Your opinion needed

[Franco Gozzi]

Hi,
in an article I have read about the Black Wire Corrosion, that works its way from the battery to the receiver when the battery is plugged and the place where you keep your plane is humid.
It sound very dangerous if you don't realize that time to change your onboard electronics has come.
At this point I have a question.
Can this Black Wire Corrosion reach the receiver pins and go even further inside its electronic components?
Has anyone of you observed such a phenomenon before?

Thanks in advenace for your answer,
Franco

[rlim]

I recently started getting back into the hobby after 25 years where I've dusted off and unpacked my 4 channel Futaba RC equipment. Both the transimitter and receiver nicad were dead as I did not know then about disconnecting and removing the batteries before storing them away. Anyway I took apart the transmitter and discovered the connectors were all corroded. I was able to remove the corrosion off the transmitter battery spring connector. However, I was unsuccessful with the receiver battery pack. Luckily, I have a spare Futaba battery holder from my 2 channel that I was able to use and test it with. Everything tested and worked fine .... surprisingly.

I also tested the receiver with my 2 channel Futaba equipment and it worked fine ..

Unfortuantely the club I join disallow the use of this equipment as they only allow the newer FM type radio equipment as mine is the older AM.

Anyway, this resulted in me having to purchase new radio equipment.

[Franco Gozzi]

rlim,

thanks for your reply.
I have read that after 25 years all you had to do was to remove the corrosion from the transmitter connector and change the battery pack of the receiver. Both tx and rx electronic circuits did not get corroded.
I just cannot understand why your club doesn't allow to use AM frequency systems.
Is AM frequencies transmission illegal in your state? Is it because they speculate that an old radio is not safe enough?
I can tell you that my old radios are the safest.
I have recently bought one Futaba 7CP which has cost me the crash of 3 planes before I understood that something was defective.
Under warranty it has been repaired (maybe changed). The guys at the service said that it was the receiver (?).
Later on, to another buddy of my club the same thing happened with a Hitec Eclipse 7 QCPM.
In short: the tough competition between radio producers has dropped the prices into the detriment of the quality controls accuracy.
Tell this to the senior members of your club.
Cheers,
Franco

[mjfrederick]

I have seen this corrosion in many of my old transmitters. I was out of the hobby for several years, and when I finally decided to try and dust off the old equipment I found much to my dismay that my Futaba 7UAF computer radio was ruined by this corrosion. The problem is, much like you said, it occurs as a result of atmospheric conditions, not from any leakage by the battery, and it only occurs on one side of the ciruit (can't remember if it was positive or negative). On my transmitter the wire running from the battery contact to the PC board was so brittle it broke when I touched it, and many of the circuits printed on the board resembled the same characteristics. I checked 2 other transmitters I had, and they were pretty much the same. The only way to avoid this type of damage is to remember to disconnect or remove the batteries from the system. I didn't check to see if damage was done to the receiver, but I believe it was protected by the switch. Rather than take a chance, though, I just went ahead and bought a new Futaba 7CAP. I needed to replace most of the servos in my plane anyway, as the humidity in South Louisiana had pretty much rendered the ball bearings in them worthless (the ones without bearings were fine... go figure, cheaper but more durable). Anyway, I hope this experience helps everyone realize the moral of the story: remove those batteries if you're not going to be using the equipment for a while!