Spektrum AR500 problems

[ransideous]

mate bought rtf pz corsair in oct '08. dx5e, ar500, good entry level warbird. in its life so far it has ventured no further than that fuse. i purchased a dx5e tx/rx package in oct '09. my rx has seen 3 birds and a losi micro rock crawler, which i learned the hardway about current and killed an esc and a battery pack by running 2x13 kg mg standard servos through esc(1.5 amp). it currently resides in an st model elec. fox glider. not a glitch. only problem i have had is low voltage tx and micro stuff, mainly ar6400. which figures because the bricks only run at 4.2 volts max single cell lipo and need stronger single strength (from 1 green light left and below on tx... be warned, i've dropped at this capacity and less! no red light and.....thmp).

apart form micro, no complaints. back to my mate......and no real issues until end of april '10...recently infact, at vic park adelaide. had real trouble binding his tx to rx, had to bind his to tx to my rx and my tx to his rx then his tx to his rx for it to bind?!?!?!?!?!?!? wtf! should have sniffed something there............but like trusting lambs to commercial slaughter..... we flew.
now, couple of minutes in corsair locks in a direction, cant remember off top of head, from 20m, 3 death spirals, about 4-5 seconds of no signal and 1.5m off the ground......signal. my mate landed promptly then soiled . i continued to fly on same system through same areas unaffected.

back home, we thoroughly tested power sources and tx/rx combos to this conclusion....
both our dx5e transmitters worked well with my receiver, on/off at tx = <2sec for first 3 switches in a row.
my tx with his rx= intermitent, 30% within 2 sec, 70% between 2 and 5 seconds.
his setup up to 10 plus seconds!! i guess you can get away with that at 1000ft, not.

so we decide to test our lhs and spektrum customer support. we hand it in and they send it off. went in the other day and happened to get on the subject and reported that testing found a perfectly sound receiver.
now i know i haven't had problems....but after what i had witnessed.........makes me nervous about upgrading within spektrum.

if it wasn't for their micro series of rx/esc/servo bricks i probably wouldn't have gone spektrum.
but still, it's been solid for me .........for now.

[zostritch]

i have had my dx5e for over a year now and have had a few problems with it not staying bound to the radio and i switched the receiver to another plane (electric) super decathlon and it didnt work at all it would cause the speed control to just beep repeatedly and started to get warm i unhooked it afraid it was gonna burn up and checked the the speed control for faults it was fine i replaced the ar500 receiver with the stock receiver that came with the plane and it worked fine so i switched them out again put the ar500 back in and it did the same thing i wish they would put a recall out on the receivers


zostritch

[Tim Mackey]

I now have 6 X AR500s in various models from small foam EDFs to 63" span Spacewalker, and several slope soarers up to 50".
They vary in age ( the RX that is ) from 18 months old to around the last one purchased in March this year. None have given me any trouble whatsoever. I have had to send all but the last one back to HH for the latest QC update - which is somewhat annoying - but the work is done very promptly here in the UK depot, and FOC. I have used Spektrum since it was introduced here and converted all my stuff immediately in one hit, around September 4 years ago I think it was. I have the DX7, several AR6000 DSMs, AR7000 twins, 6100s, 6200s, and these 6 x 500s. I also have a DX6i, and operate 26 models in total - all equipped with Spektrum gear. I sent every RX back for the latest QC firmware as soon as it became available.
I have lost one nice scale model on its maiden to unexplained control loss ( AR7000 ) and momentarily suffered loss of control on a sloaper wing using a 6100E. Luckily the model blew back in the wind within range, and all was well. I changed that for a 500, and its been fine. I find the range is well beyond normal parkfly distance, with some of the slope soarers flown WAY out over the coastline, and to an almost invisible speck in the sky.
I also ensure in all cases that the rx is installed correctly - and try where possible ( all models but one ) to have the "extended" aerial exiting the model and at right angles to the shorter aerial. I use LiPo and regulator power supply on all my models barr one, and have never suffered a brown out. I have also done some extensive"real world" testing on receivers for range and brown outs, and in my findings, they performed well within spec - if not better, certainly on the brown out.
I posted videos and other data of the testing, and have discussed Spektrum "problems" in some length on the http://www.modelflying.co.uk/?KNC-google where I am moderator and administrator.
PS ....Hi everyone

[jhai]

RE the AR500's, is there any indication, (on the packaging, the case, the board itself, or the components) as to any identification of "problem" receivers?

[METMAN]

Happy to find this topic 'cause I thought I was going crazy. There have been few issues on the main Radian threads I normally use.

I have two Radians with this receiver, one from last fall and one early this spring. At least one of them is completely untrustworthy, and i suspect the other one. A new one has been on backorder from Horizon US for a week! I have not contacted Horizon yet until I can confirm it is the AR500.

Lost control while turning upwind for a landing. 50 yards away. Rudder STAYED in left turn and she spiralled in.
I have been able to duplicate the bad/missing fail safe on the ground. (Last fall my first plane went in hard under suspicious circumstances and i had a lot of arming problems.) Did some thorough ground checking last week and it is simply flaky. Sometimes just fine range testing, sometimes just stops. Today i couldn't get it to fail..not flying though. The other receiver is just as flaky but i need to confirm again once i have a new one. So far, I've broken two planes and spent at least a day's worth of troubleshooting and swapping and I haven't been able to fly at all...pout

My input for what it's worth..

[Terrberr]

Well I see this problem doesn't just happen to my friends and I. Here we go, I have planes ranging from Foamy Super Cubs to an 82" P-51D Mustang 150 and EDF's about 40 planes and counting. I use the AR500 in my foamies and have had nothing but problems. I also have two friends that use the AR500 and they have had problems as well. My neighbor has a Super Cub that we have modified and uses a BL-15 Parkzone servo's, 1300 lipo battery, 30 amp ESC and Parkzone Trojan Prop. He had control problems to the extent that it just flew away, he had no control. On it's own it doesn't seem much, until my friend tells me of problems that he has seen on the internet. He also uses this receiver in his Parkzone BF-109. He has crashed a few for unknown reasons and has lost bind between batteries and has had in-flight brown-outs. A few weeks ago he was flying his 109 when he lost control just a few hundred yards out with no one in the air but him. The plane just flew away.
Myself, I have had my share... I have lost control on 3 different Funjets, I have had servo locks and brown-outs. I have also lost bind between batteries. I have lost control on my Parkzone P-51's as well. On brown-outs I loose all servo control along with throttle control... I have 6 AR500's that I will not use anymore.... It would be nice if Spectrum would step up and acknowledge this problem.. I doubt they will due to liability fall-out on people wanting their planes replaced. I know I do!!!!
The transmitter's we use are as follows, my neighbor Bob uses DX5, my friend Dennis uses the DX6i and I use the DX7.

[Rob2160]

I first bought a DX6i about 3 months ago..

Since then I have bought a few Parkzone aircraft/

A Bind and Fly Brushless Mustang, fitted with an AR500

An RTF Corsair, that came with the DX5, but I have it now bound to the DX6i

A Radian Glider, again, came with a DX5 but its is bound to the DX6i also.

A Hobbyking Spitfire fitted with a Genuine AR500 RX purchased in a local Perth hobbyshop..

So I am using 4 seperate AR500's - No exaggeration but I have had over 500 flights in the past few months (25 flights today alone)

I have not had a SINGLE issue at all. They have ALL been completely reliable.

The Radian is flown to extreme distances, any futher and I couldn't see it.

I always fly with timers and land with 20% remaining in the Li Po.

I have never had an issue with the RX's losing bind.. I always turn the TX on first, leave it on for 5 seconds (as recommended in the Spektrum manual,) then turn on the rx...

They work perfectly for me EVERY time.

I also have a Blade MSR, a 120 SR and a Parkzone Micro SU26, again, all bound to the DX6i, with over 300 flights on these 2 helis and plane, again, NEVER a single issue...

PS.. I am not biased towards or against Spektrum... I also have two Futaba FASST 6EX 2.4ghz radios that work flawlessly.. If it works, I'll sing its praises and for me so far.. they all work perfectly

[RCModelReviews]

Yes, as I've said on many occasions -- under normal conditions, all the currently available 2.4GHz gear works just fine.

The only time you start noticing a difference is when something isn't "normal" -- ie: if your battery is weak or there's a rise in the amount of noise on the band. That's what sorts the "good" from the "very good".

[jkmrs]

I've had a Spektrum module in my X9303 for about two years now, paired mostly with AR7000 and a couple of 6100 for smaller models. No issues, but I bought an AR500 last year and used it in a 2.15m Geebee Y, and started to have some problems with it recently : on my last flight, I lost control for about 5 seconds, before getting it back maybe 10m above the ground. The controls were still jerky, so I landed right away, in the rough, leaving the landing gear behind. Once on the ground, everything worked fine, including range test... I use a 7.4v Lipo coupled with a JETI BEC running at 5.7V, and dual power input to the receiver, so I don't think the problem comes from there. I've been happy with Spektrum so far, but that, couple with a similar incident with a glider and a AR6100 has lead me to consider different options. I've just placed an order for a FrSky module/receiver combo. We'll see how that works!

[RCModelReviews]

I think Spektrum are being rather disingenuous these days by ignoring problems or simply claiming there are no problems, despite the huge (and growing) weight of evidence that suggests otherwise.

It's one thing having a problem, admitting it and fixing it -- it's another trying to fool your customers into believing that it's all their fault and that your product is perfect -- when it's clearly not.