Originally posted by Gordon Mc
PS .... if you are struggling a bit for channels -- I don't know how it works yet, but JR has this new "Channel Expander" doodah which might help out.
If that interests you, maybe one of the JR guys could give us a technical descriprion of what it does, as well as whether there would be any problem in using it in conjunction with other brands of radio equipment.
Gordon
Gordon,
I'm not a JR guy, but I'm going to use a channel expander on my Panther project and I've read the manual that JR has on line and here's my understanding of how it works.
The channel expander connects to one channel of your receiver as its input. You setup up to four "kick points," one for each expander output channel, which determine at what point each of the output channels is triggered. When the input channel is moved through its range, when it crosses the "kick point," that output channel is commanded to move from one end point to another - the direction of which is determined by which direction the input channel crossed the kick point. Its important to note the the output channels of the expander are non-proportional, and thus are only suitable for on/off type functions.
On my Panther, I am going to operate the split body flaps and speed brakes off of an expander that is driven by the same channel as the wing flaps. I'll set the channel expander up so that the first kick point for the split flaps is at the 50% point of the flap travel, and the speed brake kick point is at the 95% point of the flap channel. That way, the first 50% of the flap knob will only move the flaps down (i.e., for takeoff), at 50%, the split flaps will deploy all the way, and at 100%, all of the flaps will be at maximum extension and the speed brakes will deploy.
Bob