Thanks OV10 and Hardway for your great advise, I always know I can count on you guys for the straight "dope" on these issues. Contacted Andrew at Motion, who is always very helpful, and he confirmed the same issues with the Gecko. Lesson learned, before trying out any new/differrent equipment, do your ressearch first. Andrew also said programming this ESC can be combersome, and since I'm not the brain surgeon most of you are, I'm not even going to mess with it. Ordered a Castle ESC and I'm done with ever trying a Gecko. Even Andrew said if it was him, just put the Castle in and don't mess with the reprogramming, sound advice. I have 6 Castles in other planes and love that ESC, don't know why I didn't just go with it to begin with, guess I just had a timing issue with my brain-anyone know how I can reprogram my brain or is it a lost cause.
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Official FlightLine F4U-1A Corsair 1600mm (63") Wingspan
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Hugh "Wildman" Wiedman
Hangar: FL/FW: Mig 29 "Cobra", A-10 Arctic, F18 Canadian & Tiger Meet, F16 Wild Weasel, F4 Phantom & Blue Angel, 1600 Corsair & Spitfire, Olive B-24, Stinger 90, Red Avanti. Extreme Flight-FW-190 Red Tulip, Slick 60, 60" Extra 300 V2, 62" MXS Heavy Metal, MXS Green, & Demonstrator. FMS-1700mm P-51, Red Bull Corsair. E-Flite-70mm twin SU-30, Beast Bi-Plane 60", P2 Bi-Plane, P-51.
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I almost put a Castle Cremation in my Ryan, and this is why I did not - but I had several less than desirable concerns expressed from other club users prior to this event. This was the last straw. It went back in the box - never powered it up and went with a Hobbywing 100 instead of the Talon 90. Sold it and broke even. The first thing I saw at this crash was the CC unit. I watched the owner prepare the airplane on its 3rd flight, after all the normal checks and double checks, a fresh charged battery and range check. On the downwind leg of the second circuit from 300’ the airplane stopped responding, nosed down to about 60* and went straight into the desert floor. I was his spotter, maybe we got a bad batch - dunno, but none of our club members will use them and some units have even burned up on the ground.
Just my $.02
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It used to be that Castle was THE go to ESC. Some people would revere them like bowing to a god. So I got one that was on sale. It was a 200A for less than 1/2 the retail price through a well known shop in one of the southern US states. That thing crapped out on the first test run and never worked again. When I now hear the word "Castle", it does nothing for me. I guess I can add "Gecko" to that short list.
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My bubble top has held up well over the Summer. Not that I have her out in direct sun and heat for long but in the times I have, it's been fine. The cockpit will be the first to bake and gator as is always the deal with all these foam cockpits.My YouTube RC videos:
https://www.youtube.com/@toddbreda
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Originally posted by xviper View PostIt used to be that Castle was THE go to ESC. Some people would revere them like bowing to a god. So I got one that was on sale. It was a 200A for less than 1/2 the retail price through a well known shop in one of the southern US states. That thing crapped out on the first test run and never worked again. When I now hear the word "Castle", it does nothing for me. I guess I can add "Gecko" to that short list.Hugh "Wildman" Wiedman
Hangar: FL/FW: Mig 29 "Cobra", A-10 Arctic, F18 Canadian & Tiger Meet, F16 Wild Weasel, F4 Phantom & Blue Angel, 1600 Corsair & Spitfire, Olive B-24, Stinger 90, Red Avanti. Extreme Flight-FW-190 Red Tulip, Slick 60, 60" Extra 300 V2, 62" MXS Heavy Metal, MXS Green, & Demonstrator. FMS-1700mm P-51, Red Bull Corsair. E-Flite-70mm twin SU-30, Beast Bi-Plane 60", P2 Bi-Plane, P-51.
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Originally posted by Monty500 View PostI like the bubble top version but am concerned that the darker blue paint would gator in the New Zealand summer heat. Would be interested in comments from bubble top (and birdcage) owners about their experience over the summer regards gatoring?
Cheers
Mike
I store my foamies in a trailer which gets hot... the heat won't harm it, but leaving it out sitting in direct sun is no good. In addition to the direct sunlight "gatoring" the dark-painted foam when it heats it up, the UltraViolent rays (UV) will degrade and weaken the foam over time. A lot of us here have had success using a clear-coat (like a foam-safe polyurethane) to help protect the foam from the nasty sun.Marc flies FW & FL: AL37, MiG-29, T45,F4, A4, A10, F104 70 and 90, P38, Dauntless SBD, Corsair, B17, B24, B26 & P61, Lipp.P19, ME262, Komets, Vampire, SeaVixen, FMS Tigercat, FOX Glider & Radian XL.
Rabid Models foamies, including my 8' B17 & 9' B36... and my Mud Ducks! www.rabidmodels.com
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Originally posted by RCAV8R View PostHey Guys...I only had 16 flights on my Corsair from when I first bought it back in May and was out with it today, enjoying some new batteries and getting to know the plane again. I had five great flights in and was just finishing up the sixth and final flight after a couple of touch and go's. I turned on final with gear and full flaps deployed, and sensed things were feeling mushy. I added throttle, but felt like there wasn't anything happening. As it slowed and the wings began to wobble I was still adding more power and trying to correct with ailerons, but felt nothing. It went into a spin that I couldn't recover from. As much as I would love to blame it on something, I couldn't find anything mechanical to suspect. The receiver light was solid, the battery had 30+% left, all the control surfaces were working (except the elevator, which was unplugged and I'll never know if that happened before or after), and my transmitter had plenty of charge. It is a total loss, and to add insult to injury, the brand new battery is toast as well.
So, my personal lessons learned are: 1) do not deploy full flaps until on final, 2) add more power while turning to final as a rule (especially on the Corsair), 3) read a reminder in my pre-flight book on every trip to the airfield, reminding myself when in an emergency to always drop the throttle completely and bring it back up (just in case there is a brown-out). That wasn't the case here, but I kicked myself for not doing that procedure instinctively! So this was my first crash in 3 years and 3 months...it still hurts, but I guess nobody gets away completely unscathed. It's an awesome bird and no doubt she will be replaced in the hanger! Rob
my son and I carry a 4.8-5.2v back up battery on all our planes 5# and up. he had an engine out last month, brought the plane in and we found the problem and fixed it. but in down loading the motor/esc flight data it had 18 separate flight entry's for that 2.5minute flight. had he not had the back up battery the first of those 18 restarts would have ended the plane.
JoePlatt: fw190d9 Dynaflite:PT-19 IMP:Macchi202 ESM:fw190 ESM:Tank, Hien Jackson:DH-2 BH:macchi200 Extr:fw190 Holman:me109F H9spit2 FL:F4u,spit 9 FW:me262 GP:us60, Stuka, cub, F4u PZ:me109, albi EF Hurri, T-28 FMS: 2x fw190, me109 Lone Star:Skat Kat RSCombat:2xfw190d9
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Originally posted by Monty500 View PostI like the bubble top version but am concerned that the darker blue paint would gator in the New Zealand summer heat. Would be interested in comments from bubble top (and birdcage) owners about their experience over the summer regards gatoring?
Cheers
Mike
Cheers
Mike
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Not sure this is the right place for this, but since we were talking earlier about "brown" outs on this thread and I mentioned the problem I was having with a gecko 155 amp ESC on my new F-16, I thought I'd pose my question here as well as on the F-16 thread since it seems that the F-16 thread is kind of dead and all the "heavy hitters' with the knowledge I need are on this thread. Here's my question:
As stated before, the Motion recommended Gecko 155amp ESC had major timing issues with the upgraded 4068-1835kV inrunner, causing the throttle to occasionally go dead when the throttle was reduced to 0 and then throttled up (is that a recipe for disaster or what). The only fix is a firmware download or reprogramming the timing, both of which are difficult and 1 guy at Motion told me not to mess with the timing as it may cause the EDF to burn out. Still waiting for Motion to decide what, if anything they are going to do for me, but in the meantime, I ordered from them the Castle 130Amp ESC with 5amp internal BEC that they said would be a good alternative. 1 of them also said the 5amp internal BEC was enough for the 5-17gram servos, 1-9 gram nose steering servo, the nose & main retracts and the lights. My question is, do you guys think the 5 amp peak internal BEC is enough, or should I install a separate 10amp BEC and cut out the internal BEC. I'm just not knowledgeable on how much these servos and retracts actually draw. I have 6 other Castle ESC's with 5 amp BECs running in other planes perfectly, but none of those planes have retracts or lights. Those planes all have 4-6 of the Hitect 7245 servos and never had an issue, so I'm kind of lost here trying to figure out if 5amps is enough for the F-16.Hugh "Wildman" Wiedman
Hangar: FL/FW: Mig 29 "Cobra", A-10 Arctic, F18 Canadian & Tiger Meet, F16 Wild Weasel, F4 Phantom & Blue Angel, 1600 Corsair & Spitfire, Olive B-24, Stinger 90, Red Avanti. Extreme Flight-FW-190 Red Tulip, Slick 60, 60" Extra 300 V2, 62" MXS Heavy Metal, MXS Green, & Demonstrator. FMS-1700mm P-51, Red Bull Corsair. E-Flite-70mm twin SU-30, Beast Bi-Plane 60", P2 Bi-Plane, P-51.
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Originally posted by Hugh Wiedman View PostNot sure this is the right place for this, but since we were talking earlier about "brown" outs on this thread and I mentioned the problem I was having with a gecko 155 amp ESC on my new F-16, I thought I'd pose my question here as well as on the F-16 thread since it seems that the F-16 thread is kind of dead and all the "heavy hitters' with the knowledge I need are on this thread. Here's my question:
As stated before, the Motion recommended Gecko 155amp ESC had major timing issues with the upgraded 4068-1835kV inrunner, causing the throttle to occasionally go dead when the throttle was reduced to 0 and then throttled up (is that a recipe for disaster or what). The only fix is a firmware download or reprogramming the timing, both of which are difficult and 1 guy at Motion told me not to mess with the timing as it may cause the EDF to burn out. Still waiting for Motion to decide what, if anything they are going to do for me, but in the meantime, I ordered from them the Castle 130Amp ESC with 5amp internal BEC that they said would be a good alternative. 1 of them also said the 5amp internal BEC was enough for the 5-17gram servos, 1-9 gram nose steering servo, the nose & main retracts and the lights. My question is, do you guys think the 5 amp peak internal BEC is enough, or should I install a separate 10amp BEC and cut out the internal BEC. I'm just not knowledgeable on how much these servos and retracts actually draw. I have 6 other Castle ESC's with 5 amp BECs running in other planes perfectly, but none of those planes have retracts or lights. Those planes all have 4-6 of the Hitect 7245 servos and never had an issue, so I'm kind of lost here trying to figure out if 5amps is enough for the F-16.
Looking for the same answer....different application. I’ll be watching this.
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Originally posted by t01ga View PostCouldn’t help myself taking more photos.I solemnly swear to "over-celebrate" the smallest of victories.~Lucky B*st*rd~
You'll never be good at something unless you're willing to suck at it first.~Anonymous~
AMA#116446
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Thanks man...I've had some goodies through the years. Just wish I had the funds and space to have kept them all.My YouTube RC videos:
https://www.youtube.com/@toddbreda
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