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[Captain Povey]

Hi all, Today started badly as I switched on my Planet T5 Tx to check operation of the boat I was going to sail and then switched on the Rx in the boat. Nothing happened. I thought a change of Rx battery may be needed. The battery I removed was very warm! Then I remembered the Rx was a Futaba R617RS. I swapped to the Futaba Tx and tried again. I then noticed the awful smell of frying electronic components. I switched everything off and removed the Rx sure enough it was melting in one corner. So was it my use of the wrong Tx or a fault in the Rx, it is not new. At around £60 for a Futaba replacement Rx it was an expensive mistake to make if it was me. I am planning to replace it with a FSSS compatible Rx as suggested on a recent post. Any comments or advice gratefully received. Cheers Graham.

[Tug-Kenny RIP]

I would not have thought a receiver would be affected by the wrong transmitter.

They ignore external transmissions until they pick up the matching Transmitter. I would check the connections to the R/X and look for trouble there.

Hope this helps

ken

[barriew]

As Kenny says it is unlikely to be the Tx - if it was then every time someone at the lake used a different make of Tx to yours the same would happen. I would suggest close scrutiny of the battery lead especially where it enters the Rx.


barrie

[mikearace]

No chance that the new battery was plugged in the wrong way round is there?  That would be a likely cause. 

[Captain Povey]

Thanks for suggestions guys. I will certainly check the wiring and I don't think the battery can be connected up the wrong way but I will check. Cheers, Graham.

[catengineman]

I read that the first try you noted the rec battery was "warm" then when  a fully charged battery fitted the then became the magic smoke syndrome.
My thought s would be this , there was a poor connection or even a short within the REC then when a fully charged battery was introduced this was the final straw and sadly a EC has now died (but this in my opinion would have happened anyway as the old battery was trying to short out but possibly did not have quite the gumption to do so

[malcolmfrary]

It is one of the downsides of a separate battery that it can be plugged in the wrong way round.  It might need some persuasion, but it is possible.  All of the 3 pin connections are effectively proof against anything untoward happening if plugged in the wrong way round, but a 2 pin battery connection has no such safeguard.  Many RXs have a moulded polarisation to make an accidental reversed power connection difficult, but not all.
That, and the possibility of an internal short as mentioned before.

[Captain Povey]

Hello again, I am pretty sure the battery was not connected wrongly as I tried to do that this morning and it was impossible with the connector I have. I then checked the wiring from the battery through the switch and on to the Rx. All was fine but the lead to the Rx was discoloured a sure sign of overheating I think. A closer look at the Rx revealed that the corner that had melted was the one where an LED should have been. So I am pretty sure now that the problem was with the Rx LED. Thanks for all your observations. I think when the new Rx arrives I can connect it with confidence. I might send the old one to Futaba to see if this has been a problem elsewhere. Cheers, Graham.

[Circlip]

Is the positive battery lead connected to the positive terminal of the pack? ie. Before the two pin plug?
 
   Regards  Ian.

[Captain Povey]

Hi Ian, Both batteries have been used in this boat previously without problems so the leads must be connected correctly. Graham.

[Captain Povey]

Hi all, The replacement compatible Rx was received and fitted this morning and all is working again. No response yet to my email to Futaba. Cheers, Graham