Still doing circles !

Joined
Feb 21, 2014
Messages
138
Reaction score
15
Location
San Mateo CA USA
So,
In addition to my other post about the squealing motor, my P2 is also doing large circles.
I just got in from a test flight.... Let everything set, GPS 11 sats, All green lights, all systems go !
Lift off to about a 10 Ft hover, and it starts to do the circle dance(not the TBE, a 30ft or more diameter circle). Brought it back down, did the compass dance successfully. Lift off again, same damm thing. I realize that the squeal in the motor and the circles may be related, but the circle thing has only shown up in the last couple of flights, and the squeal(not getting any worse) has been present for much longer. If I hold it in a close hover, it will begin turning while I am using only the right stick to keep it close to me.

Any thoughts ???
 
gecarey said:
So,
In addition to my other post about the squealing motor, my P2 is also doing large circles.
I just got in from a test flight.... Let everything set, GPS 11 sats, All green lights, all systems go !
Lift off to about a 10 Ft hover, and it starts to do the circle dance(not the TBE, a 30ft or more diameter circle). Brought it back down, did the compass dance successfully. Lift off again, same damm thing. I realize that the squeal in the motor and the circles may be related, but the circle thing has only shown up in the last couple of flights, and the squeal(not getting any worse) has been present for much longer. If I hold it in a close hover, it will begin turning while I am using only the right stick to keep it close to me.

Any thoughts ???
Have you checked the calibration of your remote its sounds like the left hand stick is not centring?
 
As suggested - I would check you TX stick settings and travel and centering in the assistant software.
 
gecarey said:
Yes,
Everything is calibrated. I am running a Futaba T8J, everything is dead on.

If you are using that transmitter can you not adjust the trim manually to sort this out?
 
Don't wait for the motor to seize to address a squealing motor. You most likely have a bad bearing or a winding has come loose. Don't fly with it like that.
 
ianwood said:
Don't wait for the motor to seize to address a squealing motor. You most likely have a bad bearing or a winding has come loose. Don't fly with it like that.

+1 to Ians' suggestion. A motor that is dragging via bearing or a bent housing will cause this circling. To identify motor in question (unless the obvious squealing) let it idle and watch motors closely - you'll spot the one not spooling up to speed like the rest.

Have you crashed it by chance? I helped a client w/one who had a minor spill and it was enough to tweak the housing on one motor to make it do wide circles. Almost un-flyable. He's a newbie and on a budget so we sanded the motor opening a couple of mm and he's now flying again - carefully.
 
if you are using that transmitter can you not adjust the trim manually to sort this out?
That won't address the problem, just manage it....

+1 to Ians' suggestion. A motor that is dragging via bearing or a bent housing will cause this circling. To identify motor in question (unless the obvious squealing) let it idle and watch motors closely - you'll spot the one not spooling up to speed like the rest.

Have you crashed it by chance? I helped a client w/one who had a minor spill and it was enough to tweak the housing on one motor to make it do wide circles. Almost un-flyable. He's a newbie and on a budget so we sanded the motor opening a couple of mm and he's now flying again - carefully.

No crashes... ha, now that I have put that in writing I guess I can expect something... I did pull the motors last night and found a little crud on a couple of them. Cleaned it out and then oiled all four sets of bearings. The sound seems to have diminished a bit. I don't know that squeal was the best description of the sound. I wish i could record it... oh well, thanks for all of the input...
 
have you figured it out yet? i think i have a motor you can try and see if that works. my nephew had a fly away and we finally found it but in bad shape. in process of rebuilding but you can borrow a motor to see if that is the problem.
 
gecarey said:
So,
In addition to my other post about the squealing motor, my P2 is also doing large circles.
I just got in from a test flight.... Let everything set, GPS 11 sats, All green lights, all systems go !
Lift off to about a 10 Ft hover, and it starts to do the circle dance(not the TBE, a 30ft or more diameter circle). Brought it back down, did the compass dance successfully. Lift off again, same damm thing. I realize that the squeal in the motor and the circles may be related, but the circle thing has only shown up in the last couple of flights, and the squeal(not getting any worse) has been present for much longer. If I hold it in a close hover, it will begin turning while I am using only the right stick to keep it close to me.

Any thoughts ???

When you say not the TBE thing how is the 30 foot circle different because that is typical of TBE. Is the nose following the circle or is it staying, for the most part, in the same heading? It its the same heading then that is TBE.

Tom
 
When you say not the TBE thing how is the 30 foot circle different because that is typical of TBE. Is the nose following the circle or is it staying, for the most part, in the same heading? It its the same heading then that is TBE.
TBE will eventually reduce the circle and eventually hover.... This is constant and the nose is leading the craft around.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,358
Members
104,935
Latest member
Pauos31