RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz*  
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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 4:55:28 AM   
MikeGreenshields


 

Posts: 172
Joined: 3/15/2005
From: Fountain Valley, CA, USA
Status: offline 		The radio has a year warranty. If you think the battery is defective send it back and we'll replace it.

I'm just saying that the radio will work down to 9.0V safely and that the pack at 9.6V is safe to use. And unlike lipo's or some of the other newer batteries, nicd batteries are not going to hold voltage much above nominal voltage in storage for very long.








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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 5:11:43 AM   
djlyon



Posts: 1991
Joined: 12/10/2001
From: Castaic, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Not saying the battery is defective, just different and at this point disconcerting until I've tested capacity when it's settled at 9.6 on the shelf. You well note that I altered my previous post to point out that the low voltage alarm is set at 9.5 volts on the RDS8000. When I test for capacity I take the voltage of the individual cells down to 1 volt. I will also check to see when the 9.6 drops to 9.5 under load, 300 milliamps.

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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 5:21:18 AM   
gaRCfield


 

Posts: 1701
Joined: 5/20/2008
From: Burlington, VT, USA
Status: online 		How do you get spoilerons to work properly on this radio? I get flaperons to work fine, but the spoileron function doesn't make the ailerons move with the 3 position toggle switch, causes the throttle cut to stop working, and makes the trainer switch work as a throttle cut. I understand that if flaperons are on, spoilerons are off, and vice-versa.

Also my battery alarm comes on way before the radio hits 9.0 volts, which I thought was odd. Is there a way to change that?

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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 6:00:07 AM   
bigedmustafa



Posts: 2686
Joined: 6/19/2005
From: Omaha, NE, USA
Status: offline 		My RDS8000 transmitter batteries (I also have two) seem to self-discharge a bit more quickly than the tx batteries that came with my Futaba radios. The only knock I've read about Airtronics here on the RCU forums was that some folks said Sanwa batteries weren't as good as other OEM packs. The Sanwa packs that came with my RDS8000 seem to hold a peak charge OK for a day or so, but if you haven't charged the transmitter for three days or so, the voltage will have dropped down to a few tenths of a volt above nominal.

Having used my radios for a bit, they seem to charge and discharge the same as my Futaba tx packs do. The voltage rating is as high after a full charge, both brands seem to top out around 11.1 or 11.2 volts. The Futaba tx batteries (according to my 7C anyway) will operate from around 10.7v to 10.0v or 9.9v during an hour or two of flying after being topped up. The Sanwa tx batteries drop quickly down into the 10.3 or 10.2 volt range and operate closer to 9.8 to 9.6v after an hour or two of flying.

Do the Sanwa batteries not hold a charge as well, or is the voltmeter reading built into my Futaba 7C simply a bit "optimistic?" The voltage behavior of the Sanwa packs in my RDS8000s actually seem more "normal" for NiCd batteries to me.

At the end of the day, I don't really know that it matters. The RDS8000 operates perfectly fine at full range with the voltage indicated in the 9.6 volt range. My flight times aren't affected and I don't have to recharge my Airtronics radios any more often than my Futabas.

With other radio systems, I know pilots who get nervous if their 9.6v tx battery reads 9.6v. With the Airtronics RDS8000, you don't appear to need any extra voltage for a solid and reliable link. I believe this is more of a difference in how the different brands of transmitters function than any indication of an inherent problem with Sanwa transmitter packs.

I'd be more concerned if I owned a transmitter that came with a 9.6v tx battery but wasn't safe to fly when the battery was at 9.6v. As a Futaba flyer for the last several years, I'm comfortable with the tx battery performance of RDS8000 radios and I believe that they probably provide a more accurate rating of tx battery voltage than my Futaba 7CAF does.

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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 6:31:02 AM   
MikeGreenshields


 

Posts: 172
Joined: 3/15/2005
From: Fountain Valley, CA, USA
Status: offline 		The general idea behind the voltage warning is that if the battery has hit 9.4 or so, it's going to "dump". The Discharge curve gets really steep right at the end.

So, better safe than sorry.

Anyway my point about the 9.0V is that if the battery does start to dump, you have plenty of warning because even at 9.0V the radio is working. It's making an annoying beeping noise, but it's working, thus don't panic. Just land safely as time/space on the runway permits.

If you're getting a short run time before the alarm comes on, then maybe the battery is bad. If it gets to 9.7 or 9.6 and then sits there for an hour (which is kinda' what the discharge curve looks like) then you're fine.

You might just try charging the night before, which is what we always recommend. Then fly sometime that day until you hear the beeping noise. Or, if you're all flown out and the battery still hasn't hit 9.4 then I think it's ok.

If I drew the curve for these batteries and perhaps some others I think what you'd find is that these batteries have a slightly lower average voltage but they stay well above the point when the battery warning goes off and provide a proper amount of run time. And since the radio will run at 9.0V, that means that you still have a big safety margin.

Does that make sense?

Mike

< Message edited by MikeGreenshields -- 9/6/2008 6:33:23 AM >


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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 11:11:38 AM   
metalmetal67


 

Posts: 30
Joined: 11/13/2004
From: West springfield, MA, USA
Status: offline 		On my RD8000 the stock battery life was terrible 4 or 5 flights the most before reaching 9.7v. I have since switched to a 2200 mah nimh pack which solved all of my radio voltage issues. Upon receiving my RDS I instantly swapped out the original battery for the 2200mah nimh pack and I must say the RDS radio sips voltage compared to my RD. With my RDS I can fly for 2 weekends 2-3 flights each time and not have to charge the radio. In fact I have never seen voltage in the 9's with this set-up.

(in reply to MikeGreenshields)
       Post #: 981

RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 12:40:02 PM   
vortex00


 

Posts: 164
Joined: 1/18/2002
From: Edgewood, KY, USA
Status: offline 		HERE'S a DEAL ON RDS8000..... $110 WITH 1 RECEIVER! WWW.BOBSHOBBYCENTER.COM

PASS THE WORD!

ENJOY

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       Post #: 982

RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 2:55:31 PM   
mrbigg



Posts: 3015
Joined: 10/30/2004
From: Streator, IL, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: gaRCfield

How do you get spoilerons to work properly on this radio? I get flaperons to work fine, but the spoileron function doesn't make the ailerons move with the 3 position toggle switch, causes the throttle cut to stop working, and makes the trainer switch work as a throttle cut. I understand that if flaperons are on, spoilerons are off, and vice-versa.

Also my battery alarm comes on way before the radio hits 9.0 volts, which I thought was odd. Is there a way to change that?

I don't understand why the deal about the throttle/trainer switch. Never had that problem. Are you running dual aileron servos? What ports are they plugged into the reciever? Both channels have to be functioning the same way. Either both normal or reversed. In the "etc" menu, FLAPE needs to be ACT and SPOIR needs to be INH. Double check and let me know whats going on when you hit the switch.



< Message edited by mrbigg -- 9/6/2008 3:01:12 PM >

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       Post #: 983

RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 3:49:59 PM   
gaRCfield


 

Posts: 1701
Joined: 5/20/2008
From: Burlington, VT, USA
Status: online
quote:

ORIGINAL: mrbigg

quote:

ORIGINAL: gaRCfield

How do you get spoilerons to work properly on this radio? I get flaperons to work fine, but the spoileron function doesn't make the ailerons move with the 3 position toggle switch, causes the throttle cut to stop working, and makes the trainer switch work as a throttle cut. I understand that if flaperons are on, spoilerons are off, and vice-versa.

Also my battery alarm comes on way before the radio hits 9.0 volts, which I thought was odd. Is there a way to change that?

I don't understand why the deal about the throttle/trainer switch. Never had that problem. Are you running dual aileron servos? What ports are they plugged into the reciever? Both channels have to be functioning the same way. Either both normal or reversed. In the "etc" menu, FLAPE needs to be ACT and SPOIR needs to be INH. Double check and let me know whats going on when you hit the switch.

This is how my current setup is - left aileron in ch2, rt aileron in ch6, and flaperons turned on. Flaperons are working well. My question is about spoilerons though - when I turn on spoilerons, flaperons goes off, then the three way switch on the top right of the Tx does nothing, the throttle cut does nothing, and the trainer switch operates the throttle. In the directions it seems like spoilerons is meant for gliders, so I assumed that it wouldn't work for a powered plane because of this, hence changes with throttle buttons.




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..this hobby is doing weird things to me...

(in reply to mrbigg)
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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 4:58:07 PM   
BelAirBob


 

Posts: 68
Joined: 3/14/2004
From: Bel Air, MD,
Status: offline 		Where does it say the low battery alarm is set for 9.5V? The manual I have says that when the "gas gauge" is below half and it states "9.2V", it is time to recharge. The JR radios I have go down to 8.8 V (1.1 V per cell) before the alarm goes off. I was flying my RDS down to 9.2V last week and no alarm. And if I remember, the "gas gauge" was at 3/4.

Djlyon, is your battery tester putting a load on the battery? If not, it does not mean much, just as red and green ranges don;t really mean a lot. NiCads (TM) lose about 1% a day. As Mike said, I would never fly without charging before. I do, however, keep all my batteries on trickle charge after a full charging so they are always ready to go.

Going back to my JR;s, I always used an Accu Cycle. They would drain the battery, showing how many mAh were left, along with how many minutes. Once the cells get down to 1.1 V each, it charges for 16 hours and then goes to trickle. The Airtronics TX has a diode or something so this can not be done without removing the battery. This was the basic Accu Cycle you can get from Tower and it did no peak charging. My Accu Cycle Elite will do all that, but not sure it is necessary or worth the extra money.

bob

(in reply to djlyon)
       Post #: 985

RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 7:31:16 PM   
mrbigg



Posts: 3015
Joined: 10/30/2004
From: Streator, IL, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: gaRCfield


quote:

ORIGINAL: mrbigg

quote:

ORIGINAL: gaRCfield

How do you get spoilerons to work properly on this radio? I get flaperons to work fine, but the spoileron function doesn't make the ailerons move with the 3 position toggle switch, causes the throttle cut to stop working, and makes the trainer switch work as a throttle cut. I understand that if flaperons are on, spoilerons are off, and vice-versa.

Also my battery alarm comes on way before the radio hits 9.0 volts, which I thought was odd. Is there a way to change that?

I don't understand why the deal about the throttle/trainer switch. Never had that problem. Are you running dual aileron servos? What ports are they plugged into the reciever? Both channels have to be functioning the same way. Either both normal or reversed. In the "etc" menu, FLAPE needs to be ACT and SPOIR needs to be INH. Double check and let me know whats going on when you hit the switch.

This is how my current setup is - left aileron in ch2, rt aileron in ch6, and flaperons turned on. Flaperons are working well. My question is about spoilerons though - when I turn on spoilerons, flaperons goes off, then the three way switch on the top right of the Tx does nothing, the throttle cut does nothing, and the trainer switch operates the throttle. In the directions it seems like spoilerons is meant for gliders, so I assumed that it wouldn't work for a powered plane because of this, hence changes with throttle buttons.




Didn't know that about the throttle buttons. Learn something new everyday. If your flaperons are working, as in the effect that both ailerons are going down, you are doing it right. The problem is that you can't have both spoilers and flaps. I've never been able to do both.
To set up spoilerons (assuming both ailerons drop when hitting the switch) First push the switch down (away from yourself). Do the ailerons drop when doing that? If so, remove the screws from the servos so that you can remove the servo arms. Leave the switch down, center the aileron by hand, hold it there while reattaching the servo arm. Do both sides. Now try the switch. Full down is neutral, middle is up, top is full up.

_____________________________

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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 8:27:31 PM   
MikeGreenshields


 

Posts: 172
Joined: 3/15/2005
From: Fountain Valley, CA, USA
Status: offline 		When I'm using Ailerons also as Flaps And Spoilers, I simply use the flaperon, and then setup neutral on the 3 position flap switch in the middle. So then flipping the switch one way makes both ailerons droop (flaps) and flipping it the other way makes them both go up (spoilers) but of course they still wiggle when I move the aileron stick.

They're not variable or anything, it's just a 3 position switch, but it worked ok on the plane I had them on (kinda' a big high wing trainer that landed way better with some spoilers and in the air was a lot of fun with the ailerons both drooping...)

Not sure if this helps but I think it might be what you're trying to do and anyway, it worked for me.. If you need further help, you might call the 800 line on Monday and talk to Jack about it.

Mike


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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 9/6/2008 11:07:24 PM   
djlyon



Posts: 1991
Joined: 12/10/2001
From: Castaic, CA, USA
Status: offline