Hi,


I build a Cessna 182 and have the throtle to throthle, rudder to rudder. elevator to elevator, alerion to alerionn with y connector, left flap to gear, right flap to aux 1

I think I programmed radio wrong because everything works but the flaps.

Thanks for the help,

Zig

One of the main things I seem to find with the DX7 is actually saving the results of your changes. Go back in and re-do everything according to the book then make sure you save your changes the way the DX7 manual says to.

In the case of all the regular input channels, throttle, rudder, elevators, ailerons, and with the ailerons you are using a Y cord, you should not need to do anything to those except perhaps expo and end points. With the flaps, you may not have saved it after doing the changes. As I said, re-check that, and make sure you save everything then see if it works as advertized.

And, remember to make sure that the flap connections are on the same side (ailerons are one inboard and one outboard on the serovs where flaps, one is inboard and the other is outboard). See the drawing. Different aileron settings will have them both either inboard or both outboard depending on your situation and how your servos are installed) where the flaps left may be inboard with right outboard, or vice versa, again depending on how you mount your servos.

The drawing is just an illustration to show the difference.. again.. it depends on how you mount your servos and the direction they rotate when activated.

CGr.

I don't know anything about the DX7 but reading through the manual I have to ask why you are not hooking your flaps up to the flap channel instead of the gear channel?

The channels in my post are what is listed on the reciever. An AR 6200. There is no flap channel. In the radio there is a "Flap system" and on the trans there is a "Flap" switch.



Zig

This is the assignment order from the DX7 manual.
• THRO: Throttle
• AILE: Aileron
• ELEV: Elevator
• RUDD: Rudder
• GEAR: Retractable Landing Gear
• FLAP: Flap
• AUX2: Auxiliary 2

Another simple way is to find out what channel on the receiver is operated by the flap switch on the TX. Then simply Y connect that channel to both servos. Just use the diagram above to make sure what side your connection is from the servos to the flaps so that they operate as flaps and not spoilers.. if they DO operate as spoilers, just reverse the channel and go from there.

CGr.

Missileman.. he is using a 6 channel RX and may not be labled as a 7 channel (AR7000).

CGr.

You have to input the gear "throw" amount into the radio, then make sure that the gear switch activates the servo.

You also must mix the gear channel to AUX1 at 100% ( in both directions) , and leave it set to be permanently "on"...

Then you must set the throw amount for AUX1 to ZERO in both directions!

The last point is very counter-intuitive but standard for JR radio software which the Spektrum uses.

The throw amount for the slave channel controls the amount of movement controlled by the aux1 knob or switch.

You DO NOT want the one flap to be accidentally bumped or moved in response to the AUX1 knob or switch, so you must set the amounts to ZERO.

Instead because the AUX1 channel is slaved to gear, AUX1's throw becomes controlled by the throws, movement, and trim of the gear channel.

I used the above arrangement on another plane recently w/o problems.

Sounds to complicated for this old fart's brain to handle. I will just avoid flaps..

CGretired,

That's why I asked for the help. The good thing is once you get it set it's done. The Cessna will fly very scale with the flaps. So they tell me I haven't gottne that far yet.

Zig

Programming the TX mixes may seem complicated at first, and there are a few counter-intuitive things.

However you can play with all of this to your heart's content with the plane on the ground.

That's how I picked up most of it.

There are many things not documented in the manuals... e.g. turning OFF the throws on the slave channel to disable the operation of ths slave channels's knobs and switches.

I can imagine this stuff being left out as describing the combinations and permutations would have taken a library full of books.

Not helping you any but gives me one more reason to stick with my old Futaba. If I want flaps I plug them into the flap channel. Done, no mixing needed.

A Spektrum is just a fancy JR.

Flaps is channel 6.

Did you go into the main programming menu on start up and activate your flaps switch? You gotta press and hold both left side buttons and then turn it on to access the main programming menu.

Cycle through with the toggle button until the screen reads:
AUX2: INH
FLAP:INH

That tells you the flaps are INHIBITED ---->meaning they are disabled.

Press the select button 2 times until the cursor arrow is in front of the FLAPS:

Now use the right side buttons to turn the INHIBITED mode OFF. Press the + button until the screen changes to

FLAP:SYSTEM

Done. Exit programming main menu and go dial it in using the endpoint adjustments and sub-trims.

Actually setting up the flaps does not require any mixing... nor nothing more than plugging them into the flap channel.

He chose to put each flap on a separate channel, which is different than what you did with the Futaba.

The mixing is more complex in this setup because you have a lot of options available to you for a lot of different reasons... you don't have to use this, but he did.


AUX1 is Flaps...


RCPilot: note that he has each flap on a seperate channel.

What I told him is the correct way to do this.

Yep, that's very true. I have a Goldberg Tiger 120 and it has flaps (I also have a Goldberg Wild Stick 40 and it too has flaps). Both of them have a Y connector and go into the AUX 1 channel as pointed out by opjose. This works fine. A bit of a pain to properly set up the linkage, but once done, it works fine.

Now with that said, I must add that I just about never use the darned things. With the Wildstick 40, all they do is enable me to do loops in just about the length of the plane.. with the Tiger 120.. well, I don't know what they do because when I use them, it seems that nothing happens. That is one big wing with a lot of wing area. Those small flaps are pretty insignificant.

CGr.

Guys,

Thanks for the help. I understant that I could use one channel for the flaps. But then I would have to use two channels for the alerons. Etiher way I have a six channel reciver and severn servos. Throttle, rudder, elevator, 2-flaps , 2 alerons. So I have a y on the alerons and have to mix the flaps.

ZIg

Well, no, you can use a Y connector for the ailerons too. So, you can feed your ailerons to the aileron channel using a Y cable to the two servos, and the AUX1 channel for the Flaps also using a Y cable for that.

The aileron operation depends on how you connect your linkage as do the flaps. My drawing I added to my reply above shows how this is done. I've done it on two aircraft and it works just fine.. even though I never use the flaps.

CGr.

So, how did you fix it?

Did you run a Y-harness or a mix?

Was it the Flaps Inhibited button on the main programing screen? Did you turn it on?

I personally run a Y cable for both on both aircraft that are equipped. The mix is a pain and often difficult to remember how it was done. With the Y cable, it's done. No mixing.

The switch is slaved to channel 5 or 6 so you just go to the channel the switch is slaved to (by default) and plug it in. You can reverse that channel if necessary so that they are flaps rather than spoilers.. but it's as easy as that.

There are people that want the precision of being able to adjust each servo individually, so they want each servo plugged into a specific channel. But for most sport flyers, this is totally unnecessary AND it takes up a lot of slots on your RX. Current draw is the same no matter how you set it up because you are still controlling a number of servo's no matter how you do it. And, you can do most of it with the linkage and end point adjustments no matter how you do it. You know.. KISS.. Keep It Simple Stupid.. seems to be my slogan of the day here..

CGr.

No you do not have to.

Just use "Y" adapters for both the flaps and ailerons.

CGRetired's solution works very well.

At very worst you can also use something like a "matchbox" to reverse a servo's direction if need be, or better yet buy a matched set of servos, one normal servo and one reversed servo.

No there is no need to mix the flaps.

I though you were trying to get some additional functionality, as I've done in my Giant U-Can Do.

On my Giant UCD I have both ailerons on seperate channels, both flaps on seperate channels and both elevators on seperate channels.

I've used mixing to be able to have the flaps act as innner ailerons.

I have switches set up to perform the following

3 Position Switch

UP - Flaps operate as inboard ailerons, both ailerons and flaps use differential.
Middle - Flaps operate as flaperons, amount controllable by knob, differential used
Down - Flaps operate only as flaps, amount controlled by knob

2 Position switch

Up - Pitch to Elevator mixing
Down - Normal Elevator function


I may also add elevon mixing for the tail at some point.

Needless to say it was fun getting all of this to work properly... it taught me a lot about the TX software.

How many channels do you have, anyway..

I'm using 8 channels on the Giant UCD.

Yeah, and it sounds like you are using them all!!

I've been able to fill up six channels so far, but one is to a second battery and that doesn't count..

CGr

I'm also using five or six mixes too.

Thus far this is my most complex TX setup to date.

I don't know if I should worry about having normally linked controls seperated out on different channels.

I know many people do this all the time...

Yeah, I watch the guys flying pattern. They seem to be pretty busy remembering switch settings and so on, especially for a snap roll (intended). All that involves mixing, I guess. I've not done it except for a flying wing with elevons and an electric with elevons.

CGr.