Jack Diaz

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks David.

I have to confess that the jitters had me disappointed with the unit.

But after your info today, and watching the behavior with V-14 .... I just ordered two more units


Jack

LA jetguy

Fantastic... Now if I could get you to try a Jeti system .... The cortex is plug and play with Jeti system.....

Cortex gyro makes every flight enjoyable......

Quandry

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I could not find it through searching.....

Will the Cortex still stabilise Ailerons if you are using CROW? I am guessing not as I presume it would be seen as an input by the unit, but if not it might be a nice feature to add sometime on a future release.

Edit: I have a Cortex but am still in the depths of an F86 build that it will go in to so have not gotten to play with it too much yet.

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Absolutely, think of crow as a new trim position.

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

The Cortex is pnp with any radio system!

F1 Rocket

Yes, but the Jeti adds the ability to mix airspeed data into the Cortex gain control

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Yes it does!

Harley Condra

My Feedback: (4)

Here are some photos of my Demon Cortex installation on my new "Fly Navy" KingCat.
I always mix the rudders to the nose gear steering. .
The ailerons are on separate channels, the rudders are on a "Y" harness, and the elevators are on a Matchbox. The Matchbox only uses one channel.

The gyro is mounted on a platform extending from the left hand fuselage side above the receiver, which allows for simple and short wiring from the receiver to the gyro, and from the gyro to the control surfaces. No foam rubber pad is below the gyro case, as it is tied down tight with a short length of Velcro and button head panel screws.
The platform is made from 1/8" light ply which is filled and painted to match the airframe. After the paint was dry, I sanded the faying surfaces and glued the platform assembly to the fuselage side and canopy rail with BVM Aeropoxy. The decision to hard mount the gyro as opposed to using the supplied pad was based on a conversation with Dustin. He heartily recommended hard mounting it. Since our turbine powered jets experience vibration only during take off and landing, why not hard mount it to keep it from moving around?

The gyro is plugged into AUX 2 on my 12X, and selecting "GYRO" in code 17 on AUX 2, gives you control of code 44, so the gyro sensitivity is adjustable in all three flight modes. My sensitivity settings are: Flight Mode 0 (Gear Up, Flaps Up, no Crow): 35%; Flight Mode 1 (Gear Down, Flaps at Take Off, no Crow) 60%; Flight Mode 2 (Gear Up Flaps at landing position with Crow) 60%. The Flight Modes are controlled by the flap switch.

Dustin made these sensitivity adjustments while I flew the airplane, and they worked out absolutely perfect. Take off did not require any nose gear steering correction at all! The nose wheel stayed on the center line until lift off. During the first landing roll out, at brake application the right hand brake grabbed a little more than the left hand brake, causing a yaw to the right. .we could see the rudders and nose wheel steer to the left in opposition to the brake induced yaw. The yaw was reduced somewhat.
Overall, I am very satisfied with my Demon, and look forward to many more great flights!!

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Nice Install Harley! The Cortex really does a great job of making our jets nicer to fly.

Harley Condra

My Feedback: (4)

Thank you , Bob. It certainly does.
We noticed that when in very slow flight, the tail of the KC would drop slightly in the turn. The gyro eliminated that .
There is a spot where we fly where terrain caused turbulence makes the turn to final a little bumpy. The gyro took the "bumpy" out of the turn.

John Redman was down here a few weeks ago testing his P-180 changes in our hot, humid Florida weather, and used it as his test bed. I thought he was going to blow the paint off!!
40 lbs of blow is really overkill on a KC.

Airforce7

My Feedback: (31)

I just received one in the mail yesterday. Very nice product, packaging top notch, instructions clear. Feels like the enclosure is machined aluminum, not plastic.

I checked the PCB and mine has "bavariandemon-a" in gold along the edge. Do I have the latest version?

Plan is to test it out in my eFlite EDF F-4, then drop it in my UF. Long term goal is to use it on a future project with thrust vectoring.

Can someone help post a config (setup) for a jet with elevons and 2-axis thrust vectoring such as a Rookie II?

jws_aces

My Feedback: (33)

Airforce,

I just got mine 2 weeks ago from Dreamworks and I did have to do the update. I had very slight jitters.

Just a heads up on installing the firmware. It is very easy to do. Only thing I got stuck on was I had the plug from the computer into the gyro backwards. The is a small white line on one of the wires that plugs into the gyro in the same slot that you use the set up plug in.

If the first time you try install the update and you get a message saying waiting on the unit to power up and you have it powered up and it just sits there and doesn't look like it doing anything then that is what is wrong. I flip mine over and it updated in seconds.

Airforce7

My Feedback: (31)

Thanks Jeff. I was able to download the latest firmware (14) from the web and install it on the gyro. I updated my F-4 to a nine channel Rx (AR9000) from 7 channels. The new cable connectors that came with the gyro needed to be trimmed in order to fit into the Rx channel slots. Connectors were a bit to big.

I attempted to setup the gyro without success. Tried several times. Not sure what the problem is. Gryo is mounted in the correct direction. Here's my setup...

A = elevator
B = rudder
C = right aileron
D = left aileron
E = N/A
AUX = grey wire connected to AUX 2 on Rx

I power up with the jumper installed the first time and let the gyro sequence through to the end until I got a fast blinking LED. Manual says you can do that if you want to skip the use of the gyro. I had full control of the control surfaces with the Tx after that sequence. Pulled the jumper and powered off, then on again and got a solid LED.

Now, when I go back and try to teach the gyro my travel end points it doesn't take them. I don't think I get the feedback from the gyro the way I should, seems like it just cycles through the same LED blinks regardless of my stick inputs until the end.

I don't believe the order of the cable connections must correspond to the manual's LED sequence. I just start with aileron input, even though A is elevator.

Really starting to get frustrated with this thing...

mort78

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Airforce7,
To setup the gyro, make sure your TX is completely ready to fly the model with the correct travel etc. Turn Dual rates off.....

Then to teach the gyro, you need to do the following....
1. Turn everything off
2. Place jumper into gyro
3. Then turn on your transmitter with neutral sticks and dual rates OFF.
4. Turn on your model.
5. This is where you need to be quick.... the LED will cycle through the various controls. For you, the gyro light sequence will be....

2 x RED blinks (Do nothing)
2 x GREEN blinks (Right Aileron)
1 x GREEN blink (Left Aileron)
2 x GREEN blinks (Aileron Neutral, Elevator Push - Down)
1 x GREEN blink (Aileron Neutral, Elevator Pull - Up)
2 x GREEN blinks (Aileron + Elevator Neutral, Rudder Right)
1 x GREEN blink (Aileron + Elevator Neutral, Rudder Left)

When the system blinks fast continously, Pull the jumper out and power the model down. The above step happens fast, so you need to be aware of which input to give beforehand, otherwise you'll put in a wrong input or miss it altogether, as the gyro doesn't wait for you.
I remember having to do this a couple times before I got it done right. Remember, the gyro 'learns' your end points AND stick position during the above sequence - ie: During the time the jumper is in the gyro.

Regards,
Mort

mort78

My Feedback: (1)

Furthermore, the LED when the jumper is out should be the following....

RED LED - Gyro Off (Transmitter ATV should be at 0)
AMBER LED - Gyro ON in RATE Mode (ATV is your gain setting - ie: -20 = 20% gain in Rate mode)
GREEN LED - Gyro ON in HEADING HOLD Mode (ATV of +20 = 20% gain in Heading Hold mode)

You can adjust each axis individually with the use of a PC. For example, if you wanted more gain on the ailerons, but wanted to leave the rudder and elevator at a lower setting.

Springbok Flyer

This gyro is starting to sound a whole lot more complicated than what I thought at first.....'gyro doesn't wait for you' ..... sounds like too much trouble.....

Please se tell me I'm wrong as I've ordered one to try.....

Jan

mort78

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Jan,
Haha... I didn't mean for it to sound so dramatic.
What I mean is, at the point where you have the bind plug in and you power up, it goes through the setup.
There is no way to 'pause' the setup sequence. So the LED's will start with the RED double flash... then shortly thereafter, the GREEN LED. This is where you need to do your stick inputs.
It's NOT hard. You just need to know its coming.

If you don't get it right first go (which I didn't), you just power down and start again. The entire sequence takes about 30secs, so it's no big deal.
Trust me..... you will LOVE this gyro. I have 2 and they are simply gold.
Cheers,
Mort

jws_aces

My Feedback: (33)

Like Mort said it is very simple to set up. You don't need to overthink it. You just need to make sure that the lead plugged into the rx is the same channel as the gyro ie: A plug into the rudder on the RX the rudder needs to be in A socket on the Gyro. It doesn't matter what order you use to plug them in because it learns the channels in the set up.
Yes that is why you need to move the sticks pretty quick during setup. If you mess up you don't sweat it. You can power down and then back up and do it over and over. It took me about 3 times to get it right. You check after it is done by moving the model and watching the control surfaces. They should move the opposite direction you first move the model. You may want to turn up the gain to really see the movement.

Airforce7

My Feedback: (31)

Mort, Jeff,

Thanks for the feedback. I will try again tonight. I plugged in the AUX cable from the gyro into my Rx (AUX 2) and made that channel work on a slider switch. I was not able to see any change in the gain or LED color, nor any movement of the control surfaces (manually holding the model in different orientations) after powering back on with the jumper removed. I may back out some of the cables and just try to setup one control surface to see if I'm successful. Again thanks and I will try again and let you know what happens.

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

NOT at all. Very simple to install and setup.

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Hi your wiring sequence is fine. When you see the double Bump of the control surfaces is when you move start moving the control sticks
Right aileron and hold until you see the LED flash green 1 time
Left aileron and hold until you see the LED flash green 2 times
Down Elevator and hold until you see the LED flash green 1 time
UP Elevator and hold until you see the LED flash green 2 times
Right Rudder and hold until you see the LED flash green 1 time
Left Rudde and hold until you see the LED flash rapidly green, REMOVE THE JUMPER, power down the airborne. DONE
Now power up the airborne and without moving the model let the gyro initialize by bumping the surfaces TWICE.
With your AUX2 switch in the middle the GYRO LED should be RED, flip it each way and observe which side of the switch turn Green. Go into your end points and turn this side of the switch to ZERO as this is the hold side, unless you used the PC software to set The Green side(Bank 2) to rate mode. The amber side of the switch should be set to 40-50% as a starting point. With the amber side selected verify the gyro is compensating in the correct direction. Do the following, lift the right wing and the right surface SHOULD Go up and FOLLOW your hand. Lift the Tail and the elevator surface SHOULD Go up and FOLLOW your hand. Move the tail RIGHT and the surface SHOULD Follow your hand.
If you need to talk PM your number and I'll call you to help.
Bob

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Airforce you can use "E" to stabilize your steering channel if it is on a separate channel
Bob

wfield0455

My Feedback: (7)

I would like to make one comment about the wording of "turn dual rates off" during setup. While not really, incorrect, I think it may be clearer to say, select the highest dual rate setting for each control surface. If that setting is 100% then you should have your dual rates set for 100%, if you must select set dual rates to 70% to obtain the highest travel that you ever want to use that won't cause control surface binding, then you should select that setting. Basically, during setup, one of the things the gyro is learning is the maximum travels it should use for corrections in order to avoid binding control surfaces. As a result, you should use the highest rates that it's safe to fly the airplane with that won't cause control surfaces to bind, etc. This is also why it's important to have the airplane fully configured with the proper control surface throws, etc, BEFORE, setting up the Cortex.

Don't mean to be a nit picker but I felt that that the otherwise excellent instructions might possibly be misinterpreted by some to mean that you should always use a dual rate setting of 100%, which depending on your radio setup could cause control surfaces to bind during gyro corrections.

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

Great points Wayne, I also suggest that the throws of each function travel a similar amount during the programming step.

Airforce7

My Feedback: (31)

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!!!!!! Thank you Bob_B, your steps were right on the mark. I found my mistake. I didn't pay close attention to the AUX wire color, I just grabbed the last cable in the bunch which is kinda what's shown in the manual. So I double checked all the wires and tried the setup again and it worked. Now I need to go fly and see how it works. Thank you all for the help!!!!