It always starts small...

And by the time you are done you've nearly disassembled the whole thing and spent hours solving a problem you didn't know you had when you started.

 

I took the HDX 500 down from the wall to see if the failsafe was set properly, after reading a couple of posts on HeliFreak. I noticed that the throttle stuttered just before mid-throttle. I am not sure, but think I have seen this before with this heli. I decided to change the ESC out for a HURC 60A opto ESC I have. I remember this HURC ESC because it works fine on my planks, but I wasn't able to program it with my Hobbywing programming card, like I can other HURC ESCs. I also am not sure I didn't recently fry my Hobbywing card... So I ordered a HURC card and its in the mail.

 

I set up the heli as it was, knowing that not having a soft start without blades wasn't a big issue, and the stutter step was gone. And then I noticed the twitching servos... I have had this problem before on the HDX and have never really sorted it out. I would change a part of the electrical harness and it would go away. This time it was the pitch servo. It was somehow shorting out the entire system, causing the other servos to twitch and browning out the receiver. It took me a day to isolate it this time. Needless to say I also have a 60A ESC-SBEC and a new receiver coming because I wasn't sure if they were the problem as I troubleshot it. I am now waiting for the HURC programming card, and if I can't program the HURC 60A I will swap the ESC and BEC out for the one coming in the mail and hope I didn't burn out the Hobbywing card.

 

Along the way I found out the tail rotor had a bent feathering "shaft" and needed to be replaced. It was subtle in flight but very obvious on examination. I was isolating any vibrations I could find. So those parts are coming.

 

As for the extra receiver... maybe I will build that HK600 or Winrc 600 after all. Wouldn't want a perfectly good receiver go to waste, now would I?

 

Posted with Blogsy