Spirit System

Hi,

I experienced an unexpected big head speed drop while flying my TB70. It is using the Spirit GT Governor in an Align RCE-BL130A (which is a HobbyWing Platinum HV 130A V4).

Attached is a log chart in the V4.0 Flight Viewer that shows the RPM and Throttle Output. Before the head speed drop, there is a glitch that reaches a very low throttle output. Another smaller glitch is seen too.

The Throttle Output variations seen after the head speed drop were flight mode changes to land the heli.

In addition, there is no variation in the Throttle Output signal to keep the headspeed at the set value.

I’ve attached the Governor Settings.

Please advise.

Hello,

it seems that this drop caused Governor to disengage, so it was basically off. Question is why such drop happened?
It could happen because of - problems with receiver signal (can be visible also at other axes) or problem with throttle hold switch.
It is unusual that these drops are happening.

Hold doesn’t drop the signal that much so that is discarded.

Rx signal?
Hasn’t seen a trace or issue in the other axes.
Why Throttle Output only?

Does the governor still engage at 50%?

I’m using S.BUS2 for control and telemetry.

This issue has become real bad.
It has happened in every flight for a total of three times.

The two new graphs show exactly the same behavior although no drops are seen (one of the pictures has the Throttle Out plot green faint).
Could be the drops weren’t detected?

This model has extreme vibrations that can’t be improved as they are inherent to the model frame structure.

The model flies fine and the rescue works well.

I’ll appreciate your help on this as this has become a critical issue that produce an unexpected power loss that has damaged blades and pose a crash hazard.

In addition, why the Throttle Out signal isn’t varying to regulate the headspeed?

Thanks for your time.

Hi David,
for my interest have you flown the heli without governor ?
Shows a flight without governor also this problems ?

I have to admit that I've always used a different ESC than Align with the Align kits – I either used the original Hobbywing or the YGE ESCs – which have always worked well for me.
If you haven't tried it yet, try flying without the Spirit Governor or even without the Align Governor – see what's different. If it's different, I recommend buying a different ESC, perhaps with a bit of a reserve. I can recommend the YGE ESCs - they're also extremely accurate in terms of current display and consumed capacity.

Best regards
Matthias

i use governor hobbywing 130amp v4 and all is ok.
in the past:
one esc align it didn't work anymore for no reason.
other esc align when I activated the governor strange things were happening after I deactivated the governor and everything was ok.
other align esc it didn't work
then I also had problems with the align servos and from that moment on I didn't buy anymore align electronic components and all the components from other brands they have always worked well.

I recommend to try connecting RX cable to SBUS1 instead of SBUS2 port to make sure there is no transmission issue due to telemetry interference.
The port is more prone for powering issues too - because of Futaba design difference that are mentioned in Futaba manual.

Hello,

I’m going to use SBUS1 and see if issue happens.

In case the issue happens, I will connect the ESC directly to the Rx using throttle curves.

Hi,

I’m wondering why the Throttle Out signal of the Spirit GT isn’t varying to control the head speed variations.
It just rises to a value to reach the head speed and stay at that value although the head speed is varying. During the flight, the head speed varies and over speeds when descending the heli.

In contrast, I’ve attached a chart of my Trex700E with a Castle ESC and Spirit Pro. You can see the Throttle In signal in the Castle chart, which is the Throttle Out signal of the Spirit Pro, is always varying to maintain the head speed at the set value.

Both Spirit units have the same Governor Settings because head speeds and ratios of the helis are similar.

Hello,

thank you for your details.

After verification we found out that in some cases Throttle Output is actually identical to Throttle Channel.
If you wish I can share upcoming firmware with you with the fix included.