Radio Wifi card fail (fire danger)

[brushhippie]

I have been working on getting everything I need for FPV though the radio..getting everything mounted etc..when this afternoon I powdered up the controller and solo and the controller never found solo..I have been flying this alot recently with the fpvlr antenna without issue..I have to assume since neither of my radios can find solo...the wifi card has failed..rather odd but I guess it does happen? or something else maybe..from the last time it hooked up to the next (like 5 minutes) it never moved from the pool table.?....ideas?..thanks

 

[brushhippie]

OK..I cannot seem to remove the thread so...shit..the card in the solo is fine it is the radio where the failure occurred..I finally got the other radio to hook up.

 

[brushhippie]

Nothing really to add to this other than..while I was removing all the stuff from the back of the controller I noticed it was all warm..20 minutes later I picked up the bad radio (which was off) and it was hot..not burn you hot but damn hot..no telling how hot it would have gotten had I not pulled the battery..no idea what is wrong with it but I would surely not appreciate it burning my house down.

 

[RichWest]

Was this a completely stock controller? You mentioned getting everything set up for FPV, that could mean quite of few mods being added...

 

[brushhippie]

It was bone stock inside..only stuff velcro'ed to the bottom for the goggles..and I never got it going on that radio so..really no reason for it to fail..just kind of putting it out there..might be a good idea to store them without batteries in them.

 

[RichWest]

Yep, no problem. Just felt your situation needed clarification for others to gain from your cautionary experience.

fwiw, the wifi card can run hot for a variety of reasons. It is somewhat well known that the "upgraded" wifi card did cause heating issues. As well, poor antenna connection will cause overheating, either internal or external connection.

As it is, the stock controller batteries are near 5yo. I have some expectation they will fail with a fizzle rather than a run-away failure. But who knows...

Your shared experience is appreciated.

 

[brushhippie]

Just to be clear the radio was off when this occurred..(and the heat was coming from the center back..the battery is fine it seems.) I did notice that when I shut it down the battery was way lower than it should be..I have found I could actually fly..no telling how many batteries through the drone before ever needing to charge the radio so I had never seen it that low..something was pulling some juice. I will pull it apart and see what is going on.

 

[RichWest]

I will pull it apart and see what is going on.

Dissections are always interesting....Solo CSI...

 

[just_bruce]

The power button on one of mine would occasionally stick when it got sand or dust in it...FWIW

 

[Striker37]

Brushhippie,how are you doing FPV thru the radio?What goggles are you using?

 

[brushhippie]

I bought a cheapo set off fleabay (fatshark teleporter 4) and did what is described in this thread FPV set up
I have had video in the goggles once..still working out bugs..the order in which things boot is important apparently!

 

[Striker37]

Thanx,i have the Eachine EV800D 5.8G 40CH Diversity FPV Goggles with DVR.and it has a video in mini din input on the side.Ill have to play around with it and see what resolution it can handle.I have a whole bunch of hdmi converters and adapters around here that i got from the Jensen/Advent/Audiovox engineering/prototype lab that's near me when i helped them clean out their warehouse when they moved.