Jaccio Perfect Switch Harness (long)

[David Wartel]

Thanks, Jim and everyone for your suggestions.

I've been dabating if this is a subject for the group or not. However my
experience here may help other newbie pattern flyers so I'll tell the story:

Set-up: Quest with all the Eric Henderson mods, YS 1.10 with Hyde "A" mount,
Airtronics rx, 3 Hitec 5945's and one 5925 and one standard servo on
throttle. Batteries of America 1600 mAh, five cell pack, Jaccio switch with
regulator, Airtonics Stylus tx.

The plane was flown once without incident. (And it flew GREAT!) The receiver
is one I used all last summer in my "beater" without any problems with
probably several hundred flights. Everything else is new. (I reluctantly
admit that in my excitement to fly this plane, I did not range check it with
the engine running before its first flight! It checked at between 200-300 ft
without the engine running.)

Last night I pretty much re-installed the entire radio system. There were a
number of things I decided I was not comfortable with. I have two Hitec
digitals in the tail with the attendant extensions. The extensions were not
very secure and were flopping around some in the fuse. I ran the antenna in
a tube attached to the top of the fuse, but the antenna is longer than the
tube and the excess length was in contact with the extensions at the rear of
the fuse. I twisted the extensions more tightly together and better secured
them as best I could near the top of the fuse. I moved the antenna to the
outside bottom of the fuse. The antenna and lead are now as far apart as I
can get them.

I also removed the 6v. LED voltage indicator I had installed.

I re-read the instructions for the Jaccio switch and it says to "avoid using
extensions." Well, I had two attached; one to the battery lead because it
didn't reach the regulator lead, and another "Y" harness because (I thought)
I had to plug both the power lead and one aileron into ch 7/batt on the ATX
receiver. (There was quite a time lag between when I read the instructions
and actually installed the switch.) I was also not comfortable with the
connector on the battery; it seemed a little undersized and not as tight
fitting as I'd like,  and so replaced it along with extending the lead to
eliminate the separate extension. I also plugged the power lead into an
unused channel socket to eliminate the "Y" harness. (One of the ailerons has
to be in the ch 7/batt plug.) Per Jack Albrecht at Airtronics, this is OK.

I "wiggle checked" all the connections and then proceded to range check. It
was fine with the engine not running, but short ranged and eratic (sp?) with
the engine running. This confirmed to me that the near crash was not my
imagination!

Thinking this was probably a vibration problem, I repacked the receiver in a
thicker layer of foam and range checked it again: same result. A buddy
noticed I had the regulator attached with velcro to the side of the fuse.
That was removed and packed with foam too. Range check. Better, but still
not quite right.

I then switched to another receiver which was first range checked with the
same tx. It checked out fine. This time, in the Quest, it seemed to be OK
with the engine running. A little jittery, but almost good enough to make me
risk a flight. It actually may be fine like this.

So, it seems that there was a vibration problem with the regulator, the
receiver or both, and/or the receiver needs to be looked at.

I want to be clear that I'm not blaming any of the equipment. If there is a
defective part, I should have found it before I flew the plane. The
installation was not as good as it should have been. A lot of this equipment
is new to me.

There are a lot of variables here, I know. What I have decided to do is move
the rx and the whole power system to an "expendable" airplane and try it out
in that before risking the Quest again. If I have time, I may also try a
"standard" set up in the Quest: a four cell pack with a regular heavy duty
switch. This should narrow down the search for the cause.

I certainly welcome any other suggestions.

I REALLY want to fly the Quest! I've been waiting two years for a "real"
pattern plane.

Dave



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JOddino" <JOddino at socal.rr.com>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 2:46 PM
Subject: Re: Jaccio Perfect Switch Harness


> Hi Dave,
> I can't see any way the switch harness could cause an intermittant like
that
> unless it was a bad connection.  I assume you tape or put shrink tubing on
> the connectors?  An intermittent short on your power system could also
cause
> the problem.  If the regulator sees a short or a very high current for an
> extended time it will overheat and shut down. Five or six Hitec digitals
can
> not draw enough current to cause this.  Has everything else in the system
> been flown successfully under the same conditions? There are thousands of
> these switch harnesses out there and I've never heard of one quiting in
the
> air but if you want me to check it out I'd be happy to.
> Jim
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Wartel" <d.wartel at comcast.net>
> To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 5:29 PM
> Subject: Re: Jaccio Perfect Switch Harness
>
>
> > Has anyone had any problems, or know of any, with this switch?
> >
> > I'm running it with the regulator on six volts, Airtronics receiver,
Hitec
> > digitals. Today while flying only the second flight on a Quest, I
> completely
> > lost the radio conatact for several seconds and nearly lost the plane.
I'm
> > trying to isolate what went wrong. This is my first experience using a
six
> > volt system and this switch.
> >
> > Thank you, Dave
> >
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