HELP! FMS B-25 Mitchell PnP 1470mm Green FMM025PGRN

[chipset35]

I just purchased, received and put together the "FMS B-25 Mitchell Warbird Plug-N-Play Electric Airplane (1470mm) (Green)" Part# FMM025PGRN.
The instruction manual is horrible, as you cannot view the screw inventory and I think I am missing the 4 screws for the wings. I have the two for each nacelles (4 total), and the pair for the tail, but no screws for the wings.
Also, the manual says and shows the Sequencer is labeled "Channel 5" B and C, but its labeled "Channel 5 B" for both sets of the two "triple" cables.
There is no triple cable labeled "Channel 4 C"
Also, there is no mention in the manual of "Flaps" yet I have a "Y cable" labeled Flaps and seems the LED cables (2 pin not 3 pin) are labeled Flaps as well, but the Y cable is 3 prong and the wires are smaller 2 prong.
No idea where to plug the throttle cables in as I have the "Y Connector" but do not see any cables from the engines that say throttle.
Wing screws, proper "Y Connectors" and help with the "Throttle Y connector, as its plugged into the RX per the manual, but what do the two leads connect to?
I notified Tech Support /Customer Service...
Any of you own this product and had similar issues?

[RRHandy]

Ok, there are no screws for the wing per se, if you look at the bottom of the wings you will see some holes inline were the CF tub should slide in, that is a pinch clamp that the CF tube needs to slide thru ( may have to loosen it ), one for each tube per wing. The LEDs get power from the flap connection, just line the pos. and neg. wires on the LED just as you would a servo three wire. You say that you have no wires coming out of the wings for the throttles, might just be pushed in the wing where you did not see, slide the wings out and if I remember right I had to take the Y and first slide it out both sides and then connect then push the wings in.
You could save your self a bit of trouble if you get a servo tester so you could find what is what.

Hope this helps. R.

https://www.motionrc.com/collections/servo-testers/products/gt-power-servo-and-esc-tester

[chipset35]

Ok, there are no screws for the wing per se, if you look at the bottom of the wings you will see some holes inline were the CF tub should slide in, that is a pinch clamp that the CF tube needs to slide thru ( may have to loosen it ), one for each tube per wing. The LEDs get power from the flap connection, just line the pos. and neg. wires on the LED just as you would a servo three wire. You say that you have no wires coming out of the wings for the throttles, might just be pushed in the wing where you did not see, slide the wings out and if I remember right I had to take the Y and first slide it out both sides and then connect then push the wings in.
You could save your self a bit of trouble if you get a servo tester so you could find what is what.

Hope this helps. R.


https://www.motionrc.com/collections...and-esc-tester

Checking for the throttle wires.
Yep, I ordered a servo tester and battery checker from Motion RC yesterday.
:)

[xviper]

Checking for the throttle wires.
Yep, I ordered a servo tester and battery checker from Motion RC yesterday.
:)

CAUTION! Don't use the servo tester on the lights (2 wire connectors). You can easily fry them.

[RRHandy]

CAUTION! Don't use the servo tester on the lights (2 wire connectors). You can easily fry them.

Yes, should have mentioned that. R.

[RRHandy]

Checking for the throttle wires.
Yep, I ordered a servo tester and battery checker from Motion RC yesterday.
:)

Take the pods or nacelle off and look for them there, the esc are just behind the motor so they have to be there. :Confused:

[chipset35]

Everything is working now, except still no throttle response.
I checked the connections of the wires/cables that run thru the wing, channel assignments, took the wings and nacelle's off too.
Also, during the throttle calibration that the manual says to do, I am not getting any beeps either.
Help!

[RRHandy]

Put the throttle trim all the way down on the transmitter, some esc don't like it set to the center position, that's for gas and glow engine set-ups. R.

[chipset35]

Put the throttle trim all the way down on the transmitter, some esc don't like it set to the center position, that's for gas and glow engine set-ups. R.

Still, no power.
Also, the nose gear only goes down if I click the landing gears assigned switch right after binding.
After that, only the two wing gear and all 3 doors work.
Very frustrating

[RRHandy]

Do you have a throttle cut? the Y in backwards? one or the motor leads in backwards, won't work in you have the signal wire reversed on the Y or the receiver. Extend the gear and disconnect the gear doors and manually retract the mains and then reconnect to the receiver, see if they all work at the same time. R.

[chipset35]

Do you have a throttle cut? the Y in backwards? one or the motor leads in backwards, won't work in you have the signal wire reversed on the Y or the receiver. Extend the gear and disconnect the gear doors and manually retract the mains and then reconnect to the receiver, see if they all work at the same time. R.

Thanks, I will try again tonight.
I do not use a throttle cut.

[TiredIronGRB]

Thanks, I will try again tonight.
I do not use a throttle cut.

I would suggest getting together with a local club and get some help from someone more experienced, it's much easier if you have someone there in person to look over your setup to see what is wrong. As for the manuals, the only page that is worth looking at is the CG diagram...and sometimes that's not correct ;)

[fhhuber]

For ESCmotor diagnosis:

1: REMOVE THE PROPELLERS

2: Test one motor/ESC at a time. Just leave the other ESC not plugged in to the receiver or Y harness. Battery power to an ESC without a prop on the motor might by some strange circumstance spin the motor, but it won't hurt anything (really should not spin the motor)

3: Make sure of the color codes from ESC to extension or Y and on to the RX. Generally darkest color is negative. (Brown or black are the most common) Lightest should be "signal" (White, yellow or orange are the 3 most common colors)
Futaba, ESC plugs to channel 3
Spektrum/JR, ESC plugs to channel 1
Airtronics (not seen much now) ESC plugs to channel 2.

4: Ensure the throttle stick is all the way down. If it has slider type trim, slide that down too.

5: Transmitter is turned on first. Then connect the battery in the airplane.

6: You should get beeps from the ESCs (actually the motors are acting as speakers) indicating they see power,then your controls (rudder/ailerons/elevator) should start responding)

7; Unplugged (throttle channel) ESC might keep beeping occasionally. Ignore it.

8: If the ESC connected to RX keeps repeating a beep pattern... STOP. Its asking if you want to enter programming mode.
If this happens, unplug he battery in the airplane and reverse the throttle channel. Then go back to step 4.

9: Advance the throttle to full.
9 a: throttle responds and the motor spins that one works.
9 b: You get a single beep from that motor. You just armed the motor. Pull the stick back to 0, then advance it again and the motor should respond.

9 c: Nothing... You probably have some form of throttle "failsafe" in the transmitter requiring an arming sequence. Try pulling throttle back, then forward again (Dynam might want this)
Flip a switch on the transmitter... repeat moving the throttle stick all the way up and down TWICE. (looking for a throttle cut-off switch. It will be a switch, not a dial or slider) Repeat until yu have tried all of the switches twice. (or stop if you find it)

See where that gets you. If you have one motor working, then plug the other ESC into the receiver, being sure to match the color codes. One ESC plugged backward in the Y harness will disable BOTH. (won't break anything... the motors just won't respond to throttle)

THEN we check for direction of rotation vs propeller pitch angle.

[chipset35]

FYI, the channel assignments are different in the manual than what my TX and RX has, for example, the manual uses a FMS RX in its channel assignments .
And when I match the channel assignments per the manual they do not work properly.
But, If I assign them the way all of my other Spektrum RX's are set up all works fine except the motors.
FMS RX example the manual gives is: 1 Aileron, 2 Elevator, 3 Throttle, 4 Steering wheel/rudder, 5 Electronic Landing Gear System, 6 LEDs
Spektrum is: 1 Throttle, 2 Ailerons, 3 Elevator , 4 rudder, 5 Electronic Landing Gear System, 6 Aux
I can change the order per above but it messes up everything as if controls are double binded.
Better to have all but one work that everything acting crazy.

[xviper]

FYI, the channel assignments are different in the manual than what my TX and RX has, for example, the manual uses a FMS RX in its channel assignments .
And when I match the channel assignments per the manual they do not work properly.
But, If I assign them the way all of my other Spektrum RX's are set up all works fine except the motors.
FMS RX example the manual gives is: 1 Aileron, 2 Elevator, 3 Throttle, 4 Steering wheel/rudder, 5 Electronic Landing Gear System, 6 LEDs
Spektrum is: 1 Throttle, 2 Ailerons, 3 Elevator , 4 rudder, 5 Electronic Landing Gear System, 6 Aux
I can change the order per above but it messes up everything as if controls are double binded.
Better to have all but one work that everything acting crazy.

Disregard what a manual says with regards to where to plug a lead into the Rx. That's just for reference. You're trying to second guess what FMS want's you to do. They are always throttle to throttle, AIL to AIL, ELE to ELE, etc. AUX1 generally defaults to flaps but the flap menu doesn't open up till you tell the TX that you've got flaps. Spektrum and Spektrum compatible Rx's generally have all the ports labelled. The exception might be the AR636 Rx, in which case, they are just numbered and the programming of the Rx does the channel assignments but even the open stock AR636 the port positions are the same. For a start, follow post #13.
Polarity is important for all leads. Throttle trim to the bottom is important.

[chipset35]

Found the problem!
I was performing the steps fhhuber posted, and as I was tracing the wires to one of the motors, I found the connection to be backwards.
The connector was tie wrapped with a fastener per the instructions with the other wires from that wing/engine "deep" within the bundle of fastened wires with a combination of being hard to see, hard to get to, and partially hidden by the dang label, i was using a flashlight when I noticed the error in the connection.
Geeeeeeeez, I can't believe it!
Working like a champ now, thank you for everyone's help.

[chipset35]

So here is an update, I was about to go fly when I noticed one of the two main gear was leaning.
Turns out, the screws were over torqued at the factory and cracked the plastic thread housings.
Also, the nose gear only worked after a bind then would no longer work after the first retract.
Was able to get 2 replacement retracts, but they look older despite being listed as replacement parts.
The wires are thinner and the main internal is plastic and not metal.
Regardless, finally got all 3 gear/retracts working, but every time I plug the battery in and it goes thru its cycling, the doors try to close slightly and then both the gear and doors close then open.
During that first cycle the doors actually touch the landing gear before pulling back.
That cant be good
None of my E-Flite aircraft ever did this.

[RRHandy]

Mine dose the same thing for a brief second then opens back up, hasn't done any thing to the door or servo, as for it going thru a cycle? mine don't so can't help with that. R.

[Alpha]

Hi Chipset35, have you maidened your B-25 yet? It's an older FMS bird, over six years now, but I still enjoy flying mine whenever it makes it out to fly. 3s 3000 gives long flight times and balances nicely with a minimal snipping.

[chipset35]

Hi Chipset35, have you maidened your B-25 yet? It's an older FMS bird, over six years now, but I still enjoy flying mine whenever it makes it out to fly. 3s 3000 gives long flight times and balances nicely with a minimal snipping.

Not yet Alpha, I had to get a set of two retracts from amain because one of the plastic housings was cracked from the factory over torquing screws into it and the nose gear would not always work.
Everything is finally working, but I am afraid to fly it because I have been on a bad streak.
Ever since my P47D maiden where I flew that plane great 3x in a row, I ended up crashing it 3x in a row before it got lost in a soybean field.
I know the cause was the E-Flite elevator always coming apart even with glue, but it still shook me up.
I am waiting for that dang Soy Bean field to be harvested....I bet I find my two planes in it and probably others will find their aircraft too.
Dont want to lose that green B-25 in a green field!