Spectrum problems Poll

[richieclarkie]

Not had one problem in 25+ gallons and god knows how many TREX 450 packs.

The only issues is occasionally you need to switch on and off to establish a link. But one linked, never a problem.

[robgt]

The only issues is occasionally you need to switch on and off to establish a link. But one linked, never a problem

Same.
Lots of flights here... lots...
Cheers,
Rob

[marktigere1]

Going over to 2.4 with the Trex.

Had a full lockout last weekend using a Futaba 146iP with all the usual attention to layout and a ferrite ring.

First one though but hope to go never have one again.

Sticking to 35 on the Nitro as no problems so far!! (Famous last words)

Cheers

Mark

[LipolyGone]

I've just joined the 2.4 gig brigade.
Bought a DX7 & I'm confused as to what rx's I require for my helis.
Is it better to just get the AR7000 over the AR6200? is the performance better on the 7000 as I see they are both full range rx's.
Also what limitations does the dx7 have regarding doing twin engined aircraft I have a MPX twinstar & need to run two speed controllers will the dx7 do this with a 6 channel rx?
Regarding lockouts has anyone had a lockout with the AR7000?
These lockouts seem to be related more to the AR6100 rx are they lockouts or just range related incidents?
Also price wise where is the cheepest outlet for the RX's?
Ive found an AR7000 for £54.50 which includes postage is this a good price?

[simon_t]

I have 7 or so models on Spektrum ranging from Shockies through medium sized electric planks to my helis, a T-Rex SEV2, Xero-G and Minair Stratus. Rx's include AR6100,6200,7000 & 9000. All have been perfect. Recently I fitted a 6200Rx into my 10 year old Muller Esprit moulded glider - It's ideal as it has plenty of room in the fuselage. The main Rx was in the nose, and I used a slightly extended cable to the satellite Rx which was in the large area under the wing. First flight with this set-up was on the flat and off a winch launch to about 900'. About 1 1/2 minutes into the flight I started to feel I didn't have it, and shortly afterwards it spiralled, then went in vertically from about 400'. My first thoughts were lockout and range issues, but it is not a carbon glider, and measured only 400 metres away from the Tx on crashing. I subsequently checked the (fairly new) batteries, and I believe that the voltage drop under the load of 5 servos was enough to cause an Rx dropout. The batteries were high capacity AA size NiMH, known to have a relatively high resistance compared to NiCads. They did very poorly on a bench test. I now have a 5 cell Nicad pack, but haven't had the weather to re-test. I don't suspect the RF link - I have done ground tests out to 1.2Km, and believe the air range will be greater. But it does highlight yet again that you have to have a bombproof Rx supply with the Spektrum Rx's. The Futaba 149 PCM Rx never had a problem in 10 years with several sets of batteries in that model. If the RF link had ben hit the Rx would have recovered within Milliseconds. I believe the very occasional troubles that people report with Spektrum is the long Rx boot up time caused by a low voltage or voltage spike on the Rx supply. I have now made up a set of capacitors that I can plug into a spare channel on the Rxs. This is probably not necessary on the AR9000, as that is well decoupled internally, but may help the smaller Rxs which are not.

Luckily Muller builds a good model and I only needed new carbon joiners for the wing, and a bit of superglue on some cracks in the Fuz at the front of the wing. The model had stuck in theground about 10"!

I think a lot of people moving over to Spektrum from 35MHz gear will have problems if they do not check/upgrade the Rx supplies.

Simon

[Guest]

Out of range with a 6100 Rx
The 6100 has a rather short range on it, even though it is a park flyer
Very careful now when flying with this Rx

[jamiem]

Simon, sorry to hear about your crash. Woul dit be a better idea to isolate the servo power supply wires and have them running off of a separate power supply? that way the current being pulled by the servos wont affect the rx at all, and you will be guaranteed that the rx and servos will get all the power they need bit more expense and complication, but surely this would be better than losing it again!

My 600e seemingly either shut the rx down or the rx lipo came disconnected mid flight wihch resulted in a minor "loss of control crash". Im not 100% convinced it wasnt down to the rx re-booting, as it came and went before losing it totally, so im thinking i need to put come capicators in both my knight and the 600.

[LipolyGone]

Would you recomend going to a voltage reg on lipo then?
How am I likely to get on with it in my electric helicopters i.e a 450 se v2
Martin

[simon_t]

My Xero-G and Stratus both run on Fromeco Arizona regulators with FlightPower LiPos. Never missed a beat so far.

Jamie: I don't think it needs the complication of 2 Rx supplies, just a robust, low resistance battery pack. 5 cells obviously provides a lot more headroom, wich is what it has got now. The new Sanyo AA size Enercells are also excellent, being low resistance, and holding up a high voltage under load. It will be interesting once the Futaba Faast system is more popular, to see if that is less susceptible to Rx supplies. I think when people ask the question like 'what is the difference bteween an AR6200 and an AR7000, they are both full range?' the answer is probably that the cheaper and smaller Rxs are likely to be more susceptible to power supply issues when used with lots of servos, as there just is not the space in them for large decoupling capacitors.

Simon

[LipolyGone]

So in your opinion the AR7000 is the way to go with a decent lipo & lipo regulator. I too run some expensive plastic gliders mainly a McMeekin Falcon & a Vallenta Dragon I am thinking it would be best leaving them on 35 megs though as I am seriously doubting the reliability of the spektrum rx's with these voltage issues rebooting them.
Martin

[simon_t]

I have left my cobra calypso and mini ellipse on 35, but that is mainly because it is hard to fit the Spektrum Rx's in the models without compromising the aerials. The Cobra has a bit more carbon in it so I am a bit sceptical. I like to know I can fly a mile away without losing signal when flying the cobra.

Simon

[pxr5]

is the DX6 just as reliable as the DX7 then? and what is the main reason that the DX7 can fly anything but a DX6 cant?
great thread btw

[chugga-bug]

Think I'm right in saying the DX6 is not compatible with any of the dual RX's.
The secondary RX gives more chance of a signal getting through due to the extra antennas being 90deg to the other. Hence it's safer at long range.

Plenty of people have used the single RX's at long range without any problems, but It's not recommended.

[moyesboy]

The 6100 has a single pair of antennas parallel to eachother. If the signal is unobstructed then range shouldbe good, but it is more subject to shadowing from conductive bits of the model and of course range is a minimum when orientation is worst compared to the Tx antenna. Lots of peole use this Rx with samll models and helis such as trex450 - you can't fly a trex450 very far away without crashing it due to orientation problems.

The 6200 Rx is hardly any bigger than the above and has a plug in extra rx with two moreantennas which shouldbeplaced 90 degrees to eachother. A guy in our club had a momentary lock out with this setup but he had placed the antennas parallel to eachother and the fairly largeplank was quite a way away. It came back without delay when he raised the tx up which also had the antenna pointing directly at the model before.I have this Rx in my 450 heli. when I bought it they were out of stock of the 6100. It was a bit more but why not have the extra security - the 450 in total is a fairly expensive bit of kit.
In my installation I run off the ESC BEC (quark 33A) on a 3 cell pack. I left the ferrite ring on the ESC to RX lead but that might be unecessary. I've had no problems at all with this setup.

The AR7000 is a slighly bigger Rx for the extra channel sockets and has the extra plug in Rx as well. I have one in my Raptor which has been faultless. I am concerned about voltage dips making the Rx reset and I seldom do more than three flights without topping upthe 4 cell sub C pack. I have two one nicad and one Nimh and swap them out while the otheris charging. i will replacewith an align 2 in 1 after xmas and I am also considering separating the Rxsupply from the servo power. I also made a plug in capacitor to try and smooth the voltage dips out.

The AR9000 is a 9 channel Rx though you can't get a 9ch tx yet other than the modules to retro to 35 meg gear. On this the two on board antennas are 90 degrees to eachother and it comes with a plug in extra rx, and you can also plug in a third one. with earlyexamples of this rx there was a capacitor prone to come loose inside the Rx and you could get them fixed or fix it yourself. New ones should all be OK.

With all the spectrum receivers you should load up the servos and check you can'tpull the volts down too low, anything approaching 4v is dodgy. this can happen with overloading a regulator/lipo or due to the internal resistance of nicad nimh, or batteries getting a bit flat. A large electric plank was lost at our field due to the regulator not being up to the current draw on the servos.

The Dx6 goes with the park fly AR6000 rx and is DSM1 short range.
The new DX6i is full range and will drive the above listed receivers (but you will eventually want 7 channels to fly a nitro 3D heli)

[Sesame]

with this all going on would not a safer way be for the reciever to have its own independant supply as previously suggested.

Ive been using mostly SubC Ni-MH and so far not had a problem, however at the moment im not throwing it around that hard