Carbon Cub total loss of control

[Jim3705]

I have been flying my Carbon Cub for about 6 months with no issues. Yesterday I was flying in colder weather (35F) and about 5 minutes into the final flight of the day I lost all control of the plane. It decended rapidly and crashed and broke into 3 pieces. I was less than 75 feet from the plane when this happened and the controller sticks would do nothing.

Anyone have an idea what happened. Could the controller batteries or main battery have gone too low? None of the "automatic save" features which the plane has that react when there is a loss of battery voltage occurred.

My son also had the same thing happen with his Carbon Cub.

Is this a common problem with the Carbon Cub? If so, how do you avoid it?

Thanks all - new to forum.

[Sureshot]

The ESC most likely died. Same thing happened to mine. Horizon might make things right if the plane is fairly new.
Steve

[Jim3705]

Thanks. I am contacting Horizon. The plane is back in one piece and checks out ok.

The ESC makes all the right noises when power is applied and everything on the plane works fine on the bench.

I was running higher throttle that day than usual due to wind. Maybe the ESC overheated??

[406PIlot]

I'm curious to see what Horizon says...... Let us know!

[Jim3705]

Interesting: The ESC in my plane is an 18 amp. The replacement one Horizon sells for the Carbon Cub is a 30 amp. Could it be the 18 amp cannot dissipate enough heat and overheats?

I have been talking with Horizon and will post more as I get it in from them.

[F22trainer]

I first had the ESC go out on mine - replaced with the 40 AMP, then the Flight Controller and receiver module kept trying to kill the airplane with total loss of inputs.So it has a basic Spektrum 6 channel ( I have the flap mod) and no problems since. I seldom used the GPS related features and even removed it, but the thing kept losing signal so out with the old and in with the new. Low rates can be set to resemble the Beginner modes.

[Jim3705]

So Horizon thinks the flight battery just went low due to the cold. I doubt it since it was still above 11 volts (3 cell) and I lost everything (motor and servos).

Question? When the ESC cuts out due to low battery voltage does it cut just the electric motor or both the motor and servos?

Everything checks ok on the bench.

Other experienced RC flyers think I just had a "brown out" and lost all control. I guess this is somewhat common.

So, I need to do a radio range check and fly again. I did put new batteries in the transmitter.

[xviper]

The ESC can hit the Low Voltage Cutoff, shut the motor down but the BEC should still function as it only needs a few volts to work, thus allowing servos to continue to work for a dead stick landing. These Carbon Cubs with the fancy schmancy geofencing and GPS type functions are a nightmare and Horizon will point the finger at anything else but to admit that the fancy features are at fault. F22trainer has a great post in that he replaced the stock flight controller/RX with a "normal" one.
I flew with a couple of fellas yesterday who brought out their Cubs. Both had nothing but weirdness with them until they defeated the "fancy" features. Both fly very well now. For a long time now, we've seen posts from many people who have had similar experiences with their Cubs (and other Horizon planes with the GPS features).

[Jim3705]

Update: I put new batteries in the transmitter. The plane has been flown twice with a fully changed battery and the GPS turned off. Flight times of 6-7 minutes and no problems at about 50 degrees. I'm not sure what happened when I lost power but for now it seems ok. Just need to keep flying and see how thing go.

[LangdonJohn]

I'm curious to see what Horizon says...... Let us know!

same! actually before such purchases, I always try to find as much info as possible about how the company reacts at complaints