Have no idea what happened, not very happy about it though It just pitched forward and I could not think fast enough to try anything. There goes two extra large pizzas down the drain.......... :'( http://youtu.be/miymiSjkzlU
Dang, I hate when that happens. There did seem to be a little change in tone of the motor, though it might have been just going from providing lift to not. Now to try and figure out why. ???
If there is anything I hate it's a "mystery crash". I'd a lot rather do something stupid and know what went wrong. So what all did you wipe out? ...Tiger
Sorry for your crash ... I hate to speculate and guess but two things come to mind, my mini PRÔTOS did something similar. Turned out a servo wire had intermittent connection where one servo would fail or stop working from time to time. Only lost a set of expensive CF Mains Blades that time but after the wiring repair she was good to go. Only other thing I can think of and if you do a search over at HeliFreak you will find more info and possible fixes is a "static" electric problem which has been known to kill or intermittently stop an Rx from working. PS: Could also have been a low-volt issue (BEC) but that would be easy to spot as the Rx's LED should be flashing after the crash, assuming Spektrum Rx w/ respect to teh LED flashing !?! [shadow=Orange,left]w00d[/shadow]
Post crash analysis: Front of main frame broken, needs whole new frame, $12.00 Flybar bent, $3.00 Main Blades are toast, $12.00 two servos stripped, $6.00 will probably need new main shaft, $3.00 main gear stripped, $5.00 misc link rods, $5.00 In the end I think it might have been caused by the stabilization computer (Maybe?). Here is why, it was cold there, about 38F with slight overcast, no wind. I set up like I usually do, laptop in the back of the 4Runner with the rear door open, since I was cold I started it (the car), shut all the front doors and windows and turned the heater on max with the fresh air intake option on. I also turned on the rear seat heater on max, with all the blowers at the highest setting. And I had just climbed a hill on the freeway before getting there so the engine was at max thermostat temp. This made a wind tunnel with all the hot air blowing past me and out the rear hatchback door. (and the car exhaust is back there too) When I was hovering the heli was nose out with tail pointed directly at me (and the hot air blowing out the car), this may have made the sensor think that the heli was pointed straight up, I.E. the front sensors saw the cool horizon in front of it (fake cool sky), and the rear sensors saw the hot car air behind it (fake warm ground). So pitching it forward would be the right thing to do if it was pointed up, notice in the video how it only pitched vertical (nose down) and then stopped? It held a true nose dive all the way down. So the lesson learned? Co Pilot II is flawless perfect in the summer on warm days above 60F with no fog. Do NOT get anxious to fly it in the winter when it is too cold to be flying anyway! Took me two crashes now to learn this.
Your reasoning for the mishap sure makes sense. The video showed just a 90 degree turn from horizontal to vertical nose down and nothing more until right at the end. I was going over your parts list and prices thinking of my last mishap. Just the blades for mine was about the price of all your repair parts.
Is this system like the one you are using Pelagic Pilot? Skyhunter Hobby Helicomand HC3-SX: http://www.skyhunterhobbys.com/Helicomand-HC3-SX-HC3-SX.htm
I have not seen that one yet, after some review it looks like this is a combo system. It will do FBL and tail rotor? Plus it does the attitude control but is based on MEMS gyros vs optical. Unless the gyros get lost, it can fly in any orientation and save you from a crash in any weather condidtion. Not sure what they are doing about keeping the gyros from getting lost though? But most systems seem to be going with htis, maybe MEMS are able to handle it? Wookong is MEMS.
I remember you showing me the sensors on your helicopter and I wasn't sure if this was the control unity they plug into. So you think this device does the same thing as yours without the sensors?
It's not a matter of MEMS being so much better. To do this you have to add accelerometers to the mix. That gives you an earth reference to keep everything in sync. ...Tiger
