Jim, I made an order around July or August of 2007. One of the items I purchased was a Laser 6. I have been using it for about 5 months now on all channels except channel 3. Today when I added another servo to my robot I plugged it into the channel and it dosnt work. I tried a different servo and no luck. I unplugged everything else but that and no luck. I made sure my batter was fully charged, no luck.
This channel dosne’t work at all. Could my reciever be faulty? Ive tried all different kinds of servos, pico switches ect, nothing works on that channel. They work on everything else though. I made sure the channel is turned on on my laser 6 and it is. I don’t know what else to say but that it may be faulty…
Anything I can do now? Im in competition with this Robot at the end of the month, and I may need this channel to work.
Seriously though, sounds like somethings not right. Is it possible you have any of the V-tail or Flaperon mixing switches flipped in the battery compartment? Have you ever taken it apart?
It’s possible that it’s the receiver channel. Not sure that I’ve ever had just one channel go on a receiver though.
I’m thinking it may be the mixing switches. Are your ATV’s turned all the way up?
Yup, ATV’s turned right all the way (made sure before I jumped to conclusions). Ive never modified the controller or switched on v-tail mixing or anythings. Its running exactly the same as my laser 4.
Its odd that this one channel dosen’t work, perhaps the board is damaged where the printed circuits are towards that channel? I have no clue, all I know is im going to need this channel for competition.
Im so frustrated right now, things can’t get done unless this problem is fixed soon, I have soo much to do these next few weeks.
Its a 50$ board I don’t want to replace if Im not responsible, no funny business has been going on, just regular robot use. Im shocked that I didnt use this channel sooner, maybe I would have found out sooner.
You might want to consider eliminated some options.
One, if you have a local R/C shop, try taking the Tx and Rx in there so they can try it with a different set of crystals or with a different receiver.
If you don’t mind voiding your warranty, you can take the screws out of the back of the receiver and take a look at the board. Maybe there’s a contact or solder connection that popped off. Unlikely but worth a shot as a last resort.
Have you tried removing the receiver and hooking up just a receiver pack and 1 servo to channel 3?
It’s also possible the Tx isn’t outputting a signal for that channel. You could try leaving your tx off, hook a battery up to the receiver and plug a servo into a channel that works. You should find if nothing else, it glitches or twitches around for a second. Now try hooking that servo up to channel 3. If there is absolutely no movement or twitching of any kind, the receiver would likely be the culprit. If it does glitch around, it would likely be your Tx.
I’ve never had a problem with a newer Laser 6 or 08RD receiver.
From what I have noticed with the tests I have done, the servo moves all the way down, and than my picoswitch (on a different channel) is set off. I dont get any control of the servo though… Im going to take a look at my TX again.
Does the Laser have anything like tank style mixes that you can set? I have seen transmitters with those kind of software mixers take over various channels.
All the mixing functions are off, the ATV’s are turned up all the way. Like I said, when I put a servo on and turn the power on, ir moves to one position, than no power goes to the servo. Sometimes the pico switch on 2 channels over (ch5) turns on and stays on or it simple turns on and off.
I’ve never experienced anything bad with the hitecs, thats why I tested things first before I jumped the gun and said it was faulty.
Just did another test. I put the crystal in my laser 4 and tried to control a servo on that channel with nothing else but the battery plugged in. As evo said the servo twitches (dosnt go to an extreme position), but after that it seems like no power goes to the servo. So the controller seems to be out of the question, I think it may be a supply of power to that channel?
So pretty much it must be the reciever, Ive taken out all other variables.
Have you put a multimeter across the power and ground pins on the servo connector to see if the proper voltage is being supplied? Usually if a servo twitches, it is getting some power that makes it twitch.
I dont have a multi-meter at the moment (broken), but like I said, it seems like after it twitches there is no power because ussaully the servo makes a buzzing noise, and you can feel it holding position. My servos dont feel like they are holding any position.
UPDATE: I know what the problem is. It **IS ** the board. I switched the crystal of the laser6 board into my laser4 board and channel 3 can be controlled easily with the laser6 controller. I now know for sure it is the board, I just don’t know what is causing it to not work. Ive inspected it for any breaks in soldering, lines cut, etc, the board looks fine, but ch3 does not work. I don’t know what to do now…Its a 50$ board I don’t have the money for right now. What I plan to do is use my laser 4 board as a replacement right now, but I don’t know what Im going to have to do to replace the board. Im assuming it was faulty before I bought since like I said, I have never used that channel and have only been using the board itself for the last few months with no funny business.
I wouldn’t be too hopeful for a free replacement board. Electronics like this are too easily damaged by the end user making some mistake they don’t even know they made. Like at car parts places, be sure you buy the right part, because “no returns on electronics” is pretty much standard.
LOL, Im not looking for a free board, just want to let Jim know. Im sure he keeps track of how many boards are faulty etc when it comes down to the end of the year. Its good to know for business whats going on with your products. Most likely I’ll find a replacement at my local hobby shop next town over. they have a few hitec brands.
If you can’t trade it in, send it my way and I’ll see if I can fix it for you.
Just a note, I’ve seen servos go to extreme positions when power to the receiver drops as well. Otherwise, without signal they usually twitch more than shoot to an extreme position. But anything is possible without signal.
Talk to Hitec, they may offer you a new one. Probably not, but you never know.
First thing I will do is contact hitec most likely sometime tomorrow, if that dosn’t work out, I’ll let you have a look. Thanks Evo. I’ll give you a PM either way.
The Laser receivers are a bit of a hard to get item. It’s a standard 72mHz receiver that is tuned for 75mHz. I have inquired about getting them as replacements for the radios but no go. Short of removing one from a full radio set, I’m not able to help you. Best to contact Hitec direct. Sorry…
