Does a fail safe unit only work with nicads or will they work with alkiline batteries ?

What would a fail safw unit be??? Thanks Dave

Fail safe unit? Most new radio's have that built in. My Spektrum's do. I simply set the sticks where I want them should the receiver go into fail-safe, for instance min throttle, neutralized elevator, aileron, rudder, then bind the receiver. Once set, loss of signal to the receiver and it goes to those settings.

CGr.

I don't understand how to set up fail safe on my radio - the manual seems to be, well to me, lacking in proper steps how to do this.

And the radio is....?

If it's a Spektrum, just set the sticks where you would want them should your transmitter fail, then bind the receiver. Usually, as I said earlier, that would be minimum throttle with all other sticks neutral or in the center with trims set that took.

If it's a different radio, well, someone else will have to help you.

CGr.

Morning CG. If we get anymore rain, I will think about building an ARK myself. At least it got rid of the snow. Now to get rid of the Mud. That is how I set the fail safe on my DX-7. Hope I never have to use it. Eggs with homemade crumpets and michigan cherry jelly.

I havent looked at my Airtronics yet to see if it has that feature.  Never even thought about it to be honest.  But now that you have it on my mind, let me ask you guys.  Wouldnt you want it with a slight up elevator?  I understand that that would be a bad thing if you were in inverted flight.  Something I have yet to try.  Maybe by the end of this season I will try that on purpose 
What I am thinking is that if your plane goes into failsafe mode than some problem exists.  If it is temporary then you can regain control.  If you lose battery power then does it really matter straight and level vs slight climb?  Its just gonna fly till it runs outta fuel anyway.  Maybe the correct failsafe attitude would be a slight turn to kinda keep it in the area?  I dont know fellas, just thinking out load. 

AHH!! you may have some valid points. I have visions of quitting on a full tank of fuel and flying off into the sunset. I live in Michigan and it would probably end up in Texas. Hey! you Texas guys, if you find one it's mine

Its the JR DSX7

Prevailing winds will probably have you end up in the Atlanta area! Better install a GPS

Oh!! No!! Can't get to Atlanta from here.

Why do you think battery chemistry would make a difference?
KW_Counter

There are available in-line fail safe units which are primarily used for the throttle servo to shut the engine down or off in the event of a signal loss.

At least the JR radios with the 2.4gHz and PCM receivers also have more robust fail safe capabilities, that sets the receiver to adjust all of it's outputs to a pre-set state if the signal is lost.

After I've flown my plane a few times and am satisfied with the trims, I typically rebind the receiver to set the failsafe.

When I do so, I set the plane to have a VERY slight roll, high idle throttle, a touch of adverse rudder, and a bit of up elevator.

My thinking is that if the plane is out of reception range and heading away, the failsafe will kick in to slowly bring the plane back around, in the hopes of recapturing the signal.

The roll tends to bring the nose down, the slight elevator up tends to prevent this, and the slight adverse yaw will hopefully keep the plane from nosing into the ground due to the sustained roll.

That's what I've come up with, though fortunately I've never had to use it.

I'm open to other suggestions.

Works for me....

That sounds like a plan. I suppose this could be done with TX Trim to get the "slight" roll rate. Probably keep in mind that these have to be subtle (slight) so that the thing doesn't stall to early.. hopefully at all. I wish I had that on the "club" trainer I destroyed a while back by forgetting to raise the antenna.. blah..

CGr.

Now I have something new to look for in my RDS 8000 manual.  As is I didnt have enough already. 
BTW, I just ran the second tank of 15% thru my Magnum 91 4s.  As soon as I can get a reliable tach I can confirm it is running as good as it sounds like it is.  Its the first radio I have a throttle kill sw on.  That was cool.