battery are you using? What kind of Tx are you using? Are all polarities of your leads going into "Y's" and into the Rx correctly orientated? How far away are you from the Rx when you are trying to bind? Is your throttle trim on the Tx all the way down? Are you powering up the plane with the bind plug installed before powering up the TX? Are you holding down the bind button first before turning on the Tx? There is something going on here that we don't know about - something so simple that perhaps only someone in the same place as you can actual see is not being done correctly. You might be better off to go to your flying field and solicit help from a real person. Diagnosing over the internet is not always going to work.

[chipset35]

I think we've arrived at a point where a few more details are needed, PLUS, you really need to get yourself a servo tester and a battery tester. "Guessing" what level of charge is in a LiPo is not a good way to continue in this hobby.
Next, you need to tell us details about very common things like .................................. What size and type of battery are you using? What kind of Tx are you using? Are all polarities of your leads going into "Y's" and into the Rx correctly orientated? How far away are you from the Rx when you are trying to bind? Is your throttle trim on the Tx all the way down? Are you powering up the plane with the bind plug installed before powering up the TX? Are you holding down the bind button first before turning on the Tx? There is something going on here that we don't know about - something so simple that perhaps only someone in the same place as you can actual see is not being done correctly. You might be better off to go to your flying field and solicit help from a real person. Diagnosing over the internet is not always going to work.

You are da MAN!
After all this, it was indeed the polarity of the "Y" connector!
I feel like such a newb!
Color coded wires and I ignored them.
:Crying:

[C17loadmaster]

I installed a new ESC last night in a FW 70mm F-16 and also ran into similar problems. Everything worked fine initially until I ran up the motor. The EDF would sputter and the throttle would stick at a random rpm and not change with the input from the TX throttle. Out of nowhere, one of the 3 gear extended on its own. I ran the motor up again and noticed smoke coming from deep in the fuselage!! I quickly unplugged the lipo and removed the EDF and ESC. Turns out that the negative bullet connection on the power lead extension was broken, but hidden by the shrink wrap. I repaired the connection and the motor ran fine. However, the gear did not work at all. I used other spare gear for testing and they worked fine. The short in the ESC connection fried all of my landing gear. Luckily, they’re common retracts and I had 3 spare. I just thought I would share being as this is the first time I experienced this... now the question arises of “do I trust the rest of the servos? Or swap them all?”