Motor won't run in new Easy Star RTF
 

I have a brand new Multiplex Easy Star RTF electric airplane. Hitec Neon SS radio. I'm a retired 73 year old. A beginner. I charged the batteries, turned on the TX, then turned on the Rx. Immediately the red LED started flashing. I moved the throttle control from idle to 1/4 speed, then to idle and 1/2 speed. The motor would not run. The elevator and rudder controls worked perfectly.

I turned off the Rx, then turned off the Tx, and disconnected the battery. I discharged the battery, and charged it again with the enclosed Peak Charger. Then I followed the above procedure. Same results. Red LED flashing. Motor would not run.

Questions: What is the meaning of the red LED flashing? Is it normal for the red LED to flash? Does it indicate a circuit short? Does it simple mean to put the throttle control to idle and then move it to run?

Question: Does the Hitec Neon SS Radio have fuses?

Any suggestions?

Rich

Rich,
the flashing red led indicates the speed control has gone into safety startup mode. This means (as you already seem to know) that the throttle must be set to the idle position. After it is set to idle the esc will arm itself. As I remember, the throttle slider on the hitech ss is on the back right hand side (looking at it from the back) of the radio and has no adjustable trim. You may want to temporarily connect a servo to the throttle channel of your receiver (#3 on hitech....i think) just to check if it's working properly. I suspect it is. If it is working then re-connect everything as normal and continue reading. If not post your findings here and we'll continue.

From your description of the problem I'm guessing the #3 channel needs to be reversed on the transmitter. To test for this, (remove the prop from the plane for safety) start the whole battery connection process over using the side of the throttle slider you now assume to be throttle-high, and assume it is throttle-low. Try arming the esc using that scenario and post your findings.

If that works, your 2 options are to fly with the throttle in what we assume is reverse, or reverse the servo channel in the radio. If you need help reversing the channel, again post here and I'll try to help.

The ss doesn't have any user serviceable fuses that i can recall.

BTW I'm assuming your battery voltage is below 15 volts.

Good luck.

What kind of speed controller is it. I always use castle and with them you have to program them. The flashing light would mean that the throttle low point has not been reached and with out having trim you may need to go through speed controller programming to get it operating correctly.

Jeff, that's an excellent point. However, the Multiplex Easy Star RTF ships with a MULTIcont X-08 esc, which is not programmable.