[NSRCA-discussion] Futaba 14MZ glitch

[James Oddino]

Hi Adrian,

That doesn't sound good for a system that young.  My 9ZAP finally was  
getting old but I had it for over 15 years.
The sticks still use pots like we've used forever.  I believe the  
confusion started when Futaba started calling them encoders.  A friend  
of mine had his replaced and what they took out looked like ordinary  
pots.  I don't know if he had experienced any twitches but I'll ask him.
I can't think of any reason the 14MZ should be more susceptible but I  
believe it does use different pots than other Futaba transmitters.   
I'm sure the service folks will replace them but it would be nice to  
know if they are replacing with the same old stuff or have a better  
replacement.

Jim


On Feb 12, 2008, at 6:28 PM, adriancwong at earthlink.net wrote:

> To all,
>
> Two of my friends from Hong Kong informed me that their 14MZ has  
> developed what the the Futaba Japan called a "Stick Volume"  
> problem.  You can be flying along without giving any input to any of  
> the control, but suddenly, there can be a twitch on any of the  
> moving surfaces, as if you give the stick a quick jerking movement.  
> One of my friend had it to the rudder, and the other on the aileron.  
> They sent it back to Futaba Japan and got it fixed, explanation from  
> Futaba was a wear and tear problem on the stick control.
>
> I've been using my 14MZ for over a year now, and I had the same  
> thing happen to my aileron started about a month ago. At first, I  
> thought it was an old ail servo, I changed both of them and flew it  
> for another 20 flights without any issues. Then, I switched to  
> another plane with brand new aileron servos a few days ago, and the  
> same issue resurfaced, and the occurance gets more and more frequnt.
>
> This morning, I was practicing the P-09 sequence with my friend Don  
> Atwood. As I was pulling the plane into the stall turn, it started  
> to twitch on the up line. I then pulled the plane into the next  
> maneuver - top hat with 4 of 8 - it twitched again on the down line.  
> It never went into a complete lock-out, but just a quick twitch on  
> the ail.
>
> After I landed, I was able to duplicate the same movement on the  
> aileron. I moved the stick back and forth a few times, as soon as I  
> let go of the stick, within a split second, both aileron will twitch  
> a few times and then stopped.
>
> As far as I know, the 14MZ Tx does not have atick pots any more, it  
> has some kind of an encoder, similar to a - fly by wire - system on  
> the modern jet liners? The encoder is suppose to detect the amount  
> of input onto the stick and feed the signal to the servos?
>
> Here are my questions:-
>
> Am I correct on the encoding system?
>
> Does anyone on the list experienced the same issue?
>
> Does this only occur to the 14MZ,  or, other models with the similar  
> encoding system. Particularly with the 2048 resolution?
>
> When I send it to Great Planes for service, will they be able to  
> identify the problem easily with an electronic scope?
>
> Thanks in advance to all.
>
> Adrian
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