Lockout/Brownout Problems - Static is a #1 issue

[mk1spitfire]

We got cold dry air here in England at the moment.
I just completed 15 flights on T500. No Bonding and No lubing. Everything great.

I do have a can of graphite 33 to bleed off the static at source, between the belt on pulley but havn't used yet.

I also watch that both LED's on the receivers are not blinking before take off. Sometimes one blinks for no reason on the ar7000.

Meanwhile I had my first crash yesterday but I wasn't flying It!.
Whilst I was out my large dog got spooked by tank fire near the military ranges.
He got in my room and trashed it, knocking my T500 from the top of the chest drawers. It fell 5ft cracked the canopy and chipped my white carbon blade.
£60 worth of damage by a brown nosed mutt out for trouble.

Thought I just share that little story with you.

Mk1.

[forjer]

If you're concerned about noise escaping from the motor / ESC wires, here's a real nice heatshrink / shield / drain to a ground solution.

PDF.

Vendor page.

[Pinecone]

Still have to connect it to ground.

[forjer]

Originally Posted by forjer

... drain to a ground...

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Still have to connect it to ground.

Right.

It's probably a bit excessive, but works wonders for grounding noise...and preferably not helis!

[tkbr0wn]

(I posted this on another thread but this seems to be the more appropriate place.....)


Im no electrical engineer, so I need some advice. The other day while I was in Fry's, I saw a pen that can be used to make circuits. This is probably a silly question, but could I use that to "color" in a circuit from the bearing in the boom block to the frame? I know some were using wires, but it seems like this could potentially be easier. Am I off my rocker?

Here is a link to something like I saw....

http://www.emsdiasum.com/microscopy/...eet/12644.aspx

[Pinecone]

The problem would be making sure when you inserted the bearing you didn't break the trace. And they don't work over gaps well. But there are some places that would work fine.

As for the wires, you can also get some simple metal braiding, like used in coax cable and slip over the individual wires or bundles. Think about the bling, SS braid covered wiring.

[HeliBurns]

forjer,

The data sheet specifies that the shielding is for 1Mhz to 1Ghz......

[fireup]

what might work better than a contuctive ink pen, is aluminum tape used in duct work, better yet, copper tape used for fixing PCB's

[forjer]

Originally Posted by HeliBurns

forjer,

The data sheet specifies that the shielding is for 1Mhz to 1Ghz......

Sorry, I didn't realize the potential noise escaping from the motor leads was outside that.

[rasjax]

What about using something like this to prevent voltage drops, if that is indeed part of the
problem.



Spektrum Voltage Protector
Overview
Spektrum's new Voltage Protector prevents a DSM™ receiver's voltage from dropping below the proper operating level in lower voltage applications such as 4-cell 1/12 carpet racers. Installation is as simple as plugging it into an open channel slot on the receiver unit.

Key Features

• For DSM system
• Prevents voltage drops to receiver
• Plugs into any open channel slot

http://www.spektrumrc.com/Products/D...ProdID=SPM1600

[Socal500]

With this complete grounding setup I understand the theory that it will not build up on the belt but what exactly happens. Is it absorbed or is the VDG Generator effect just cancelled out?

[widower]

The generator is just shorted out so you won't get a buildup of static that all of a sudden has enough energy to jump a gap. Instead, the voltage never builds up.

Kind of like shorting your battery pack (don't do it) while it's on the charger. The battery will never charge.

[DoctorAudio]

So how many of you guys are running the AR7000, in your 500? If so, have you had any problems with brown out?

Thanks, Elvan

[Finless]

MORE RECENT PROOF Static Exists in the tail system


Bob

[fireup]

That's great, now we can do some tests and see which solution works the best to take out this ESD.

[DominicD]

Van de Graaff generator baby !!!!!!

[dva]

I have noticed that the belt is made out of a diffrent material than the other Align belts. I wonder if this has anything to do with the increased problems with static?

[nitrouspete]

Hi, I am new to this hobby and it has sure started out with a lot of trouble shooting on my part. My HDX 450 with mostly Align T-Rex parts has shown the lock out problem. After trouble shooting and talking to many others that are electrical aircraft engineers it is clear that under certain conditions this will happen. What has to be done is to GROUND everything that can make a build up of electrical noise. I have recently attached a ground from my tail boom to main shaft block to motor block and finally to the negative of the battery. All Modern AIRCRAFT have grounds on every major part and on their airframe for this reason. I will be soon building and flying my T-Rex 450 and so far with bench testing the T-rex seems less noisy without making the grounding. But, I will in fact do it anyway for sure.

Thanks for a great forum. And everyones help.
Keep it in the Air.

[Socal500]

We just tested with a Fluke 196C. No images but here are the results. This is with the main blades off and spooling up at zero pitch.

Measurements on the CF Frame
Frame not grounded. 3.5 volts on the frame
Frame grounded at motor mount to ESC negative flatline on the frame.

Measurement on the tail boom
Frame not grounded. 2.3 volts generated at the boom
Frame grounded 2.3 volts generated at the boom
Frame / boom / tailshaft / front pulley all grounded was flatline

We did not spray the belt. I cannot say this was static, only that we got the 2.3 volts reading on the tail boom regardless of grounding frame or not. I also turned the rotor head by hand while measuring and without the blades on I could not get it spinning very fast but was able to reach 1 volt. Under conditions better for static build up I guess the readings on the tail could be higher.

[helihenk]

Hi,

So there are many options given for what can be the problem .
Is grounding the boom with the pully's THE solution ?

I crashed mine last weekend , cause it just started pirouetting after 4 minutes of normal flying .
I managed to autorotate , but came in a little to hard so the only damage was a couple of skids .

I couldn't see anything strange then on the 500 , everything worked .
I was setting up the CSM SL420 at that time , but couldn't figure out what I could have done wrong ( I fly all heli's with CSM gyro's )

After reading all the story's I'm even more thinking that the gyro had a reset cause of a possible high Voltage spark .

Got my skids in , but don't like to crash it again .

So what's the best clue ???


Henk

Netherlands