Let me first say I have been flying model airplanes for 15 or so years. All of my air radios are either FM or PCM. Yesterday my friend and I went down to the pond to run his outrigger. He has a Hitec AM pistol grip radio for this boat. There were other people operating any other radio control vehicles in site. The first couple of run with his boat, I noticed his servos twitching considerable by them selves. I have never noticed this before on any of my airplanes. Is this radio interference? The last run the boat was released and shortly after we had no rudder or throttle control of the boat, it crashed and was destroyed. I recovered the 2 pieces and tested the battery with a expanded voltmeter. The battery still had a good charge. Would a fm radio have prevented this incident? How about a failsafe mechanism?
AM vs FM radios
- Thread starter Mi Nan
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Climate Boatworks
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2002
- Messages
- 136
Sorry to hear about your accident. :'(
Unfortunately you do not give enough details to actually tell what happened.
There are a lot of reasons for radio interference.
For the most part it does not make a lot of difference if the radio is AM, FM or PCM. If you have interference, you have interference.
You said that the servos were twitching before the boat was destroyed. This in itself should have been reason to stop and check things out further.
Failsafe can be helpful, or a complete disaster. When I used to fly helicopters, we eliminated failsafe because it just meant crash over here, or crash over there.
I would rather have some control even if it were partial, than none at all. Fortunately a boat is not as sensitive to a lack of throttle as a helicopter is, so you may have been ok. It is hard to tell exactly what will happen.
Lesson learned....If something is not right, running the boat probably will not make it any better.
Unfortunately you do not give enough details to actually tell what happened.
There are a lot of reasons for radio interference.
For the most part it does not make a lot of difference if the radio is AM, FM or PCM. If you have interference, you have interference.
You said that the servos were twitching before the boat was destroyed. This in itself should have been reason to stop and check things out further.
Failsafe can be helpful, or a complete disaster. When I used to fly helicopters, we eliminated failsafe because it just meant crash over here, or crash over there.
I would rather have some control even if it were partial, than none at all. Fortunately a boat is not as sensitive to a lack of throttle as a helicopter is, so you may have been ok. It is hard to tell exactly what will happen.
Lesson learned....If something is not right, running the boat probably will not make it any better.
T
TomMoorehouse
Guest
yep... been there... done that... i agree i dont think it is so much an am fm thing.... more likely something was wrong... could be 100 things...
bad switch
rusty connectors
battery poped out of holder
metal to metal rubbing
frayed wire
water in radio box
some trucker with a 10000000 watt cb
you may never know the real cause... did it pass a range check?
bad switch
rusty connectors
battery poped out of holder
metal to metal rubbing
frayed wire
water in radio box
some trucker with a 10000000 watt cb
you may never know the real cause... did it pass a range check?
Hammerhead
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2002
- Messages
- 1,680
I've had those twitching servos before with an FM system. It turned out to be that I was using a metal
control rod tube to go through the transom to the rudder. Just the control rod rubbing on the inside of the tube caused this. Since then, I only use carbon pipe for
my tubes. Never had a problem since.
Another thing is taking waterproofing very seriously.
One way to test to make sure no water is getting in
and screwing things up, is to sink the boat in the bathtub(if your wife will let you) and blow into the antenna tube. If you don't see any bubbles coming out, then you are probably good to go. If you do see some bubbles, you have no business putting your boat on the water.
Good luck. Hammerhead
control rod tube to go through the transom to the rudder. Just the control rod rubbing on the inside of the tube caused this. Since then, I only use carbon pipe for
my tubes. Never had a problem since.
Another thing is taking waterproofing very seriously.
One way to test to make sure no water is getting in
and screwing things up, is to sink the boat in the bathtub(if your wife will let you) and blow into the antenna tube. If you don't see any bubbles coming out, then you are probably good to go. If you do see some bubbles, you have no business putting your boat on the water.
Good luck. Hammerhead
Thank you for the replies. I know that my radio box leaks a little. After 3 or 4 runs, there is maybe 1/3 of an ounce of water in it. What do you seal the box cover with? I am using single side foam tape. T have rubber pushrod seals on the throttle and rudder pushrods. Does the stuffing box tube need to be sealed? It is a brass tube in a brass tube which is epoxied into the boat hull. The switch and antenna are not sealed. The radio and battery are placed in balloons and zip tied. One more question The servos bottoms are exposed to some water when the box gets wet. Is there a way to seal the servos? Perhaps dipping the lower half in liquid tool handle rubber coating.
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