In addition to fuel and battery issues...
My instructor is away for a couple of weeks and He is the onlyinstructor I've been able to buddy box with... ( my DX6i as master his jr as the slave )
Theres NO info from spektrum on this feature.
I just bought a JR to Futaba cord and we couldnt get it to work. ( most of the instructors use futaba )
The original cable I bought from LHS was for the coaxle heli that comes with a DX6 transmiter. It didnt work.
I ended up using a regular stereo 1/8 plug I had laying around.
The difference in all the plugs seemed to be if the tip was mono, stereo or one even looked like a triple plug???

I looked at a Buddy box online from JR that says it will work with spectrum for $39.... who knows?

or I could look for a used jr box.

whatever I do, It looks like I wouldnt know if it works untill I buy it and try it....

I realize once I'm soloing it wont be an issue but I wouldnt have gotten the spektrum if I'd have known my buddy box options would have been so limited...

THings arent so bad, I am flying once a week and progressing well.
I'd like to get out twice a week and my own buddy box would help that.
Or a hookup to futaba would work.

Steve

You need to use a Spektrum or JR computer radio with battery to buddy box with the 6i. Our club training program had trouble figuring this out. The popular JR Sport S400 buddy box is not compatible.

Your Dx6I will only acknowledge another computer radio. (Took a call to horizon to answer this one) The Dx6I is almost totally silent re buddy box setups. Gross tech writer oversight. Once you plug into another computer radio the matchup should be automatic.

Well, I got the opposite answer when I called Horizon. I have a DX6i and I ordered the Alpha 40 Trainer which comes with a DX5e. I was told by Horizon that the DX5e can be used as a buddy box with the DX6i. He said they had done it there with no problem.

I wonder which answer is correct?

I'm thinking of buying another DX6i as I need another receiver anyway and the 2nd box would be a backup and buddy box.
But due to the lack of support I see from Spektrum I hate to support them by buying another product from them.
From what I see you wont know if anything will work until you buy and try..

Steve

According the the DX6i manual, the DX5e (a non-computer radio) should not work as a buddy box. Horizon is probably excited for somebody to buy both so a customer can tell Horizon if they worked together or not.

i have the dx6i and i hook up my parkzone radio that came with the trojan to use as the buddy box with no problems.

To reiterate, and relate my experiences. You must have a computer radio to buddy box the DX6i, the manual states this.

I tried a JR Quatro and had no luck. So I hooked up my JR 6102 and it works flawlessly.

I am told, though I cant be sure, that the DX7 does not have this limitation so I assume this is a case of we got what we paid for..

You may be right, although the manual is kind of vague on this. It says that the slave "must have the same programming (i.e. reverse travel adjust, dual rates, mixes, sub trims, etc.) as the master". I'm wondering if this applies ONLY if the slave is a computer radio. I've heard of situations where a non-computer slave TX was hooked up to a DX6i with no problems (someone at my club has done this). I also read somewhere (can't remember where) that if the slave is a non-computer radio it must have it's power turned off. If it is a computer radio it must have it's power on, which might explain why the programmed settings would have to be the same.

Anyway, I'm getting the Spektrum RTF of the Alpha 40 more for the RX than the TX so I can bind it to my DX6i. If the buddy box options works, that's just a bonus.

That's the first time I've ever heard that any of the Parkzone radios even have a buddy box jack on them, tubamike78!

Our club bought two new SX400 buddy box sets from our LHS and I gave them to Nathan King (our flight training director and club secretary) to use for Spektrum/JR systems. Nathan took them home and tried using them with his DX6i both powered and unpowered with no success at all.

My befuddlement stems from wondering why a JR SX400 buddy box system wouldn't be compatible with the DX6i but a Parkzone ZX-10 radio would work? Considering Horizon sells the ZX10 from the T-28 Trojan RTF seperately for only $30, that's pretty handy information!

Did you have to have the power switched on or off to use your ZX10 as a buddy box? When you use the ZX10 as a buddy box, does the DX6i do the mixing and reversing, or do you have to alter the servo reversing on the ZX10?

I looked in the manual for one of the planes that came with the DX5e (can't remember which plane), and it stated clearly in there that the DX5e is buddy box compatible with all of JR and Spektrum radios.

the buddy box jack is located on the left side of the radio on the zx10 radio. the power switch is in the off position, but the radio automatically powers on when i connect it up to the dx6i radio. i'm not sure on the reversing and that since the trojan and electristar that i use as trainers are same. i'll give it a try with my stryker and see if i have to change anything on the zx-10 or not. my guss is that it uses the settings from the zx-10 radio because the dual rates switch operates just fine.

The info is much appreciated, tubamike78. We thought we were going to have to find a second DX6i, DX7, or JR SX600 and duplicate the student's programming settings before we'd be able to buddy box them. Using a ZX10 transmitter would be much more simple.

Slave always has power off, even with computer radio, or so I was taught and every buddy box system I have read up on indicates.

The power "comes on" when you plug in the trainer cord, (at least mine does, all three radios I have work this way) but it does not power up the transmitter RF circuitry. So your computer control system is then on, and ready to interface with the master radio's transmiter circuit, but you arent sending an extra RF signal out to screw someone elses day up.

I plug in the following order:

1: Master TX turned on range checked etc. Take aircraft off and get it ready for student pilot. (If student is doingtakeoffs, then once range check is done proceed to step 2)
2: Student plugs into his box, power switch OFF, and then into the master while the instructor maintains positive control of the aircraft. (Actually we've done this in both sequences, the slave then master and master then slave, it doesnt seem to matter with my outfit)
3: When the student and the instructor are ready, (hopefully) the instructor pulls the trainer switch and it all works..

Why do you take off before you connect the buddy box up and hook it up in the air. It seems logical to me to hook everything up and get it working right, then take off and then give the student control when you are ready.

Good question, my answer is this:

We checked all my stuff out and know it works, and a ground check of the buddy box has been done, and gets done any time we think it is prudent. (I usually do so myself every time I set it up now that I am teaching my kids)

I keep the cord unplugged till ready so there is no chance of someone tripping on it or walking away with the slave box and yanking the TX from my hand.
Add to that, its simply what my instructor did with me so I never considered doing it differently

It doesnt take much to hold the master up and let the student plug in while I control the plane, so I always did it the same as my instructor did.

I guess that makes sense. Thanks for explaining.

This is not the case with a number of JR/Spektrum buddy box systems. The buddy box requires its own battery and must be powered on in order to work. How each radio interacts with various other buddy box options doesn't always seem consistent from model to model, however, and our club is trying to figure out all of the details in order to best assist new pilots with JR/Spektrum radio systems.

Interesting,

I have only the following three JR / Spektrum radios

DX6i
6102
Quatro

Each of these does indeed require a battery in it to work as slave. However; each DOES power up for me by simply plugging in the trainer cord, (I very nearly ran my battery dead by leaving the trainer plugged in when I was using my Quatro TX for the FMS simulator).

I apologize for assuming all would do the same, since I've no actual experience with them. I simply assumed all JR / Spektrum would work in a similar fashion.

I am one of very few who uses JR / Spektrum at my club, (More are buying Spektrum but I'm the only one with practical experience). That said, I would be very interested in a synopsis of the final details you and your club determine if you would be so kind as to pass it along sir. (Since we all know the manual is clear as concrete in some areas [:@])

so the zx10 works as a slave with the dx6i? that would be really handy. i seem to be one of the only ones at my club with a dx6i, and couldn't get a jr quattro to work.

what our club found out through trail and error, alot of errors, is in order to use th dxi6 you have to use another computer radio, and both tx's MUST be set identical, i.e. epa, expo, servo reverse, mixing and so on, IF just one setting is different, then it won't work

I was easily able to use a DX5 (not a computer TX) as a slave to the DX6i. Worked like a charm!

[quote]ORIGINAL: HampdenTech


I was easily able to use a DX5 (not a computer TX) as a slave to the DX6i. Worked like a charm!
[/quote
that's one of the weird things, we could get the dx5 to work as well as other non computer TX's, SOMETIMES, they would work one day but not the next, then would work again, then they wouldn't, must be one of those things were it depends on how mars aligns with venus divded by the gravitional pull of the moon, so we put them into the error category, just too risky

just got a zx10 and jr cable. this works like a charm with my dx6i. make sure you are turning on the dx6i first, then plug in the trainer cord.

Ok here is where I am w/ this.  I bought a dx6i before the apprentice to use in super cub hobbyzone, I did all the upgrading because I was concerned w/ the FM tic's and thought that I may lose and crash so for piece of mind I did the upgrade.  My instructor came to the field w/ a dx5e box did some this and that cused a little and it worked fine.  I later due to flying in high wind lost the cub.  I decided to get a Apprentice to replace it and figured the RTF was the best option because of the battery,charger, and dx5e with it.  I figured the first few flights w/ an instructor would be  the wise thing to do.  So We met up today a different person then the first instructor and we could not get the two to work together.  The dx5e manual says it work w/ all JR/Spektrum radios so we tried making it the master then and then slave again it would not work.  I know this worked 2 times w/ the other guy I can't  get his help he left for Iraq the other day so does any one know how to make this work?