DX18's still browning out or is this a valid choice for our jets now?
#126
My Feedback: (2)
Another issue, at least early on was the JR servos would not take a 6v pack. I think I have even seen the first Spektrum radios come with 4.8v packs in the package. We have come a long way. The radios don't even come with a RX anymore!
From reading a bunch of this thread, and doing some research, I think I am going to get a Jeti DS14 now. Unless someone can talk me out of it. But I can order it with the RX I want and it will still be cheaper than the new Spektrum Stealth. It also has more features out of the gate. I am wondering about the style of the trim tabs though. Just push buttons in an out of the ordinary location. I really like the RX offerings of Jeti though. That is another issue many of these manufacturers are missing the boat on.
From reading a bunch of this thread, and doing some research, I think I am going to get a Jeti DS14 now. Unless someone can talk me out of it. But I can order it with the RX I want and it will still be cheaper than the new Spektrum Stealth. It also has more features out of the gate. I am wondering about the style of the trim tabs though. Just push buttons in an out of the ordinary location. I really like the RX offerings of Jeti though. That is another issue many of these manufacturers are missing the boat on.
I'm "bothered" by how Jeti chooses to represent themselves on the forums though..... enough so that I've spent my $$ elsewhere for now. That would be my only feedback.
#127
My Feedback: (33)
I have the DX18 and love it. I also have a DX8 I bought when I got back into the hobby about 4 years ago. I had always had Futaba before. I really like the programing features of the DX18. I find new things I can do with it all the time. I am sure others have it some if not most of the same features.
i really like the telemetry. The are lot of different things you can do with it. I have used the Ipad/Iphone recording and live feed for reviewing flight info.
I love the alarms and it will show the minimun and maximun of all of the paramenters. I have the Gen1 so I don't have the voice alerts but I ok with that. I fly a lot of big scale electric warbirds and my jets. I love the feature of reading the motor pack voltage during flight.
I want to get the Turbine telementry that is coming out and can't wait to use it.
I use life 2s on board batteries with no regulators. I never fly the planes with I see a less than 6 volts on the ground check and after the flight I change them out for a fresh set. I use the the trunigy batteries and never have had a failure for the last four years. I have seen people abuse them to the point that they catch fire in flight.
I use 4100mah 2s life x2 on my big hawk and I can fly it 4 to 5 flights before the percentage remaining on my battery tester shows 55%. On the telementry it still stays above 6.0 volts in flight. I make it a habit to change out for fresh charged ones when they get to 55% left. With the exception of the motor pack on the electrics.
I don't know much about the Jeti radio and I sure it's a nice unit but I have a hard time paying a lot more when the DX18 that does come with a 9 channel expandable rx is great deal.
I haven't found a reason for more than 18 channels yet but you never know.
i really like the telemetry. The are lot of different things you can do with it. I have used the Ipad/Iphone recording and live feed for reviewing flight info.
I love the alarms and it will show the minimun and maximun of all of the paramenters. I have the Gen1 so I don't have the voice alerts but I ok with that. I fly a lot of big scale electric warbirds and my jets. I love the feature of reading the motor pack voltage during flight.
I want to get the Turbine telementry that is coming out and can't wait to use it.
I use life 2s on board batteries with no regulators. I never fly the planes with I see a less than 6 volts on the ground check and after the flight I change them out for a fresh set. I use the the trunigy batteries and never have had a failure for the last four years. I have seen people abuse them to the point that they catch fire in flight.
I use 4100mah 2s life x2 on my big hawk and I can fly it 4 to 5 flights before the percentage remaining on my battery tester shows 55%. On the telementry it still stays above 6.0 volts in flight. I make it a habit to change out for fresh charged ones when they get to 55% left. With the exception of the motor pack on the electrics.
I don't know much about the Jeti radio and I sure it's a nice unit but I have a hard time paying a lot more when the DX18 that does come with a 9 channel expandable rx is great deal.
I haven't found a reason for more than 18 channels yet but you never know.
#128
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Sanger,
CA
Posts: 427
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
"Depending on the resistance that drop may be unacceptable and you risk "brownout".
Can we honestly say...with todays power supply providing 6.6V 5000mAh or 7.4 lipo @5000mAh, should we still worry about "brownouts" I seriously doubt anybody using 4.8V @ 1500mAh battery's nowadays...unless Spektrum using 5v microcontroller in the receivers lol. Another thing... jet's don't use that much amps (I think) to suffer any "brownout" more like 100CC 3D planes doing full aileron deflection for 4min harrier rolls.
I wish all brand receivers would have a built-in led signal strength meter.
Just my opinion.
Can we honestly say...with todays power supply providing 6.6V 5000mAh or 7.4 lipo @5000mAh, should we still worry about "brownouts" I seriously doubt anybody using 4.8V @ 1500mAh battery's nowadays...unless Spektrum using 5v microcontroller in the receivers lol. Another thing... jet's don't use that much amps (I think) to suffer any "brownout" more like 100CC 3D planes doing full aileron deflection for 4min harrier rolls.
I wish all brand receivers would have a built-in led signal strength meter.
Just my opinion.
The pack itself is only one component in the power delivery system.
You cannot eliminate resistance. There will always be some voltage drop from source to load. Correctly managing it is the secret.
P.S. I use a 4 cell NiMh pack in an old .25 size trainer with 4.8 volt analog servos. It is setup so that there is never more than 2/10 volt drop from pack to Rx bus. Even with the pack essentially discharged at 4.4volts I still remain over 4 volts at the Rx bus and do not risk a Rx reboot.This is surely pushing the limits but it has functioned fine.
IMO the way you get it from the pack to the Rx is more important than the pack itself.
#130
My Feedback: (7)
The auto trim function can be assigned to a switch. Flip the assigned switch to enable auto trim and use the sticks to input any corrections needed to make the airplane fly straight and level. As the system gradually trims the plane based on your stick inputs, less and less input will be required until none is needed, flip the switch to disable the auto trim and you're done. For really minor trim adjustments, I just use the regular trim buttons but especially for a maiden flight where more than a tiny amount of trim may be needed, auto trim is great.
#131
my decision wasn't based on that one event i had ,it just reinforced my feelings against spek. to clear up something... my feelings were never against spek transmitters ,but the receivers. i consider them the weak link. there has been some talk about JR and spek making components for each other. i find that hard to believe . i think they shared the RF technology but not the manufacturing of hardware. that would make no sense . As much sense as using a spek receiver with a JR radio. My decision to buy the 28 was based on quality and features like the Aluminum chassis and all Aluminum Gimbals and the seamlessly endless programing options.However in all fairness ... there are things i don't like ,like the Android software . The only good thing about that is once you setup your radio, it has no control over you aircraft unless to unlock the screen and change something. Even if the software crashes while in flight , you don't lose control .. because it's only function is to give the radio setup parameters or at least that's the theory. my wish is everyone to go home with their planes intact regardless of what you fly. WB_1
Scott
#132
My Feedback: (5)
I also had a lot of question on the Jeti radio go to this form.
Jeti-duplex-ds-16-2.4-ghz there is a lot to read any specific question you may have will get answered.
#138
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Hamden,
CT
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I have been flying a DX 18 since they first came out.. I forget how many years ago that was, and I certainly forget how many flights I have had on them. It would be conservative to say in the thousands. Spread across hundreds of different airframes. I currently have my original Gen 1 Dx 18 and a pair of Gen 2's ( One in the Uk and one in the USA ) I have no issues with brown outs/ losses. I have had one total loss of an airframe some two years ago, but even at the time. I believed the fault may have been the power system within the plane. I ranged checked the radio on the day using three different airframes. I then flew with it on a smaller model and had no issues so decided to continue to use that radio. With no further problems or doubts.
My Gen 2 is currently flying around 20 or more models. I have no doubts or reservations about doing so. These are my latest models, and probably my most valuable ones. Yes I am a sponsored Horizon Pilot. And Yes I do get my radios through that scheme. But Horizon pay absolutely zero toward my airframe, turbines, builder and painters costs. Which if you work it out. The radio cost is a tiny tiny percentage of. So I guess what I am trying to say is that I do not use the DX18 because I am sponsored to. If I had any doubt in this radio system then it would be economical stupidity for me to carry on using it. I cant even start to think how many radios I would need to get through my sponsored scheme to cover the cost of just my large Airworld F-104 say..
I am not one of these guys that thinks my radio is the greatest and every one else is inferior because they use an inferior system. I am also not one of those that think their radio system is 100% Bullet proof and totally faultless. As far as I am aware. That just does not exists. I just play the numbers game. I look at how many flights I can do using any piece of equipment. Balance that against the issues/ troubles I have whilst making those flights. I factor into this the number of different airframes and installations.. Then make my decision on what radio system I choose to use. I can honestly say that I have never done so much flying with such little trouble as I have done since using my Dx18's. I respect those that choose to use other systems, and wish them all the best. May they have the same sort of flights to issues ratio that I do. I genuinely don't know of any radio system out there today that I would class as junk. They are all good. They are all so much better than we had when I first started flying jets, so thats a good thing.
Oh and just to clear up another myth that I have heard touted about… My radios are not specially selected. My first DX 18 ( Which has done the most flying by far ) came off the shelf from a model shop as I had to buy it and replace the shops stock as mine was supplied after the initial release.
Regards Al
My Gen 2 is currently flying around 20 or more models. I have no doubts or reservations about doing so. These are my latest models, and probably my most valuable ones. Yes I am a sponsored Horizon Pilot. And Yes I do get my radios through that scheme. But Horizon pay absolutely zero toward my airframe, turbines, builder and painters costs. Which if you work it out. The radio cost is a tiny tiny percentage of. So I guess what I am trying to say is that I do not use the DX18 because I am sponsored to. If I had any doubt in this radio system then it would be economical stupidity for me to carry on using it. I cant even start to think how many radios I would need to get through my sponsored scheme to cover the cost of just my large Airworld F-104 say..
I am not one of these guys that thinks my radio is the greatest and every one else is inferior because they use an inferior system. I am also not one of those that think their radio system is 100% Bullet proof and totally faultless. As far as I am aware. That just does not exists. I just play the numbers game. I look at how many flights I can do using any piece of equipment. Balance that against the issues/ troubles I have whilst making those flights. I factor into this the number of different airframes and installations.. Then make my decision on what radio system I choose to use. I can honestly say that I have never done so much flying with such little trouble as I have done since using my Dx18's. I respect those that choose to use other systems, and wish them all the best. May they have the same sort of flights to issues ratio that I do. I genuinely don't know of any radio system out there today that I would class as junk. They are all good. They are all so much better than we had when I first started flying jets, so thats a good thing.
Oh and just to clear up another myth that I have heard touted about… My radios are not specially selected. My first DX 18 ( Which has done the most flying by far ) came off the shelf from a model shop as I had to buy it and replace the shops stock as mine was supplied after the initial release.
Regards Al
a separate rc battery would all but illuminate brown outs ..people jam 6S packs in models desk ed for 4s and do t mind the added weight , bow much does a small dx6 pack weigh.
no matter what you fly , you have to think about what the best , most dependable set up is that will e rock solid , flight after flight .
soon at or latter Spektrum is going to cost so.eone more than a model ... countless people with spektrum ( more than any other brand PERIOD ) radio have had issues , crashes , lost tons cash not to mention time and effort .