RE: futaba 14mz Stick question
Sounds like a Robbe thing. They do that a lot. I'd contact them to see if they can do it on a 14MZ. I know that Hobbico/Futaba USA does not do it for either radio. Here's the Robbe page: http://www.robbe.de/stick-schalter-2-pos-fx-30-40.html http://www.robbe.de/stick-schalter-3-pos-fx-30-40.html Lists the 14MZ as one model it works with.
Posted on: 9/18/2012 11:59 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11232599

RE: futaba 14mz Stick question
Not as far as I have seen. I have also not seen this as possible for the 18MZ either. If you see a reference to "stick switches" many times what that means is that the stick position can be used to turn a condition, mix, etc. ON/OFF. But neither radio can have a physical switch wired into the sticks on the gimbal, at least not that I have ever seen or heard of.
Posted on: 9/18/2012 10:42 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11232514

RE: Batteries running-in and swollen batteries
I install the connectors I want, charge, and go fly. I do three things that seem to work for me: Buy proven cells Rarely discharge beyond 75% Charge at 1C I stop using a pack when it starts performing poorly. I have never had a pack puff or stop balancing properly. This includes when I was racing boats where I had a 10S2P 10,000mAh (5s-5,000x4) set up that I ran down to 75% inside of 2 minutes. In fact, those packs are 5 years old now and I still use them for practice. Of course, with the cost of lipos these days I almost look at them as disposable compared to just a few years ago when you had to mortgage the house to buy a couple of them.
Posted on: 9/16/2012 6:34 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11229889

RE: NOTAM from Hell
[quote]ORIGINAL: combatpigg [quote]ORIGINAL: BarracudaHockey The bottom line is, the Secret Service, FAA, and Dept of Homeland Security take these very seriously, I suggest everyone does the same. Until the AMA can get the FAA to ease up on the restrictions it's best not to stir the pot. [/quote] Where can I sign up so that I can get these NOTAMS too...? I'm starting to feel kind of left out...[&o] [/quote] You do not "sign up". If you are the designated club safety office for your club and your email was provided to the AMA when the Club submitted their annual charter renewal, then you should get the TFRs that pop up in your area. Failing that you can always go to the AMA website to check. They post them right on the front page. And, you can always go right to the source, the FAA to see them all. http://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html
Posted on: 9/8/2012 5:00 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11222154

RE: NOTAM from Hell
BTW - you will only receive a notice of a TFR that is in your area. So not every club across the land gets these every time, just those in the affected region.
Posted on: 9/8/2012 3:52 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11222088

RE: TOWER HOBBIES SUCKS
[quote]ORIGINAL: xzdd27 Evidently they moved there wearhouse to one of the western states. My last order took twice as long as it use to. For that reason I am ordering from suppliers closer to me. I have no issues with there customer service or products. But there are suppliers closer to Michigan that I feal are just as good and now offer quicker delivery than Tower [/quote] Tower/Hobbico has two warehouse locations. One in Champaign, IL and the other in Reno, NV. The Reno location has been there for several years. Which one ships the product depnds on who has it in stock.
Posted on: 9/8/2012 9:59 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "The Clubhouse"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11221796

RE: NOTAM from Hell
[quote]ORIGINAL: MetallicaJunkie not one time has the AMA emailed me to notify us of a NOTAM in our area [/quote] They use the Club's Safety Officer email address. I'd call the AMA Monday and make sure they have the correct information for your club contact. They do not send it to all the officers, etc.
Posted on: 9/8/2012 8:58 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "AMA Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11221761

RE: 14MZ - flaperon
This may help: http://www.futaba-rc.com/faq/faq-14mz-q1155.html http://www.futaba-rc.com/faq/faq-14mz.html
Posted on: 9/7/2012 10:43 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11221468

RE: Anyone running Futaba 14Z receiver on A123?
I now run ONLY A123/LiFePO4 packs. I do not use a regulator. It is not the receiver you need to worry about, but rather the servos. In general, if your servos can run on 6 volts they will be fine with LiFe/A123. I do not use any regulators. I have run these batteries on almost every receiver Futaba makes and all have performed flawlessly.
Posted on: 9/7/2012 1:30 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11220989

RE: TOWER HOBBIES SUCKS
FWIW, I just ordered two small items from Horizon. They came in a 10x8x8 box with two of those plastic air bags inside. Nothing was broken but my purchase (servos) were rattling around inside the box.
Posted on: 9/7/2012 6:47 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "The Clubhouse"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11220586

RE: looking for a metal double servo arm for futaba bls172
Several different sizes on this page: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0091p?&P=SM&C=MGA&V=FUT I've used the metal Futaba arms and they are very stiff. I can also recommend the MLP arms sold by Airwild Hobbies: http://www.airwildpilotshop.com/MoreInfo-1.asp?title=product&id=90 They mount "upside down" to get the arm in line with the servo output. Work with 4-40 hardware
Posted on: 9/5/2012 10:03 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11219116

RE: 1st life battery attempt ends poorly
I have over a dozen LiFePO4 packs (all Hyperion brand) in use, some for over 2 years. Never had a single issue and I will never run any other kind of battery again.
Posted on: 8/31/2012 8:01 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "The Clubhouse"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11212572

RE: Futaba BLS451- Nervous servos!!!
There is no need to use the high speed channels (#1 to #6), and in fact, no need to have the RX in HS mode in the first place on an airplane. I would put the RX in normal mode if it was my plane. I suspect the jittering is due to the servos trying to hold center. The 451 has a pretty tight deadband. I might look at the linkages to see what the geometry is. That can make it harder for the servo to find and hold center.
Posted on: 8/28/2012 9:36 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11209071

RE: a123 or life batteries rx and tx
[quote]ORIGINAL: Anthony-RCU An unregulated A123 will work fine fo rx but won't be as consistent or as light as a regulated lipo. [/quote] Take a look at this discharge curve. It uses a 500 mA load. That is higher than most pattern planes will pull (in general) Notice that there is virtually no voltage depression and it takes a long time to reach the end. I simply determine what my average use per flight is and then figure the max number of flights I can get. Then I only fly 75% of the max. A 2S 850 mAh LiFePO4 pack from Hyperion weighs 48.8 grams and requires no regulator. A 2s 900 mAh TP lipo weighs 49 grams and requires a regulator (unless you have HV servos). The TP 730 mAh Pro-lite is 39 grams and it too needs a regulator. I like the constant 6.6 volts I get with the LiFePO4 packs. On my 62" Osiris I have the telemetry which tells me current voltage along with the high and low. On that plane the current, high and low are always 6.6 volts.
Posted on: 8/24/2012 7:30 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11205057

RE: 18 MZ Charging
This is the vendor only area so I'm sure Bax or Krysta will clean this up on Monday, but meanwhile. My 18M goes safely for nearly 8 hours on a charge. That is more on-time than I do in an average weekend of lots of flying. But if you are really worried about this you can rig up a polarity correct plug and simply connect it to a 12V source. The actual charging circuitry is internal to the battery/transmitter. I am not recommending this, simply telling you how it works. The black box that sits on the table when charging is a 12V/2.4 Amp power supply. But again, if you are worried about field charging you are ding a SERIOUS amount of flying in a day. 8 hours of on time is a bunch!! Bill in SOCAL
Posted on: 8/24/2012 6:27 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Futaba Radios Direct support forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11204991

RE: a123 or life batteries rx and tx
I've been using unregulated 2S LiFePO4 packs in everything I fly except my Abbra. That was set up for lipo and I simply have been too lazy to change it. I've used unregulated LiFePO4 in gliders, helis, and planes with no issues at all. I fly Futaba and have used the R6004HF, R6106HFC, R617FS, R608FS, R6008HS, R6014FS, and R7008SB with these packs. Servo wise I've run JR281, JR3421, JR8411, 8417. Futaba 3150, 3155, 9252, BLS252, BLS153, 9255, 9650, 9156, 9157, 9551. Align DS610, DS620, DS650 My next pattern plane will have unregulated 2S LiFePO4 in it. My experience has been that the packs drop to 6.6 volts fairly quickly and hold there for a very long time. They retain charge between uses, and have a good capacity to weight ratio. I use the Hyperion packs and have the 850, 1700, 1450, 2100 and 3000 mAh packs. I charge them with my Hyperion DUO chargers. The only servos I have heard that have had issues were a couple of MKS glider servos where 6 volts was the absolute max. In general any servo that can handle a 5-cell NiMH will be just fine with an unregulated 2S LiFePO4 pack.
Posted on: 8/24/2012 3:30 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11204813

RE: Which Battery Charger to buy
I've been using a pair of Hyperion EOS610i DUOs for a few years now. Mine are the original DUOs and if I ever needed a new charger I would buy the Hyperion EOS720i SuperDUO http://www.allerc.com/hyperion-eos-0720i-super-duo-7s-16n-charger-dual-20a-500w-14s-sync-mode-p-6044.html At 500 watts per channel (on 24 volt power) it can charge a 5S pack at 20 amps if you want to. I typically charge all my lipos at 1C. Typically takes 45 minutes to get a 100% charge and it treats the packs nicely. My packs tend to give me a long service life as well. Go figure. These chargers also charge in what they call "Synch" mode, which means it charges two packs and balances them together as if they were a single 10S pack for instance. Really nice when running packs in series.
Posted on: 8/16/2012 3:11 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11196160

RE: 62
My elevator halves were off. I had to cut them and get them level. Until I did that I had to carry more trim that I was happy doing.
Posted on: 8/12/2012 8:47 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11191105

RE: Bullet Connector Size
I think the OP is talking about the connection between the ESC and the motor on the three wires that run between the two and not the connectors on the batteries themselves.
Posted on: 8/9/2012 11:58 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11187847

RE: Futaba R617FS with a smart-fly Power Expander
The 617FS is a great receiver. I have several of them in helicopters, airplanes and gliders. I run all mine on unregulated 2S LiFePO4 packs (6.6 volts nominal, 7.2 volts freshly charged). Your servos will determine what voltage you need to use. The 617 doesn't really care.
Posted on: 8/9/2012 6:30 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11187612

RE: F3A Results - SPOILER
The US F3J Soaring Team is in SA right how (Johannesburg) and it has been bitter cold with nasty winds!! Keep in mind that summer for us in winter for them. They even had SNOW!! BTW - the USA F3J Team just won the Team Gold today and we got 4 seniors (the whole Senior Team and 5-time Soaring Champion, Daryl Perkins) and 1 junior into the Finals.
Posted on: 8/9/2012 6:27 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11187610

RE: Bullet Connector Size
4.0 mm is pretty standard for the connection to the motor. Most motors that have bullets installed use 4mm. I'll use bullets if I expect to have to pull the motor (like to lube and inrunner) otherwise I just solder the wires direct.
Posted on: 8/8/2012 7:13 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11186321

RE: F3A Results - SPOILER
Use what the heli guys do, electric and nitro.
Posted on: 8/4/2012 11:52 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11180806

RE: F3A Results - SPOILER
You can take away my batteries when you pry them from my cold dead.... Wait, that's something else. But I do like electric. For most of us I think it works very well. Maybe the top few percent of pilots might feel differently, but for me, I'll stay with electric. It suits my limited skill set very nicely.
Posted on: 8/3/2012 11:55 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Pattern Flying"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11179810

RE: First electric?
I'll add my voice to the chorus. I really like my Osiris. It does everything well. Perfect "pocket" pattern plane [:)]
Posted on: 7/26/2012 4:39 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "Electric Pattern Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11170495

RE: Futaba R6014HS Rx- how to change modes?
One other thing. Do NOT have the Transmitter on while doing this. Ask me how I know [&:] And I totally agree about the HS mode. Like Exeter says, most mortals will not notice any difference when using it or not. I know I didn't, even in my helis!! All it does it decrease the time the servo takes to reach full holding torque, which is really only important if you are stirring the sticks rapidly.
Posted on: 7/26/2012 1:43 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11170306

RE: Unexplained loss of control
You are correct about interference, but 2.4 receivers are still able to have problems from noise from the system in the plane, like an ignition, bad switch, bad plugs, servo going bad, etc. Every single one of those things has been documented. In the pre 2.4 days we just called it getting hit, but now we know that is not the case. External noise from metal to metal, outside interference, etc. generally have no effect. But the stuff on the other side of the RF deck can cause issues. You will not get a lockout since the RX is still seeing a valid signal. You get things like un-commanded surface movement, erratic behavior (i.e. "glitching") and so on.
Posted on: 7/24/2012 11:06 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11168238

RE: Unexplained loss of control
His BEC was to feed power to the ignition. He also had dual packs, so while I agree that the typical AA size NiMH cell is not a great match for most uses, with dual packs (half the load per pack) the possibility of low power is less likely.
Posted on: 7/24/2012 12:11 PM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11167472

RE: Unexplained loss of control
I disagree about the BEC. It is very possible that the BEC or ignition was causing an internally generated noise that would not result in a failsafe event. This has been documented before. Failsafe works if the RX loses contact with the TX. But internally generated noise from a BEC issue, ignition, bad servo, bad connections/switches are a very likely culprit in this case.
Posted on: 7/24/2012 7:09 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11167146

RE: Unexplained loss of control
I agree about sending the RX in. I would also send the TX as well. As far as heat goes, the R617FS has proven to be extremely robust when it comes to heat. I do not recall hearing about any issues with it, especially heat related one. Low voltage is not a likely cause either. The 617 will work to down below 3 volts, the point at which many servos will not move. Given the dual packs, I'm not voting for voltage in this case. I am still very curious about exactly what happened. Did it just stop responding? Did it go into failsafe (low throttle)? And how was the BEC wired in?
Posted on: 7/24/2012 6:22 AM by Author "Silent-AV8R" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11167097