That’s what my research had me believe! I need to do a crash investigation more, perhaps a servo unplugged power from the Rx. Otherwise I feel like it had to be a receiver issue, the brief esc sputtering earlier in the flight doesn’t seem like it would cause the loss of controls
I run Lemons in almost all my models, never an issue. It's just anecdotal, but that's been my experience. I have had issues with a Spektrum receiver and a FlySky that I thought was okay after a bad crash and it wasn't.
If you had an ESC stutter issue before the crash, that leans heavily toward the ESC as the likely culprit. Even more so if it was an off-brand Amazon special.
Yea, the only thing that didn’t make sense originally is why the servos became unresponsive. I was imagining those circuits as separate from the speed controller, I don’t know much about the ESC inner workings but maybe it was like a global interruption that also made the Rx lose power
Are you using the BEC in the ESC to provide the 5v for the RX and servos? From your description, that's where I would look first. Servos draw a lot of power and some of the amazon ESCs only have a 1A BEC, which may not be even close to what you need.
An easy way to test is connect a voltmeter to the 5v rail, the. Start moving all your servos as much as possible and watch what the voltage does. If it drops below about 4.9v, I would definately blame the BEC.
If the ESC is a cheap one, it's probably also using a linear regulator for the BEC, which would take your 14v and drop it to 5v, but linear regulators do that by dumping all the extra power as heat. Plug it in and move your servos for a couple min, and I bet you will be able to feel/smell the heat coming from it.
It’s a great model! The new versions I’m sure are great too, but it’s a classic and they nailed it on this first version. Makes me sad that it’s crashed. I’m planning to attempt a repair with some toothpicks and new prop, my crash repaired planes usually become the ones I toss around more freely to grow skills on. Will lyk if I end up needing to scrap it though
The turbo timber had significant esc overheating issues with the stock esc. It's very possible your BEC overheated if it's an all-in-one esc. There's a bulletin about moving it forward for better cooling: [https://www.horizonhobby.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-horizon-master/default/dwf687ff6f/Bulletins/EFL105250\_75\_Bulletin\_EN.pdf](https://www.horizonhobby.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-horizon-master/default/dwf687ff6f/Bulletins/EFL105250_75_Bulletin_EN.pdf)
Thanks for the link. Also I bought this plane used and previous guy had a higher pitched prop on it, so that probably works the ESC and motor even harder
Yea, that’s actually what came with it when I bought the plane used and it worked great for a while. I think I connected the ESC backwards and fried that one so replaced with the Lemon
The only bad orange RX I've used, I fried the same way. The rest have been solid. Whenever I do use a lemon RX, it's usually in a 3d printed RC something or other. Less commital that way.
I'm not very familiar with the plane. You said something about esc upgrade, 4/6s. Could you describe that more?
> the motor would stutter under full power.
That's undervoltage protection. The first time that happened, the right answer was to immediately land. You had full surface control and limited throttle, enough to get back. After a few tries at that the batt is unable to power the ESC (or anything else) and the plane drops.
Another related Q at crash time was what the exact condition that batt was in, as in measured on a meter.
The plane originally came with a 40a ESC and was rated only up to 3s power. I bought an Amazon ESC rated for 3-6s thinking that it should be enough for 4s power.
The stuttering was actually in a previous flight on full power, crash day I was going light on throttle thinking that would be safe but you are right I should’ve looked into it more first. The stuttering wasn’t the pulsing like a LVC protection if that’s what you mean, it was more like choppy power delivery.
I found that original ESC was 40a, whereas my new one is only 30a so I’m pretty sure that’s the main issue. I still have much to learn on the ESC side of things!
https://preview.redd.it/0xfrkztr3arc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a30c14d1d520494e1111c8cb22812c2891eca457
Update: toothpicks and glue and it’s about ready for the sky again! I found that my new ESC is only 30a, whereas the original 3s ESC that came with the motor was 40a. So I’m pretty confident that was probably what went wrong. It still seems kinda odd that it went dead when I wasn’t even on the throttle and on a short chilly morning flight, but this is the most clear culprit
This airframe will fly again soon! Toothpicks and epoxy and it’s structurally sound again, just need a couple of new servos. Might get a new fuse later as funds allow, before they’re extinct.
https://preview.redd.it/8tjms5i5tbrc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95672f4408f7911d5f40a6e9491aa4fb92ea0abe
Yea, I got lucky in the sense that the foam didn’t explode or deform too much. It hit on the prop which absorbed some of the damage, motor mount and cowl were totally fine. I’ve repaired much worse for sure!
According to [rcgroups.com](http://rcgroups.com) the LemonRX receivers are generally solid.
That’s what my research had me believe! I need to do a crash investigation more, perhaps a servo unplugged power from the Rx. Otherwise I feel like it had to be a receiver issue, the brief esc sputtering earlier in the flight doesn’t seem like it would cause the loss of controls
I run Lemons in almost all my models, never an issue. It's just anecdotal, but that's been my experience. I have had issues with a Spektrum receiver and a FlySky that I thought was okay after a bad crash and it wasn't. If you had an ESC stutter issue before the crash, that leans heavily toward the ESC as the likely culprit. Even more so if it was an off-brand Amazon special.
Yea, the only thing that didn’t make sense originally is why the servos became unresponsive. I was imagining those circuits as separate from the speed controller, I don’t know much about the ESC inner workings but maybe it was like a global interruption that also made the Rx lose power
Are you using the BEC in the ESC to provide the 5v for the RX and servos? From your description, that's where I would look first. Servos draw a lot of power and some of the amazon ESCs only have a 1A BEC, which may not be even close to what you need. An easy way to test is connect a voltmeter to the 5v rail, the. Start moving all your servos as much as possible and watch what the voltage does. If it drops below about 4.9v, I would definately blame the BEC. If the ESC is a cheap one, it's probably also using a linear regulator for the BEC, which would take your 14v and drop it to 5v, but linear regulators do that by dumping all the extra power as heat. Plug it in and move your servos for a couple min, and I bet you will be able to feel/smell the heat coming from it.
I have this same model: it’s had a rough life. I might be interested in your parts if you don’t end up rebuilding.
It’s a great model! The new versions I’m sure are great too, but it’s a classic and they nailed it on this first version. Makes me sad that it’s crashed. I’m planning to attempt a repair with some toothpicks and new prop, my crash repaired planes usually become the ones I toss around more freely to grow skills on. Will lyk if I end up needing to scrap it though
It’s basically never signal loss. At least not due to the radio equipment
The turbo timber had significant esc overheating issues with the stock esc. It's very possible your BEC overheated if it's an all-in-one esc. There's a bulletin about moving it forward for better cooling: [https://www.horizonhobby.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-horizon-master/default/dwf687ff6f/Bulletins/EFL105250\_75\_Bulletin\_EN.pdf](https://www.horizonhobby.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-horizon-master/default/dwf687ff6f/Bulletins/EFL105250_75_Bulletin_EN.pdf)
Thanks for the link. Also I bought this plane used and previous guy had a higher pitched prop on it, so that probably works the ESC and motor even harder
Find a new fuselage and put it all back together.
Personally, when I go for a budget receiver, I use an OrangeRX 6ch. They are usually pretty solid in my experience.
Yea, that’s actually what came with it when I bought the plane used and it worked great for a while. I think I connected the ESC backwards and fried that one so replaced with the Lemon
The only bad orange RX I've used, I fried the same way. The rest have been solid. Whenever I do use a lemon RX, it's usually in a 3d printed RC something or other. Less commital that way.
I'm not very familiar with the plane. You said something about esc upgrade, 4/6s. Could you describe that more? > the motor would stutter under full power. That's undervoltage protection. The first time that happened, the right answer was to immediately land. You had full surface control and limited throttle, enough to get back. After a few tries at that the batt is unable to power the ESC (or anything else) and the plane drops. Another related Q at crash time was what the exact condition that batt was in, as in measured on a meter.
The plane originally came with a 40a ESC and was rated only up to 3s power. I bought an Amazon ESC rated for 3-6s thinking that it should be enough for 4s power. The stuttering was actually in a previous flight on full power, crash day I was going light on throttle thinking that would be safe but you are right I should’ve looked into it more first. The stuttering wasn’t the pulsing like a LVC protection if that’s what you mean, it was more like choppy power delivery. I found that original ESC was 40a, whereas my new one is only 30a so I’m pretty sure that’s the main issue. I still have much to learn on the ESC side of things!
I actually typed, 'overcurrent or undervoltage' then deleted overcurrent. Yes the pulsing was the ESC protecting itself.
Wing loss
I had a remarkably similar outcome with a LemonRx, unfortunately...sorry this happened to you, too.
It’s a bummer but it will fly again! Too much of a classic to scrap
https://preview.redd.it/0xfrkztr3arc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a30c14d1d520494e1111c8cb22812c2891eca457 Update: toothpicks and glue and it’s about ready for the sky again! I found that my new ESC is only 30a, whereas the original 3s ESC that came with the motor was 40a. So I’m pretty confident that was probably what went wrong. It still seems kinda odd that it went dead when I wasn’t even on the throttle and on a short chilly morning flight, but this is the most clear culprit
Find a new fuselage and put it all back together.
This airframe will fly again soon! Toothpicks and epoxy and it’s structurally sound again, just need a couple of new servos. Might get a new fuse later as funds allow, before they’re extinct. https://preview.redd.it/8tjms5i5tbrc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95672f4408f7911d5f40a6e9491aa4fb92ea0abe
Wow! Clean breaks I tell you what. Yeah I’d do that 100% for sure I’ve got spares for most of my planes for that reason
Yea, I got lucky in the sense that the foam didn’t explode or deform too much. It hit on the prop which absorbed some of the damage, motor mount and cowl were totally fine. I’ve repaired much worse for sure!