Popriv

Its happened twice. once each on two separate RX's. (I have two planes)

I was going to squeeze one last flight in last sunday and when I turned on the TX it said BIND.

What would cause this? and could it happen in the air? both times it happened when I turned the TX on.

I admit its conceivable that the trainer switch was on when I turned the TX on and I believe this would cause it to go into the bind mode...
It was starting to snow, it was cold and I might not have noticed that the switch got hit????

But I dont think so?


Is that the only way it would lose its bind?

A little scary if this were to happen in flight???


Steve

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

Battery voltage low?

Stick 40

One of the guys at the field ,unbound his plane when he did a range check. He used the trainer switch, when he powered up the TX. He just was not thinking!

sticks

Adui

I use the DX6i. Havent had an issue with it. Low battery wouldnt cause that I dont think,. Hate to say it but my guess is you flipped the trainer switch without knowing it

Popriv

Thanks guys. Battery was good. I'll chalk it up to having the trainer switch pressed when I turned it on???

I'll have to be more careful...


steve

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Steve,
You can rest assured that once you have the plane turned on you won't lose the binding in the air. If it does lose it's binding, like it did for you, it's going to lose it as you turn it on. But once it's on and the transmitter is operating the receiver you will be fine.

Ken

flaminheli

Yeap, that is kind of what the manual says.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

I've switched over to 1200 mah 6 volt (5 cell) receiver batteries and have never had an RX Reboot problem. I de-sensitize the servos by using expo where necessary.

I realize that this is not the same thing. The problem related in this post is losing the bind not re-boot, but I wanted to offer a suggestion to someone that may be concerned about that particular problem with the Spektrum system.

CGr

crossman

Is the Rx Rebooting problem unique to Spektrum radios? Or is this something that I need to worry about with the Futaba system that I will have in a few weeks. (The wife is holding it till Christmas, But that's Okay, I'm holding her new laptop too.)

Thanks,

Chuck

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

It's specific to Spektrum/JR radios. The Futaba and Airtronics radios do not suffer from this problem. I don't know the figure for the Futaba equipment, but I know that the threshold voltage for Airtronics receivers is below 2 volts. So the servos will stop working long before the receiver does.

Now in Spektrum/Jr's defence. They have addressed the issue with low voltage reboot. One major step is to rewrite the software for the receiver so that the reboot time is reduced from 3-4 seconds so that it's now down below 1 second. So if a reboot does occur it's likely you will get control back in time to save the plane. But the easiest way to avoid this is simply to put a large enough battery in to avoid this even happening. I use 2500 Mah 4 cell packs with my JR 2.4 radio and have never had any issues with it.

Ken

crossman

Thanks, Ken. That's good to know. I don't need anything else to worry about. My thumbs cause me enough grief.

Popriv

Ok, I'm good with the binding now can you tell me what RX battery voltage should I stop flying at ?

I made a setup for my volt meter where I wired a 4 AA cell flashlight bulb to add a load when I test the RX battery.

I have a volt watch mounted on the plane but Its so cold out now I'd like to also measure the voltage between flights.

I'm using a 1700 mAh 4 cell battery in the plane. Would the " no more flying " voltage be higher because I'm using the Spektrum???




Thanks again


Steve

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Steve,
I think the magic number is 3.8 volts. That is the reboot threshold for the Spectrum/JR radios. This is where you want to stay above. But here's the catch that most get caught by. They will have a decent battery and all is well when the plane is idling on the ground. But once the servos start moving it's very possible that the movement of several servos together could drop that voltage below the reboot level, and poof it reboots. From the capacity battery you listed you should be fine. 1700 Mah should be more than enough for your average flying day. A lot of pilots are going to 5 cell batteries to ensure that they have ample juice for the receiver. However, higher voltages usually means more current draw which reduces flying time from the same capacity battery. So it's kind of a trade off either way you go.

My best advice to avoid problems is simply to monitor your battery as you fly and never to get yourself into a situation where you receiver could reboot. This is the same issues that have hounded RC pilots long before Spread Spectrum ever came out. Although with the Spektrum/JR issue it's now more important. A good quality extended scale voltmeter would be your best tool here. By checking the battery before each flight with a voltmeter that will put a true load on the battery you can monitor it's condition. While Voltwatchs are very helpful they are not always 100% accurate. Even if you "move the servos" on the ground, once you are in the air you're going to have high current draw because now the servos are working against the forces of air pushing back against the control surfaces. This will suck more juice from the battery. I have an ESV that will put a 1000 mah load on a battery so this will give a really good picture of the current state of my batteries. If you do this before every flight you'll never wind up in a situation where you are close to going below the low voltage level.

Ken

Popriv

Do you worry about "buzzing" servos. sometimes I can tap my controls and get the buzzing to stop. I've heard the same noise on some of the instructors planes and they didnt seem to worry. I assume the buzzing is causing battery drain...



steve

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Steve,
Buzzing can be either good or bad. If you have digital servos then the buzzing is normal. If you have analog servos then the buzzing is bad. Digitals are always moving to maintain center. This is a good thing, except it does cause them to drain batteries faster than analog servos. For analog servos its bad because you either have a bad potentiometer or you have something binding that is causing the servo to not return to center. Either way it's going to drain juice from your battery and it should be addressed.

Ken

Jacked69

The same thing has happend to me 3 times with the same TX, only once it did happen during flight and I wrecked my Alpha 40 and had to buy another. I would invest in a DX7I like I did, I never happend one time with that TX, I also know 2 others that have lost a bind with the DX6. Yes the DX7 is 350$ but it costed me 400$ to buy a new alpha, hope this helps a bit.

pdm52956

My Feedback: (1)

Lost a plane a few months back. Convinced myself it was because my DX6i and AR6200 lost bind. Found out a bad switch was the culprit. When I replaced the plane, instead of using the same Nimh battery set up, I went with a 7.4 1350 mah lipo for my reciever and put a 5.6 regulator between the battery and reciever. A new switch too!

When I started flying the new plane, I checked the battery after each flight and found that the voltage drop was negligable with this set up. I would go down to the field two or three times a week and it took two weeks before I charged the reciever battery again. I probably didn't need to yet, but I couldn't believe I was getting that much time between charges so I charged it just to be sure. AFter charge, I started with 8.2 volts, flew six flights, and had 8.09 when I quit for the day. Haven't had a glitch with the DX6i after the battery swap other than the throttle trim switch went bad. I got up trim but didn't have down trim. I hear the trim can be an issue with the TX so I've sent mine in to be gone over. It's only about 4 months old and now that bothers me more than the bind concerns. I'm back to being happy with the 6i for now, more so after I get it checked out and back to the field.

Popriv

I also lost trim control on my rudder with the DX6i. It would go left but not come back to the right. I took the back cover off and wiggled the trim switch connections. the trim now works again....I guess you get what you pay for???? I've only had this TX since june so I will send it in for a checkup once I stop flying this winter...

Steve