Watch Your Tx Batt!

[tanweeho]

I learnt this lesson the painful way.... I was engrossed in practising my hovering w/o realizing that the tx batt has gone extremely low (left with one bar). As per normal routine, i pushed down the throttle to nil and went to pick up my heli. Suddenly my heli went mad! The blades started to spin like as if it was in full throttle! Caught unprepared, my hands were cut and the heli's blades broke as i dropped the heli out of shock. Left with no choice, i decided to bear a few more cuts (the blades were still spinning) while trying to disconnect the batt. By then, my hands were bleeding (not profusely, of course) from the cuts.

Come to think of it, i should had turned off the tx instead of the heli.

To experts out there... does the tx send wrong signals to the heli when its batt is in low level?

[w_kby]

Sound scary and strange. You are at very close range with your heli and even if the Tx battery is low (not flat), I don't think it should happen like that.

Did your Tx antenna accidentally touch the heli? What frequency are you using? Could be other interference, glitches?

I have always had this fear when holding my Trex which is why I started the thread below:

http://www.daddyhobby.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16335&highlight=hold+heli

Take care and always be extra careful handling heli

I learnt this lesson the painful way.... I was engrossed in practising my hovering w/o realizing that the tx batt has gone extremely low (left with one bar). As per normal routine, i pushed down the throttle to nil and went to pick up my heli. Suddenly my heli went mad! The blades started to spin like as if it was in full throttle! Caught unprepared, my hands were cut and the heli's blades broke as i dropped the heli out of shock. Left with no choice, i decided to bear a few more cuts (the blades were still spinning) while trying to disconnect the batt. By then, my hands were bleeding (not profusely, of course) from the cuts.

Come to think of it, i should had turned off the tx instead of the heli.

To experts out there... does the tx send wrong signals to the heli when its batt is in low level?

[Ghostfit]

Most of us running a better radio will have the radio "Beeping" away when the Tx voltage drops below 9V (or thereabout depending on the brand), On those "RTF" bundled type Tx this point is where you dun have anymore Green Led lit. ...also there is No audio warning when it has reach a critical voltage (I.e around 20-30 capacity remainding) .....there is where your danger lies !

....All green Leds lit = Battery Full (Safe)
....One green Led lit = Battery low, get ready to change/recharge (Safe)
....No green Led lit = stop flying ASAP and change/recharge batteries (Unsafe)
....Only one red Led lit = DANGER !!!

I should say, you were quite lucky as the heli did not fly off and hit someone else !

[Ghostfit]

Come to think of it, i should had turned off the tx instead of the heli.

Generally not a good idea ! ...your electronics has already been initialises and the motor will run ! ....most likely go to full throttle and stays there ! (Assuming you're running "RTF" type Tx and Rx not the better PCM stuffs)

When your Tx batteries go "flat", it's like a car running outta petrol, it will sputter and jerk before totally dying ! .....the trick is to avoid reaching such a stage by closely monitoring the LEDs (they are colored Red, Orange and Green for a purpose !)

[Matt]

the samething happend to me the other day but my battery was full, i landed my helicopter went to go pick it up and went full throttle and i dropped it luckly nothing broke, but i picked it up again this time the motor came on again and droped it inverted and broke only a pair of blades. reminder to put your throttle lock on and i still dont know what happend.

[w_kby]

For Electric heli, as long as the battery is still connected to the heli, the heli will never be absolutely safe to handle. Therefore, where possible disconnect the battery before handling it.

Otherwise, hold the heli like you will never trust it will not spin on you.

If you are holding the heli by the blades and it suddenly spin up, the tail will be going in circles at very high speed....so better be mentally prepare how to handle that situation. Wonder what would be the best thing to do?

Also, when you are not flying, never leave your heli with battery connected even if the ESC is turn off. This is the advise from the ESC manufacturer.

I have seen the same happened to others before during FF. You will never know the real reason that causes this to happen, so better be safe then sorry!