I am a beginner...kind of...at least in the area of receivers.
Have recently begun to transfer all planes to Spektrum.
Recently purchased a 6100e receiver and was told by the salesman that it was suitable for my ARROW trainer.

1) package says it is for a "parkflyer"

2) plugs from servos do not fit nicely into the reciever

3) seems to be a delay for the radio to connect to plane

Have I been misled?? I was ready to purchase the 7000 receiver and was told I didn't need it.

Help?
Have had my share of crash stories...trying to avoid another!

Thanks.

From the Spectrum website:
"2.4GHz receiver for most any small electric model from mini profile foamies to 400 class helis."
I would say you have been missled based on what the manufacturer says.
http://www.spektrumrc.com/Products/D...dID=SPMAR6100E

While I would personally never do it, I have seen people use this receiver in large glow powered planes and they've had no trouble yet that I know of. Now, just because people have done it doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. Even if it does work, which it very well might, let's say something happens and your plane crashes full speed into someone. Even if the receiver wasn't at fault, how would it look if it was discovered you had a receiver labeled for park flyers in a much larger plane? That could come back to haunt you. I figure that Spektrum makes two styles of receivers for a reason.

With your Arrow you can use the less expensive AR6200 receiver which is full range, DSM2:

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...odID=SPMAR6200

I've actually found some good deals on Spektrum receivers on eBay. There are several reputable sellers offering free shipping. Just be careful that the seller has a good reputation and is hopefully an authorized dealer in case you have any problems.

I would hang onto that AR6100e. You never know when you might decide to buy a small electric.

My son has a park flyer - a pretty extreme one at that. His eFlite Mini UltraStick is definitely an outdoor plane and uses a DX-7 with the AR-6100 receiver. I've heard some folks get an effective range of 600-700 yards with this receiver but I would have opted for the 2-part AR-6200 or AR-7000 full range receivers for migrating from 72 MHtz gear.

As far as the servos not fitting correctly, some servos (notably Futaba) have a key on the connector that you can cut or file off to fit the Spectrum receivers. Just remember which color wire is what pin.

pipemajor said it all, if your servos have a white red black wire, then you need to cut the tab off of the side of the plug, it is called a j-style plug i believe.. anyway, if you cut that off and remember that white is always your signal wire so it is always pointed to the top of the receiver or if your servos have orange red brown wire, you do not need to modify the plug at all, just remember the orange wire is the signal wire and always keep it on the top.

with that receiver, i suppose that you are taking some risk in putting it in a larger plane, but i have the park rx from spektrum and decided just about a week ago that i wanted to see how far i had control.. i flew a 43" wingspan foamie until i could not tell which way it was oriented and then i let it climb some more, when i cut the throttle, down it came and it had full control on the way down so i obviously never lost control.. so then i took it flat out away from me about 20' off the ground and got it to where it was hard to know which way it was facing and then brought it back... is it a risk? a slight one i would say. if you are flying at a club that is in the middle of a city, i wouldn't do it, but if your club is a few miles from population then i would have no problem in using that rx, just keep the arrow in sight well enough to know its orientation and you should have no trouble at all.. if you do lose it, spektrum's fail safe technology will kill the throttle and it will go down at a rate that shouldn't hurt anyone, and if your club is in the country, will only go down in trees or an open field, because you aren't going to lose signal right over the pits or anything, you will lose signal several hundred yards out from you, so if you do decide to range test it, do so in a direction that is away from any homes/people.. common sense, i know, but i don't think you will have any trouble using that receiver, as i use mine full range on my foamie and plan to use one on a spad i have with a .46 engine, just gonna keep it in kinda close popping balloons with it for combat practice...

No CLUB will ever let you fly a 40 plus gas with a park flyer receiver!!!!! AMA will cancel you if they find out! It is not made for a large plane and you can get hurt or hurt someone else. we heard someone was flying with one at our club but no one would fess up. also why take a chance on loosing a plane over a short or wrong item installed in it.the AR6100E is for most (small electric model from mini profile foamies to 400 class helis ) it does not say GAS. AMA will cancel you if they find out! Spend another $50.00 and do it right,set am example to your kid. good luck

White is not ALWAYS the signal wire. Other manufacturers of servos use a different color for the signal wire. JR, for instance uses a yellow wire for the signal wire, where Airtroincs Z's use a blue wire. It is true that Futaba has a white signal wire.

The power wires are different too. With JR/Spektrum, power + is orange and power - is brown. Airtronics and Futaba have red as the + power with black as the - power.

Just be aware of the differences. They all, however, should be interchangeable with each other on just about all popular receivers. The RX should be marked with some sort of symbol showing what pin is what..

The below diagram is what you MAY see on some RX's. (don't get all upset if yours is different, this is what you MAY see and symbolizes what pins connect where on the RX. Yours may be different.. or may not have anything at all. Check before connecting.

CGr.

hot is in the center on futaba and spektrum/jr and it is red, signal on futaba is white, positive is red, negative is black.. signal on jr/spektrum is ORANGE positive is RED and negative is brown. jr is set up orange red brown futaba is white red black.

here is a picture of spektrum's wire setup.. look on the side of the case and it says -+~ which is brown red orange

This is the actual receiver he is referring to.
I never did like the end pin receivers myself. I never felt secure with the connectors.

It would be best to put the 7000 in the arrow. I have that exact setup... The only thing I would add is that youshould take dental floss and tie the switch and battery plugs together. The delay you are talking about is the 3 sec reboot in the receiver and if the battery ever comes loose, even momentarily, it will reboot the receiver letting the plane do as it will for about 3 seconds. I got lucky when this happened to me and it went straight and level... but there was still some pucker factor there. My instructor was not all that happy with me either.[X(] I love the arrow especially with the OS 46 ax in it and the dx7 is phenominal. The arrow will take you so far and then you'll want something more advanced and need the 7000 any way.

Really? What if your plane is already in a dive or inverted or spiraling/spinning when failsafe kicks in? Even at idle MANY planes can KILL on impact. The best failure is NO failure and the only one that is safe.

This delay has been corrected by the latest JR/Spekrum mods which will be done for free if you send your RX and any satellite RX's in for service.

the 7000 would be best to use just so that people don't whine about it out at the field, if i were on private property i would fly it with the 6100. but at a club with other people checking your plane out just stick with the 7000.

To make a recommendation like this is just plain dangerous. Shouldn't choose the proper receiver to use simply because you think somebody might check your plane. You choose the correct receiver because it is the right one to use. If you use the 6100 in a larger plane (not park flyer size) you risk the plane flying away from your because it's a limited range receiver. A fly away could easily damage property, injure somebody, or even kill somebody. Is the lawsuit you face worth the few extra dollars you saved because you didn't want to use the proper receiver.

As I said, you should use the proper receiver in the role it was designed for. In the same way that you choose a servo by the application you have it in, or the proper sized engine for the plane you are flying, you should choose the proper receiver for your plane. Use the 6100 in small planes such as foamies and park flyers. You use the 7000 in larger sized planes.

Ken

i have the 7000 in both of my nitro powered planes, i only own one 6100, but i have it on a 43" ws plane and can fly it as far as i have ever flown a nitro powered plane or would ever fly a nitro plane.. i myself, on my property out in the country will be flying a spad with a .46 on it with this rx, and see no problem with it as i will be keeping it much closer than the distances i fly the foamie at.. i am in college and i am just trying to save 40-50$ that i see no reason to spend as the 6100 has more range than i will be needing. i am sorry i ruffled so many feathers, i didn't really mean to recommend doing as i do, just really wanted to state that i, as well as others, have used these receivers full range and i plan to use it on a glow powered plane close in. i will not make recommendations based upon what i do/have experienced from now on, i will simply stick to what the book/manual says.. trajan2000-stick with a full range receiver, it will definitely be safest! btw, if you need to get rid of that "short range" 6100 pm me!

I absolutely agree. As I said in my earlier post, using the wrong receiver for the application would likely automatically put the liability on you in an accident even if the receiver wasn't at fault. it would demonstrate a potential on your part to be negligent, questioning everything else you did during the airplane's assembly.

Also taking shortcuts is all too often what causes accidents. There are a lot of people injured or killed by all sorts of machinery because they didn't want to spend the extra time and follow the instructions, didn't want to spend the money or thought something was "good enough". I remember a guy at the field once who complained his plane was out of trim after every flight. Several of us noticed that he had EZ connectors that use a set screw on every pushrod. We told him the were slipping and not to fly it. He said that he'd used them before and never had a problem. He crashed on the next flight.

Its not ruffled feathers as much as this is a beginners forum so we all have to be carefull what information we give.
Alot of people read these threads and many are first time flyers so any recmmendations should be as accurate as possible for the majority of beginners.
You said yourself your test was on an electric foamie in the country.
A nitro plane has much more vibration than any electric and alot of folks fly in areas where radio reception may not be as good as where you are. There is a reason the manufaturer has deemed this a parkflyer only receiver.
I know I have put out bad advice in the past and was promptly corrected. Fine by me. I would rather have someone tell me I am wrong than to see someone get hurt because of bad advice I gave.
We are all on a learning proccess here. With every new technology that comes out even the seasoned pros are still asking questions.

i apologize for advising the use of this receiver, i did say that i would not use this in a populated area, and that i would only feel comfortable flying this rx in the country.. regardless of what i do i shouldn't have suggested the use of a product for anything other than for its manufacturer's stated purpose.. thanks for being so cordial in your correction missleman.

as a newbie I tend to have someone stay with the plane and I either walk away with the TX or jump in the truck and drive away checking the range. I use line of sight to determine if the range is good enough. if I cant hardly see the plane and I can still control it I'm comfortable with the range, I don't let the planes get so far away from me that I'm struggling to see them. I wanted to get some AR6000 receivers so I could fly my planes with the same TX instead of carrying 4 radios to the Field when I fly my planes and Helios, but for now everything I own was RTF so I just use the stock radio gear.

The point is, even though you say you don't let the planes get so far away, it happens anyway from time to time. Nitro planes can get away from you in a heartbeat. A moment of disorientation as the plane is flying away from you and before you have time to think your plane is quite a ways out.
Someone correct me if I am wrong but I believe the AR6000 recievers are not the only recievers that will work with your transmitter.
A QUESTION? This thread got me thinking. What exactly is a proper radio check with the 2.4Ghz radios?
I know with 72Mhz I go 75' to 100' away and with the engine running and antenna collapsed on my transmitter I should have full control.
You can't collapse the antenna on the Spektrum radios so how do you range test?

I believe that the DX7 and the Futaba's both have a test proceedure/button that greatly reduces power output. You then do a range check in a manner similar to the 72 MHz systems. Check the relevant manuals for specific instructions for each TX.

Range test on Spektrum radios is done by pressing the bind button on the back of the TX. This reduces the RF power output, similar to the effect you get when you put the antenna down on a 72MHz radio.

EDIT - Bruce beat me to it!