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Cortex Pro with Futaba

Old 07-14-2017, 05:01 AM
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ww2birds
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Default Cortex Pro with Futaba

Hi guys,

I see a lot of pilots using and really liking the new Cortex Pro. Great to see that it can use to receivers, and have dual SBus in and out. Makes for a really clean setup with a power system.

Anyone know if it is preferred to use the Futaba 7008 or 7003 RX with the Cortex pro? We have learned that the 7003 and 7008 report signal strength differently (or maybe there is a bug in some early 7008s, Futaba won't say anything on the issue so no one is really sure), and that the 7003 is preferred/required for PowerBox setups, and the 7008 is required for Robbe/Emcotec setups (Emcotec has a notice on their website, PB give this advice in their excellent support forum).

I could not find anything on the Cortex site about this, and wondering if anyone has experience or advice to offer. Do we know how the Cortext pro decides which receiver to listen to? My understanding is that in the SBus stream is a measure of signal strength (which many of the telemetry systems can decode), and the PB and Emcotec products use that measure to decide. I am going to guess that the Cortex must do similar things, and the engineers at Bavarian Demon might have used the 7003 or the 7008 to reverse engineer this and configure their switching - my guess on the Emcotec/PB issue is that one mfr used a 7003 for design and testing and one used the 7008 and only later did each discover the incompatibility. Again, speculating here, would love to know if this is right.

Many thanks
Dave
Old 07-14-2017, 07:08 AM
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In the case that he may not see this, either PM F1Rocket or look up Danny's number on the Demon Aero web site and give him a call
Old 07-14-2017, 07:27 AM
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I don't know the answers but what makes you think that the Cortex decides what receiver to use?

I would think (and I don't know for fact) that the Cortex 'simply' modifies the signals from both receivers based on the sensor movement and then passes both of these modified signals through to the Powerbox. I am pretty sure that the Powerbox/Emcotec device would still do the receiver switching based on the signals it is receiving from each of the individual receivers (via the Cortex).

If there is modification to the signal strength information as it passes through the Cortex I do not know, so it doesn't really answer your question about which receivers are best to use.
Old 07-14-2017, 07:56 AM
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Interesting thought .. makes sense that it might work that way. in fact that would be an elegant solution :-)

I know that if you use the Powerbox iGyro with multiple RXs, it does the RX switching and sends one SBus stream .. on two connectors but with the same data. Hence you have to use 7003s with an iGyro even if it feeds an Emcotec unit.

I was hoping some guys have been using '08s or '03s with the Cortext pro and could report on their experience.

Thanks

Dave
Old 07-14-2017, 11:07 AM
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mr_matt
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Originally Posted by ww2birds
Hi guys,
We have learned that the 7003 and 7008 report signal strength differently (or maybe there is a bug in some early 7008s, Futaba won't say anything on the issue so no one is really sure), and that the 7003 is preferred/required for PowerBox setups, and the 7008 is required for Robbe/Emcotec setups (Emcotec has a notice on their website, PB give this advice in their excellent support forum).
Hi Dave,

Can you point me to any threads on this so I can get up to speed? I actually run one plane with 2x 7003SB into an iGyro SRS and another plane with 2x 7008SB into an SRS.

Thanks

Thanks. BTW as you have noted, the powerbox definitely picks a signal but I don't think they say how they do it, I remember asking awhile ago.
Old 07-14-2017, 11:39 AM
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ww2birds
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Here is my exchange with Richard on the PB Expert forum: Futaba 7008 vs 7003 on iGyro SRS - iGyro SRS - PowerBox-Systems | Support-Forum

FWIW, this whole 7003 vs 7008 thing is uncomfortably murky, but we can't seem to get any clarity from Futaba on it.

Dave
Old 07-14-2017, 02:24 PM
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Jetkopter
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The long and short of it is that with some of the early 7008 the powerbox would see fades holds that where not happening! So Richard got Robbe to release a firmware update for the 7008. Now I ran 7008 with all powerbox products from the Royal on down and never had a problem. That being said you cant go wrong with a 7003!

Don
Old 07-14-2017, 02:43 PM
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Zeeb
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Originally Posted by Jetkopter
The long and short of it is that with some of the early 7008 the powerbox would see fades holds that where not happening! So Richard got Robbe to release a firmware update for the 7008. Now I ran 7008 with all powerbox products from the Royal on down and never had a problem. That being said you cant go wrong with a 7003!

Don
The other part of the equation that Richard doesn't make clear, is that this only affects the European rx's. Not those sold in the USA. Even more interesting is that the issue involves the Futaba R6308SBT, NOT the R7008. If you want the whole diddy, see if you can get a hold of Robbe or stroll the forums at PowerBox for the post about this issue.

I know this because I went through the hoops to get the file from Richard and while the file itself is labeled for the 7008, the .pdf instructions are labeled on how to update the 6308 and it will not install on a 7008.

For what it's worth, you really had to jump through some hoops for this software and the Futaba guys claimed that you could not flash the firmware on the Futaba rx; they fibbed.... lol

Last edited by Zeeb; 07-14-2017 at 02:53 PM.
Old 07-14-2017, 06:11 PM
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ww2birds
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Interesting information, thank you.

Wouldn't it be nice if the company or the US importer would be will to provide actual, factual technical information? It would almost be like they wanted to support their customers :-) My experience is that their US staff is either completely clueless or just kept in the dark.

I have looked pretty thoroughly at the PB forums, and while there are a few mentions of this set of issues, I did not find anything that was really clear. If there is such a post, I'd appreciate a link and I'll go read it.

BTW, I thought Robbe was out of business..?

thanks
Dave
Old 07-14-2017, 07:43 PM
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We have customers using both the 7003 and 7008. I've not heard of trouble with either of them.
Old 07-15-2017, 05:21 AM
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That's great news! thanks for the update. Nice not to have to worry.

Out of curiosity, is it as S33 speculates above, that the Cortex Pro passes both RX Sbus streams (with Gyro changes) thru (presumably preserving any information about signal quality) and lets the downstream device decide which to use? If "someone" in the signal chain is not doing this, there would be no benefit of two RXs.

Dave
Old 07-15-2017, 11:37 AM
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I also have a Cortex Pro, Emcotec DPS2018 with Emcotec display and two Futaba 7008's. I haven't put the Cortex Pro into the system yet but here is what I know about the Emcotec DPS2018 and the 7008. With the 2 receivers the Emcotec display shows each receiver quality in %. If you unplug 1 receiver you get an audible and visual alarm on the display but the live receiver continues to operate normally. If you turn on the Emcotec with only 1 receiver plugged in the display shows an error in the open receiver port but functions normally with the 1 receiver and the display shows the quality of that receiver.
You can answer your question for yourself by simply introducing the Cortex Pro into the system and looking at the receiver readout on the Emcotec Display. By the way you are aware that the Cortex pro instructions show 2 receivers pluged into the Cortex Pro. 2 S.Bus lines exit the Cortex Pro and are plugged into the Battery Backer (Emcotec or PowerBox etc.) If the Cortex chose the best receiver quality to pass on then the Emcotec display would read Error on one of the receiver ports. If the Cortex simply passes on modified signals from both receivers then the Emcotec display would show receiver quality from both receivers.
Old 07-15-2017, 12:09 PM
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I have several setups with 2x7008 and Emcotec or Robbe 2018s, no gyros, all work fine. As I said earlier I have studied the logs in the 2018 and have seen how it pics RXs.

I have others with 2x 7003 and iGyro then 2018 or other power system. Those also work fine. There is no way to see or log the RX picked by the iGyro, as far as I know.

I don't have a Cortex Pro hence my query to those who do since I've heard so many good things about it and was going to play with one. Let us know it goes with the 2018 and 7008s, that's the setup where I want to try it.

Thanks for the well-resasoned post and suggested experiments to do.

Dave

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