parkflier

Many of us have been struggling with programming the 12FG with aileron differential and flaperon functions where a variable knob or slider is used to control the linear motion of the flaps. I have searched all over the Internet, RCU and RCG forums and never could find an answer. After analyzing the problem and trying all kinds of approaches for several evenings, l have some good news for you. Here is a solution that actually works!

Programming aileron differential is of course straight forward using the 12FG menu. Programming flaperons is not at all intuitive but I’ve included the whole process below. I chose LD (Left Dial) as the knob to control the flap function, but you can substitute the other knob or a slider of your choice in the Function menu under LINKAGE.

My parameters are:
Ailerons up 100%, Ailerons down 60%, Flaps down 40% with LD turned all the way to the right, Flaps up (neutral Aileron position) with LD turned all the way to the left.
My 12FG is operating on Firmware rev 2.1. (Left) AILERON is on channel 4, (Right) AILERON2 is on channel 5.

Step by step procedure:
MODEL MENU-> AIL. DIFF
AILERON (Left) 100%, (Right) 60%, AILERON2 (Left) 60%, (Right) 100%
LINKAGE –> Function -> 5 AILERON2, (Control) LD, (Trim) T5 This is a CRITICAL STEP!!!
MODEL MENU -> PROG.MIXES, highlight “INHIBIT” on first line, press “Edit” then:
Screen 1/3: Mode : EXP1, OFFSET -40.0, RATE A -40.0, RATE B -40.0
Screen 2/3: Master: AILERON2, Link OFF, Trim OFF
Screen 2/3: Slave: AILERON, Link “-“, Stk: OFF This is a CRITICAL STEP!!!
Screen 2/3: CTRL , RATE: +0 (Don’t use a CTRL switch)
Screen 3/3: Status: ON
Screen 3/3: Speed: In 0, (Mode) LIN., (Out) 0, Switch , Master: SLAVE (Don’t use a switch)
Screen 3/3: Delay: Start and Stop both set at default 0.0s

That’s it. You may have to go back and fiddle with the polarity of the RATES and OFFSET on Screen 1 or possibly (but unlikely) the Link function on Screen 2 to get everything working properly depending on the physical geometries of your servos and linkages. Note that the key steps are the assignment of a variable control (dial or slider) to AILERON2 in the LINKAGE-> Function step above, and the SLAVE Link parameter “-“ on PROG.MIXES Screen 2/3. The “-“ Link parameter is telling the system that you want the SLAVE Left AILERON to reverse its normal direction of movement and to go down with the MASTER Right AILERON2 rather than in the opposite direction. By changing the OFFSET, you can also get a Spoiler function, or with no OFFSET you can have both Flaps and Spoilers with the variable control set in the center position for neutral. You can verify operation on the 12FG SERVO MONITOR screen before powering up your aircraft.

The light finally dawned on me when I thought about how the Futaba 7C is configured. The variable knob on the 7C is assigned to channel 6, the Flap channel, and you connect the Right Aileron to the Flap channel for the built in Flaperon function. Wouldn’t it be nice if Futaba had explained all of this in the manual with some common examples rather than force us to literally “Reverse Engineer” the 12FG to determine practical solutions.

Good luck and happy flying.
Regards,
Ken

br@m

I really don't want to spoil the party :-) but flaperons can be easily programmed without P.MIX.

Just enable CAMBER MIX in the MODEL menu, and set the flaperon rates in the 'AILERON' section (in the 'CURVE AND RATE' box).

Modify 'CAMBER AFR' to set the AFR curve and offset.

Set the control for 'CAMBER' (LS is default) in the FUNCTION menu. CAMBER is a virtual channel.

No need for p-mixes.

Hope this helps.

parkflier

Interesting...I'll give it a try. Everytime I tried using the CAMBER MIX function, I ended up with two position flaps rather than linear motion controlled by LS or LD, etc. Perhaps I left off, or missprogrammed some parameters. Either way you still have to have a "MIX" function whether it is the built-in CAMBER MIX or a free PROG.MIX.

Regards,
Ken

parkflier

OK, I went back and carefully tried the CAMBER MIX again and discovered the mistake I and perhaps others have made forcing the flaps to just two positions. I was selecting the variable CONTROL dial or slider as the switch for enabling CAMBER MIX. Then the variable CONTROL becomes binary where you select or “SET” the threshold for switching the flap position from UP to DOWN. You don’t want to do that! Use a free toggle switch for that function and use the variable CONTROL (RD, LD, RS, or LS) as the linear controller for the CAMBER MIX virtual channel set up in the FUNCTION Menu.

So to achieve identical flap movement to my free mix in the first post above, I used these parameters:
The CAMBER MIX virtual channel CONTROL under the FUNCTION Menu was left as RS (default).
Under the MODEL Menu select CAMBER MIX, set Act/Inh to ON, Switch set to SD (use any toggle switch)
Select CAMBER AFR,
Screen 1/2: Offset +0.0, RATE A & RATE B both set to +100.0
Screen 2/2: Keep defaults
Back on the CAMBER MIX screen, select AILERON (in the box on the CAMBER MIX screen)
Screen 1/2: Offset -40.0, RATE A & RATE B both set to +40.0
Screen 2/2: RATES for AIL & AIL2 all set to +100%
This configuration operates identically to my free mix above.

Now that I’ve educated myself on the CAMBER MIX, I see where there is an advantage to using it over my free mix solution in that you can set up a toggle switch to turn it ON or OFF. On my free mix, you can select a toggle switch but the switch will only disconnect the SLAVE from the MASTER. The MASTER, or right Aileron, will still be controlled by the variable CONTROL as a Flap even if the MIX function is turned off. And that’s a condition you really don’t need because both Ailerons must move down together whenever you move the variable CONTROL.

I believe I understand the CAMBER MIX quite well now so I have no further comments. If anybody else wants to jump in and offer advice or alternative ways of doing this, feel free to chime in.

Ken

Silent-AV8R

A general comment, these radios are extremely powerful and because of that they can be a bit difficult to grasp at first. As a general rule I always try to think of what the simlest possible solution is and I usually find an easy way to do it with the radio.

The Japanese are reluctant (read that as they will never) to change terminology. Camber mix should be called flaperons for instance. But believe me, as time goes by you will continue to find ways to easily exploit the power this radio has.

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

Actually Camber mix is much more than flaperons.

You can have full-span flap action with flaps, ailerons drooping with the flaps, and elevator compensation when flaps are dropped. Also, you can set a different condition and have the camber mix become "Butterfly" (or "Crow"), with the amount varied by a knob or slider, with elevator compensation, or just have flaps only. It's a very powerful function.

parkflier

Thanks Bax. I will in fact be using the CAMBER MIX for precisely the functions you mentioned above since I fly sailplanes and plan to get one soon with flaps and ailerons all on separate servos.

Regards,
Ken

Silent-AV8R

True, but in the airplane mode naming it flaperons would be more intuitive for most modelers. I fly mostly thermal duration planes. Camber mix makes perfect sense to me there and as you say it is a powerful tool. But to the vast majority of pilots camber mix is meaningless. Flaperons mean something.

To be perfectly accurate it should be called "trailing edge mix" since it is used for far more than camber. In full house gliders reflex (TE deflected up) is equally important.

VF84sluggo

My Feedback: (55)

Good info...got flaperons and spoilerons setup on my Pulse XT now, but.......

I don't want to have to use one switch (right now, SF) to 'activate' flaperons and another (LS) to actually accomplish the action. What I want to do is simply use a 3-position switch (in this case, SE) with 'down' being flaperons, 'up' for spoilerons, and 'mid' for no flap/spoiler input. That's it: one switch to do the job, not one to turn on the flap/spoilerons and another to do the actuating.

Thanks,

Randy

jamesvok

My Feedback: (45)

Hi, I like that you posted a step by step process to get the camber mix going and it works well, but I have a little issue I would like to resolve.

My flaps are on a slider.  One direction they are up, and the other direction down, perfectly and no problem at all!
I want to use camber and I followed the directions above and my ailerons will drop, but only after I go past the half way point on the slider.  I can make they go up if I change the percentages, or down, but I cannot get them to drop until after I pass the middle point of the slider bar.

The goal would be for the ailerons to mimic the flaps as I move the slider from one extreme to the other. 

Any ideas?  I am very confused.