Syma Forum

You could get a blue nose and blue blades, but it would cost more than buying a blue heli in the first place. (probably an additional $10-15, compaired to $5 extra) I'm still of the opinion that it's as good if you want a color other than what you get to repaint it. I've seen some cool ones that are OD green, painted to look like carbon fibre, (cheesecloth) and some other cool paintjobs, but I'd like to see somebody do blue metal flake. (Testors has a Saphire Blue Metal Flake that I used years ago on a model 70 Chevelle, and it looks awesome. just a fantastic color of paint)

The green and white are brand new, so they cost more, but there are no fakes.

They sell and thus make very few blue for some reason, so they charge more for them. (that makes them sell less, so they make less, so they have to charge more... you get the point)

The red is the 2nd best selling, and they don't have many fakes, so they're just a little more expensive.

Yellow, they make eight bazillion, there are many, many fakes, probably twice as many fakes made as real. (conservitavely estimated, high numbers are probably like 5-6x as many fake as real) Plus, there are many returned yellows that are resold, and many yellows that were returned and repaired and sold again, (well, we have proof of one--mine) and you end up with them being the most common and most faked, so the cheapest.

Then, of course, you have the podluck "colors vary" where you have absolutely NO idea what you're getting. You could get anything from a great one, to a rebuild to a fake, to a returned one. Not too good for these, but saves you money on ones that don't really get returned much.

It wasn't that much to start with. The idea was to ensure I wasn't doing something stupid like forgetting a switch or if I should ignore the light on the USB wire if it lights early. Seems it's genuinely non-working at this point and like you said there's no way to tell without spare parts.

That makes sense. It's possible I just couldn't tell the right stick was sending a signal while the left was in use. Just trying to see which part(s) weren't working.

Actually yes I caught that while I had it apart yesterday. Hadn't noticed until then and thought I did something wrong when it stopped blinking. But it does it each time you turn it on. About 2 or 3 seconds then it's steady green. Unfortunately that's the only activity I can see. Are you sure the switch in the front isn't just for the lights, maybe there's something else that makes it go up in the air?

Any other ideas? I'm out of 'em. Batteries are good. The copter or at least the charging wire says it's ready (even though it lit up after only a few minutes). The main motors moved when I tested some contacts on the board. The IR receiver and pretty much everything in the copter and controller seem secure. It doesn't make sense it could all appear new and yet not respond at all. Not even a chance to crash it.

D said

*Well that confirms the controller at least partially works. The left stick causes the LED's to flash. The right one does not. Still the copter should at least rise so maybe the problem is in there.

Only the left stick will cause the LEDs to flash. The right stick does nothing to a parked Heli. How does it know, you ask? Because if you let go of the left stick, you will have a parked Heli in about 1.5 seconds. It makes sense if you think about it though. The left and right on the right stick just alters the ratio of the speeds of the 2 rotors, and if they are not turning it has nothing to do/transmit. The forward and back of the right stick drives the tail rotor, and if you are parked or falling like a stone you don't need any tail rotor.

I can't believe on one has mentioned this, but the circuit board goes through a "boot process" when first turned on. There is a tiny green light on the top of the board near the back left corner. While it is flashing it is not going to respond to the transmitter. It took me a very long time to realize this. That boot process can take several seconds some times, other times it only blinks about 4 times. Before I noticed the pattern I thought it was succumbing to injury.

Do you see this green SMC LED? Does it blink? How long have you waited for it? Did the blinking ever change?

https://skitch.com/richardbronosky/8r9yn/s107-pcb

Well the controller seems intact. Nothing gained or lost from taking that apart. How does the circuit board come out of the copter? Do I need to take the entire thing apart? Just looking for loose or broken connections before I waste a week returning and ordering a new one if I give Syma another chance.

There's gonna be something to look for, maybe something I missed that's keeping this from working. Has everyone else's simply worked right out of the box?

D said

I can see a bent LED in the top of the controller (one is pointed high, the other 2 low).

 

*Where's the channel switch on the copter? I flipped it between A and B on the controller and still nothing happened. Lights on, no activity.

All three should be pointing middle, or just slightly above middle (is how mine are). Either return it or open it up and bend them straight. I don't know what that would do concerning returning it if it does not fix it. Maybe someone else can confirm this would keep it from working. I don't have any like that.

There is no channel switch on the copter. I know it says there is but there is not.