Spektrum AR500 problems

[RCModelReviews]

I think the brownout theory has been discounted by those who say that, on recovery, the receivers still have a solid light (I assume the AR500 LED blinks after a brownout like other JR/Spektrum receivers).

[Wattsy]

I have been waiting for a forum like this so I can unload on Spektrum . Here go's : I have had both an AR7000 receiver and AR500 and both have failed me , the first to go was an AR500 in a little electric Beaver which was a verry nice plane,one that I intended to do small scale aero tows with my MP Fox , I was flying quite high at around 300 ft when I said to my buddy standing next to me this is when you dont want to loose signal and you guessed it my AR 500 locked me out and my little beaver just kept on going and going until It glided verry fast and shallow into a crop and the damage was to severe to fix .
One other occasion was when I was flying my pride and joy a CMPRO spitfire and when turning on finals I commented to a friend next to me that I had lost signal and my Spit spun in flat out , my guess is that the ASP 61 4 stroke in the front some how
blocked the receiver and it went into fail safe I know this because I had'nt set it up correctly an the throttle went flatout.
Before anyone comments neither of these were caused by brown outs because the LED on the receivers were solid.
Any way a few weeks ago I stumbled on this WEB sight and bought myself the FrSky 2.4 system for my Dx911 and havent looked back "these things are great and MAAA aproved in Australia" so if you want my advise sell all your JR/Spektrum receivers and modules and grab a bargain in a FrSky system .
another quick note the binding and failsafe are so simple to setup on these systems I did'nt even use the manual .
Cheers from OZ

[BadCrash]

Well I know for a fact from an "inside" source at Spektrum, that they have a lot of QC problems with the AR500 receiver. Last year the chinese? factory which produces the AR500 decided to put in a cheaper chinese replica main processor, which had a major hardware bug. This bug slipped through QC. According to Spektrum only a small number of units were sold in Europe and North America, before they finally halted production and changed to a different processor. The worst part is that Spektrum failed to inform any customers of their AR500 receiver about this problem, which results in sudden loss of control of the aileron channel (no failsafe). It's hard to diagnose the problem, because after a recycling of power, the aileron channel will work normally again, so most people would probably assume it was due to interference or a bad power source. I would urge everyone, who bought an AR500 in early-mid 2009 to send it in for a check.

[cuban8]

I have an AR500 Rx and am very happy with it. With the threat of litigation (especially in the USA) I find it hard to believe that Horizon would risk its reputation or its $s by sweeping under the carpet a serious and potentially dangerous inherent fault in any of their products.
I think that many of the problems that are put down to the manufacturers are, in fact, finger trouble on the part of the end users. Having seen some radio installations that are rubbish, with the modeller not having a clue as to what they're doing, I'm not surprised that many of these 'problems' arise.
Radio gear is not 'plug and play' and requires a certain appreciation for what you're doing. The weakest links in a radio system are IMHO, batteries, switches & connectors. Very few modellers really know what they're doing in order to check the condition of battery packs, even fewer seem to understand that switches, connectors & servos do not have an infinite life and require either replacement or close inspection on a regular basis.
Have I been caught out in the past? certainly! And I do my very best to follow my own advice! Those that just fit and forget for season after season are asking for trouble.
Facts & not opinions please.

[sturdybird46]

I am pretty shocked by reading all of this. I purchased an ar6500 a few months ago and have never gotten a chance to use it. I think I am going to put it in a cheap model and watch it closely and see what happens. This seams to be a serious problem and I don't see why Horizon Hobby doesn't do anything about it. They are marketing this receiver as a full range receiver so I am sure people are going to be putting it in some expensive models. My whole reason for purchasing a JR 9503 was because I thought spektrum format was reliable and had reasonably priced receivers that were available everywhere. Bruce, if you need another receiver for testing I can send you mine. I think I would want to know for sure how reliable these receivers really are before I spend another penny on anything remotely constructed to the ar500.

[spins]

to BadCrash
I highly doubt the explanation of the "inside source" . It is a common sense that a Chinese OEM factory can not simply "decided to put in a cheaper chinese replica main processor". The BOM (Bill of Material ) is strictly specified by customs and checked by QCers of the customs.

Cheap chips made in China do exist, but they do not have the same mark and brand name as those they can replaced. Producing a functional chip, even it is full of bugs, is not a easy task. It's a long term business, so fake other's product is not an option. They may have the same pin definition and similar structure, but as I said they will not put other company's mark on it. Those short-term fly-by-night companies may mark a piece of plastic with a big name and try to sell it to some idiot (just like the example Xjet showed in the article), but those non-silicon chips are simply not functional at all, so the products do not have a chance to pass the test at the end of the product line.

Ignoring problems of itself and pointing fingers to OEM factory is very irresponsible for a big company like JR/Spektrum. I'm not saying this specific OEM factory is innocent, I'm saying selling receivers at such a big price, harvesting more than 200% profit, JR/Spektrum does have enough money to choose a good OEM factory and get involved in QC. OEM radio is not a rocket science, there are more than enough electronic factories in china which can produce a nice receiver if you give them a reasonable OEM price instead of compress the price so hard that the factory have to find "some way" to cut cost to survive.

[Wattsy]

Sounds like some people have shares in Spektrum , I sugest trying an AR500 for yourself just make sure you put it in a Giant Scale model that is worth more than the car you drive .

[BadCrash]

to BadCrash
I highly doubt the explanation of the "inside source" . It is a common sense that a Chinese OEM factory can not simply "decided to put in a cheaper chinese replica main processor". The BOM (Bill of Material ) is strictly specified by customs and checked by QCers of the customs.

Well, that is the way he explained it to me. I don't know how these factories operate, nor do I know how much insight Spektrum has into the production line. Maybe Spektrum authorized the "cheaper" processor, I don't know, I don't want to blame it on Spektrum. The only thing I do blame them for is that they don't recalled that particular batch of receivers, or at least released some kind of warning.

I think that many of the problems that are put down to the manufacturers are, in fact, finger trouble on the part of the end users.

Well okay, here is my full story: Last summer I lost a model with an AR500 receiver. A couple of weeks earlier, my friend at Spektrum told me, that they had an issue with a batch of AR500 receivers, but that only very few very actually sold, before Spektrum found out about it, and destroyed the batch. Initially after the crash, I blamed it on interference or a bad battery, but then I remembered what my friend told me, and the crash pattern exactly matched that of the processor bug (stuck aileron). I phoned him up, send him the receiver and he confirmed that the receiver was one of the "few" that were sold. Spektrum said they were sorry and send me a new receiver.

I wouldn't post this here if I didn't know a 100percent, that it wasn't my fault, but that a faulty AR500 was to blame. I'm still very happy with Spektrum and still flying a bunch of AR7000 without any problems at all, I just lost some kind of confidence in the AR500. I am not saying that the AR500 still has problems, I just know for sure that they had one with some of them.

[PsychoFlyer]

I have been flying my 2 AR500 receivers for about 3 months now (about 30 flights) without a single glitch. One plane is a light and short range small Corsair foamie and the other is a 4 pound balsa/light ply/monocote Cessna knock-off that I fly to visual limits routinely. I fly in a flying field known for electronic glitching where no one can use a single conversion receiver without crashing (or nearly so). These AR500's have performed flawlessly SO FAR. I see no reason not to continue to trust them.

Keeping my electronic fingers crossed!

Russ

[flying-things]

I really hope spektrum is trying to find a solution to this. It is irritation, not being able to trust expensive equipment.