New 2in1 switch

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SOLD - Align T-Rex 450

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SOLD - Traxxas T-Maxx

I just sold my T-Maxx nitro monster truck. I've had some fun with it in the last years, but most of the time I was just trying to tune the engine, which proved to be some pretty hard task. So I decided to sell it to finance a new project next spring which will probably be a gas buggy. More power, more fun, less time spent tuning!

2in1 problem...

After reading about it so many times, I knew it would happen some time, and this was today. I was at the field with my 600NSP and as I was switching the 2in1 unit to ON, the lights on the unit flickered. After that, I could make the lights flicker again just by touching the tiny switch.

I decided not to fly and that I would have to take the 2in1 apart to clean it and maybe consider a replacement, because this thing just can't go wrong in flight.

I think I might have a little fuel on the 2in1 while fueling my heli, maybe this is what caused it to glitch, but anyway, this is too risky to stay like that.

More on that later.

My new DIY radio battery pack

I finally ended ordering some Sanyo eneloop cells to make my own new rechargeable pack for my DX7. I used an old AA battery tray that I had laying around from some old project and it happens to fit just exactly in the DX7 so here is my brand new pack:

I think it looks just awesome!

DX7 battery pack

For a while now, my DX7 battery does not keeps its charge for a very long time. I used to get easily 10 flights with a single charge and now I almost have to charge it everytime I go out.


So I started looking for a replacement battery for it and apparently, the easiest (and cheapest) solution is to buy some AA cells and make another pack myself. I will go to my local costco later today and see if I can buy some NiMh rechargeable AA cells to make another pack.

Stupid fuel magnet

Today I was flying my 600 and all of a sudden, the engine started to act weird. The sound wasn't right, but I couldn't tell what was wrong and as I was approaching to land the heli and look at it, the engine just died! Luckily, I was able to handle this first forced autorotation from about 25 feet without any problem.


I tried to start it again and it wouldn't start unless I gave it a lot of throttle. Then I just couldn't make it to idle, it was like if the needle was suddenly like 1 more turn leaner....

After looking at everything on the bench, I easily found the trouble, my fuel magnet foam simply desintegreted and a lot of it was stuck in the fuel filter.. making the mix somehow a lot leaner because it was preventing fuel to pass freely through the filter!

I pulled the whole fuel line apart and cleaned everything. I was happy to find that the align 3-way filter can be dissambled and cleaned.

So now I will throw this fuel magnet away and get an OS bubbleless instead. I don't want to think of what could have happened without the filter, foam in the carburator/engine can't be a good thing!

I figured that while flying, the governer was trying to maintain headspeed, but it was suddenly so lean, that it had to lower the throttle so low that it just cut the engine.

So it was my last flight with a stupid fuel magnet!